We are not going to Heaven.

[tikay]

I was a tad surprised to learn a few days ago that PokerHeaven.com is closing down today. You have until a week today to withdraw balances, though I'd have thought players could claim their balances beyond that.

Only a week earlier, they said they were withdrawing from the UK, & they suggested signing up to 888, now it's s total closure & they are suggesting their players should go to betsafe.com. (who?), so it's all a bit confusing.

https://www.pokerheaven.com/uk/


https://www.pokerheaven.com/closure/

http://www.bluffeurope.com/poker-news/en/PokerHeaven-com-To-Shut_24642.aspx

They were never a huge room, but they had a bit of profile, & have been around for a goodly while.

[AlunB]

I was a tad surprised to learn a few days ago that PokerHeaven.com is closing down today. You have until a week today to withdraw balances, though I'd have thought players could claim their balances beyond that.

Only a week earlier, they said they were withdrawing from the UK, & they suggested signing up to 888, now it's s total closure & they are suggesting their players should go to betsafe.com. (who?), so it's all a bit confusing.

https://www.pokerheaven.com/uk/


https://www.pokerheaven.com/closure/

http://www.bluffeurope.com/poker-news/en/PokerHeaven-com-To-Shut_24642.aspx

They were never a huge room, but they had a bit of profile, & have been around for a goodly while.

Betsafe are part of the Betsson group.

Poker Heaven was the first of the TV poker sites wasn't it? Or did Sky Poker come first? I forget now.

The old CEO now works for Hills. Lovely bloke.

[DaveShoelace]

Really great bunch of people to work with, so am a bit gutted for them. Though they have their fingers in a few pies so hopefully they'll all still be busy (Same people who did the Poker Channel originally). I know one of the bigwigs over there and it looks like they are still busy with other stuff, my guess is that they were just getting rid of a not very profitable part of the business.

[tikay]

It got me thinking about the other rooms which once had a decent profile, or traffic, but then disappeared.

Pretty sure the first site I played on was Planet Poker, think Mike Caro was involved?

Then the market leader became Paradise Poker.

Tribeca, of course, famously disappeared, as did Blue Square, which many of us enjoyed so much. 

At one time, Ladbrokes ruled Europe. Those days are long gone.

When Party Poker first floated on the London Stock Exchange - quoted at around £6 billion - poker comprised 90% of their income. Bet it's not 5% now. Still a very big company, but poker got a bit sidelined somewhere down the line. Now they are making a recovery play.

Meanwhile, 'Stars rule the roost these days, & probably have done since around 2005, 2006? Will they ever disappear, like so many others? Seems a ridiculous notion, but when you look at some of those earlier big names,. it's interesting how fast the market can change.

[tikay]

I was a tad surprised to learn a few days ago that PokerHeaven.com is closing down today. You have until a week today to withdraw balances, though I'd have thought players could claim their balances beyond that.

Only a week earlier, they said they were withdrawing from the UK, & they suggested signing up to 888, now it's s total closure & they are suggesting their players should go to betsafe.com. (who?), so it's all a bit confusing.

https://www.pokerheaven.com/uk/


https://www.pokerheaven.com/closure/

http://www.bluffeurope.com/poker-news/en/PokerHeaven-com-To-Shut_24642.aspx

They were never a huge room, but they had a bit of profile, & have been around for a goodly while.

Betsafe are part of the Betsson group.

Poker Heaven was the first of the TV poker sites wasn't it? Or did Sky Poker come first? I forget now.

The old CEO now works for Hills. Lovely bloke.

I think Poker Heaven were the first with a TV Channel, but I may be wrong.

Were they based in West London somewhere - Fulham, Hammersmith, somewhere like that?

Who was the CEO?

[AlunB]

It got me thinking about the other rooms which once had a decent profile, or traffic, but then disappeared.

Pretty sure the first site I played on was Planet Poker, think Mike Caro was involved?

Then the market leader became Paradise Poker.

Tribeca, of course, famously disappeared, as did Blue Square, which many of us enjoyed so much. 

