HeroPoker CEO Challenge:

Day 1 & 2
It’s been a whirlwind of 15 days of Hero Poker which all started on May 1, the day my second son was born. Before we decided to start our real marketing, as a company we decided to do a something for US poker players who just wanted some cash. So we put up 15k in a kind of private freeroll with no withdraw restrictions and tried to get out there to ‘regs’ who simply stopped enjoying or wanted to play poker. So, a player could use the cash for rent or get a ticket to Canada or whatever, we just wanted to get that money out there. Basically the prize payout was just to top 30 and had a good structure and we gave it out via PMs in LP and P5s, the two communities that Hero was active with, but we were finding that we weren’t getting any sign ups for it as players weren’t passing on the details (surprise). So we ended up making 2 threads about in and sent some volunteers to let 2p2ers know about it (which ended up being considered spam and one of our volunteers got banned- totally our fault and stupidity). But the password had to be gained via email me directly, which was totally fine. The issue was that at 3am on May 1st in Korea, my wife went into labour.

Now Korea is about 11 hours difference from the US, so 3am on May 1st was like 4pm in the US, so here I was on my iphone emailing back players with the password and then my iphone died. By about 7 am I had my iphone back and was emailing between my wife’s contractions and finally put down my phone when the contractions got to about 10 minutes apart. At 9:33 am my second son was born healthy and I ended up doing all the registration and stayed with my wife until 10 pm and then drove home and started with the emails and work (btw I have never had a formal office in the last 5 years because of travel and the nature of the 24 hour work day) and by 5am had started the tournament to about 340 runners. By 11am the tournament was over and it was good. We set up that tournament to set the direction of what kind of company we wanted to have, and we wanted to do something that helped in whatever small way. By 12pm I had taken a shower and drove back to the hospital to look after things and host visitors (it’s a Korean thing) as she had a room in the hospital and by about 4pm after 36 hours up I passed out for about 6 hours.

Days 3, 4, 5
This gave me a moment to think of what kind of promotion did we want to kick off and immediately I thought of the 300 Spartans, that I wanted to have our own 300 promotion where we’d pay out the top 300. Now, the reason why it was $100 plus $100 cash bonus was because anything less than $100 was, in my experience, pretty meaningless, in that we wanted players to just try out the site and also if players wanted to just withdraw it, they could. Now for players how wanted to keep playing there was this additional $100 cash bonus that had a play through on it. Now in retrospect, I should have maybe done something other than cash bonus because on Hero, it’s going to take players a long time to clear it, even if they have 3 months (but I had to set the bonus at what the network guideline are due to the pending June 1st deadline for falling in line with network policy). So it was the 30k plus 30k freeroll. I actually discussed with my country marketing managers and they said, it was good this way. I didn’t want to make it 60k cause that would have just been marketing bullshit and that was the thing we were most trying to avoid.

Thing is, when I looked at the competitive space, I realized that promoting via PR or bonuses was useless, simply that player had lost so much confidence that this wasn’t the time to come in with some type of marketing message, rather, just being as up front as possible. So in many respects, yes, we branded this promotion, but most of all, we just wanted to say, ‘hey we don’t need your deposit or aren’t going to promise you the world here, but if you’re free on a Sunday, why not give us a shot.’ And with the top 300 getting paid out the $100 plus $100, it was a pretty no risk thing for players to look into. But it really helped that Stars had started to give out the payout to US players and had announced it late April. It gave us confidence to proceed as it was just a really difficult situation to be in to really promote a relatively new site (having launched at the Aussie Millions in Feb 2011)..

When I was doing my Masters in business, my strategy professor, who had his Phd from Harvard Business School was this really nice pudgy harmless looking guy, but when he spoke about business, it was always, ‘you have to corner the competition, crush em into the grown, cut their legs, make a beach head here or destroy them…’ and I’ve always approach the competition that way as well, I see the imagery, but when I looked at the market, all I saw was darkness. There weren’t actually any competitors, but there was really nothing, and I was like, ‘gee, I was not trained for this’ and the only thing that I could think of was to just be as out there as possible. No senior executive would ever post on these forums for their life of their career or jobs, it’s just plain suicide cause if you just tow the party line, they you’re a dead duck and will be ridiculed to no end, but if you show who is behind the curtains, you might be shooting yourself in the foot. But in this case, anything less than me as the CEO going out simply just being as forthright as possible was just a waste of time for everyone. And there were two places I knew that if I was going to get people to take Hero as a real option, it would be there: TwoplusTwo and DonkDown. But in no circumstance would I have ever thought to engage these two communities after only a few months after launching, but I was committed at that point.

Day 6 & 7 Twoplustwo
I had actually gotten the go head to post by twoplustwo and donkdown a couple of days earlier, but honestly I was nervous and so I ended up posting the promotion up on LP and P5s first because I was already known there. But on day 6, I took about three hours to compose my first post and went for it, just being a forthright as possible. But within just 4 posts, I had been called out on the fact that we had spammed week before (and again it wasn’t right, so I had apologized and it was graciously accepted) and I got hit with the questions that no senior executive in this industry would ever answer or could…and it was the moment of truth.

Sure I had answer these types of questions previously at P5s or LP, but the difference is that we were active on those sites before Black Friday, so the questions came as the situation developed, but here I was facing some brutally tough questions that were easily answered among private industry people, but out on a public forum of poker players..?... So I remember, looking up at the ceiling and thinking, ‘ok Dave, this is time to man up and get at it, you knew this was what you were getting in to,’ and then I continued to stare at the ceiling a bit longer and then went at it and took the plunge. But I’ve been lucky. Thing is, most players, and I don’t care if you’re team pro whatever, they just don’t have the same level of understanding of what is really going on because they view it from a players point of view. But the thing is with twoplustwo, there is just so much knowledge amassed here that members actually have a really good outline of how things really work, even if they don’t know the exact details. So while it has been very difficult, it has been also very productive because I’ve gotten some really focused business questions (which I do enjoy) and they have allowed me to also have this dialogue and further articulate what was on my mind. It’s as though I’m back at PwC in a really hardcore strategy meeting and we’re bouncing comments off of each other and I’ve become better for it on many different levels and for two days I buried myself in twoplustwo….but in the meantime on at DonkDown…

Days, 8, 9, 10 Donkdown
The management at DD, Todd (Dandruff) & Bryan (Micon), had announced their new sponsor as Hero Poker to mixed reviews. They had done this on the 6th, but it wasn’t until the 8th did I actually have a chance to post there and it was a pretty big fail. It was a fail because I was trying to be a bit humorous, but the fact is I’m not one of those humorous guys. Also I don’t completely understand American humour, even though I love America because they liberated my country twice, once from Imperial Japan and part of the UN force during the Korean War against those North Korean fucking commie bastards, and that in my home at least, General MacArthur is consider the perfect man created by God, I just don’t’ get the American humour all the time. But I wanted to fit in with what DonkDown represented.

