Posts tagged poker affiliate
Budapest Affiliate Conference Trip Report
Sep 16th
It had been a while since I had been able to make it out to a conference (Barcelona 2008 was the last one), so I decided to book my ticket to Budapest this year for BAC. It was nice that the conference was in a change of venue, which made it much easier to justify the long trip.
I arrived on the Wednesday morning after a long flight with a connection in Frankfurt. I was a little worried about going because I thought that I wasn’t going to know anyone there as many suckers people backed out last minute including the person I was supposed to split a room with (Nick). Regardless I still went and landed in Budapest around 11am. As I went to tell the cab where to go I realized that I was in a different hotel than I had thought. Meh, I went with it and headed to the new hotel (InterContinental). I arrived at the hotel to check in and looked down at my reservation to realize it was for a day later (crap I thought, but figured they would probably have a room). As I explained the situation that I might have gotten the date wrong to the guy at the front desk he replied, “I hope your reservation is for today because our hotel is full”. Fortunately, he managed to find me a room after hammering away at the keyboard and speaking gibberish Hungarian to his co-worker.
After a bit of a nap, I started trying to find out who was in town and managed to get in touch with Mark from PAL. We decided to meet up for a beer and hit a cool little bar a short trip from the hotel. We took one of the oldest subway systems in Europe to get there which was pretty cool. It was nice meeting Mark finally as we had chatted many times online about how we were both former IBM slaves employees. As I was heading out I also ran into Richie formerly with Carbon who I had spent some time hanging out with in Barcelona and we exchanged info to meet up later. Richie (like me) loves to party so I knew he would be a good person to meet up with later.
On the 2nd day I got in contact with Greame (DealerDan) who was out having a few drinks with some people and invited me to join them. I met up with them all at this cool square, grabbed a few beers then took off because he had dinner plans with Bodog. Fortunately he invited me along so I managed to get a free meal from the Bodog guys (Seb and Claire – who had been my affiliate manager in the past but I never actually met). After a nice dinner, which included several Mojitos, we all headed over to the opening party which was hosted by Expekt. As with most gambling conference parties it was a complete sausage party. I wasn’t really in the mood to party so I just took it pretty easy. I also ran into Carly and Jo (from Pokerstars) and Andreas (darko on the forums, but never really posts). I ran into a bunch of old friends too which was nice and we were out of there early (around 2am). We went to hit up the casino, but they wanted to charge us 10 Euros to go in and gamble. We laughed about that and decided to save our money and call it a night.
Day 3 was the 1st day of the conference. I met up with Richie in the lobby around 9am who was with Ven (formerly at Party Poker) and we hit up the buffet at the hotel. We had a great breakfast laughing the whole time and completely lost track of time (not getting out of there till like 11:15). We then hopped on the shuttle and headed over to the conference. We did the whole stroll around the room (me looking for the best swag – probably a bath robe from Chipleader). Richie knows pretty much everyone so he kept introducing me to a lot of people. I decided to hit up the SEO sessions (one on link building and the SEO roundtable) after which were all around pretty decent. Though I didn’t learn a whole lot, there were a couple of tidbits here and there that I learned which should help. After the conference we had a bit of time so Richie and I headed to a little bar close to the hotel. Richie ordered probably the gayest drink in Budapest which consisted of pink lemonade, a pink straw and a cherry, I opted for a beer. Mike from Poker Nordica also came and joined us for a drink then we all split up to our own dinners. I headed to the PAL dinner and met DealerDan in the lobby. There we waited like 20 minutes for Seb (yea, we gave him a hard time about it) then finally headed over to Spoon for an awesome meal. At dinner were several people I hadn’t seen in a while like Giorgio, Jason (GoodKarmaKid), Stephen and Russ from Commission Account as well as several new faces. After dinner Seb, Russ and I wanted to keep drinking so we decided to head over to the conference party sponsored by ChanceRoom. Again, it was a huge sausage fest so after we finished our few free drinks (they had this weird ticket system) and grabbed Alex Pratt and Andreas and headed over to a club that several people had been talking about called Bed Beach. Bed Beach was awesome! It was a huge outdoor club with a massive dance floor, tons of tables and a nice VIP section. We ran into many other people and spent the rest of the night mingling not getting back till like 6am (I think – didn’t wear a watch all trip).
