The State of Online Poker and the Game in General Part II
Having lived in DC, I met some magnificent intellectuals who worked on the Hill that really did the thinking for the guys that could get elected. The guys that could get elected... could get elected… but you didn't want them divvying up the check at the end of dinner. The guys that could figure out a tip for the most part couldn’t get elected. I know of some dirty things about politicians from ten years ago, but I also know of far dirtier things about the guys behind the scenes.
So the crux of the problem for Texas Hold em online, poker in its most popular and arguably easiest form, is trying to get people set in their ways, who aren't savvy enough to learn about the new state of things, to understand things realities have changed.
GeneD has run into this with sales, and told me stories of trying to convince the decision-maker, too dumb for their own good, how the product Gene is hawking would be beneficial to their company. Of course there is no easy way to say, you are too dumb to see the obvious, and most people that can't see the obvious are either blinded by stupidity or misinformation. It's a no win. It's like telling a smart friend how to play poker and they've decided they already know better.
Of course, for those entrepreneurial types (and don’t think I haven’t mulled over this idea, I just don’t have the massive monetary backing to make it happen) why not offer legal poker on the Internet. Don’t charge a rake. I wonder why this free Internet business model hasn’t arisen yet: Advertising based Internet Poker (no rake). That’s got to be legal right?
Typically, anybody trying to make a buck off content on the Internet can’t beat the people offering the same product for free (usually at a loss--which is a problem for my grand concept lol). Most people still are trying to figure out ways to make money off the Internet. Though with the right backing you can, forget about rake just plaster the games with advertising. Or allow opt-in rake pay. You don’t want the advertising? You pay a minimal amount over 10,000 hands or so to keep your screen pristine. This is the business model that would terrify me if I were an online casino. I suspect the only reason they don’t allow table advertising right now is because they don’t want to open that Pandora’s Box and give anybody ideas.
Though, you could argue nobody wants to put their product in front of millions of users everyday and there aren’t the advertisers to make it profitable. Remember too the decision makers taht are too stupid for their own good. There is some truth to that, for some reason the corporate world is light years behind the general public on poker. Perhaps, it will take another generational shift, when the younger, future executives get promoted to positions that make advertising decisions, that understand poker is no longer thought of as some game of crooks, card cheats, and degenerates (though it certainly still has its fair share of those) before we will see mainstream advertising and endorsements of the game.
I was at a friend’s wedding and got embroiled in a conversation about poker. I say conversation but in truth a few short years ago, I was left defending the game to a couple barons and captains of industry that basically assailed my waste of intellect and my desertion of morals. My friends father was more than a highroller, descendents of the uppercrust in the Four Hundred, his friends were likewise in that class of wealth few of us will ever sniff, and those guys after a pleseant conversation were literally kind of making sport of me. They were dumbfounded and disbelieving that you could make any real money in, or around, poker and derided my interest in the game.
No matter what I said, they were set in believing poker is a game played by and run by outlaws. Legalized stealing, at best, and they questioned the legality of it at all. Amazing how even the incredibly intelligent and successful can be so blind and naive. Don’t forget these are the same people that still own single-function devices like watches for that single function. These days if you are under 50 you most likely own a watch for bling purposes not to tell time. We live in a digital age, the time is everywhere. The world is vastly different than what the old men that run the country perceive it to be. Granted, I’m in my 30s and already I’m way behind the curve.
To be Continued...
So the crux of the problem for Texas Hold em online, poker in its most popular and arguably easiest form, is trying to get people set in their ways, who aren't savvy enough to learn about the new state of things, to understand things realities have changed.
GeneD has run into this with sales, and told me stories of trying to convince the decision-maker, too dumb for their own good, how the product Gene is hawking would be beneficial to their company. Of course there is no easy way to say, you are too dumb to see the obvious, and most people that can't see the obvious are either blinded by stupidity or misinformation. It's a no win. It's like telling a smart friend how to play poker and they've decided they already know better.
Of course, for those entrepreneurial types (and don’t think I haven’t mulled over this idea, I just don’t have the massive monetary backing to make it happen) why not offer legal poker on the Internet. Don’t charge a rake. I wonder why this free Internet business model hasn’t arisen yet: Advertising based Internet Poker (no rake). That’s got to be legal right?
Typically, anybody trying to make a buck off content on the Internet can’t beat the people offering the same product for free (usually at a loss--which is a problem for my grand concept lol). Most people still are trying to figure out ways to make money off the Internet. Though with the right backing you can, forget about rake just plaster the games with advertising. Or allow opt-in rake pay. You don’t want the advertising? You pay a minimal amount over 10,000 hands or so to keep your screen pristine. This is the business model that would terrify me if I were an online casino. I suspect the only reason they don’t allow table advertising right now is because they don’t want to open that Pandora’s Box and give anybody ideas.
Though, you could argue nobody wants to put their product in front of millions of users everyday and there aren’t the advertisers to make it profitable. Remember too the decision makers taht are too stupid for their own good. There is some truth to that, for some reason the corporate world is light years behind the general public on poker. Perhaps, it will take another generational shift, when the younger, future executives get promoted to positions that make advertising decisions, that understand poker is no longer thought of as some game of crooks, card cheats, and degenerates (though it certainly still has its fair share of those) before we will see mainstream advertising and endorsements of the game.
I was at a friend’s wedding and got embroiled in a conversation about poker. I say conversation but in truth a few short years ago, I was left defending the game to a couple barons and captains of industry that basically assailed my waste of intellect and my desertion of morals. My friends father was more than a highroller, descendents of the uppercrust in the Four Hundred, his friends were likewise in that class of wealth few of us will ever sniff, and those guys after a pleseant conversation were literally kind of making sport of me. They were dumbfounded and disbelieving that you could make any real money in, or around, poker and derided my interest in the game.
No matter what I said, they were set in believing poker is a game played by and run by outlaws. Legalized stealing, at best, and they questioned the legality of it at all. Amazing how even the incredibly intelligent and successful can be so blind and naive. Don’t forget these are the same people that still own single-function devices like watches for that single function. These days if you are under 50 you most likely own a watch for bling purposes not to tell time. We live in a digital age, the time is everywhere. The world is vastly different than what the old men that run the country perceive it to be. Granted, I’m in my 30s and already I’m way behind the curve.
To be Continued...
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