I had been listening to DonkDown for about a month previously and what I thought about Dandruff and Micon was that they were really spot on with their logic and conclusions and had their ear to the ground. They really were listening and were objective and simply quite sophisticated in their understanding even though they masked with a great deal of profanity, random sexual comments and general eccentricities. They were extremely raw, but no one could deny them of being direct and truthful. The first things they mentioned to me was that even though I was a sponsor and they’d take my money, that they would tell it like it is and not to expect differently. And I was, ‘great, exactly what I am looking for’, and I think they thought, ‘this guy has no idea who he just sponsored does he?’

So by the time I had started my sticky thread on Donkdown, it was already the late on the 8th (nearly a day had gone by) and there were many unanswered posts from the original introduction thread. But at that point I was taking care of 3 forums and had purposely left donkdown to the end. The way I work is pretty systematic, if I touch something I will finished it, so if I start on a particular project or task, I’ll take it as far as it can go, then move on to the next task. I’m not a multi-tasker, I prefer to simply get them all done then move on instead of juggling things where I can’t focus. But the more complex the task, I’ll leave to the end so I can just work uninterrupted on it. I call it my ‘machine mode’ where I don’t’ eat, drink or blink, but just focus and do it and for this donkdown forum I wanted to have the space to reply properly because it was very unfamiliar territory. But I left it for nearly a day as things start to build up on the other sites, and it was uber frustrating to watch as the thread went quite negative due to my lack of response, but again, I’m not the kind of guy that can jump around, so by the time I got the thread, I had a good on page of full on ‘who the fuck is this guy and what the fuck is he doing in our forum? Gtf outta here..’ And it was just as difficult as twoplustwo, but on a different level.

Donkdown’s community is very tight and very protective of one another and I still couldn’t understand the humour or nuances of the community. But they came at things with logic, but also with a lot of passion and we very direct. But of course material wise I knew what I wanted to say, but I have to tell you my professional image is very different on donkdown than anywhere else, but I tell you, I don’t feel like I’m the sponsor there lol.

Day 11 Radio
So I’m up waiting for the radio show and I won’t comment on what was on the show other than I had waited like one and half hours past my appointed time and took the call when I was driving to see my wife at hospital (she was in a post partum recovery clinic with our newborn-normal thing in Korea). But I hadn’t slept for about 24 hours and was wired on 8 cups of coffee because I wanted to be clear headed when I took the call. But I ended up missing about 20 minutes of the show before I went on, so I missed a lot of their inside jokes when then reference it to me during the call and I was like thinking, ‘damn it, I don’t get what they are saying, this American humour is killing me‘, but it was good and I did end off with why I did like DonkDown…’I know you guys have no problem biting the hand that feeds you, but if you guys bite me, I probably deserved it, so for that, I’m happy to be a sponsor with DD’. But we had this freeroll for DD members, and you know what, they were really are just a great community of ‘degenerates’ (I mean that in the best possible way) and I won’t even go into how they used the password to the freeroll for evil purposes lol.

Day 12-15
I basically became a single dad during this period with my mother-in-law helping, I basically fed my 2 year old son, steak, potato chips, candy and TV for the entire 15 days with my mother-in-law feeding him one proper meal a day. During the day, I’d take him out and make him run around for 2 hours until he was so tired I’d have to carry him in, give him a banana and water and he’d pass out. Then in order to make my son sleep I put the baby seat in the front and pulled the front seat as far back as it would go (so not to be close to the air bag-I know still not safe) and I would put down all the windows and we’d cruise in the nighttime and eat MacDonald’s take out (it isn’t that easy to find in Korea) until he would pass out after about 45mins, then I’d take him to bed and get back on the comp. Ok, I’m a pretty traditional Korean guy, and while modernity has caught up with Korea, it’s not like I know what I’m really doing, but some nights, I’d just sleep with him for about 5 hours straight just because he missed his mom so much that he’d wake up crying and missing her so much. So, I’d be sleeping beside him and then he’d cry a bit, go back to sleep and I’d check my iphone for emails, reply as much as I could then pass out again.

So finally the day of the tournament comes, and guess what, it is also the day my wife comes home from the clinic with the newborn, so I’m cleaning up the house, throwing out all the junk food and doing emails in between the time. Now why did I plan it on the same day, well I didn’t but my wife was discharged one day earlier than she expected. Wonderful; so in the last day, we get the majority of sign ups and I’m so paranoid like nuts that someone is going to get the password that shouldn’t and so I’m checking as many IPs as I can etc. And by mistake a player emails me for the password and I recognize the name, and send him the pw, but then I have this bad feeling so I double check and he is one of my non US players. So I politely tell him he can’t play in the freeroll cause it’s for US players, but he doesn’t respond, so I msg him in client, then bribe him with some tournament tickets not to tell anyone or post it anywhere. And for the next hour, look to see if the numbers spike, which thankfully they don’t. I manage to finish the tournament at 300, and then tournament keeps on going! Lol! And so everyone starts going all-in and its crazy just nuts and then what is even nuttier, some players want to play it through! So the tournament lasts another 30 mins or so. And I wish everyone well, answer as many emails/pms as I can, then go pick up my wife and newborn. I have now spend the last 2 days protecting my 2nd son from my 1st son and still giving my 1st son as much love as daddy can, so we went driving today to a late night run on Macdonalds….’

15 days & 40 hours of sleep, totally not sustainable, but I'm on the other side...

Cheers,
Dave

*This blog entry was made for the communities I actively participate in & expect two announcements today regarding Hero Poker.

Cliffs:
-had a hard 15 days, but it was good in launching Hero Poker

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Comments (11)

THE BEST OF THE BEST
I get asked, a lot, why did I leave my regional director's position at Stars. Even with all the craziness that has been the last two weeks, Stars is still the best poker company out there hands down. If there was any doubt, just look at the fact that Stars is doing the US cash outs and they even brought up the issue of the FPPs with the DOJ. Truth be told, I was concerned for the company when 'it' all happened, but once they were able to secure their dot com name again, I knew they had made it through.