At Bed Beach
On the 4th day (the last conference day) I slept in and missed Calvin Ayre’s speech which was one of the things I was looking forward to. Fortunately from what I heard from other people it was rather awkward and he didn’t really tell any interesting stories about entrepreneurship. When I finally did get to the conference I had my meeting with Lee Allen from Sticky Eyes (an SEO company). They were doing free SEO analysis sessions for conference attendees. This was really cool and Lee definitely knew his stuff. He definitely made me think differently about a couple of things and wasn’t like most SEO companies that just BS and pretends they know what they are talking about. Thanks Lee!! After that I walked around the conference a bit more and ran into Johan formerly at FTP / Gnuf. We had met a ways back in London at the Cap Awards dinner and he really helped me make the push to doing this full time. I also met his wife Anna who is with an interesting bingo company called Maria (a branch off from Unibet). Unlike most sites it sounds like they are actually building a brand than just a site (so if you promote Bingo check them out and tell her I sent you). I hung around at the conference a bit more and ran into Dee from 888 and chatted with them for a bit and finally left the conference. I ended up getting in touch with Graeme after who was having a dinner with some people close to the hotel so I decided to join them. There I tried Goulash for the first time, which I understand as being the “big dish” of Hungary and pretty tasty. After dinner we headed over to a party hosted by Bodog. We were greeted at the door with a glass of champagne and asked to take our picture with some of the “Bodog Girls”. Bodog REALLY knows how to throw a party. The venue was awesome, they had special tables where you could try the national drinks of Hungary (I liked the Unicum the best which is a bitters), tables with free cigars (good ones), constant Mojitos and Caipirinhas plus Hors D’oeurves and even a hand massage table. The party ended around midnight and I decided to head back to Bed Beach with Johan and Jennifer from Betting Jobs. There we ran into many other people and drank and chatted the night away.
Bodog Girls at the Bodog Party
On the Sunday I slept in again and missed the “tourist session” as I was pretty hung over not rolling out of bed until about 4pm. I ran into Richie again at the patio of the Sofitel (the main hotel – directly beside the InterContinental) and we had some drinks to nurse the hang over. Richie was with Chris from Poker Space and a few other people. Chris came up with a great idea to head to a shisha bar so Richie, Chris, Jen (Fortune Poker), and 2 Swedish affiliates (Mike and Peter) all headed over to this place recommended by the hotel. We ordered some massive platters of food and shared everything. The conversation started pretty tame but after Richie asked what everyone thought about Megan Fox things progressively turned into pure hilarity. We learned some new things like what “musting” is along with several other funny things. It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.
On a side note, some of the companies throwing the “Official” parties could really learn a thing or two from Bodog. Having a club filled with guys staring at 1 or 2 girls dancing, then making them pay for drinks (especially affiliates) to be there says a lot about your brand. Bodog goes all out when they do a party and it says a lot about their brand. In the future I think the parties should be turned into more of a “pre-drink” where everyone goes and drinks for free then heads out to various nightclubs around the city. If you were at Bed Beach you will know that industry people pretty much owned their VIP areas.
After that the conference was officially over for the rest. I stuck around in Budapest for a bit the next day then headed to Prague for a couple days to do some sightseeing. I am actually writing this on the train back from Prague to Budapest where I have to catch my flight in the morning.
All in all it was one of the best conferences I have been to and was really nice meeting many new people along with seeing some old friends. Till next one!
Doyle Brunson and I
Cool Hand Poker… Could I Have Been Wrong?
Aug 27th
Well, I was at the gym the other day watching the TV and what should come up but an ad for CoolHandPoker.com. In a previous post I though these guys were just some random skin that was going to try and base their business model on affiliates, but it looks like I might have been wrong. It is good to see these guys are actually spending some money advertising.
It is good to see that they also updated their homepage from a picture of a bunch of dorks playing poker to a couple of guys with semi-attractive women. It looks like they are finally starting to find their niche. Will be interesting to see what comes of this place.
Other News
Affiliate Speedpay closed their doors today and I can’t say that I am surprised. I think it was great for some people, but I always had a feeling it wouldn’t last and was wary about having my money sent to some shady bank. I never really wanted to open an offshore bank account because I felt it all seemed a little too shady.
BUDAPEST! In just over a week I will be heading to Budapest for this year’s BAC. As usual Alex is doing an awsome job organizing it and it looks like this is gonna be one of the MUST ATTEND events of the year. Will be good to catch up with some friends and meet some new faces / people I have probably talked to a shitload online but never met. Thanks to Mark for organizing the dinner, looks like it will be awsome!
Anyway, that is all for now…. see everyone going to Budapest on the other side of the pond!
Affiliate Managers Contacting Through Facebook
Jul 23rd
I understand, its hard to get new affiliates to promote your room but sometimes I just want to tell these people to LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE! It’s one thing to send emails to addresses associated with sites, but sometimes the contact becomes a tad too invasive. I get random people adding me to MSN with no clue who they are, and a few times now I have even received messages to my facebook account.
Like I said, I have grown used to the emails, but I look at Facebook as a more personal venue. Even though it can be used as a great networking tool for people you have actually met or talk to, it should NOT be used as a method to promote your brand and contact potential affiliates. It is actually just kinda creepy to me.
Anyway, I decided I would try and turn this into something productive that hopefully other affiliate managers could take something from and provide pointers on what I don’t like about these or most forms of “first contact” from affiliate managers.
Here is the message I received from NAME REMOVED of Cool Hand Poker with things in bold that could be improved if you had to use this method to contact an affiliate for whatever reason:
Hi Graham,
Not some mad stalker – I promise!
I am sure you prefer the term “e-stalker”. “Stalker” is so real world.
I am an advertiser interested in promoting our Poker room – Cool Hand Poker via your network. Network eh? I bet you couldn’t even list some of the sites I have.
