Everleaf Shuts Down all US Operations plus France and Malta

Everleaf Shuts Down all US Operations
2/10/2012 
http://winsgame.com/poker


The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued a letter to the Everleaf Gaming Network, requesting that it shut down all online poker operations in the United States. Knowing that there is not much that can be done to help their cause, Everleaf has decided against fighting the government and shut down all US operations effective immediately.


Players attempting to log into an Everleaf Gaming skin are faced with a new set of terms and conditions. This is the most important condition:


18. No person who is resident in Malta, France and USA may open an account, play, or in any other way participate in the ELG offerings and/or services.


In the past, Everleaf never accepted players from Malta. However, the France and USA stipulation was recently added to the terms and conditions.


After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, one of the company’s US based payment processors was seized. Along with this, the funds held by the processor were also seized.


At this time, it is unknown when US based players will be paid or how long the process could take to unfold. That being said, the company has assured players that their funds are safe and they are working with the Department of Justice to make sure everybody receives their money.


Everleaf is expected to release a statement regarding player payouts and other related details in the next couple of days.

Poker Pro: Marketing Suicide?

Poker Pro: Marketing Suicide?
By Bodog Poker Network
LONDON, February 7, 2012 -- /PRNewswire/ --
http://winsgame.com/bp/bd

Few things in online poker's short history have remained the same for long including the pecking order on player liquidity which has seen the lead change hands four times in just over 10 years. However, the marketing of 'professional' players as brand ambassadors has been a dominating strategy for some time.


Such players were billed as having an extra talent that others didn't possess and then the marketing people turned them into celebrities in the hope the brand would be swept long in their wake.


Previous to the recent revelations, even the ever forthright poker forums would take enormous exception to suggestions that the big name pros were anything other than just that.


Sadly, as the smoke clears from the horrendous business failures in the online poker industry of the past year it is increasingly obvious that the biggest poker celebrities were in fact unable to pay debts or cheated to 'win' their tag as a poker professional. The latest examples of Phil Ivey and Erick Lindgren thought to be owing $4,000,000 each paints a very different picture to that of the clever, aspirational characters the marketers sold us. Even the 'pro's pro', Barry Greenstein, has admitted that he is unable to pay around $400,000 of debt for many years.


The poker pros have also often been vocal about how poker should be run and some have even tried ventures of their own, in almost every case the result has been the same and the list is a long one including; Phil Laak (Unabomber), Dave Ulliot (Devilfishpoker), Doyle Brunson (Doyle's Room) and to certain extent FullTilt itself.


While we don't pretend for a second we envisioned this personal implosion of the poker pros when the Bodog Poker Network first started working on the Recreational Poker Model back in 2009 one of the first realisations was that the players we wanted to attract knew they were never going to become 'pros'. Indeed, they did even not aspire to be one. As a result we started looking for people who really represented our brand best. Yup, pretty girls, still work! The most recent addition to the Bodog team, Tatjana Pasalic, is not just a pretty face though. She knows poker and poker people but she is also approachable and friendly unlike most of the recently discredited 'celebrity' names of the past.


What is now evident is the gravy train that was the 'sponsored pro' is coming to an end. Many of those that still enjoy a sponsorship are at very reduced amounts and even some of the best players in the world, even those without debt skeletons, like Phil Helmuth, remain unsponsored. Of course, we have seen a dramatic drop in the value of 'pro' players as TV programmes with huge audiences in the US are no longer viable and poker rooms realise they don't drive the right kind of revenue, if any at all. They simply suck money out of the eco-system.


Poker marketing looks to have changed forever and once again we will see a reinvention of how the game is sold to a more mainstream audience. Once again there will be winners and losers and (once again) it will be fascinating to see whose strategy wins out.