Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[DMorgan]

I don't know all that much about it but word around the camp fire was that Lock was pretty much run from an apartment block before Black Friday. Once all that pans out and Merge is the only network left offering games to US players they had an influx of revenue, managed to establish themselves etc. There have been reports in the last few months though that the DOJ are going to get Merge - its just a matter of time if they keep offering real money play to US players.

The problem I think that Lock have is that most of the players are only there out of necessity. Merge is the only network available to players still in the US and Lock has the best deals for players so the US grinders will play there. I'd expect to see a pretty big exodus of players one the bigger sites open in the US again so I expect this is a move by Lock to try to somewhat stem the inevitable flow of players away from their business once the industry is regulated in the US again. On the other hand maybe they've decided that the jig will be up maybe as soon as in a few months time so they are making a move to increase server capacity now while the going is still good?

I guess it'll all become clear as US legislation pans out

[AlunB]

There was clearly a bit of a power struggle between Merge and Lock, so it's likely just a way of being more in control of their business. I'm not claiming any inside knowledge though.

I think you will be waiting a long long time for US regulation personally.

Oh and don't forget Bovada. They are still open to the US.

[mondatoo]

Wholly unrelated, but......

I assume you noted Ladbrokes results last week - yet again, a 30% decline in the Quarter. All rather sad, it has been like that for 2 or 3 years now. The music will have to stop eventually.

Titan have now stopped all "Pro" Sponsorship, too.

Purple Lounge closed last week, too, with barely a word of dissent from those who have lost all their deposits on that site.

Times are tough out there, except for the innovators, & those with a USP, who make the effort to come up with bundles of fresh stuff. I think a lot of the rooms & skins will just be deemed "cash cows" now.

Boom, bomb & bust. 

What amazes me is that casino continues to grow while poker declines. Why is this? Have casino games fundamentally changed? Has the consumer? No. Have they innovated and made the games slicker, faster and in-browser rather than tied to download applications? Yes. Have they advertised them heavily on the TV in the UK? Yes.

Chances of these lessons being learned and applied to poker? About zero.

I would assume because that, in relative terms, poker is pretty small beer compared to Casino & Betting. It was in the numbers, & I forget now, but if Poker is, say, 5% of the business as a whole, it makes little sense to divert management & promotional resource to it.  Which is why I assume they will get rid, eventually.

Must be said, I loathe with a passion their TV ad for betting, it does my head in!

<3 that guy.

[Doobs]

Tonight I am playing on pokerstars.fr.  The player on my right is called "french r dum".  I assume it has got to be a level.

[cambridgealex]

Tonight I am playing on pokerstars.fr.  The player on my right is called "french r dum".  I assume it has got to be a level.

that's tikay's sn duh!

[Royal Flush]

Lock mere thing kinda reminds me of the betfair/crypto split and we l know that turned out great for all involved.

[skolsuper]

Lock mere thing kinda reminds me of the betfair/crypto split and we l know that turned out great for all involved.

Except Lock don't have an £800m betting exchange business backing them up and their reputation is already terrible. Don't think I'll be depositing.

[tikay]

Vidal Sassoon died yesterday.

It will not mean too much to anyone middle-aged or under, but he was hugely iconic in the 60’s, 70’s & 80’s, right up there with The Beatles, Mary Quant, Michael Caine etc, & he was very much part of the Swinging Sixties.

Today, in a perverse way, I have enjoyed reading all the obits of him.

He built the first branded chain of hairdressers, & “Vidal Sassoon Hair Preparations” were a huge global brand, with annual revenues north of £300 million,  eventually owned by Proctor & Gamble. In fact, he sued P & G because he believed they had destroyed the brand by poor, or an absence of, Marketing & Promotion. They settled out of court.

I had not been aware of all his charity work though, nor the amount of work he did for various Jewish causes. He stood up to Oswald Mosley in those dark days when Mosley was doing his ugly stuff, & confronted him personally on numerous occasions. 

Of Ukranian descent, he lived in Hammersmith & Shepherds Bush, as did I for much of my early years, & he was evacuated to Wiltshire during WWII, where I later lived (as an infant) for a year or so.

In his hairdressing heyday, he banished the then universal “blue rinse perms” & introduced “wash & wear” hair, with simple bobs & fringes.

Click to see full-size image.

I have no way of knowing, but I would gures he was reasonably wealthy, living his last years in Los Angeles, before dying of Leukemia yesterday.

He was an avid Chelsea supporter, & often flew to England just to attend their games.

Judging by the tributes pouring in for him, & the relative lack of the usual idiotic haters commenting on Twitter, it would seem he was a good, good, man, who after a difficult start in life, bettered himself & ended up doing very well indeed, by the expedient of working hard & applying himself to self-improvement. Huge respect for that.

He was 84, so did not do so badly, either.  Must be a wonderful thing to die so well respected, if we did but know.

His wiki page is here…..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidal_Sassoon

Click to see full-size image.

[henrik777]

Re: Tips for Tikay
« Reply #3667 on: April 17, 2012, 08:08:07 PM »

Lol, great question Graham. I'l reply on my Diary, if you don't mind, as I have a bit of a Charlotte Jackson fixation, and I'm not sure the Betting Board is ready for my Charlotte photos.
 

Bottom of the handicap and bottom of the heap, you're doing well Silo 

Sandy

[tikay]

Re: Tips for Tikay
« Reply #3667 on: April 17, 2012, 08:08:07 PM »

Lol, great question Graham. I'l reply on my Diary, if you don't mind, as I have a bit of a Charlotte Jackson fixation, and I'm not sure the Betting Board is ready for my Charlotte photos.
 

Bottom of the handicap and bottom of the heap, you're doing well Silo 

Sandy

Well reminded.

The lovely Charlotte is duly promoted up the list.

[Bad Beat]

 Lock as the biggest skin of Merge were having a tourmnament series - I think it was going to be called Lockops (I think Lockups is better) or something. There were large guarantees ($2m total) and it was scheduled to happen a week or so ago. Only Lock players could play via Lock - it wasn't available for the rest of the network.

 The way that it would work would be that Merge, who own the sofware and run the tournaments, would pay out all the prizes and if there were large overlays then Lock would owe them the money. Generally there wouldn't be big overlays in regular events every week and in normal months Merge would owe money to Lock and settle at the end of the month.

 Merge suddenly realised the guarantees were under threat and they didn't fancy sweating whether they would get paid by Lock. They pulled the events - cancelling them all just a few days before with no notice.

 Lock were not happy. They weren't consulted and they'd spent money on promoting their biggest series.

 Think I've told the story fairly accurately.

[Bad Beat]

Possible my guess at the motive was wrong. Could just be the other skins of Merge all moaning.

 http://pokerupdate.com/news/merge-cancels-lock-poker-s-lockops-tourney-series/

[kinboshi]

Click to see full-size image.

Reminds me of that tv poker chap, the live omaha expert one...

[tikay]

The world has truly gone mad - LilDave having a rant about TRAINS.

That's as likely as me coaching Omaha.

True though.

http://bit.ly/JleBkk

[tikay]

You may actually enjoy this rather well-worded blog, too, by long-time blonde WarBwastard, who has been hiding his silky literary skills under his daft alias for far too long. It's sort of football/lifestyle/degeneracy.

http://bit.ly/JqeP5T