Ladbrokes H1 Results.

[AlunB]

Ladbrokes was the first poker site I played on, primarily as I had a betting account with them.
Cutting them guarantees killed all the games, even at low stakes. Crazy that a bookie so big at the time, can fk up the simple stuff in running their business.

IIRC, they spent a good amount of time whining about Betfair and claiming they would use any legal avenue to get them stopped, sure worked out!!

Ironically now Ladbrokes is spending time and money on its exchange and Betfair is trying to become a sportsbook.

[Nakor]

Tikay is right Ladbrokes was massive in 2004/5/6

Remember the good old days there Tony ?

There were may faces played there  You & I (SarahJane) RED-DOG, Marky147 ,Skalie ActionJack ,Kunku Wap ( John Tabbatabai )loop8(IanFrazer) Sealey (ConorTate) T8MML(Tim Blake) Punk Floyd ( John Conroy)  and a massive swedish  crowd  ,William Thorson (ILCAPITANO) Erik Sagstrom (The Salmon ) Bengt Sonnert (pkrbt) and obv more

The afternoon 8K was actually a $250 buy in but as soon as the guarantee was cut in half all the other tournaments followed suit and the site very quickly died .As Tony says they used to have a strong presence in the poker industry  sending 40/50 players to the WSOP main every year

Strangely the reason why there was such a strong community spirit was because there was a massive scrolling chat box on every open table so everybody used to be able to chat way to each other , sometimes the banter got a bit lively ( a very young Kunku Wap was an absolute Legend) but generally it was all in good humour and friends (and enemies) were made ( I was always at loggerheads with Paul Jackson)

story about Joe Hachem,...its true he did play there under the alias KAIKEY but he was constantly foul mouthed in the chat box and had  actually been banned for about a year but as soon as he won the WSOP main event  Ladbrokes claimed him as their own player 

Met some great people from that site....Good Times !

For 2 out of every 3 weeks I used to play to sat into the $250 5 days a week.  It was such a big thing to qualify, to play with the "big boys" as it were.  Still got my (handwritten) note book, probably proves why I never made it as a Poker Player.  My in-depth Notes were things like Fish, Solid, never folds, always has it etc etc.  With the exception of Collins3 (Which may have been Stu Fox?) which has war and peace basically saying he is the best player in the world, very little about his actual play (I may have used to stalk him a little), DOC_123, Decision and Red_Dog also have funny entries.

I miss Laddies, think the forum helped, which led to the Norwich weekends and the like.  Seems like a completely different game all these years later.

[FUN4FRASER]

Tikay is right Ladbrokes was massive in 2004/5/6

Remember the good old days there Tony ?

There were may faces played there  You & I (SarahJane) RED-DOG, Marky147 ,Skalie ActionJack ,Kunku Wap ( John Tabbatabai )loop8(IanFrazer) Sealey (ConorTate) T8MML(Tim Blake) Punk Floyd ( John Conroy)  and a massive swedish  crowd  ,William Thorson (ILCAPITANO) Erik Sagstrom (The Salmon ) Bengt Sonnert (pkrbt) and obv more

The afternoon 8K was actually a $250 buy in but as soon as the guarantee was cut in half all the other tournaments followed suit and the site very quickly died .As Tony says they used to have a strong presence in the poker industry  sending 40/50 players to the WSOP main every year

Strangely the reason why there was such a strong community spirit was because there was a massive scrolling chat box on every open table so everybody used to be able to chat way to each other , sometimes the banter got a bit lively ( a very young Kunku Wap was an absolute Legend) but generally it was all in good humour and friends (and enemies) were made ( I was always at loggerheads with Paul Jackson)

story about Joe Hachem,...its true he did play there under the alias KAIKEY but he was constantly foul mouthed in the chat box and had  actually been banned for about a year but as soon as he won the WSOP main event  Ladbrokes claimed him as their own player 

Met some great people from that site....Good Times !

