Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

The theory is now that they won't have overlays as so many players will be in nice and early through the seats the sites have to give away.

 Then they decide to guarantee $500,000 in their main event and make the buy-in $125.

 The good news is, (for everyone worrying), they don't ask us to pull up and cover the overlay.

 We get to talk about how great the overlay is and use that as a method for signing players up.

 I am surprised though, by how many supposed "professional" poker players let these overlays slip by. When I see how many guys are raving on about the Scoop - you'd think that Stars were giving all players free hookers and blow.

 It amazes me that someone could be playing a schedule of online events and miss a tournament with a $500,000 guarantee that got just $310,000 in buy-ins.

The "problem" is that SCOOP is so damn big, & successful, everything else is small beer against their numbers, & the "Low/High/Medium "thing is so clever.

Was the ICOOP thing the jobbie where it gets down to x Tables, then everyone troops off to Barcelona to finish the job? What a weird concept that is.

Our dreenie qualified, I think, so good luck her.

[tikay]

Almost a year ago iPoker changed the way it works on these network promotions.

 You used to get an estimate of what each promotion would cost. Maybe they would say we are spending $250,000 on iPops. They would cover the 1st (say) $100,000 and each skin would pay a proprtion of the rest according to their size (amount of rake they bring in as a proprtion of the total). At that time we would be around 1% so we would pay 1% of $150,000 or $1500. If we didn't want to pay then we wouldn't offer iPops - the small skins that just opted out didn't have the events in their lobby, the players couldn't see them.

 Sometimes the estimate would be wrong - because of overlay and the skins would have to pay more.

 These days it's different. They come up with the same figure of $250,000 and they pay $100,000. They then divide up the rest in the same way but they GIVE the skins seats in the evnts to the value of their contribution. In the above example we would get $1500 in "Free" tickets.

 We could use the free tickets to run a special promotion, hold satellites for them, add them to other events we are running or give them to our higher belts.

 In the iPops we gave ten main event seats as a last longer to the top ten players in the 1st event. We also gave a free seat to the main to anyone who won a seat in the 1st four through a satellite.

 It kind of seems to work better this way and it obviously means WillHill and Paddys are putting 300 players each into the events.

That seems to make a lot more sense.

So who stumped up the overlay - i-Poker? Oucho, that must have stung a bit. 6 figures is quite a lump to i-Poker considering their overall revenues.

We are pretty conservative with our Guarantees next door, but rightly so imo, giving away £10,000 or £20,000 is so so bad for a business, it means earning the money twice for no long-term benefit. Players don't stay at a room because it gives overlay. 

Do you recall the Mansion thing, $100,000 Guaranteed every single day, they were giving away the fat end of $20k worth of seats daily & it still only made $50k or $60k each day! That lasted for 4 or 5 months, as I recall. Extraordinary. Such times never to be seen again. 

[Junior Senior]

Keep writing Tony. Only 25 more pages to get to your year of birth.

[tikay]

Keep writing Tony. Only 25 more pages to get to your year of birth.

Lol, quality rub!

[tonytats]

 One thing we are certain to be doing is renting a boat and taking it out on the lake. We'll check out the beeches and have a BBQ and some beer. It'll be fun. You'll be able to see the dam from the boat.

Well don't forget my invite please

[Simon Galloway]

Had a bucket @ the range yet??

[tikay]

Had a bucket @ the range yet??

Spooky. Going to the range today. Bit posh down here, though, not at all like Derbyshire when it comes to golf, & driving ranges. One shall be on the range in Richmond. 

Do we fly to Vegas the same day? I go on Sunday 17th.

Need to sort out my playing schedule this week, too, Marky gave me a lovely spreadsheet of all the Tourneys in Vegas. Gonna need to save up some pennies, I think.

[smashedagain]

Love that you have put in some volume on this thread. I like the Tikay Tips but this "back in the day stuff" is right up my street.

Yesterday I was in the company of Jac Arama and Pete Evans and we had everything from the bambos/luske affair to trying to buy scrap metal from the Russians lol. It was like listening to after diner speakers without paying for the privaledge

[SuuPRlim]

I was going completely mental when I saw how many people wore football shirts to the World Snooker final. That used to be a black tie affair.

