While Cryptologic has signed new clients such as the WPT, Playboy, and Betsafe, the loss of BetFair has hit them hard. Betfair moved to their own proprietary gaming platform in Q4 2006, and as a previous significant customer was largely responsible for the hit to revenue and earnings numbers.

The company isn’t projecting a prettier picture in the near term, either, forecasting a small net loss of $1.5 million in Q2 2007. While Cryptologic wasn’t hit nearly as hard as other sites when the UIGEA was passed in October 2006 (70% of the company’s revenues at the time were generated by European players), it still suffered as nearly all companies in the industry did, a fact that has been compounded by the exit of BetFair, which is only know showing up directly in the company’s quarterly numbers.

The company’s stock was selling off sharply in trading Thursday morning, down nearly 12% in early trading.

Thank you CD poker and thank you blind monkey!

The one thing I’ve found to be the same throughout these three years time is the amount of time I spend playing online poker in the winter vs. the summer.   I think there are two reasons for this.  The winter months I can spend more time playing during the evenings.  Second, The darkness outside and the cold weather makes it not very enjoyable to venture outdoors.  Therefore, I can either take up a less profitable hobby, watch tv or play poker.

When spring rolls around my playing time decreases according to the length of the days.  I play less as there is more to do outside, around the house, in the house, etc.

It’s an interesting phenonmon that i’m learning to deal with.   By the start of spring i’m usually trying to finish up bonuses. While clearing a bonus I often wish I was outside. Or I feel guilty that I haven’t finished the bonus before going outside.   When the summer rolls around it is warm enough to take the laptop outside which is an occasional activity.  However, the playing time remains at a low level.

Now that spring / summer is officially here I’ve absorbed the fact that I won’t be playing as much online poker for the next few months.  I can’t say I really miss the poker.   Summer is such a great time with many outdoor activities.  Plus, the summer also provides me with a refreshed look at my poker game and what i’d like to achieve / learn in the coming months.

Neteller has withdrawn from Canada. Although, online gaming isn’t illegal in Canada it hasn’t been entirely passed as legal. So, to summarize, Neteller was scared of another UIEGA being passed and decided that instead of dealing with the repercussions that they’ll just pull out now.

So, now us online poker players are forced to use Click2pay, Moneybookers or the new shilly sites that may be popping up. Thanks Neteller.
——

Press release is below for those of you who are interested.

Monday, 26 March 2007 – The NETELLER Plc Group (“NETELLER” or the “Group”) (LSE: NLR), the leading global independent online money transfer business, today announced several significant changes to its services in a number of markets.

The Group continually assesses the risk profile and status of the markets its serves. Recent actions by regulators, payment processors, and online gaming operators have increased the uncertainty around certain activities related to online gambling in some jurisdictions. The Board of Directors of the Company reached a decision, on 25 March 2007, that the risk to the Group’s ongoing business in Canada and Turkey has increased in the light of such developments. The Board has therefore concluded that the Group will no longer process transfers related to online gambling sites on behalf of Canada or Turkey resident customers.

Reduced Service to Canada

• Cessation of Canadian transfers to gambling merchants: the Group will cease processing online gambling related transactions for Canada-resident customers with effect from 12.01 AM MST Monday 9 April 2007.
• Suspension of InstaCASH transactions: As of today Monday 26 March 2007, at 12:01 AM MST, Canada-resident customers were no longer able to deposit funds using NETELLER’s instaCASH service either directly or from any online gambling site.
• Non-gambling services continue: Canada-resident customers will continue to be able to use their e-wallet accounts for non-gambling transactions, including peer-to-peer and pre-paid debit transactions.
• Available customer funds: Customer funds, including those of Canadian residents, are held in a pooled, segregated trust account and will be available for withdrawal by customers, on demand. Canadian customers continue to be able to use their e-wallet accounts for non-gambling transactions.

This site also boasts some of the best promotions in terms of number of points.  The Costa del Poker gives 4000 savvy points once you complete the purchase.  4000 points equates to $400 at Amazon.com.  A fairly nice little promotion (although the requirements would take sometime).