BECOMING GOOD
Before I was at Stars I was with PricewaterhouseCoopers as a senior consultant and also with a Korean gov't agency as senior analyst. I have always been on the strategy side of things and while I moonlighted as a fashion brand license negotiator, my own enjoyment of working on competitive strategy is just euphoric for me. But the problem with all 'strategy guys' is that they are never held accountable to execute the strategy. Sure, they know who they need and what roles, but could they themselves really do what they state 'needs to happen'. While, there is a divide between strategy and operations at a middle manager or analyst level, at the executive board level, there isn't. You must be a proven operator and strategist or else you won't have the real chops to compete with the big boys, cause while the pimple faced stock analysts think they know what are the key success factors, they ain't no way they could ever lead or direct a company into a market leader.

What my point is, when I got into Stars, I was an exceptionally hard worker, but besides strategy, my hands were relatively soft for operations. But when I was an immigrant kid, I worked regularly in my father's variety store, and I freaking hated it. I hated the mindlessness of it all, the fake smiles when the customer tells you off because your candy bars are five cents more expensive than the store 3 blocks away or when the stock comes in during the busiest time and you're watching out for shoplifters on top of that. And trying to study or do anything productive is just impossible as you keep reading the same 2 times 10 times over cause of random nature of the transactions. I hated it, but I did it cause my family needed me to work there because my older brother refused, my younger brother wasn't the multi-tasking type and my parents knew I took whatever I did very seriously, cause I wanted to make things better always. I felt, 'hell, if I'm gonna be here, then I'm gonna do it right.' From how to pack the bags quicker, to prepping coffee filters or making friends with the caught shoplifters and getting them to monitor the store while I gave them free cigarettes, I ensured that my parents chained me to that damn variety store for all my high school existence. But it was never my forte, I would be exhausted from trying to apply everything I thought should be right, I was born a strategy guy who just wants to see thing work out.

HAVE TO GIVE RESPECT
So when I was at Stars, I didn't start entirely as a strategy guy, I started with my main profession as a business negotiator. Now I won't get much into it, but of course, understanding strategy plays a major in negotiating because if you really want to score a big partnership, it's not a joint venture made through bargaining, but creating a competitive value between the two companies that can give them an edge that they couldn't have otherwise. That seems straightforward enough, but usually its not the case as usually its more like, 'you have this that I want, and I can give you this that you may want and if it makes sense as a fair exchange, then lets do it.' Now in Asia, you go in with just trying to make a fair exchange or try to pull a fast one, you're in for a rude awakening, cause this ain't the 1970's anymore and the people you want to do business with Asia aren't hurting for anyone's business, especially in gaming. But after closing out some tough contracts and making some hard executive decisions that worked out for the company, I got my shot at being regional director. It was gracious of them to give me that chance, was I the most qualified for it? Yes, but with or without me or the success of the Asia market, Stars is still Stars, made on the hard work and fortitude of those who founded it.

IT'S ALWAY BEEN ABOUT BEING A BOUTIQUE
It's one thing working for a market leader and its an entirely different thing in starting and growing a company into a market leader. And unfortunately my experience with poker is a bit strange. I was introduced to poker by Elky as we lived together and most of the players I know are either pros or online grinding machines. Also, when working in Asia and introducing poker to players for the first time, I was always dealing with convincing baccarat players that while there are two cards, it wasn't about luck but skill or new players who wanted to learn in a classroom like setting. But for me, the average poker player was a Pro, online 18 table grinder or a newly converted high stakes baccarat player who loves to shove all-in in any position preflop if he liked the cards. But when I officially joined Stars in 2007, I can remember the obsession of Elky when Super Nova was announced the year or so before and he decided he was going to go for it and be the first one and he just killed it. By 2010, Super Nova had evolved to into additional tiers and now there was a class called 'Super Nova Elite'. At first this was such a small handful of players and for good reason, it's a hardcore commitment of focus and time. But soon this group of SNE became a significant part of Stars and are a really valued member of Stars and I probably have had a disproportionate amount of exposure to them.

Thing is, whether it was the card room in Macau, the tournaments across Asia or these SNE, I think my player interaction at Stars was always to see every player as high value. I mean you have a satellite qualifier coming to Seoul or Macau for the first time and they may have never had a passport even previous to the trip, its a big deal to show them a good time and provide that experience that will last a life time. In that respect, I think at the higher echelon of players, Stars really does act as a boutique site. I never really thought about as much as I do now as Stars has started the payouts to the US players and show what kind of company they really are. Simply the best out there, regardless how you may think they can improve, relative to the market, I think it's a fact.

SNE FOR ALL
In many respects, what I decided when I took on this role was to do the exact opposite, but I'm finding myself doing the same thing except for me, every player on my site is a high valued player, regardless if they play micro stakes or grind 1/2. I put myself out there so that I can know as many players that sign up and I will continue to do so because it really is the only thing I can directly control. You have no idea how much more critical I am than the players who point out all the short comings of the client and service. But just like Merge agreed to take on Hero, Hero agreed to represent Merge because we both see the potential of each other. In Merge's team I see a more socially nerdy version of what was at Stars. When SC2 just came out, and I was visiting their offices, the CTO organized a lan event for me after work as they were interested in playing an average Korean SC2 player, and even though I rocked their world and crushed their hope to live (sick brag!), it was uber comfortable to know them on that level. What people don't realize about real money poker software is that there are two major issues that create a great level of complexity, security and scalability which is further compounded by multi-tabling and the main focus is simply 1 thing, 'smooth stability and consistency' in the context of meeting the conditions of security and scalability and it's is an extreme rough job when the client is live. That being said, I have 100% confidence in Merge, and I'm saying that as former Stars executive; they have everything it takes to be great and it isn't a coincidence that its Merge that is growing over others at this point.

ONE TIME FOR ALL TIME
When I left Stars, I wanted another challenge and I was burned out. Stars graciously offered me time to recover and come back to the role, but I thought, 'I'm in my mid-30's now, and do I want to settle now and rest on my laurels? I mean the next few years will be the years when I can still do something really great in business, where I have that optimal balance of energy/stamina/experience. And whether foolish or not, I decided to move on without 100% securing my next position. I'd say there absolutely no one who I spoke with that said I was doing the right thing, most responses were a blank look of 'why?'. And now I'm here, while its been a rough road to get here, I do things exactly as my mind sees them and I reckon/think and I think I've become 3 times the business professional that I was in just a year.

THE BOLD WANT IT
May 2011 marks the start of our promotions at Hero, it's where I all the planning and preparation comes to bear and where I take of the kids gloves and start playing for real. The events of April have forced me to consider many more issues that I thought were far into the future. But fortune favours the bold, not because the bold are foolish and reckless, but because the bold reach out and clearly say, they want this, they will have it.

