Only one day – and two premium newspapers report about PokerStrategy!

Okay, one of the articles is older (Nov 29), but dear Tom (our IT boss) brought it to my attention today: it is a one-page article in the best reputated weekly newspaper in Germany, Die Zeit. The article is well-balanced, going into the problems of gambling addiction on the one hand, but also praising poker as a difficult game where the better players will win money.

The article in German. If you do not understand German, I’ll provide you with a small abstract: Around the example of Patrik Neckelmann aka Patrikskjold, one of our Black Members (German blog of Patrikskjold), it evolves thoughts about Poker that were developed in an interview with him by some reporters of Die Zeit. Comparisons to chess, tic-tac-toe, and scissors-stone-paper and an abstract about the legal situation in the US and Germany finally leads to a longer paragraph about PokerStrategy.com and it’s business model. Thanks for your support, Patrik! :)

I can link the next article, but most of you won’t be able to read it – myself included. It was published by a finnish online newspaper just today. Our Finnish Community Manager Simo kindly provided us with a rough English translation which I want to copy/paste in here for you who might be interested:

Source: TALOUSSANOMAT

Internet poker gives money for free

10.12. 14:10. Everybody gets $150 free money to poker. A poker school called PokerStrategy promises to give that money. There is a requirement that you have to start to play as a member of the school. Officials say that it is illegal to promote poker.

International poker school PokerStrategy promises every member of the school $50 for free.

- After you have played enough, you’ll also get a 100 dollar bonus, they say at the web page of the gaming school.

That amount of dollars is a bit above 100 euros.

Poker school promises also that the offer is completely free and it does not bind in any way. The money has to be spent for internet poker.

Poker school gets a reward from companies that run internet poker. The school directs players to the companies, and they get their share from the pots played.

The better the players of the school play, the more the school wins. That’s why the school tries to train its members as good as possible.

Via internet, the school teaches for example the rules of poker from the beginning on and some strategic principles. They also promise teaching while which you can follow the play of professionals from a video.

You can also ask professionals about their strategies.

The poker school is run by a company called Swerford Holdings, situated at Gibraltar.

The law of lotteries states that it is illegal to promote illegal lotteries. “Promoting” means advertisement material and resembling activity.

Poker is a casino game of chance, at least partially. Sari Peltopakka, senior inspector of the Ministry of the Interior, says that poker is covered by the law of lotteries. She does not, however, comment on the case of PokerStrategy.

According to Peltopakka, the Finnish law may cover international business. She refers to a recent case.

- Supreme Court of Finland decided that a game was held in Finland, although it came from Aland Islands (simo: the case of http://www.paf.fi).

Author: Ari Kapanen

http://www.taloussanomat.fi/urheilu-ja-vapaa-aika/2007/12/10/Nettipokeri+jakaa+rahaa+ilmaiseksi+/200731262/382?rss=4

Writing or let´s better say remembering that you have a blog is really hard. Maybe I should make a reminder in Outlook that I have to post something interesting every x days. The funny thing is, that I am not the only one that got lazy. Lazy means not that we don´t work enough. We just have no time for writing blogs because there are so many cool (and annoying) things to do at PokerStrategy!

Our Content and our Community-Managers are actually searching for nice speakers. We are doing a lot of new videos in a great new format. German users know it already from our weekly psychology video series which is unique in the poker world and helps a lot. You can expect more and more in the future.

Our new SnG section is great and it should go online this week. First in german and later on in every language. The weekly content on our german website will get a new archive in a couple of days. You can expect a lot of new (old) content from the past to browse and learn! The content week is also something that will be available in every language in the near future. The guys are already working hard on it.

First off: Thank you for all the nice suggestions what we could do on PokerStrategy at Christmas. Your input is greatly appreciated and I think many of you will find their ideas will influence what you will see on PokerStrategy in December :)

Tourneys, politics, developments, the market… there are a lot of things going on in the poker world or touching it. With all it’s aspects, poker is a topic you could write the whole day about. But what should news on PokerStrategy be like?

But now to tonight’s topic: Poker news in general.

Even though many of our users are very focused on the educational aspects about PokerStrategy, not everyone is.  To be successful at poker, you not only have to work through it like a science: first of all you have to enjoy it!

Where do we get this joy from? On the one hand, of course, there is success. But success may come slowly in the beginning, and even if you already are successful, there are downswings. So let us look for other things bringing joy and motivation to poker - and how news could help there.

1. Social Interaction. Next to learning poker in theory, we learn poker like we do all other things: from and with other people. Their successes motivate us, show us a way. Their thoughts may uncover unseen leaks or mistakes we do. Their mistakes may help us evade some. So interaction is good. News can encourage interaction & discussion. But this doesn’t really show which kind of news there should be. It’s just an argument that comments and links to the boards are important.

2. Information about promotions, bonuses, and market developments. Next to your skill, the environment we play in is important for our success and thus our joy. So if there is movement in the world of poker, may it be some legal shifts or platforms’ new offers & conditions, we should inform about it.

3. Entertainment. The most difficult topic. Entertainment may seem “unprofessional” - but I personally think it’s important. After all, poker is a game - and a game should be enjoyed. Success and fun do go well together, and not harm each other. Gossip from tournaments or big name players can be a nice pas-time between the games or reading articles. Fun stories or interviews can be a start into your poker day.

So basically, everything going on in the poker world can make sense as a news. But where are the limits? What is interesting? What is fun? What is important enough? What is a big name player worth writing about? How big must a tourney be to be noticed? When do you want interviews, when silence?

A lot of questions, and I could even think of more. Of course we are working on answering these questions for ourselves and make our news better and better – but I am sure your opinion about it is very interesting and can improve our news section greatly. I’d be really glad to read about your thoughts on this matter!

Dear readers,

for I am not santa claus, but convinced many of you are very creative, I want to ask you a question. Maybe you’ve got ideas that will not only help yourself, but be fun to PokerStrategy and all of its members:

What would you find nice as a christmas present from PokerStrategy?

Of course we won’t be able to gilden your fingernails or magically improve your fingernails, but there might be a lot of things you might enjoy that are quite doable.

I could imagine small promotions, special content, the return of missed coaches, lotteries, entertainment, interviews… – and I’m really excited what comes to your mind!

Please leave your suggestions in the comments, or, if your suggestion seems to be a little too complicated for it, mail me: lutz -at- pokerstrategy.com.

Thank you a lot and enjoy the day – I for my part am a little worried, as it’s my brothers birthday and I have no cake for him when he comes to the office in a few minutes… :/

PS: Sorry to everyone who is already annoyed enough by christmas decoration in malls or the option to buy a santa clause of choclate in late september!

You have a Mansion Poker account with our bonus code “PSVIP” and you are waiting for the StrategyPoints? We will credit the points with our status rank update tomorrow. You will get 4 StrategyPoints for every Dollar rake played on Mansion Poker. If you are aiming for our top 100 promotion Mansion could be the way to climb up the ladder. You will get of course StrategyPoints retrospective for the last week.

And I can confirm that we are working with 888 as a new partner in the future.