I wore a 100% kashmir suit courtesy of PaddyPower - thanks boys


I watched Jerome's show - one of the most under-rated players in the UK. I think people give him the "LOL LIVEPRO" badge and not enough credibility, consistently beating poker over X years deserves a lot of respect imo, no truer test than the test of time

[Marky147]

I was going completely mental when I saw how many people wore football shirts to the World Snooker final. That used to be a black tie affair.

I wore a 100% kashmir suit courtesy of PaddyPower - thanks boys


I watched Jerome's show - one of the most under-rated players in the UK. I think people give him the "LOL LIVEPRO" badge and not enough credibility, consistently beating poker over X years deserves a lot of respect imo, no truer test than the test of time

Doubt even you could pull off a suit made of curry 

[Simon Galloway]

Do we fly to Vegas the same day? I go on Sunday 17th.

but for some reason, on impulse, I decided to swerve that Flight.

Duck overload ftw.

The Drains and Simon G are on that Monday flight.

Wow - what an amazing coincidence!

So probably not the same flight, unless you miss yours on Sunday!  A bad beat parlay...

I thought of it as I just booked my car for the duration today, jeep-type jobbie that will take 4 sets of clubs (and Jeeves' stuff) no probs etc (all paid for by the very kind Mr Channing yesterday..)

[tikay]

Do we fly to Vegas the same day? I go on Sunday 17th.

but for some reason, on impulse, I decided to swerve that Flight.

Duck overload ftw.

The Drains and Simon G are on that Monday flight.

Wow - what an amazing coincidence!

So probably not the same flight, unless you miss yours on Sunday!  A bad beat parlay...

I thought of it as I just booked my car for the duration today, jeep-type jobbie that will take 4 sets of clubs (and Jeeves' stuff) no probs etc (all paid for by the very kind Mr Channing yesterday..)

I think half of blonde owe Neil a drink!

And Jeeves will NOT be present in Vegas this year, I hope, though he (or she....) does appear at times to be omnipresent. 

Am going to plan my Vegas poker schedule next week. Will be a right mixture, but very unlikely to include the WSOP main. We (next door) have a good 9 or 10 in it, though, so looking forward to following them, + all the blondes, & I can hopefully do mini-updates on the blondes, too. 

[tikay]

I was going completely mental when I saw how many people wore football shirts to the World Snooker final. That used to be a black tie affair.

I wore a 100% kashmir suit courtesy of PaddyPower - thanks boys


I watched Jerome's show - one of the most under-rated players in the UK. I think people give him the "LOL LIVEPRO" badge and not enough credibility, consistently beating poker over X years deserves a lot of respect imo, no truer test than the test of time

Agree. He just goes about his job quietly, with a smile, & seems to make a bit of money along the way.

[tikay]

Love that you have put in some volume on this thread. I like the Tikay Tips but this "back in the day stuff" is right up my street.

Yesterday I was in the company of Jac Arama and Pete Evans and we had everything from the bambos/luske affair to trying to buy scrap metal from the Russians lol. It was like listening to after diner speakers without paying for the privaledge

I don't dislike, but Jac is not quite my cup of tea, though he is quite interesting on some levels.

Peter Evans, well he has never claimed to be anything special at the poker, but he has a few great tales to tell, & I can barely believe he has just fathered twins, & that has made him so happy. Quite right too. He has hung around the poker scene since before many of the current crop were born, & he just sits there quietly, watcching the world go by, & chuckling to (& at) himself no doubt.  The old boys almost all share the same trait, the ability to be self-deprecating.

I like Bambos, too. Another who just plays the game nice & quietly, toddles up to The Vic most afternoons, sits in the game for 4 or 5 hours, has his dinner, & goes home. I know he has other means of income, but he seems to get by, & plays some decent size games.

Mr Luske? Not sure what he's on these days, but I'll pass, I think. Passionate, though, & still enthusiastic after all these years.   

[tikay]

Bad news, I'm afraid. I've had the camera out today.

First stop was Heathrow, where I saw most of this Virgin Airbus.

Click to see full-size image.