At one time, Ladbrokes ruled Europe. Those days are long gone.

When Party Poker first floated on the London Stock Exchange - quoted at around £6 billion - poker comprised 90% of their income. Bet it's not 5% now. Still a very big company, but poker got a bit sidelined somewhere down the line. Now they are making a recovery play.

Meanwhile, 'Stars rule the roost these days, & probably have done since around 2005, 2006? Will they ever disappear, like so many others? Seems a ridiculous notion, but when you look at some of those earlier big names,. it's interesting how fast the market can change.

Didn't disappear, just became iPoker

Think you will find that was around September 2006

Ditto

[tikay]

Really great bunch of people to work with, so am a bit gutted for them. Though they have their fingers in a few pies so hopefully they'll all still be busy (Same people who did the Poker Channel originally). I know one of the bigwigs over there and it looks like they are still busy with other stuff, my guess is that they were just getting rid of a not very profitable part of the business.

Amazing how fast things change.

In 2001, global poker revenues were $82 million - in 2005, they were £2.5 billion. That's meteoric growth by any yardstick. No idea what the figure is now.

[AlunB]

I was a tad surprised to learn a few days ago that PokerHeaven.com is closing down today. You have until a week today to withdraw balances, though I'd have thought players could claim their balances beyond that.

Only a week earlier, they said they were withdrawing from the UK, & they suggested signing up to 888, now it's s total closure & they are suggesting their players should go to betsafe.com. (who?), so it's all a bit confusing.

https://www.pokerheaven.com/uk/


https://www.pokerheaven.com/closure/

http://www.bluffeurope.com/poker-news/en/PokerHeaven-com-To-Shut_24642.aspx

They were never a huge room, but they had a bit of profile, & have been around for a goodly while.

Betsafe are part of the Betsson group.

Poker Heaven was the first of the TV poker sites wasn't it? Or did Sky Poker come first? I forget now.

The old CEO now works for Hills. Lovely bloke.

I think Poker Heaven were the first with a TV Channel, but I may be wrong.

Were they based in West London somewhere - Fulham, Hammersmith, somewhere like that?

Who was the CEO?

They had a VERY small studio in the back of their offices somewhere a bit west of Hammersmith I think when I visited many years back.

Crispin Nieboer is the guy I was talking about, one of the founders. Runs Hills Shoreditch office now.

[tikay]

It got me thinking about the other rooms which once had a decent profile, or traffic, but then disappeared.

Pretty sure the first site I played on was Planet Poker, think Mike Caro was involved?

Then the market leader became Paradise Poker.

Tribeca, of course, famously disappeared, as did Blue Square, which many of us enjoyed so much. 

At one time, Ladbrokes ruled Europe. Those days are long gone.

When Party Poker first floated on the London Stock Exchange - quoted at around £6 billion - poker comprised 90% of their income. Bet it's not 5% now. Still a very big company, but poker got a bit sidelined somewhere down the line. Now they are making a recovery play.

Meanwhile, 'Stars rule the roost these days, & probably have done since around 2005, 2006? Will they ever disappear, like so many others? Seems a ridiculous notion, but when you look at some of those earlier big names,. it's interesting how fast the market can change.

Didn't disappear, just became iPoker

Think you will find that was around September 2006

Ditto

Well it was famously said at the time that I-poker destroyed - literally - the Tribeca software. I was only reminded days ago that Tribeca only - & always - paid 27 places in MTT's, no matter how big the field was. Made for interesting bubble play I guess.

[DaveShoelace]

I was a tad surprised to learn a few days ago that PokerHeaven.com is closing down today. You have until a week today to withdraw balances, though I'd have thought players could claim their balances beyond that.

Only a week earlier, they said they were withdrawing from the UK, & they suggested signing up to 888, now it's s total closure & they are suggesting their players should go to betsafe.com. (who?), so it's all a bit confusing.

https://www.pokerheaven.com/uk/


https://www.pokerheaven.com/closure/

http://www.bluffeurope.com/poker-news/en/PokerHeaven-com-To-Shut_24642.aspx

They were never a huge room, but they had a bit of profile, & have been around for a goodly while.

