If last week I focused on the professional sector of poker on the Internet in Europe, this week I would like to reflect on another aspect professionals (not the players, but those working in this) and perhaps unknown to most players. My idea is TALK of Watching poker live.The inspiration for this article gave me, as for many others, Bill Rini, is already one month during the dispute of eternal WSOP. In those days Bill wrote an article titled The World Series of Poker Bores Me (The WSOP bored me), which described various sensations that he left the broadcasting of different online tournaments of the World Series.

Since then, I think that most readers Poker Network would agree that the WSOP become too long. There are 40 days of poker, 40 tournaments, 40 bracelets, 95% of them won by complete strangers, where the only thing that can be drawn is the photo of the winner with his Gaza tickets. Even the main event becomes unbearable in its early days. The World Championships are only beginning to encourage in the final stage, and while some star is at stake.

But Bill Rini does not stay there and go a bit further. The problem is not that the WSOP are soporific, is that the very fact read / see Watching tournament is a fairly boring. For Rini poker took off on television not until the invention of the camera that recorded the letters from the players, and that is unable to see the cards, poker is so boring to see how to read.

That’s especially true since the journalists can not see hole cards. There’sa reason poker on television did not take off until the hold card cam was invented; poker is boring to watch much less read about if you have no idea what any of the players have.

In the particular case of the WSOP, where dozens of media, sent its team of reporters, just derivando that these will eventually be killed by something moderately interesting take on a daily basis, and on many occasions, not even that.

My point of view (personal and professional)

I will try to make my point of view in both directions, both personally and professionally. Personally, I agree with everything that in Rini says. It may not be a super fan of poker live, and hence my little interest, but the only reason that prompts me to follow a tournament is the implication of a friend known / Hispanic you are playing at that time. It goes without saying that a tournament where not involved any of these three stereotypes do not see the slightest interest.

In addition, I believe that I am not wrong in saying that the general feeling is that 90% of readers Watching online poker. It would be easy to prove something. Imagine that one day at a tournament Poker Network retransmit Swedish poker live with 1 million prize. The prize is important, the highest in the poker world. The players, mostly Nordic and probably the most spectacular performing movements. Spanish / Hispanic 0. What percentage of visitors from Poker Network believe that the tournament would? Now I tell myself that if I changed from 0.3% surprised.

Without seeing the letters, without familiar faces, without stars, poker broadcast has little interest. But we now turn to professional side of the matter is that most interests me.

Watching poker in Europe

Perhaps someone surprised, although I doubt it, commenting that track a tournament is not profitable. It is not profitable in Spain, and I do not think it is for any site in the world, except for those who can resell their work to others as we can do to PokerNews page of the WSOP for example.

We will cite some of the key points that make follow-ups are not profitable for a website, focusing on the particular case of Spain:

* High costs: The cost of sending one or more reporters to cover any tournament in Spain (travel, accommodation, salary) is relatively high compared with the return on investment, which is usually zero, because …
* Speak to believe: One page of poker live registering new players in the rooms online (imagine that not desvelo no secret), while the public remain interested in one of these events, is already convinced by definition. 99% are a combination of players circuit Forero and they already have in mind all the rooms they go to offer, or very little reason to open a new account

Okay Simon, it is clear that the tracks are not profitable from an economic standpoint, but there will be other reasons not the vile metal to the warrant, right? For example, the increase of visitors to your web these days.

Unfortunately, neither compensates for that side, derived from the problem previously commented that you’re speaking to an audience already convinced. The public already knows your well site, has also opened other pages that you give or not to miss an update, and to complete the fix, only going to come to your site when you’re tracking cash. In short, does not seem a model of profitable growth.

However, that does not seem to me invention what I say. I speak from experience working to bring a few years back in the poker and the Internet. To see an example shows a graphical Web Team Unibet certainly a good example of a website focusing on the monitoring.

Obviously each peak corresponds to the days where members of Team Unibet were disputing a tournament of EFA. The same could not be clearer, as passe monitoring, visits back to the starting point before starting.

Another interesting graphics, on the opposite side of the spectrum, can be seen as what happens when a Poker Network track. The chart includes 3 weeks, and during the week central Vuchuu was in Seville covering the CEP of the capital hispalense.

The areas are highlighted on weekends. If Forza much, but much of the hearing, perhaps you can find a ligerísimo increase in visits on Sunday of the CEP, just 100 or 200 extra visits. In other words, nothing happens!. Like every other weekend, visitors have fallen steadily until 4000. Whether or not there is monitoring, Poker Network are approximately the same people, because the potential interested in it, and iban a visit Poker Network equally regardless of tracking.

Obviously, depending on routine visits that have a website, will be in the first or second case, but it’s likely that when you pass the follow-up, your numbers back to your starting point as can be seen in the two images.

One moment, if the tracks are not profitable, why do you still doing? How can that be? From somewhere will have to leave the money, right?

At its most poker room, who cares that it appears in your tournament all possible means, not by direct profitability, but also by branding (eg beams that 8000 people who can enter Poker Network a weekend were met with the logo of your room>’re creating brand).

The search for sponsors leads to funny situations, seeing as we approach a tournament and having to be among the sponsors begging you to subsidise monitoring. Incidentally, when I talk about sponsorships, I refer to aspire to cover costs. In most cases, or sponsor reach behind to pay the costs.

If there is no support from sponsors, it is highly probable that a tournament is not followed by any means (we have already seen the odd case) and probably was not as if you’d held. It can also happen that your tournament is so important, as the EPT Barcelona, which pages we are forced to rebroadcast assuming the full cost.

Conclusions

In short, the world of live tracks is complex and hardly profitable. In most cases, we will lose money, but what we see as a value-added service we offer to our users, in addition, at least from Poker Network offer willingly, and even more Vuchuu enjoyed every track as if it were the first: Q.

They also give a hint to the sponsors, because if they want to enter the Spanish market is not enough organizing tournaments, you have to make reaching the general public. Just to cover travel and accommodation for reporters, because we’re a little relieving the burden of sending a reporter. Think simply an extra cost of marketing the organization. In the same vein, fleeing because of exclusivity contracts contravene everything you want to organize a tournament, which is nothing less than placing the same in every possible pulpits.

And finally, to thank you for this stand tostón that probably only a few interested, but I do serves to reflect and step acercaros a new view about the wonderful world of poker;). Of course, I would like to know that you have any opinion on this matter, so feel free to leave your comments below. Thank you for your time!