I want this with all my heart, devotion, mind, focus and passion that Hero can be a site among sites as the truest boutique site for all our players. I hope you can be bold with me and that we can go all the way together, as we will never be Stars, but what we'll do, we'll do as Heroes. We will do it.

Sincere Regards,
David
Hero Poker CEO


SUMMARY:
-Stars is the best hands down
-While I came into Stars with a good strategic background, I learned really about what VIP service is all about more than anything else
-In that respect, I've always seen Stars as a boutique VIP service
-But for Hero, it's not about being Super Nova Elite, its a boutique site for all our players from direct assess to me to our valuing of each player as a VIP
-Merge as a network is very good, I say that with no bs and I say that back with my own professional experience, and we are good for each other Hero and Merge.
-It wanted a real challenge and now I have it with Hero
-I hope you will share this with me, while we will never be Stars, we can be F-ing Heroes.

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Comments (14)

A few days ago the contractions stopped but now we are admitted to the hospital and the contractions are like 10 mins apart. Am still working between contractions will keep you updated later
Cheers.
Dave

553 am update

Lol the contractions are like going away but when they come they are uber strong. I think this is going to be a long labour. The contractions are now 20 mins apart now. Looks like I'm working on the iPhone for the rest of the day now.


Update 623 am.
Doc says since it is second baby definitly coming out in 2 to 4 hours.
May 1st baby hehe.

Update 747 am
doc says looks like just one more hour till our second child. Wife is doing well.

Baby boy born 9:30 am! All good and thanks to all the well wishers. No name yet but I want Gunhee as our first son is Gunoo but my wife will decide this time. ^^

cheers all!

11:44 PM

Convinced my wife to accept the name Gunhee! Whoot, its a big deal. But looking for an English name, our first born's English name is Ethan, but we are going to change it to Alexander, it was a toss up between the two originally, but my wife wants it now to be Alexander, so I guess.. Tom is a good name? ^^

Any suggestions for a intelligent and powerful name?

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Comments (28)

So it's been a crazy couple of weeks. The network that Hero is on, Merge, has now become the top 10 site in the world for player liquidity and probably within 2 months will be in the top 5. http://www.pokerscout.com/ poker scout, industry site.

I had this plan, to take things step-by-step and not jump the gun and in my mind the end game was always to compete with the big boys. I don't fear them, I know what goes on inside their companies, and given enough time, I didn't have any doubt in my mind that I could at least compete.

But given what has happened over the past 2 weeks, it was my natural reaction to simply wait before I did anything rash and to continue with my strategy. I'm a conservative business guy, 9/10 times, its the conservative business guy that makes the money; the reality in business is there is no such thing as high risk high return. Business is more like tournament poker, you stack size matters, your position matter more, and it ain't that simple to reload/rebuy; you blow your stack, you're bye bye. But you also need that break, to double up on someone and get some momentum and play off your table image and control the table, otherwise you're going to be reliant on just your cards, and poker and business isn't that one-dimensional.

I had coffee today with a close family friend. I wont' get much into who is he, but we meet about a couple times of month, purely social. But we spoke and basically he asks me, 'putting aside the general environmental risk that all the existing players have to deal with, how is your company in relation to who is left?' I never actually thought about it, my mind has always been so focused on getting to 'one day' where I could compete against PS/FTP/Party that I've never thought about seriously being a competitor here and now. In many ways I look at what the other network sites are doing and think, 'damn couldn't they have least tried to pick a better name?' and I mean who cares about being the #1 network site when there is such a big gap in absolute terms to the market.
So I say...

'never really thought about it, but obviously on a purely operational/business level, I think its a pretty even playing field, but potential wise I think they are limited...other than lots of affiliates, that's pretty much the only difference'

'then why don't you go for it now?'

I never asked myself this, I've never been a short term oriented person. Plus, with what happened, it wasn't like I was personally divorced from it all, I was also in shock and through more about what players were going through. That being said,the network continues to take US players and I've restructured with that in mind to secure our player's bankrolls, so why not go for it? Because if players make their own choice to play, then why not give them Hero Poker as an option as well, especially if I think I can be the best of what is out there for the players. Sure PT/FTP is clearly a better choice overall, but Hero verse what is out there?

It's not my place to say to players, 'no worries, come and play', but rather, if you make a decision to play, at least I can say, playing on Hero would be your better option. Give me a month to ramp up to this, and I can show the competition and players what's up.

Cheers,
David

Summary:
-was focused on just building out a brand to be able to compete with the big boys
-market has changed considerably
-still following network policies and restructured company accordingly
-but right here and now, among my network site peers, I know Hero can provide better service/value
-give me a month to see if that is true..

LP35% RB HeroPoker.com site link
http://record.heropoker.com/_ZvdkqjISoXGVAv0U_Fv2nWNd7ZgqdRLk/1

LP 35% direct dl link here
http://www.liquidpoker.net/news/969168/After-shock:_where_to_play_now_

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Comments (8)

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." Robert F. Kennedy

So as of now, I've stopped posting at P5s. Not because they weren't such a great site/community, its just that they are very US facing and I really didn't know what I should be doing with them as they have a lot of partner sites. But of course, I think I'm more comfortable here at LP. It took me a long time to come over here from LP but it gets friendlier every day keke.

Being an Executive or CEO of a start-up
What really defines an executive, is one that make decisive decisions...the hard decisions that no one wants to make or are too scared to make. The real executive seems to the guy who steps in and is contrarian, when everyone is just trying to save their jobs. I thought really highly of myself as a world class executive cause I was aggressive, ballsy and usually was the only one to make a clear statement.

But being a CEO and running a start-up is so much freaking harder- just because, as an executive, what major decisions you make either make more or less profit or revenue. As the CEO of a start-up it seems that every decision you make forces the company to move one entire way or another. It doesn't matter about how much money you have to spend, its a matter of where and when do you commit your capital to get what you want; and that main objective is to simply establish your company.

Establishing the Company
What does that mean, establish your company? For me in this uber competitive environment, it means make it clear what the company offers, stands for, essentially the brand. And while a lot of marketing guys think they know what a brand is or for a lot of people it sounds superficial; I'll say this, making a true brand is all about sincerity.

There isn't a brand in the world that has a clear life of its own that isn't authentic or sincere. The brand may represent something you like or don't like, but whatever it represents, it is authentic and sincere-otherwise, its just a fake ass brand which requires a lot of marketing dollars and spin to continue to live. Its kind of like a guy who really has great friendships by being just himself or a guy who tries to always impress the people around him by being charming etc. Same difference. So for me, I put this in front of the revenue, etc, cause until I can say, hey, our company really does stand for...abc...then I will know we'll be alright.