Betsafe are part of the Betsson group.

Poker Heaven was the first of the TV poker sites wasn't it? Or did Sky Poker come first? I forget now.

The old CEO now works for Hills. Lovely bloke.

I think Poker Heaven were the first with a TV Channel, but I may be wrong.

Were they based in West London somewhere - Fulham, Hammersmith, somewhere like that?

Who was the CEO?

Yep Hammersmith. They were the production team for the Poker Channel (which may have been called Poker Heaven at the time).

CEO was Crispin Nieboer, who from my few interactions was a lovely posh bloke who was a good laugh on a night out. Pretty clever chap too.

[AlunB]

Really great bunch of people to work with, so am a bit gutted for them. Though they have their fingers in a few pies so hopefully they'll all still be busy (Same people who did the Poker Channel originally). I know one of the bigwigs over there and it looks like they are still busy with other stuff, my guess is that they were just getting rid of a not very profitable part of the business.

Amazing how fast things change.

In 2001, global poker revenues were $82 million - in 2005, they were £2.5 billion. That's meteoric growth by any yardstick. No idea what the figure is now.

They were?

Stars forecasting $1bn for 2015, with a bit of that being casino revenue. Let's say 10% so $900m total. They say they have 70% of poker market so total market is worth $1.3bn or so?

[tikay]

Really great bunch of people to work with, so am a bit gutted for them. Though they have their fingers in a few pies so hopefully they'll all still be busy (Same people who did the Poker Channel originally). I know one of the bigwigs over there and it looks like they are still busy with other stuff, my guess is that they were just getting rid of a not very profitable part of the business.

Amazing how fast things change.

In 2001, global poker revenues were $82 million - in 2005, they were £2.5 billion. That's meteoric growth by any yardstick. No idea what the figure is now.

They were?

Stars forecasting $1bn for 2015, with a bit of that being casino revenue. Let's say 10% so $900m total. They say they have 70% of poker market so total market is worth $1.3bn or so?

Well according to this, yes. ......

http://www.newsweek.com/going-all-online-poker-117991

Well worth a read that, hard to imagine an article that dated so badly. A fabulously evocative read.

[tikay]

I have just been sent this, too......


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_Poker


If there were an Internet Poker Hall of Fame, Planet really ought to be in it, I'd say. From little acorns & all that.

[AlunB]

Really great bunch of people to work with, so am a bit gutted for them. Though they have their fingers in a few pies so hopefully they'll all still be busy (Same people who did the Poker Channel originally). I know one of the bigwigs over there and it looks like they are still busy with other stuff, my guess is that they were just getting rid of a not very profitable part of the business.

Amazing how fast things change.

In 2001, global poker revenues were $82 million - in 2005, they were £2.5 billion. That's meteoric growth by any yardstick. No idea what the figure is now.

They were?

Stars forecasting $1bn for 2015, with a bit of that being casino revenue. Let's say 10% so $900m total. They say they have 70% of poker market so total market is worth $1.3bn or so?

Well according to this, yes. ......

http://www.newsweek.com/going-all-online-poker-117991

Well worth a read that, hard to imagine an article that dated so badly. A fabulously evocative read.

Haha! Indeed. Although we've all been guilty of the "this is how things are now so this is how they will always be" idiocy many many times I'm sure.

That makes playing or hosting poker games on the Web a little like going a few miles over the
highway speed limit. It's technically illegal, but everyone does it and you probably won't get in
trouble

Right.

I see it was $2.4bn, that sounds a bit more plausible. Party was $860m in 2005 and they were circa 50% of the industry so still sounds pretty toppy to me, but those estimates of market size almost always are.

[AndrewT]

The great story about Planet Poker was that the RNG to do the shuffling wasn't as sophisticated as those of today and it was worked out that once you were dealt a hand and saw a flop, the knowledge of those 5 cards meant you knew what everyone else had (as there was only one shuffle with that combination of cards).

The guys who spotted this just let PP know rather than exploit it.