For 2 out of every 3 weeks I used to play to sat into the $250 5 days a week.  It was such a big thing to qualify, to play with the "big boys" as it were.  Still got my (handwritten) note book, probably proves why I never made it as a Poker Player.  My in-depth Notes were things like Fish, Solid, never folds, always has it etc etc.  With the exception of Collins3 (Which may have been Stu Fox?) which has war and peace basically saying he is the best player in the world, very little about his actual play (I may have used to stalk him a little), DOC_123, Decision and Red_Dog also have funny entries.

I miss Laddies, think the forum helped, which led to the Norwich weekends and the like.  Seems like a completely different game all these years later.

Because Ladbrokes is historically a UK site it helped bring all the British players together

I really think that Sky Poker has a great opportunity to replicate The Ladbrokes days and community feel ,I'm just surprised they haven't pushed on with Channel 861 given the great Sky TV Platform , still I'm sure senior management have their  reasons which are probably financial

[tikay]

Tikay is right Ladbrokes was massive in 2004/5/6

Remember the good old days there Tony ?

There were may faces played there  You & I (SarahJane) RED-DOG, Marky147 ,Skalie ActionJack ,Kunku Wap ( John Tabbatabai )loop8(IanFrazer) Sealey (ConorTate) T8MML(Tim Blake) Punk Floyd ( John Conroy)  and a massive swedish  crowd  ,William Thorson (ILCAPITANO) Erik Sagstrom (The Salmon ) Bengt Sonnert (pkrbt) and obv more

The afternoon 8K was actually a $250 buy in but as soon as the guarantee was cut in half all the other tournaments followed suit and the site very quickly died .As Tony says they used to have a strong presence in the poker industry  sending 40/50 players to the WSOP main every year

Strangely the reason why there was such a strong community spirit was because there was a massive scrolling chat box on every open table so everybody used to be able to chat way to each other , sometimes the banter got a bit lively ( a very young Kunku Wap was an absolute Legend) but generally it was all in good humour and friends (and enemies) were made ( I was always at loggerheads with Paul Jackson)

story about Joe Hachem,...its true he did play there under the alias KAIKEY but he was constantly foul mouthed in the chat box and had  actually been banned for about a year but as soon as he won the WSOP main event  Ladbrokes claimed him as their own player 

Met some great people from that site....Good Times !

For 2 out of every 3 weeks I used to play to sat into the $250 5 days a week.  It was such a big thing to qualify, to play with the "big boys" as it were.  Still got my (handwritten) note book, probably proves why I never made it as a Poker Player.  My in-depth Notes were things like Fish, Solid, never folds, always has it etc etc.  With the exception of Collins3 (Which may have been Stu Fox?) which has war and peace basically saying he is the best player in the world, very little about his actual play (I may have used to stalk him a little), DOC_123, Decision and Red_Dog also have funny entries.

I miss Laddies, think the forum helped, which led to the Norwich weekends and the like.  Seems like a completely different game all these years later.

Because Ladbrokes is historically a UK site it helped bring all the British players together

I really think that Sky Poker has a great opportunity to replicate The Ladbrokes days and community feel ,I'm just surprised they haven't pushed on with Channel 861 given the great Sky TV Platform , still I'm sure senior management have their  reasons which are probably financial

Not financial, no, "technical issues" following the sale of 80% of SB&G to CVC Capital Partners.

SB&G has previously been wholly-owned by Sky, & the sale changed certain things. It broadcast on Ch861, & held a Teleshopping Licence, neither the channel or the licence were part of the sale, both were specifically excluded for regulatory reasons. The loss of the 24/7 channel has had no discernible effect (affect?) on traffic.

They still have an Online Forum though.