For the Ideals of a Company
So, today I made one of those decisions, I committed a bit of funds, not towards marketing, but just to define our brand. I allocated the funds with a zero return on spend, meaning, I don't expect to make anything from the 'event'. But I feel good about it because I feel that it really is a defining moment for our company. Basically I set up tournament for players who have been at a disadvantage of late due to the events regarding 'black Friday'. If you're interested in participating cause you are a US citizen and you're really bummed out, then PM me and I'll get you under LP etc. I don't know if it will really make you feel better, but its my hope for some players it will.

I kinda feel as though this is the decision that will truly define our company, and it seems like such a small thing, but I think in the future if I am to look back at this time, it will be the most critical time where Hero Poker became a real poker company and not just another skin.

Sorry for the vagueness, just PM if you want details if you are US player and just really bummed out.

Cheers,
Dave

Summary
-executives make hard decisions
-CEO of start-ups make life or death decisions
-brand or company identity is probably the most important thing
-I think I've made one of those critical decisions for the company's identity but it doesn't help revenues
-But to me, this worth much more than revenue now, I think its a defining moment for the company
-If you are a US player and just really bummed out because your bankroll is still pending,
PM me, I don't know if what I can tell you really will help, but its something sincere from Hero.

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Comments (7)

We haven't even packed the hospital bag cause it is our second child, so we've been taking things pretty easy,
but now she is starting to have some very minor contractions and so now we're packing the hospital bag.

We live about 40 mins outside of Seoul, but our hospital is in Seoul because I wanted my second son to be born at the same hospital cause it was very good,
but I was expecting to move in with my brother-in-laws family this week and stay there which is about 5 mins from the hospital. The actual expected due date is May 3rd, but since last week the baby is already grown enough to be born at a healthy weight. Our first child was actually 1 week late, so we both figured that the second was going to be the same...apparently not! lol.

Mmm...well its 2:23am now in Korea, I guess I'll find out if they get stronger in the next hour, but even if they are like 1 hour apart,
we're headed off to Seoul to at least stay with my brother-in-law, as the labour for the second birth is quite quick.

I'll update if we actually leave the house tonight. I'd hate to leave during rush hour traffic in Seoul, if that is the case we're like to have the baby in Ilsan where we are now (much cleaner and spacious here than Seoul).

Cheers,
Dave

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Comments (22)

So I'm here in Macau until tomorrow morning and I'm here meeting casino owners cause they are asking me to consult for them for this and that project, flew in here from Korea and was in Japan two days before hand. I hate flying.

Coincidentally, there are two full tilt pros here playing in the big cash game at Galaxy Starworld, Tom was here about a month ago, but right now there is just John and Ivey. They are really nice guys, I don't have a bad thing to say about them. Ivey just crushed, crushed a business man heads up last night for a sik amount of cash, just crushed. Business man knew he was going to get crushed, but being a rich Chinese business man, he wanted to show he is fearless...to each their own I guess. But yeah, I think those two are really great guys.

One of the pros I really like a lot is Erick Lindgren, I met him in Japan and hung out with for a fews days a year and half ago and we met again at the Aussie Millions this year as he was at the same table as my own Hero Poker Pro Gavin Griffin. Sadly, Erick wasn't on this trip, but I think he is a really cool guy, a real man's man you know, they kind you drink a beer with and shoot the shit with.

I've always had a lot of respect for all the pros I've worked with such as Joe Hachem, Lee Nelson, Fossilman... and I don't count Elky cause he is family. But of course I'm most proud of my own Pros,
Gavin, Terrence, Mig, Rekrul, Ewing & Powell because they aren't so young, but not old yet and there represent a lot of real hard fought achievement and they are always getting better or trying to be better.
I just signed on a new regional pro that will be announced in May, a very different pro, but has my respect and has notable achievements.

I've also signed on a model, and so I'm not going to be shy about that I picked her cause she is smoking hot and yes there will be lots of pics forth coming. But she is really quite intelligent, 3 languages does acting as well, etc. But my thinking is very much a Korean man's thinking, so I figure, if you're gonna sign a female player to represent the site, it doesn't necessarily mean she needs to be the best woman's player, but if she is willing to learn the game, and she is more of a celebrity type sponsored player.

I think I will be adding in a online pros section as well, I haven't gotten the structure down yet, but right now I think: Team, Regional, Celebrity and Online is more than the mainstream standard. I reckon there is only value in that if you are going mainstream, and just online pros alone, well I think that is useless or just celebrity pros alone is even more of a waste of money. But even with the model, she is a knockout but she is uber capable, professional and a real fighter, I am really proud to have gotten her on board, she really is the total hero package for our brand.

But things are happening quite fast nowadays, my second son will be born approximately May 2nd, and then after a week I should fly off to the new market launch, then come back after a couple of weeks and manage things from Korea. I'm trying not to think too much of about what people are going through in the US, it really does pain me, especially when I read about guys who have kids, that really kills me cause I know exactly how it feels. exactly.

I do spend my day thinking of ways to contribute and I hope that I will in the long run be a respected part of the international poker community as a responsible executive.

Cheers,
David

Summary:
-in Macau and so are Ivey and John
-Ivey crushed a rich Chinese business guy last night HU, crushed
-I really think Erick Lindgren is the man
-I love my pros, they rock the free world
-Have a new regional pro, and celebrity model pro
-will likely launch some online pros as well
-fuck, I really feel bad when I think about the US still and those guys with kids as I have 1 with one due in early May

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Comments (13)

I've spend the last couple of days reading through many forum posts and fielded many calls from those close to me and in the industry.

When I asked my sponsored pros to come on, I didn't give them a minimum requirement to play on the site because I knew that a lot of their income was derived from playing on the major sites and I was more than fine with that. The reason being was that, while they do play on Hero Poker, I respect that they need to do the things they need to do to be the best poker player that they can be, and that does mean playing on other sites, including PS and FT.

And a couple of days ago, there was really nothing I could say,
for Hero Poker, I basically said, 'yes, we're fine' and then advised them the best I could, regarding what is going on,
but the bottom line is, for many many many players, this was very unexpected. As an industry exec, it wasn't that shocking, in fact most people in the industry thought this was going to happen a couple of years before;
but at the end of the day, this is such an unimaginable blow to so many poker players who took this as a career and are from the States and it has ramifications well beyond the States.

All I can feel is a such a great deal of sympathy and just left speechless at the level of damage done to individual poker players with their own lives and bankrolls and plans and own financial security. And while people outside of poker may think that my words are an exageration, but it does feel like a poker tsunami just smacked right into the US and then suddenly all the lights went out.

