PokerWorldNow

Signing a poker player to an online poker room sponsorship roster goes far beyond results at the table. UltimateBet understands this and has signed Joe Sebok for more reasons than his ability on the felt. Sure, Sebok has had some good results with over $1.5 million in lifetime earnings, and a steallar 2006 where he earned nearly $900,000, but he lacks major victories and big final tables. But who cares? UB doesn’t.

Sebok Signs with UltimateBet

Regardless if he has connections or not, the fact is that he has established himself, and consequently PokerRoad, as a serious brand across the socialsphere, and for this, I am sure UltimateBet sees an invaluable asset in Sebok. This is probably why they have also signed him as a media consultant.

I have argued the point that this is good for UB. Now is it good for Sebok? In reality, that comes down to how much he is getting paid, and I hope it is a lot. Sebok has established himself as a leader in online poker media (and online media itself) and this move exposes him to the risk of crossing the editorial/advertising line by using his online brand to promote a poker site. Especially a poker site that has had some negative exposure in the area unethical practices.

My suggestion for Sebok would be to come out of the gate with a casual and indirect promotional approach. Wear the UB logo at tournaments and promotional events, but be careful of pushing too hard and skuffing up that finely polished online image.

Those who did a detailed analysis (not me) on the deal in which Gamynia bought the World Poker Tour may have noticed that in the associated 8-K that was filed with the SEC there was a clause in the acquisition agreement that gave the WPT an out if a better deal came along. More specifically, the WPT has the right to terminate “under certain circumstances, including a determination by the Company’s Board of Directors to accept an acquisition proposal it deems superior to the Transaction.” All the WPT has to do is pay an “I’m sorry for changing our mind” fee of $1,000,000.

The WPT is getting a pretty good deal from Gamynia, to summarize: Gamynia pay $9.1 million in cash, WPT gets to keep the $21 million in the bank and WPT receives about 5% of future revenues.Who has come over the top (I promise the last poker metaphor that will ever be used) and piqued the WPT’s interest?

Assuming that the  Gamynia deal is really just a shell company for  PlayTech as I predicted in my first blog about this transaction, then perhaps one of the big boys, and by that I mean FullTilt or PokerStars, has taken a page out of this book and opened up their cash coffers. It is strategically logical for both companies to a) expand their push for producing TV shows as way of advertising and b) act as a hedge in a U.S. regulated environment because, as I wrote in my blog about the Menendez bill, it looks likely that off-shore operators will be rejected for licenses.

Thus far the WPT execs have kept mum about the deal, but I suspect if the deal goes through it will take a couple of weeks for an official announcement. Technically the Gamynia deal will automatocally terminate on Januray 28th, 2010.

Things are getting pretty serious. Back in June the United States Attorney of  the Southern District of New York announced that they were seizing $30 million in online poker funds. Yesterday, the same folks sent a press release to Card Player Media announcing that the stakes have gotten even higher. With the FBI, they have now announced the official indictment Douglas Rennick (frighteningly close to my name, but no relation), a Canadian citizen, who has allegedly been acting as the financial clearinghouse for poker and other gambling sites from “at least 2007.

Points of interest and opinion:

• The indictment also seeks the forfeiture of over $565,000,000 dollars which “represents the amount of proceeds obtained as a result of the illegal gambling and bank fraud conspiracies.” That’s a bunch of money. And, three fifths of it has already been paid out.
• Probably by no coincidence Mr. Rennick started this cloak and dagger operation only a few months after the UIGEA passed. If memory serves me right, many of the sites that remained in the U.S. were having payment processing issues until January 2007. This fits.
• Will the indictment blossom into more indictments accusing Rennick’s clients of wrongdoing? If so, this could have major implications for future licensing for the accused online poker rooms in a U.S.-regulated environment.

It surprises me that it took the feds and the banks this long to catch on. If it took them over 2 years to track down the single source that processed the majority of online poker and gambling payments, imagine what would happen if the UIGEA was actually enforced. Are they really going to stop a $10 deposit into a PokerStars account?

For over 2 years I have watched the World Poker Tour stock (WPTE) hover in the  40 to 50 cent range, bottoming out at 25cents in January of 2009. Then in June something amazing happening. The stock went crazy and was up nearly 7X from its bottom. Someone somewhere knew something and it wasn’t me. A few days later rumors came out that PartyPoker was making a bid and then another rumor surfaced that Bwin was the suitor. Finally, on August 3rd it was announced that WPT was bought by Gamynia Limited.

Who?

No one has ever heard of (or, can pronounce) this company. Ok then, time to Google…

Google returned 461 listings and every single one (I didn’t look at every one, but at least the first 100) had to do with the aforementioned acquisition. This leaves us with two possible scenarios: 1) a couple of moneybags decided that it would be fun to run a struggling televised poker tour with negative returns, created a shell company and away they went or 2) a company that saw a strong strategic fit despite large losses created a shell company and away they went.

I am going with number 2. The press release also gave it away by saying “Gamynia has secured the services of an industry leading online gaming marketing company Hardway Investments Ltd. which will seek to exploit and develop the WPT brands with the goal of maximizing future revenue opportunities.” Ok, online gaming marketing company probably means there is some sort of online gaming plan. So, who is this Hardway company anyway? Time to Google.

Unlike Gamynia the mystery company, Hardway actually has a website. From the looks of it they seem be the holding company for Titan Poker and a couple of online casinos, all of which are on the PlayTech network. They also operate EuroPartners, the official affiliate network operator of PlayTech.

To me this is all starting to seem like a PlayTech-backed play to position a WPT online poker brand in the U.S. once regulation occurs. It makes perfect sense. The WPT doesn’t have the cash or know-how to compete with the big boys, whomever they will be in the future. MGM Mirage? Harrahs? Full Tilt? The Mashantucket Pequot Tribe?  Playtech and Hardway have the cash resources and the know-how to build and market a U.S.-based online poker room. They have done it in the past. Gamynia was simply created as a shell to distance Titan, and other skins that have raked in the U.S., from this deal. That’s my theory and I am sticking with it.

Since the acquisition the stock has dropped back down to about a buck, but someone made some money somewhere…

On July 30th Full Tilt rolled out it’s new version of it’s poker client.

There are two major changes to speak of and one to hardly mention (but I will).

The new automatic tournament deals function  is very slick–if you win tournaments, and irrelevant if you don’t win (like yours truly). In a nut shell, it is a widget that is accessible to players at a final table that allows them to propose deals:

FullTilt Automatic Tournament Deals Screen Shot

The next mentionable update is the new lobby. There are three views:

• Basic. According the the FullTiltPoker.com “Basic View provides an interactive guide that takes you step by step through the process of selecting the game you want to play.” This view isn’t so great if you know exactly what you want to play or you want to browse.
• Standard. This is the default view and brings the filter to the forefront. This has been a long-awaited improvement. (See screen shot below.)
• Classic. Pretty self-explanatory. It was wise for Full Tilt to allow players access to the old view. People tend to not like change, particularly poker players, so this is a nice option.

FullTilt New Default Lobby View

The barely-worth-mentioning update is the user-option to use a pin in addition to their username/password. (I have been told people like pictures in blogs, so I will include this unworthy one)

Login with a pin

Looking at these changes got me thinking about the importance of product in regards to online poker. In future posts I will discuss the five key product differentiators and rate PokerStars and Full Tilt headsup.

1. The software: functionality, stability and appearance
2. The games: variety, schedule, guarantees, non-traditional
3. The clientele: the players and the pros
4. The community: created by the site v. created organically
5. The support: from tech support to cashing out

Stay tuned…