[FUN4FRASER]

Just saying with Sky having the TV angle there is definitely a place to replicate the community old days, between them   Sky ,Blonde and DTD obviously does that

[AlunB]

I'm fairly sure one of the biggest factors in Ladbrokes Poker dropping off the cliff was the Scandis leaving and not the Brits

[tikay]

Just saying with Sky having the TV angle there is definitely a place to replicate the community old days, between them   Sky ,Blonde and DTD obviously does that

Well yes, but you have to ask "does it drive traffic?".

You can't correlate it as such, but the Channel as was closed in March, (replaced by a weekly Show on Sky Sports) & the YOY figures since then are positive. It's something that is impossible to directly quantify, but there is no evidence of any damage to the Business whatsoever. Some people watched it for years, & never deposited a penny on the site.

Of course everyone would prefer it to remain in place, but its just not possible.

It's like Live Updates from DTD, almost everyone moans about their absence. I doubt Rob Yong would suggest it drove any extra traffic to play on DTD though, so it was a cost with no material return.   

[AlunB]

Just saying with Sky having the TV angle there is definitely a place to replicate the community old days, between them   Sky ,Blonde and DTD obviously does that

Well yes, but you have to ask "does it drive traffic?".

You can't correlate it as such, but the Channel as was closed in March, (replaced by a weekly Show on Sky Sports) & the YOY figures since then are positive. It's something that is impossible to directly quantify, but there is no evidence of any damage to the Business whatsoever. Some people watched it for years, & never deposited a penny on the site.

Of course everyone would prefer it to remain in place, but its just not possible.

It's like Live Updates from DTD, almost everyone moans about their absence. I doubt Rob Yong would suggest it drove any extra traffic to play on DTD though, so it was a cost with no material return.   

That's almost certainly the wrong question to be asking

[Marky147]

Didn't the fall in play/interest, coincide with them ceasing to be independent, and joining forces with Microgaming?

I became friendly with a fair few of the Scandis after going to Tallinn/Vegas/Cruise, and they were absolutely printing for years.

Laddies used to have $1.50/$3 NL tables, and a Swedish kid I became good friends with (leecz000r) was making $30k a month, which is just ridiculous.

I think Dolly must have won the $100 rebuy more times than I made the final table

[AlunB]

Didn't the fall in play/interest, coincide with them ceasing to be independent, and joining forces with Microgaming?

I became friendly with a fair few of the Scandis after going to Tallinn/Vegas/Cruise, and they were absolutely printing for years.

Laddies used to have $1.50/$3 NL tables, and a Swedish kid I became good friends with (leecz000r) was making $30k a month, which is just ridiculous.

I think Dolly must have won the $100 rebuy more times than I made the final table

They were always on Microgaming software, just not on the network. My memory is bad, but I would have assumed the move to the network came after the fall not before. Would be a logical reaction to dropping liquidity.

[AndrewT]

Didn't the fall in play/interest, coincide with them ceasing to be independent, and joining forces with Microgaming?

Decline came first, necessitating the merger.

[Marky147]

Yes, worded badly by me, as I knew they were on Microgaming from the off

What was it that happened with the Scandis?

[Marky147]

14:30 $250

18:00 $20r

20:30 $50 2nd chance

00:00 $75

02:00 $40 Graveyard


Think those were my fave tourneys.

Along with the Sunday Lunch ($530), Daddy ($320) on Tuesdays, and the Thursday night $200, which had a $100 rebuy and $100 addon, iirc.

[Longines]

I posted this a while ago:
Ladbrokes Monthly active poker player days:
2005 411,000
2006 461,000
2007 409,000
2008 362,000
2009 293,000
2010 226,000
2011 189,000
2012 110,000
2014   55,000
2015   42,000

They joined Micro in Feb 09 and iPoker in Dec 13.

[tikay]

I posted this a while ago:
Ladbrokes Monthly active poker player days:
2005 411,000
2006 461,000
2007 409,000
2008 362,000
2009 293,000
2010 226,000
2011 189,000
2012 110,000
2014   55,000
2015   42,000

They joined Micro in Feb 09 and iPoker in Dec 13.

Astonishing.