Will the Growth of Online Poker Plateau?
Barron's, a weekly financial magazine, did a cover story on the online poker industry. "Full House: Suddenly, the whole world is playing online poker. A primer for investors" reports that biz is booming with no signs of breaking up just yet. Newbies to the arena will appreciate the overview, moneybags will put their thinking caps on for where to invest next, and veteran players can kick back and day-dream about the all the money they'll be taking from beginners wanting to jump into the craze.
So, who wants to bet on the companies making all the betting happen? If you didn't before, you might want to ask your broker to look into it.
The surge in Sportingbet's stock has occurred amid a gambling frenzy on Wall Street. Shares of MGM Mirage have nearly doubled in the past year to 78, and Wynn Resorts has risen 120% to 74. Las Vegas Sands, an operator of casino properties in Las Vegas and Macau, went public in December at 29 and now trades for 50, giving it an industry-high market value of $17 billion.
News to me was that the company that brought us World Poker Tour (ticker symbol: WPTE) went public six months ago. It started at $8 per share and is now at $19.25.
The company's chief financial officer, Todd Steele, tells Barron's WPT wants to become the "NBA of poker." The company currently generates most of its revenue from licensing World Poker Tour programs to the Travel Channel.
The online version of the Barron's article is for subscribers only, but two-week free trials are available for the extremely curious.
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EPT's French Open Defies the Odds
Brad Willis (aka "Otis") is blogging the European Poker Tour for PokerStars, and he's just completed the second of four tournaments, this one in Deauville, France. The final showdown was between a couple of pals from Seattle who live within shouting distance of each other (a dream version of last year's Bay 101 Shooting Star). Next up for the tour and the excellent EPT blog -- Vienna and Monte Carlo.| Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [0] |
Why Didn't We Think of That?
Sponsonships are a surging trend in tournament poker. You currently see a lot of logo-ware from online qualifiers as part of their deal with the sites they played their way in on. The next logical step is for professionals to wear the names of sponsors for the TV cameras to see (think pro golf, not NASCAR). In fact, several of the biggest names in poker are signed by Poker Royalty, which lists sponsorships as one of its main "income producing opportunities." That said, you've got to give credit to Jeremy Enke, a self-confessed "very good middle-limit Hold'Em player," who has decided to auction off his services as a poker-playing billboard. The catch? He wants at least $150k. The other catch? He wants to wear a pink bunny suit the whole time. Other than that, it's very straight-forward. He won't smoke or drink while on duty. He'll blog voluminous trip reports. And he'll be really funny when he appears on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Seriously, Jeremy, good luck. I think you might want to lower the starting bid a smidge, but otherwise, you've somehow managed to encapsulate all that is glorious and ridiculous in our culture, in one goofy eBay auction. Godspeed through Fremont Street, Pink Bunny!| Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [0] |
Commerce Classic is Underway
The 10k event at the L.A. Poker Classic started yesterday at the Commerce Casino. They drew 538 entries, which adds up to $1.85 million for first place. Blow-by-blow updates can be found at Mike Paulle's blog on over PokerPages. So far, a lot of big names have gone down swinging, but there are so many big names in poker these days, there are still plenty left in action, including Barry Shulman, Phil Hellmuth, Dan Harrington, Young Phan, Greg Raymer, and Kathy Leibert. Among the 200 or so remaining players, Chris Ferguson, Men the Master, Johnny Chan, and Paul Phillips are all on short stacks.| Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [0] |
New Fiction Title for Poker Fans
Via the New York Post, we've learned that debut novelist Adam Fawer has written Improbable, a scientific thriller set in the world of New York poker clubs. From the Publisher's Weekly blurb, it sounds a bit more 24 than 2-4 suited (a beautiful rogue CIA agent, a schizophrenic twin brother, etc. etc.), and the user reviews on Amazon are, like most titles, a mixed bag, ranging from enthusiastic praise to ALL-CAPS scorn. Still, if you have to feed your poker jones with a book and you're tired of the how-tos, you might want to pick it up.
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Poker Superstars is a Superblowout
NBC aired the final table of the Poker Superstars Invitational before yesterday’s big game. And while it was as
lopsided a final table as you’ll ever hope to see, considering the parity of the players’ skill, it was still fairly
entertaining to watch. The commentary was ably handed my Erick Lindgren and Matt Vasgersian, with bust-out interviews
by Evelyn Ng. Johnny Chan’s arc was the most compelling, within a hair of being eliminated first, he came back to place
second.
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'Super System 2' is Out
Doyle Brunson’s new book is out. We haven't had time to read it, yet. (C'mon folks, it's not exactly a pamphlet.) When we do, we'll post a full write-up on the New Testament of poker. Chapters include "The History of No-Limit Texas Hold'Em" by Crandall Addington; "Online Poker" and "No-Limit Hold'Em" by Doyle himself; "Limit Hold'Em" by Jennifer Harman; and the ever-popular "Triple Draw" by the omnipresent Daniel Negreanu.
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WPT to Lend Brand to Online Poker Room
It seems that the World Poker Tour is going to extend its global brand by offering real-money games to online
players. According to a press release, they’re teaming with WagerWorks, a UK company, to roll out a site in mid-2005.
Here’s the twist: No US players will be allowed, since gambling is verboten is the US excerpt in designated locales.
I’m sure this may come as a shock to many of the WPT’s current fans, who are spending their time (and money) at
PokerStars, Party Poker, UltimateBet, Paradise Poker, and the myriad other sites out there. Of course, WPT would be
insane to stay out of this market, even without the US players, the online gaming business is raking in many millions
of dollars, per day. It’s hard to say no to that kind of cash…
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How to Build a Poker Table
There are several tutorials out there for enterprising home-game gurus who’d like to build a poker table rather than
buy one. This one by Jeff Croft
just popped up on delicious. It’s from early last year, but the comments have evolved to include a lot of reader
advice. So if you want to make your spouse even madder at your poker obsession, just head down to Home Depot , buy some
supplies, and get sawing…
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The Big Game Before the Big Game
Last year, NBC aired the WPT Tournament of Champions before the
Super Bowl, in an effort to tear some fans away from the pre-game buildup on CBS. Worked like a charm, too. Garned a
whole lot of poker-crazed eyeballs. This year, NBC is back with the finale of the Poker Superstars Championship, the
$400k buy-in event that’s been airing on Fox Sports. In case you haven’t caught an episode, the players in this
multi-round tourney are Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, T.J. Cloutier, Barry Greenstein, Gus Hansen, Phil Ivey, Howard
Lederer, and Chip Reese. Nice field, indeed. I’ve seen a few episodes so far, and it’s been compelling. Hopefully, the
final won’t disappoint. The festivities start at 4pm EST.
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