I really didn't want to say much on the subject when it first happened: I don't want to fuel any flames or make any assumptions, but of course I do have my own industry perspective which may be a bit more informed that what is out there in the media. But now after a couple of days I think there is a need to address it and while people are still in a lot of shock, I'm not try to say anything to make anyone feel shittier, but because I respect the gravity of the situation and the people it affects, I'm willing to give my perspective.

The one point I'll start with is:there is a significant difference between voluntarily leaving a market and being forced to do so; one side is pre the act of enforcement, and one side is a reaction to enforcement. On one side you have the insinuated penalties that may or may not really exist/happen, on the other side you have the actual stated penalties which are trying to be actively applied to the case which now need to be dealt with one by one.

It is a hard for me to write any of this, on both a personal and professional level, but I wanted to say; this will be a long road, I can't see it being otherwise, but PS is a good company,I have always seen them do the best that can for their players. A company is a company and it is there to make a profit, but I know that Isai would never knowingly put their players at risk. Things may be beyond the control of any one individual's hands at this point, but regardless, I also do think that also this action occurred because the US is close to to legalizing online poker on multiple fronts and levels, so the DOJ needed to make a move before this actually occurred (But this is merely my assumption).

If you want to ask a question and get a proper industry response, then post the question here and I'll answer in point form. I have read many of the responses out there and most people speculating haven't even read the indictment so their opinions are simply meaningless to start with. http://www.scribd.com/doc/53107543/Indictment-DOJ-vs-Scheinberg-Bitar-Tom-et-al

If you are going to ask me a question here, then read the above first, then write it down here.
If the answer is too sensitive to be posted below then I will PM about it and be as direct as I can be.
If it puts me at risk or my company or my players, I will not be able to answer it as I have responsibilities as well.
But I'll still acknowledge that I can't answer it.

While I will not have many of the answers that you are looking for, you're going to get a response that basically a chief executive would get from his director level staff.

I'm doing this as a service to the community here at LP and no where else,
please do not link this to another poker community site,
I will take it down if that is the case.
edit: I also don't have any insider information more than any of you, but I know what is going on from an executive level point of view, so my interpretation of the same news will understand the context involved.

David

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Comments (37)

READY FOR TAKE OFF
I have spent the last two weeks preparing for the Hero Poker's mainstream marketing launch. I wanted to update this blog sooner, but the feedback from LP.net as well as from another community site and my two months in the rakeback market wilderness has truly 'enlightened' me. In the last couple of months since launching Hero Poker, I feel that my path to 'poker start-up' enlightenment has been earned from getting my butt kicked every which way and how. I'm not going to hide the fact that I've always worked for big industry monster companies which had dominate market share and basically could put the best face forward to the customer by manhandling their business partners. It was in this paradise of corporate power did I fancy myself this uber business strategist and I, like some noble knight in shining armour decided that I could face the dragon alone. Needless to say, I'm gotten the beat down and while my expectations were fairly realistic in that this would be sick business challenge, I thought I would have worked things out by now, but I'm only just starting to understand what needs to be done.

GO BIG OR GO HOME
Now this may not sound very confident from a CEO from a new site, but I'm being honest and realistic about the process in that my goal/challenge isn't really that realistic. Hero Poker is a fitting name for a site that really does want to break into the top ten in three years, and we have basically 2 groups of tag lines associate with Hero Poker. One is: Be Epic. For that means to me, go big or go home. And then we have three quotes that really embody the site's player image.

"Nothing is impossible to him who will try"
Alexander the Great

"A person who never made a mistake, never tried anything new"
Albert Einstein

"Glory is Fleeting, but obscurity is forever"
Napoleon Bonaparte

I envisioned for what it means in relation to our 'brand':
1. No matter the challenge, go for it,
2. no matter how difficult it is, you can figure it out, and
3. it's worth it, even if it hurts/pains like a sonuvabitch.

In many respects, that's exactly how I feel about this company as well. I mean, I could simply turn my budget into a rakeback sponsoring budget, clear a certain amount and make a happy company based on the cash flow. Now is this a sustainable situation? Probably not for those skins starting now (likely sustainable for those who have been around for a few years now) but for the immediate future it's as sure as you're going to get.

GOING MAINSTREAM
So, now, after these couple of months, I feel I'm actually ready to engage in the mainstream marketing of Hero Poker to a single market; so you may be asking, why then put yourself through the last couple of months if you were going to do mainstream marketing anyway? There is a couple of reasons for that, the first being that I wanted to understand everything there was to know about running a network site. No matter what assumptions I had about it, the reality proved to be far more complex and difficult to contend with. Also a part of that was giving myself time to adjust myself to running a 'start-up'. To just come in guns blazing and firing on all marketing cylinders and spending like crazy would have been counter productive, because the 'realities' of running a network site, which is limited by liquidity and to be frank, the product itself. So, lets say I did manage to get 10,000 people to check out and sign up on Hero Poker in one month, and that is definitely possible when you have the right marketing channels. How many are really going to stay?

MAKE A STAND
The second point was really being able to say that I know what Hero Poker really represents and whether or not people can at least understand where we stand in comparison to other sites. It's one thing to go out there and say, 'yes, we represent THIS to poker players' and its an entirely different thing for player to actually acknowledge or agree with that. If you read back through my blog, I take a stand that I want to be the best boutique service site out there, that yes, the player can speak with the CEO and the CEO is going to be as honest and out there as possible. Not cause I want to be Dana White and have the spotlight (although personally I think he does very deliberately act the way he does because he is trying to be real-and while not always agreeable- he has done an exceptional job), it's because I remember when I did run a live card room in Macau and while it was an absolutely beautiful and wonderful room, it was not in a high traffic area. And by force of will alone, we kept that room alive, until the point where I was able to move it where it is now as one of the grandest rooms in Macau and I'd say Asia. There were days where I just wouldn't leave and sometimes there was a great cash game going on and I just wanted to stay to make sure that these few players that we had were happy.

NEVER WORK FOR 2nd PLACE
But the time we moved location, I simply knew what we needed to do at our live poker room to make it simply the best-because even when we where the most down at the first place, I never thought my product wasn't good enough or that it was good enough just to survive. I felt as though, I'm here, and if I'm going to be here, then damn it, it's going to work some way or how. Ironically, we did leave when I had figured out all the things we needed to do to really be successful because of the experience of running the room when only the effective/efficient things would work. After all, we didn't have growth or huge foot traffic to gloss over whatever wasn't really contributing to our success and I wouldn't have had the guts to move the room to the new location if I didn't think I knew how to really run the room.

