Issue N3, 2008
January 17, 2008
Everest Poker Stereotypes Players
It is not every day that an online casino site undertakes a study to find out about the playing habits of its regular players. While these types of social surveys make for interesting reading, they are not usually at the top of these sites’ list of priorities. But Everest Poker, the popular online poker room, decided to take the initiative and examine how European players set about their game sessions and how they played. The results were interesting to say the least, with some nationalities turning out exactly as one would expect, while others offering a bit of a surprise to the researchers.
The Swedes were shown to be the most aggressive and confident players in the industry, probably not surprisingly, since Sweden was the first country on the continent to offer online poker. As a result, these players took more risks than others, but still managed to keep a cool demeanor. On the other hand, British players – true to their stereotypical image – were shown to be extremely reserved and cautious in their play.
The six month study showed that German players were keen on learning the game that only just picked up in popularity in the last year or so, and will take risks, such as playing against more professional players in the league, in order to learn as much as possible about the game. Also surprisingly, it was found that Spanish players were not as fiery as might be expected in their game play. As most Spanish poker players come from a chess background, their style was shown to be more analytical. The study also investigated the playing habits of Italian, Dutch and French players.
New Realistic Casino Launched
A new online casino, called WinADay.com, has been launched by Slotland.com. The three dimensional casino comes with cool features so that players will be able to enjoy one of the most realistic gaming experiences on the internet. 3-D figures acting as virtual hosts circulate throughout the casino to provide hands on assistance, and players can enjoy great sound effects, background music and animations. Mr. Martin Smith, Manager for the new site said “…the three-dimensional environment may be a little disorienting at first if you’re used to traditional online casino games,” but went on to assure players that they would very quickly get used to this new look and find it very rewarding.
At present, WinADay.com offers two free games – Jack’s Show video poker and Wheeler Dealer slot. However, it is expected that the site will increase its game offerings in the coming months and will also introduce tournaments. Games are offered in instant-play version, requiring no download for convenient gaming.
Online Poker Site Marketing Campaign Pays Off
After months of intense marketing and advertising efforts, PKR.com – one of the newest poker rooms in the industry – has proven that hard work pays off. The company, which was only launched 18 months ago, announced this week that it had registered 10,000 concurrent players on January 6th. This fact was confirmed by a number of independent statistics. “With over 1.3 million registered users, PKR is the world's fastest growing online poker site,” said Simon Prodger, Marketing Director for PKR.com.
The poker room, started by one of the game industry’s most prominent personalities, Jez Sand, also announced that it is planning a major television marketing campaign in the United Kingdom. Advertisements would be aired on regular and cable television in a bid to grab the attention of even more poker players. “'A year of high-profile marketing, together with the launch of a national television advertising campaign, has left PKR.com as the most talked about poker room in the world,” said a satisfied Prodger.
Ultimate Bet Goes Multilingual
While George MacLean, spokesperson for the popular poker room, Ultimate.Bet.com admits that the “language of poker is universal”, it has not stopped the site he represents from moving into multilingual mode and offering its software in no less than fourteen different languages. Players can now take advantage of game playing in the following languages: Czeck, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Polish, Spanish, Japanese, German, Danish, Norwegian, French Canadian, Portuguese, Italian and Chinese.
'We're thrilled to make our non-English speaking poker players feel more comfortable at our Texas Hold 'em tables and we're excited to make it easier for new players around the world to connect with our poker community,” said MacLean. The site’s successful land-based annual poker tournament, held in Aruba in 2007, highlighted the fact that the poker community is becoming more global in nature with every passing year. MacLean said that the next Aruba Poker Classic event, to be held in September, 2008 would undoubtedly show the same global trends, gathering players from every corner of the earth to enjoy exciting, fast-paced poker. It has thus become vital to provide non-English speakers with the same type of information on the site, such as game tutorials and new promotions.