Get It

Pokerstars get’s it.  From what I’ve seen so far, they are doing a great job at fostering the poker blogging community.  We had the freeroll last month (granted, that included all bloggers – but you can’t seriously complain about that) and now they’ve contributed to the WPBT Winter Classic II as reported here.

The out-of-pocket expense is small, but the investment is worth it.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen companies that think only in the short-term at the expense of the long-term.  Pokerstars doesn’t have to contribute anything to the prize pool or send any company representatives to speak and hang out with us.  Most of us will still play there simply because it’s a quality site.  They’re spending some short-term dollars for some long-term goodwill.  It will pay off, of that I’m certain.

FullTilt also gets it.  They’re contributing to our event and having actually hired many of our brethren, have a great feel for what it takes to guarantee our future business.  They are paying cold hard cash for ad-space within the community and recognize what we can do for them.  From my perspective, it’s win-win.

Sadly, there are sites that do not get it.

Party Poker does not get it.  I haven’t played there in a bit, so out of their kind, gracious souls comes an email informing me that I’ve lost all my player points.  I had thirty days to cash them in or play at the site again, but because I wasn’t in the market for small, women's shirts, I lost my points.  I don’t respond well to “play here or else” ultimatums.  I will not be back there, regardless of the quantity of fish.

Empire Poker does not get it.  They banned my account a while ago because I only played there during bonus periods.  The debate has long since passed, but I still maintain that is the equivalent of a store like WalMart banning you from shopping there because you only did so when you had coupons.  Dumb fucking business model right there.  If you can only make sales when you operate at a loss, then there’s something wrong with your business model.  They did manage to differentiate themselves by being so fucking stupid.  Have fun going out of business.

Checknraise poker?  They get it a little.  They at least recognized when they were in trouble with a small player base and slow software.  They’ve remedied both issues to some degree, but it remains to be seen what else they can do.  They were certainly present at The WPBT Winter Classic I back in ’04, so they do get some of my business.

I certainly can’t wait for Saturday December 10th.  Seeing everyone again, meeting new folks, and supporting the sites that “get it” will truly be fun.

The real question:  Which strip clubs in Vegas “get it?”