Been doing research to find appropriate media partners for my client, Belle Rock Entertainment. The company owns various online gambling sites (Poker, Bingo & Casino) and have been operating for over 10 years. If you had done your research properly you could maybe tell me a few of my sites and why you think they would be a good fit for your room.
Cool Hand Poker is a relatively new and small poker room – it was launched late last year and we are aiming to grow the business. It is quite unique in its marketing, as the target market is “everyday people” or people wanting to learn & play poker socially / newbie poker players onto the site. We are not aiming for the big-stakes Professionals who usually go to the more aggressive sites such as Full Tilt or Poker Stars. More on how this is a retarded idea later. Do you really think you can keep out the “sharks” from a site. Also, you do realize those are the ones that make money, not the guy who plays poker once a week.
We are focusing our marketing efforts on the UK, Canada Europe and Australia & NZ (not USA or Africa) – would be helpful to understand your traffic split (USA vs. target countries above) and targeting capabilities better?
In order for me to motivate for any media deal, we must provide as much detailed information as possible. Besides Cool Hand Poker, we also market Casino and Bingo – further opportunities to work together! Oh, I forgot I was trying to sell you on why I should promote your stupid site.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Warm regards
NAME REMOVED
The thing that annoys me more than anything is NAME REMOVED has probably copied and pasted this message to hundreds of affiliates. Anyway, since it wasn’t an email I will let facebook deal with the spammers roaming their site:
Her messages lack personal touch, and really do nothing to make me want to work with them. For further proof here is an email from NAME REMOVED with the things that need improvement in bold:
TITLE OF EMAIL: Advertising/Affiliate partnership (FuzioPoker) First off, the site is Fuzion Poker (instant points off for spelling mistake)
Hi Graham,
By way of introduction, my name is NAME REMOVED and I am the Poker Affiliate/Publisher Manager at COMPANY REMOVED. And, you already lost my interest. I don’t give a fuck who you are, why are you contacting me! It’s bad enough you creeped my whois info to get this email instead of looking for the site contact email.
I am an advertiser interested in promoting our Poker room – Cool Hand Poker via your website. Would be grateful if you could contact me to discuss opportunities? “Cool Hand Poker”, really, thats the name you went with? Ummm… I don’t care about opportunities, you contacted me, remember. What do I get out of this?
My aim is to find appropriate media partners for my client, Belle Rock Entertainment. The company owns various online gambling sites (Poker, Bingo & Casino) and have been operating for over 10 years. Whatever.
At this time, I am specifically focusing on our Poker room – Cool Hand Poker – the emphasis being on fun, free or low-stakes, social poker games. Especially for newbies wanting to learn poker in a friendly, safe environment. Fun, free, low-stakes? Let me guess, you probably want me to send these players that will make me no money on an MGR deal too, right?
We are focusing our marketing efforts on the UK, Canada Europe and Australasia – would be helpful to understand your site and traffic split better? Do your own research.
Looking forward to hearing from you. Not likely.
Warm regards,
NAME REMOVED
Anyway, I hope someone learns something from this post so I don’t have to use you as an example for one of my future posts.
Summer Is Finally Here
Jul 10th
It is finally starting to get warm here. Yesterday I went golfing with a couple of friends but played like crap. Just trying to enjoy the nice weather.
I have been going to a lot of soccer games lately. A few weeks ago John Goldie and I went over to Montreal to watch Toronto FC take on Montreal in the final game of the Canadian Championship. Toronto needed to win by 4 goals which everyone thought was an impossible task, but I had faith they could do it. We did a little pre-drinking before the game with all of the TFC fans, then headed over to the game on the subway. The subway ride was insane. Everyone was chanting and jumping up and down, at several points it felt like the train may even derail. Once at the game, there were between 200-300 Toronto fans. Toronto quickly went down 1 goal after a penalty kick, but shortly after came back to score 2 before the end of the first half. The second half was insane as they continued to score and within the last 10 minutes put in the goal to give them their 4 goal lead. Just before the end of the game they sealed it and put in a final goal making the score 6-1. It was such a great experience as we stuck it out in the rain screaming our voices out and in the end were rewarded with the Canadian championship. The players all came over to our section after the game and threw their jerseys out to the fans.
Also soccer related, Zinadine Zidane came to Toronto a few weeks back and I watched him play a friendly against “the Canadian All-stars”. Most of the players other than Zidane and Palermo (Boca Jrs) were crap, but it was still cool to see one of the greatest soccer players of all time.
Next week I am going to start part 2 of my bartending training: the advanced course. It sounds fun and will be pretty cool because I get to invent my own drink and present it to the class. Also, I got tickets to see Sarah Silverman next week which should be fun.
On the work front, lately I have been spending a lot of time building a casino site. It seems like everyone is getting into the casino side so I figured, why not. If anyone has any good sites and wants to swap links, let me know.
My other sites are doing all right, just grinding on and not really growing much. Need to start spending more time on those but as usual I have either been too lazy or have been more focussed on getting the casino site off the ground.
Lately I have also been thinking about heading out to Budapest for the conference out there. Anyone else planning to go?
Back in Canada
Apr 2nd
Well, I’ve been back home for about a week now and have been kinda sick since getting back. Definitely miss Argentina and can’t wait to head back again.