In the same way, I've been preparing this mainstream launch now for the last couple of weeks, but it wasn't until last week where each and every component started to make sense in how they all work together because all mainstream marketing does is bring lots of people to your site and in this regards I am a class A grade monster. I don't need any lessons in how to make an advertisement, the copy, where my SEO (search engine optimization) is lacking, or negotiating agreements with casinos or marketing channels. Hell, I was one of the primary people that legalized poker in Macau and started the poker boom in Asia and I never failed because I wouldn't let my projects fail. But for all the bravado and all the past accomplishments and glory, how applicable were my skills for a new network site which wasn't the biggest poker site in the world?

GETTING STARTED CORPORATE STYLE
Now, I didn't decide one day I'm going to resign from my old job and start a network site, the opportunity came through the new industry that I was 'trying' to get involved with and I realized that I did enjoy the poker industry and while this wasn't the most highest profile challenge, it was the biggest challenge for me on so many levels. And so when I got the initial ok to do this project, I researched and I have to say, I love Merge Network. I thought they have every potential to make it and I think the management and staff are really top-notch and I thought, this is a network that I can grow with. Now of course, that is only from a business management point of view, in terms of where the business is at, well, it is what it is, for now. But, it was obvious that for me to simply do as I did at my previous industry role wasn't going to cut it and the thing is, there isn't any silver bullet that is going to turn a site like Hero Poker into a top 10 site in year or two.

GOOD TO GREAT FTW
There is this seminal industry business book called , 'Good to Great'; every single top CEO and management consultant has read this book and I've probably read it about 4 times cover to cover and have two copies in my home and I have bought this book for nearly every one of my junior executive staff (the ones that had potential lol). I won't get into the details, but it filled with seemingly simple concepts, but was extremely ground breaking when it came out. I'd venture to say, if you don't have a lot of business experience, you simply won't get the impact of it. But to get to the point, the author, Jim Collins, talks about these micro steps that eventually bring a company to a point where there is a critical turning point of growth or development. To the competing companies, it seems as though the choice made by the 'subject company' was extremely radical and game changing. But internally, the turning point/critical decision was simply an undeniable fact/action that needed to be taken, because they had taken these small but constant and deliberate steps to really fully understand their business and competitive position. In the end, no matter how difficult the decision seemed to be, it was clear it was the only obvious step to take because they had already exhausted every point of progress up to that point.

In the same way, I've been taking a lot of small steps, and I wouldn't say baby steps. I had made the decision to launch at the Aussie Millions this past year, not because we were ready for mainstream marketing or that I had figured things out, but that I needed to ensure people knew that we weren't going to just another skin on a rakeback network, that we has aspirations for more, but also that I needed our marketing to hit above our weight class. So getting my pros to Melbourne and getting a film crew down there and just participating in the Aussie Millions, well it was helluva expensive and it was expensive because it wasn't used as a PR marketing ploy to generate awareness of our site and sign ups, but rather to set the tone of company. For the short term, very negative EV, the money spent there, damn, I could have really had a freeroll on P5s that would have been legendary in it's proportions. But as an investment in where our company stands, a really essential business move. And some people in the industry expected me to follow that up with some other massive spends and suddenly have my pros fly into every major tournament and negotiate for my players to play on High Stakes poker as I was fielding calls from poker player agencies. But instead I joined two poker communities to blog. In many respects, wanted to get some 'street cred' and I knew if I could earn it from some regs, then I thought I'd be at least pointed in the right direction. What had bothered me after the Aussie Millions was that I didn't have a clear path in my head, and it wasn't because I hadn't tried to figure it out, it's just that I couldn't figure it out. I just didn't have the experience or the exposure to separate my assumptions from what really would work with Hero Poker.

STRATEGY ANYONE?
When you're a management consultant, you're expected to be an expert in any new industry in about 5 days, enough to have an intelligent conversation with the CEO. So you end up talking with some managers who have been in the industry for the last 20 years and they look at you as if you're some kind of joke, after all, 'how the hell is this kid gonna tell me how things work in this industry?' The first thing is that we still have no idea what is really going on until we do the site visit, when the experience of that career manager, links the associations between everything we've learned and flushes out the key drivers and core/essential factors and allows the consultant this clear picture of what is really going on. Then we turn around and (if we aren't hacks) and we focus our energies to then think of ways to manage the growth of the company or maximize gains or side step the competition. The reason why we can do this is because were aren't focused on the business operation on how things actually get done, rather, we're focused on the strategy of where the company is going and how to get there. We just need to know the industry well enough to know what are the key drivers that can be adjusted and in what order of process and effect. Strategy isn't something that is reset or dealt with every day, it actually has a very limited and specific role in any organization or activity, you generally don't make strategy on the fly or as a middle manager ever really deal with it at any significant level.

I don't need to actually make a rakeback affiliate network to really understand how my company can grow into being a mainstream network site. I don't need to put my site on every single rakeback affiliate out there, but I did need to really understand why and how it works and what that really signifies for a network based site. But thanks to LP.net and the other community site, I can see what needs to be done, when and in what order. Now I'm not going to share that on this blog entry, the knowledge and insight gained has been paid with a lot of sleepless nights. But as Rekrul, tends to say, I'm ready to Monster it.

Our first promotion on Liquid Poker is going to be called 'Zero to Hero: The Road to Greatness' and I'm just finishing it up and it's going to be my main promotional contribution to LP.net moving forward and if you are a new player ready take your bankroll to the next level, it will 'be epic'. Or else I'm really gonna have to go back to the drawing board here.

But, from the 'free roll thread' on LP, I've definitely learn quite a bit and hope to show that quite soon. At this point, it is clear that a freeroll isn't going to be attractive for many of you, but I'm going to make a new format and lets hope the twist on it will make it something special.

Thanks LP.net for being real, I'm just trying to walk the walk.

Cheers,
David
Hero Poker CEO

SUMMARY
-Going to Start Mainstream Marketing
-Why I didn't before is that I needed to establish the core values and services of the brand
-Also, even if I can monster the Mainstream Marketing, what would be the rate of retention
-Once I figured out where my company stood in terms of how the toughest consumers would see it as
-Then I am now ready to go into the mainstream market and start unloading my marketing dollars

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Comments (12)

When I first started at Hero Poker and surveyed the competitive landscape, I said, 'I don't want to do rake races'. Now at an educated site like LP, everyone knows what a rake race is and I would think that all grinders want one.

SKIN=RAKEBACK=RAKERACE=RIGHT?