The drawbacks of the site are two fold

• You must login to view any of the poker rooms.  This isn’t a large drawback but if you don’t want to have to register you won’t be able to see the current promotions.
• The forum is fairly small and has very little traffic.

All in all this is another great poker points program.   You are almost guaranteed to find a poker room you haven’t played at at Pokersavvy.

Poker Souce Online (PSO) has 12 different promotions that you can take advantage. The requirements vary depending on the room and vary from easy(party poker) to hard (Sun Poker).

PSO also has one of the most active and informative poker forums on the internet. The information on the forum varies from support-to-hand analysis-to-casino gambling. Most of the people on the forums are helpful and great information can be found.
PSO also supports the Instant Bankroll program. This basically gives the player a set amount of money (usually $100).  This is considered your money WHEN you play a certain amount of raked hands. This works out to a really good deal and should be taken advantage of if you haven’t played at the site previously.
The best part of the PSO site is the customer support. From my experiences they provide accurate and fast customer service. If you have a question or a problem about a poker room they are able to provide an answer quickly.  As well, the process of getting your account verified (at a poker room) is usually done quickly.
PSO is definitely worth checking out if you haven’t done so already.

These programs work on a player – middle man – Poker room marketing strategy. Basically the poker room pays a middle man (the sites listed below) a fee. The middle-man directs new customers to the poker room. Finally the middle-man returns a portion of their proceeds to the player. A symbiotic relationship.
The general principle of these sites is you join a poker room, play a certain amount of raked hands and get this free bonus. The three major sites that I have use are

• Pokersourceonline
• Pokersavvy
• Boogster

The next few articles will be reviews of the sites listed above.
To be fair with the other authors of pokahblog links will not be provided for a referral. If you are interested in joining any of these programs it’s as simple as doing a quick search.

• Alfonse D’Amato has stepped up to serve as chair of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA). While the PPA hasn’t been able to effectively wield much political clout so far in its relatively brief history, it can’t hurt to have D’Amato on our side.
• The Department of Justice has requested and received yet another continuance in its trial against the co-founders of Neteller. While this isn’t good news to players with money still frozen in Neteller, one has to believe that either the DoJ’s case isn’t that strong to begin with or that a settlement deal is close to being finalized.
• Perhaps most hopefully, Congressman Barney Frank is reportedly working to appeal the ban of poker in the UIGEA. As chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Frank definitely carries influence and isn’t afraid to take stands on all sorts of positions. Better yet, he’s not only called the ban “preposterous” but has also raised the possibility of taxing online poker instead, something both site operators and players have been begging for for years, as far as legislating and legitimizing online poker in the US.

Through all of this many of the players that are bonus hungry (or commonly know as bonus whores) who capitalized on the generous bonuses have since left do to the changing requirements. Therefore, one could assume that Absolute Poker would have a decreasing number of players. However, this has not been the case due to the introduction of new skins on the Absolute Poker network.

The new sites on the Absolute Network include Big Chip Poker and Vegas 24/7 poker. With the introduction of these sites and the loss of bonus whores (who are typically tighter) the games at Absolute Poker are now easier. This is in large part due to the ratio of bonus hunters to fish and has thus created easier play.

This weekend is the first bonus that Absolute Poker has released in March a long stretch from when three bonuses were released per week. If you are interested in using the reload this weekend you must deposit on March 10th. Use promo-code MARCH10 (or if you’re VIP MARCH10VIP).

If you had uncleared Monthly bonus from last month or the last three months now is a great time to  clear that bonus.  Sunpoker has recently changed the format of the monthly bonus from ‘Bonus’ to ‘Reward’.  This change left the uncleared monthly bonus (under the ‘bonus’ category) while adding the ‘reward’ bonus.

Now when you’re clearing the bonus you actually clear both bonuses at the same time.  Therefore, instead of getting $1 for every 5 MPP’s it’s actually $2 for every 5 MPP’s.  A very very good clearance rate!