Tax season is upon us now and one of my least favorite times of the year. Nothing is more fun then sending the government a big fat ass check that they are just gonna blow on stupid bullshit.
Missed out on Amsterdam this time, but looks like everyone is having a blast as usual. Trying to decide which conference to go to next. Where is everyone else going?
Jeremy Miller launched a blog recently. Please, turn off the stupid “YOU MUST BE LOGGED IN TO COMMENT”… where’s the fun in that!
Been having some awful poker sessions as of late. Just the other day was playing some 2/4 PLO and hit a set on the turn in a decent sized pot. The other guy bet, I reraised big, and he shoved me all in on a JT53 board (I hit 5’s). I made the call, and he showed AA97??? Anyway, river came an Ace… gg asshole. I need to stop playing.
This weekend is the Toronto FC opener and my brother is taking me (allegedly). I don’t always believe everything he says, but he seems to be serious so hopefully its a go because I really want to go to the game. Gotta pick up a new jersey for that.
Other than that, life is boring… can’t wait to travel again.
/end boring post
How Do Retarded People Get Jobs as Affiliate Managers?
Mar 10th
Recently I received an email that was titled “Attractive Proposal” so I decided I would investigate further to see what this affiliate manager was offering….
Original Email:
Dear Webmaster,
My name is NAME REMOVED; I am an Account Manager at
www.Affiliateclub.com.
I find your website very attractive for our brands:
www.casinoclub-poker.com,
www.pokerkings.com
Our affiliates are getting fantastic conversion rates!
Do you want to hear more about it?
Kind regards,
NAME REMOVED
Account Manager
My response:
Hi NAME REMOVED,
I am in the process of trying to find a room to get a league going
ASAP. Here are my requirements that I have been asking rooms for:
Hybrid CPA/Rev Share Deal
Tourmanent Prizes
Tell me a bit about your software and what you can offer.
Regards,
Graham Rowlands
GNG Media Inc.
Her reply to my email (notice how she doesn’t even READ MY FUCKING EMAIL!!!):
Dear Graham,
Thank you for your reply.
We have 2 brands with Boss Media software:
1. At www.casinoclub-poker.com – we offer 100% up to 200€ Welcome bonus ( here we can make a special promotion for you)
2. At www.pokerkings.com we offer 100% up to 300€ Welcome bonus
WE are usually working on Rev Share Deal.
What do you think about it?
Kind regards,
NAME REMOVED
My last and final response ever to Natasha:
Well NAME REMOVED, here is what I think about it…
For one, you never even gave me a proposal, but rather decided listing the standard
bonuses on your websites would get my attention. I am not sure how that is supposed to
sell me. I think you started this off with a great attention grabbing title to your
email, but you really need to work on the follow through.
And two, there was nothing “attractive” about it. I get a million of these kind of
emails all the time, and this kind of junk just wastes my time. Don’t beat around the
bush, sell your brand, tell me what I am gonna make, and give me good reasons why I
should promote your brand, over one of the competitors.
Anyway, hopefully this helps you in the future and thanks for giving me something to
write about on my blog.
Better luck in the future!
Graham
Don’t Go To Venezuela / Welcome to ‘09!
Jan 14th
First off, this is the first post in 2009 so HAPPY NEW YEAR! I had a good new year until the end of the night when my jacket managed to walk its way out of the restaurant that I was at. This is never a good thing to happen especially after a ton of alcohol as when I got home I sent some stupid email to the restaurant. Anyway, turns out someone “mistakingly” left with my coat and it is waiting at the restaurant now to be picked up. So… the point of me telling this story.. don’t use your computer when you are really drunk.
Yesterday I got back from a week in Margarita Island, Venezuela with my good friend Greg. It was a nice relaxing trip, but I would probably never go back there. The people were pretty rude, unfriendly and didn’t seem to welcoming to tourists. For example, I went to the mall and tried to order a pretzel, the girl just looked at me with one of the coldest looks and was like “no”. I couldn’t tell if they didn’t have them or if she just didn’t want to sell one to me. Also, when we were leaving the Country at the airport they had these Chavez dolls that talked. I decided to push the button to hear what it said and some douchebag came over and said, “you aren’t going to buy it so why are you doing that”. I just looked at him and said, “this is why your country sucks and why I’ll never come back”. I am so tempted to register MargaritaIslandSucks.com right now, but I’ll sit on it for now.
I shouldn’t say that all the people were bad ovbiously, as one of the bartenders at our resort was awsome, but I think he was probably the only nice Venezuelan we met down there. I even asked some Venzuelan/Canadian girl about the general attitude we had been receiving at one of the clubs and was told simply: “they don’t like gringos here”. On top of that the island itself had a communist feel to it, and at times didn’t feel very safe. When I asked one girl about going to a club one night she must have told me about 5 times to “cuidado” which means be careful in spanish.