So as a skin, it's obvious that I should follow suit and do a rake race right? It would be naive not to, but I didn't want to do a rake race as is.
The problem with any new business situation and with a start-up, there is the temptation to simply do as others do and start from there. After all, why re-invent the wheel. That being said for the poker industry, we have that great divide between the network skins and the stand alone sites. It's not to say that standalone sites that give out rakeback do not do rake races, via their affiliates, but it is not their main promotion, whereas for rakeback skins, it is.

I didn't want to simply rely on both rakeback and rake races and pigeon hole our site as another rakeback site. So it has been a much harder start in that regard as the growth we have is very organic. Our players haven't come on board because we have this month's great race promotion, rather, they continue to play for other reasons.

THE OBVIOUS ANSWER IN BUSINESS IS NOT ALWAYS THE BEST
It's always difficult to talk business with players or those who do not have a business background because the first response by those players would be, 'What are you stupid? Do what obviously works, duh.' The problem with that is if everyone is doing what obviously works, how well is it working for getting ahead. No doubt it will keep your company alive for now, but business strategy isn't about keeping your company alive, its about, keeping your company alive and getting ahead.

So as I was beating my head over this entire concept of rake races, which was totally foreign to me as a director at PS. I had to come to grips with reality, that I can't get away from doing some type/form of rake race in the short term, because it is what those on poker communities expect. Until fish start falling from the sky, rakeraces provide a lot of instant value/comfort. Now the 'value of the site' is something I'm dealing with every day and of course includes the entire boutique positioning and community participation; but I've had to face this beast of rake races first and I want to do it on my own terms for the growth of the site.

NO BIG DEAL?
Again, you may be wondering, 'what they hell is the big deal Dave? Do a rake race, people grind, they get money, you get money and everyone is happy'. From a player's perspective, you are absolutely correct. From a CEO's perspective, nothing is that easy. To hit certain revenue targets just using rakeback/rakerace combination I need to hold X amount of rakerace prize pool for at least one and a half months until the promotion is done (so I can't do anything with those funds for that period, just sitting there as the guaranteed payout) and it needs to be significant enough that it is a competitive offering compared to other sites. So lets say the average I want to put up is 25k. I'd say that is a sufficient amount to pique most grinder's interests, but lets say 40k per affiliate site I have because I'm a new site. So I put up 40k at one site.

Now the players will need to rake 40k plus 35% of that for our site to break even (due to player rakeback), then there is the affiliate and network costs; not get into the actual numbers, but lets look at the number with just rakeback: so basically 54k total rake to break even on the 40k. But that is reasonable and it's an educate risk as one would likely minimize your risk by doing a monthly rakeback races at multiple sites. So some rakeraces would be down, some up, but the net would be positive (after all if it wasn't, this model wouldn't work and it does).

But the financial risk isn't my concern (after all I've spent up to 150k on live events in new markets with no expectations for immediate short term returns), rather, what happens next month? If it worked out, I'd probably do it again and increase my scope. But even as I do that, I'm putting up a hold on all my marketing funds for 2 months and there will be a point where the risk of a higher rakerace prize pool out weights the potential return. So then there I'm stuck at this revenue level. So what is wrong with that? It is a steady source of income, and now I can save it for my marketing projects, right?

RUNNING A POKER SITE LIKE HOW A POKER PLAYER PLAYS
What I've come to understand is that just like a poker bankroll, there will be months where there may be a big hit that would wipe out the profits for that month and perhaps even the preceding months, meaning that I took a loss on the rakerace. Thus, the more I do this, the more I need to keep as my 'rakerace bankroll' to deal with the possible variance, which is no worries if our site runs good, but it it doesn't for some reasons, then we'd have to continue doing this rakeraces to get back into the black. It's almost being a poker player backer with a lot of horses while diversifying your risk and having enough bankroll to go the distance (which it inevitably will work out like most players with sufficient bankroll and management skills). That being said, this ain't the stock market with unlimited places to keep increasing your rakerace investment and why would I run a business like a poker player? Because the biggest downfall of this model is that you never build a brand and never attract fish.

Would you rather have lots of fish or a great rakerace? Now that is a stupid question to ask a poker player, the answer is, both of course, but I don't know if that is possible. Additionally, all those months you focused on rakeback races, and then start engaging in marketing, well you're again, starting from zero, as all marketing takes time to take effect. Time is something that I need to contend with more than just short term revenue considerations.

GO BIG OR GO HOME
The fact is, if you need to build up revenue to spend on marketing, then that kind of thinking is from someone who had no intention of making a serious poker company that would ever target the mainstream. You need to have put aside marketing funds for marketing, not for rakeback promotions to one day engage in marketing. The rakeback/rakerace model works, but it exists in this microcosm of a network putting up with your grinders, and when it decides the grinders are more than the depositors, then you have a cash where i-poker starts kicking off skins and affiliates off en mass to stabilize their network. But you guys know all that, and that isn't my point, and while I still could just do both (rakeraces/marketing), I'd rather spend everything on marketing for a long term position as time is the biggest opportunity cost.


RAKERACES AS JUST REWARDS
While I'm not concerned about gaining short term revenue, I do want to increase regular participation on my site by those who are active on poker communities; and if you're active on a poker community, you're likely on rakeback and like rakeraces. So last week I decided to do rakeraces, and have spent the week reflecting on how to do them that works for our site and my conclusion is to make it a capped entry for my existing low stake players who have already shown commitment to the site.

So in this case, I'm not going to use a rake race for the purpose of getting new players, but rather to reward players (aka retention) who are already playing without a rakerace. The amounts won't be comparable to the industry standard rake races, but since they will be capped and selected entry, they will still provide value to our players who normally would get a comparable amount or even less if they had joined an open huge rake race. Again, this isn't ground breaking stuff, I know a lot of sites will use private rake races to reward their top players; but again, their purpose is more revenue than retention and my players are already playing without a rakerace incentive.

HERO POKER ARENA RANKINGS
But I've decided to brand the rake race as 'Arena Rankings' and even if it is fundamentally rake race, as its not a term I really want to introduce in my mass marketing activities either. Before I launch that though, I'll get a freeroll out of the way first; so I'm going to make a thread in the Main poker asking for when and where etc. And in terms of my mass marketing, it launches quite soon, so if you're in that market hopefully, you'll notice it.

Cheers,
David
HeroPoker CEO

SUMMARY
-rake races for a pokersite requires a bankroll like someone who backs a lot of horses because not all rake races work out
-I didn't want HeroPoker to be dependent on rakeraces, but I recognize that somehow they should be integrated
-rake races aren't bad, but I'd rather spend everything on mainly marketing
-will make rakeraces capped and for newer players as more of a reward for those already playing.

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Comments (13)