The trip wasn’t all bad though. I spent most of my time there lying on a beach getting a tan, doing little to no work. We left the resort quite a bit and took a jeep tour of the island which was a ton of fun. It was 8 hours long and included a boat tour, open air jeep driving around the island (you could stand in the back which was a ton of fun), off-road driving, lunch, stop at a beach, and much more all for just $50. Here are some pics of that:
The food at the resort was pretty decent, so I can’t really complain about that. One thing that was a little annoying though was Greg and I were probably the only single guys at the resort so the “girls” situation was awful. Long story short.. if you are thinking of going to Margarita Island, I’d pick somewhere else (like Jamaica) instead.
Well, next week I am headed back to Buenos Aires I am so excited to get back there as the winter cold is killing me being inside all the time. I need to get out and move around as I feel that winter makes me feel so much unhealthier.
As for ‘09, I think this will be a good year. My main goals are to start expanding on non-gambling projects and investigate other areas of online marketing. I think my strong points are consulting others so if possible I would like to focus on that a little more. Hopefully this year I can come up with a more long term goal for myself as right now I still have no clue what I want to do with my life. Time will tell! If anyone is planning to come to BsAs (Buenos Aires) or wants to, send me a note. Best to everyone with this year!
Merry Christmas!
Dec 29th
First and foremost, Merry Christmas to everyone or happy holidays if you celebrate some other weird holiday. Just kidding, I don’t discriminate 
I had a nice Xmas with the fam. Pretty quiet, but lots of great wine and amazing meals!
Anyway, so lately I haven’t been up to all that much. Just lots of shopping for the holidays, which is thankfully now over, and trying to get some work done, which is as usual pretty unsuccessful. Also been hibernating in my house as it has been ridiculously cold lately.
Vacations… I bought a plane ticket to head back to Argentina on January 21st for 2 months. The prices were so good and since I have been hating every day of winter since I got back I thought it was the right thing to do. Also, I will be going to Venezuela on January 6th for 1 week, so if you are looking for me, good luck! I’ll be on the beach without my computer.
Work… trying to get back into it. Have many projects that have been sitting in limbo that I am trying to get going again. Wish me luck! Dreading doing my taxes, but I know it has to be done. I have the gov’t, bunch of criminals!
Hopefully everyone is enjoying this little break in the year and having a nice time with their families!
I end this post with something I saw today on Wicked Chops Poker… possibly the greatest commercial of all-time! I won’t give any spoilers, BUT be warned… this is NSFW. Enjoy!
Link: 
Aced.com Presents: Balling Weekend in Vegas
Dec 15th
I am still recovering from the past few days of debauchery as I write this post, but let me try and recap what was probably one of the funnest weekends of my life thanks to Aced.com.
As an active affiliate with Aced, I was given the opportunity to join them for an affiliate retreat in Vegas thanks to their amazing affiliate manager affiliate director poker room manager (I think that’s the title he is using now): Brandon Berndt. Brandon is one of the most liked people in this industry and definitely knows how to throw a party (anyone remember the Stinkyfish Party at the 2006 CAC?) so I knew this was going to be a weekend to remember and there was no way I was going to miss this. In fact, I had contemplated extending my time in Buenos Aires, but decided that it was probably in my best interests to make it back for this weekend in Vegas.
Day 1
My friend (and business partner) Greg and I arrive in Las Vegas and manage to track down Brandon, Kendall and Jeremy “$100 Slot and Candy College Fund” Enke in the airport and jump in a stretch limo to the Hard Rock Hotel. (If you know Vegas, you will know that the Hard Rock is one of the best party hotels to stay at in the whole city). We walk into the hotel and notice a rather large line forming around the check-in counter. Fortunately, this is completely irrelevant because we are going straight to the VIP Room where our room keys are waiting for us. Here we pick up the itinerary for the trip which includes things like: partying in the penthouse suite for the HRH hottie model search, dinner at Nobu, private poker tournament, bikini contest in the penthouse, and the best booth in Body English on the last night. OMFG this is gonna be fun!
After a quick shower and stop in the room we all head to Center Bar (the bar right in the middle of the casino). Here we meet up with John Halloway, Jeremy Miller, and Mike Murphy (plus his girlfriend Alicia). We have a few beers, shoot the shit then head over to Ago (Robert Deniro’s restaurant) for an amazing dinner. I am really picky with food, but this was probably one of the best pasta dishes I have ever had in my life!
After dinner we hit the casino floor for a little gambling. Jeremy M. helps teach me how to play craps again as I had only played once before. I quickly lose $150 or so and find out that we are going to be going up to the Penthouse Suite now to help judge a “Hottie Model Search”.
We all pile into an elevator and these two girls follow in behind. Because we had been taking so long the elevator started to make a buzzing noise, so I said, “Sorry girls, you are too heavy”. Fortunately they did not hear this, but half of the other people in the elevator did 
Up we go to the top floor and walk into one of the most incredible hotel rooms in the world! The room comes complete with huge bar, bowling alley, stripper pole, massive LCD TV’s everywhere and much more! There are smoking hot girls walking around everywhere and are all dying to get to know you to try and swing your vote: AMAZING!
We’ll get to the girls pics in a bit, but for now here are a couple from walking around the room:
Me, Kendall, Jeremy, Greg, and Brandon
Jacuzzi with stripper pole in the background
John Halloway
Bowling Alley on Left, Bar area straight ahead
Guitar on the dining room table
After chilling here for a bit and many free vodka red bulls, some of the group decides they are going to hit the strip club. Greg, Mike and I decide that we would rather hang out at the party for a bit more and hang back, but from what I heard the next day they had quite a night and one stripper in particular by the name of Candy was able to retire that night thanks to Jeremy “Breaking All the Stripclub Etiquette Rules” Enke.
We hang out in the Penthouse for a little while longer and decide to break out for one of the clubs downstairs. Greg and I head over to Wasted Space, which is a club owned by Freestyle Motocross Rider, Carey Hart (also known for Hart and Huntington Tattoo’s). Wasted Space is a rock bar/club with attitude and mixes in a bunch of other types of music. There is gorgeous girls everywhere, amazing music and we have a blast here for several hours.
Wasted Space
Day 2
After only a few hours sleep, I wake up around 8am for some unknown reason. Possibly the red bull is still flowing in my blood, it could have something to do with all the oxygen they pump in the rooms or I am just really excited about the day ahead. Since everyone else is still sleeping I decide to hit the casino for some gambling. I go on a serious run at the craps table (at one point rolling for about 30 minutes straight) and make a few hundred dollars. Funny Moment: At one point I went to throw the dice and missed the table completely and hit some girl. The dealer said in all his time there, he had never seen this happen. By this time I manage to get a hold of Brandon and we hit the bar for a bloody mary to reminisce about the debauchery that went down at the strip club. Apparently one of the Aced Consultants, John, is quite the legend at the Spearmint Rhino and knows many of the strippers personally so he managed to hook the guys up with quite an incredible night.
After some time the rest of the crew starts to file down to the casino floor and we all head for lunch at the Pink Taco. We have a nice lunch then all head up to the Lucky 7 Suite to do a little presentation about the future of Aced. We talk about some of the current issues, cool custom features like their Outs program and learn the future plans for the company. All I can say is that they are definitely headed in the right direction and I expect some big things from these guys in the years to come.
Stripper Pole in the Lucky 7 Suite
Lucky 7 Suite
Bar in the Lucky 7 Suite
Jacuzzi In Front of the Stripper Pole
We break up for a bit and Greg, Mike +GF and I decide to hit the mall for a little shopping. We pick up some new clothes for the evening and head back to the Hard Rock for a poker tournament that the Aced guys have set up for us. We have the sickest table in the room which is usually reserved for high roller games. The poker game is tons of fun and we are pretty much laughing having an amazing time from start to finish. John Halloway gets nice and lucky against me after calling a bet pre-flop with KJ for a 3rd of his chips. I have AQ and since over half of my chips are in there I have to push no matter what comes on the flop. With K Q X on board I make the shove and so goes my chance at the $1500 prize pool generously put up by Aced.com.
The crew playing poker in the new poker room at the Hard Rock.
After the poker ends we head to Nobu for dinner thanks again to the Aced guys. They organize an Amazing dinner with huge platters constantly being rolled out to our table, sake, something called purple haze and a massive desert platter. We feast like kings and have a great time over dinner. For the food pictures you will have to talk to Kendall, as he was doing his John Chow thing after every course came out.
Our table at Nobu
Amazing Red Snapper Dish
The night is young and we are already getting buzzed so we head to the Lucky 7 Suite again for a couple of drinks. After hanging out for a bit its time once again to go up to the Penthouse Suite for a Bikini Contest with the girls that we met the night before. I won’t get too much into detail here, but rather just post some pics to show the amazingness that was organized by the Aced guys:
Me and one of the Contestants
The Bikini Contest
Me and Sanja… one of the coolest girls there.
John from Aced.com on the couch and Carey Hart on the right
The crew in the Lucky 7 Suite
After the contest ended we all headed back to the Lucky 7 Suite again to have some more drinks. After about 30 minutes it was time to head down to Body English to finish the night off in style. We had a VIP Host escort us to the club where we were sat at the best table right in the middle of the club. Our security guy Joe quickly introduced himself and said if we needed anything at all he was there for us and he wasn’t kidding. Right after that he went to scour the club for hot girls to bring to the booth. While he was off doing this, our bottles started to arrive in true Vegas style. 3 girls carrying bottles of Dom and Grey Goose show up with huge flares and all:
We were definitely the center of attention for the whole club at that point. The night got pretty sloppy and people started to head back upstairs to the casino or their rooms. Brandon, Jeremy M. and I stuck it out the longest then decided to hit the casino after for one last craps session. The rest of the night is kind of a blur but included things like me playing craps alone at the table for like 45 minutes, Brandon cashing over $100 on a penny slot after one spin that lasted about 15 minutes, and much more. What a day that was!!!
Day 3
We were all up around noon as many of us had to check-out to catch flights home. After a quick lunch in the Hard Rock I thought, what Vegas trip would be complete without a trip to the Gun Range. So, Brandon, John H, Kendall, Mike, Greg and I all got into cabs and made our way over to The Gun Store Las Vegas. Since many of the people had never fired a gun before, we decided that the Coalition Package was probably our best bet. This included:
M249 SAW w/40 Rds
M16 Riffle w/25 Rds
M9 Pistal w/ 20 Rds
Three Targets
Package T-Shirt
Here are some pics from this:
John “#6″ Halloway – John knew instantly when he saw this target that it was his choice… others were a little more tactful in their approach. When asked why he chose that one, John replied “I’m from the ATL”
The happiest man holding ammo
Me and the M-16
I think Kendall is even happier than me to be holding that gun!
Thank you Brandon, John and Xander for everything this weekend as this was probably one of the best weekends of my life!
Finally, to wrap this up…. If you aren’t promoting Aced right now, I suggest you do ASAP. They treat their affiliates like kings, and did so much for us this weekend which I am so thankful! Or, I could say, if you don’t promote Aced, Brandon will shoot you:
Note… don’t forget to check out John Halloway’s recap also.
Barcelona Recap / Argentina Next
Oct 14th
A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to attend Cap Euro in Barcelona. First off, shout out to Alex Pratt and the rest of his team for doing such an amazing job putting this show together. Even though my actual time in the conference was very short, the event as a whole was a lot of fun and I got to meet some really great people and catch up with some old friends.
I’ll try and do a quick recap as I remember it…..
Day 1 - Don’t Go to Can Majo
Arrive in Barca, head to Hotel Room – My friend John (JohnG) and I shared a room because we “aren’t balling like that”. Free Wifi, so obviously the first thing we do is turn on the laptops. Get ahold of Jeremy (Boarderman) and John Halloway (JohnH) on Skype and make plans to meet a bunch of people for dinner. Jason (Goodkarmakid) has made reservations at some fish restaurant that is supposed to be one of the better ones in the city. WRONG…. the restaurant was a huge miss, had my worst meal of the trip and waited over 3 hours to do so. The funniest part of it was about an hour in to the wait for the main courses, JohnH received his main. We all got excited the food was finally coming, but it was almost another hour before any of us were to see a plate. (Don’t worry Jason, I know its not your fault as I found the website (No free linkage: http://www.barcelona.com/barcelona_city_guide/where_to_eat_barcelona/top_10_best_restaurants_in_barcelona/) that is resposible for this poor recommendation)
After Dinner it was off to the Blackjack.com party. In a group of 13 people none of us remembered to write down directions for the club so we all decided to hop in cabs to get there. This brought one of the funniest moments in the trip. After explaining to the cab driver that we wanted to go to Joker Nightclub for about 3 minutes, we arrive at Shoko Nightclub. Apparently Joker is not very well known there as the same thing happened to the other cab. We finally get to Joker and there is some giant black guy at the door looking for Blackjack.com chips to get in. Fortunately, I was with Jeremy Enke who was kind of a big deal over there, who brought Alex Pratt to the rescue to get us in. Like most gambling affiliate parties, it was a complete sausage fest, but we decided we would get drunk off the free booze and make it a good night. I am a little disappointed about their advertisements of Wild Orchid Girls, because I maybe saw one, and she didn’t even look that hot.
About 2 hours into the night I run into an attractive lady at the bar so I decide to say hello. It turns out that she is an affiliate manager for Casino Rewards/Rewards Affiliates and unlike most affiliate managers doesn’t try to push her company while out partying… I like her already. To make a long story short I find out later that she (Renee – some of you may know her from CAP) won the award for Best Affiliate Manager at the CAP Awards in London and her company has won the award for Best Casino Affiliate Program, so anyone looking to get into casino more should definitely send Renee an email.
The rest of the night was kind of a mess. I ended up giving Renee a rose, but was shortly outdone by Mike (themike537) who bought some other girl 3:
Day 2 – Hungover at the Conference / PAP Dinner and Partying Again
John and I get up relatively early on Day 2 considering we had only arrived home wasted a few hours prior. Free breakfast at our hotel before 10:30, so being the savvy travellers that we are we hit the buffet. Food sucks, off to the conference.
Line up for what seems like forever, but was probably only 10 minutes. Turns out we were waiting in the wrong line, and didn’t even have to line up in the first place. Run into Beanie and a few others while in line and stare at the many hot girls that are promoting for different sites… the line isn’t so bad after all.
Get into the conference and decide to just walk around. Most of the booths look the same as usual and there is nothing really exciting going on. Chat with some people for a bit, watch the opening session/legal session (really good session) and try to find Stephen from Sportsbook.com. I show up 5-10 minutes late, he is nowhere to be found… oh well…. I kinda expected it anyway as it usually happens with meetings at these things.
Walk around the conference a bit more, stare at the pretty promotional girls, gather some free swag and decide we have had enough – time to head out. Run into Stephen who had a meeting cancelled, so we go to lunch with him. Eat the worst Risotto which is actually rice, but still beats the meal at Can Majo! Day is pretty much done, so back to the hotel. All in all were probably at the conference for about 3 hours.
Back at the hotel we decide to lie down for a bit to try and recover for the debauchery that is about to follow that evening.
After a few hours of shut-eye, Geof from Bet365 comes by our hotel so we head over to the CDLC for the dinner that I organized. Turns out the place is AMAZING and has a really cool setup. Chat with Geof for a bit and wait for people to arrive.
8pm arrives (when we were supposed to meet) and not a single person is there (actually that might be a lie, because I think Giorgio was there, but we didn’t actually know who he was till about 8:30)! I begin to get extremely stressed out that I am gonna be stuck with a bill for 40 people…. oh boy! Fortunately some people start to roll in around 8:30, but we are still not even at half of the original group. The waitress starts to freak out on me a little, and I tell her that people are on there way, but are stuck in traffic.
9pm… Finally there are enough people to sit down, let’s get this show on the road. Dinner is quite amazing and probably the best meal I had over there. Half-way through the meal I find out I got the shaft on seating as it turns out themike537 and Kendall (kdollar) have the best view in the whole restaurant. In front of their table is a bed full of smoking hot lesbian girls that keep making out with each other… wow I am good at picking restaurants.
Dinner finishes up, and my good friend Margaret from PKR covers the tab for all the affiliates. Being an affiliate does have its benefits Now that dinner is over, its PARTY TIME.
Head over to the Winzingo party. Again, a sausage fest and they make you pay for your booze. This party sucks! Fortunately my good friend Dee from 888.com gave me an invite to their party earlier in the day so we decide we need a change of scenery and head over there.
I forget the invite though at the hotel room, but fortunately we manage to locate Dee in the club and she gets us in. As we get in we discover that 888.com isn’t cheap and booze are FREE This is much better than first party. The best part about this party was they did it in a club where there were local people partying also on the first floor. After catching up with some old friends for a bit and meeting some new people we decide to head downstairs for the real party. As we get downstairs we hear one of the nicest sounds in the world: Rick Ross…. this party is getting even better!
themike537, kdollar, JohnG
JohnG, JohnH, themike537
Party on the dancefloor for a bit then get invited over to a table that Chris (lifeofsports on PAP) has reserved – party gets even better! Hang out with them for a bit and do a lot more drinking with Chris and most of the Cake Team (which I must add are probably one of the coolest teams over there – they know how to party). Find out that over 20 people had been mugged the night before, but the only one that managed to fight them off was little Mr. Enke.
After a ton more drinking Evan (who works for Chris) and I decide it will be fun to try and pick up girls. After going about 0/4 we finally meet 2 German girls. After about 10 minutes of me trying to speak spanish to them, I find out they speak English. I decide I have probably had enough and leave Evan with the girls and we all head back to our hotels.
Day 3 – I Really Should Get Some Work Done
I decide before going to sleep the night before, that today would be the day where I actually try and get some business done. I head to the conference and decide I am gonna go around talking to a bunch of the different programs. I get there, realize I am still so hungover and have nothing to really talk to them about so I go talk to the people I already know.
While talking to Renee (Casino Rewards) I see that she has a really cool lighter. She tells me to go to Everest Poker to get one. I decide to go and pretend to be interested, and quickly discover that I don’t like the people at Everest. The two I am talking to seem like dicks and really have no interest in my business or telling me about their company. I find the lighter and leave.
I run into Henrik from GNUF/Betway (who I met in London) and chat with him for a bit. The GNUF team is really cool and has Heineken… so, I stay longer. After a one or two beers I leave and walk around for a bit more and realize the conference is over. Everyone is packing up and its time to get out of there.
That night CAP held a dinner for some people which I managed to work an invite to (thanks Yvette!). We get on a bus and are shuttled over to the restaurant for a great meal… thanks Warren! At dinner I met Eva from Betway and we had some great conversation about travelling. She has been to quite a few places, and I am planning to do more travelling in the upcoming year. Eva was really cool to meet, and definitely look forward to working with her more in the future.
Me & Eva
After dinner we head to the Million Dollar Poker Room party. They did a great job putting this on, but after waiting 30 minutes at the bar to find out they ran out of glasses we start to look for other options. I did catch up with some old friends though like Johan (who used to be at GNUF, but is now at Full Tilt) and a few others so it was stilll a great night. Run into Richie from Carbon Poker and he tells me they are going to Opium.
Get to Opium and there are a bunch of people over there. Run into Chris (lifeofsports) again and a bunch of other people. After a long night of drinking I realize it is 7am and I need to get out of there. The people I had left had long gone, so I looked for someone that was also leaving. Richie and I head out of the club and he waits with me to get a cab – Thanks man! There had been a ton of muggings there that week especially by this club so it was very nice of him to do this.
That pretty much concludes the conference… John and I stayed for a few more days and met up with some friends and did some sightseeing. Here are a few of those pics:
Mt. Tibidabo
Camp Nou
La Sagrada Familia
Parc Guell
So that’s all for my recap… hope you enjoyed it. Next Saturday I will be leaving for Argentina for 7 weeks. John (JohnG) and I are going to work from down there for a bit to get a change of scenery and explore some of the other parts of the world.
My main goals on this trip are to improve my spanish (if I can perfect it that would be amazing), do some travelling, try to get some good ideas on what the heck I am gonna do with the rest of my life I’ll try and post an update soon!