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How Suite It Isn’t

by , Jun 22, 2008 | 11:54 am

Comments (5)

Oops, I may have been drawing lots of conclusions from the WSOP about the state of the poker economy under a false assumption pretense … Tao of Pokerati listeners have probably heard me ramble incessantly about how there’s so much less online money here this year. While technically that is true … the lack of online-company hospitality suites is not necessarily a recessionary indicator. As WSOP title-sponsor Everest Poker has opened up a suite, and other European sites have partnered up to open “The Champions Lounge” … the real reason that there’s no Full Tilt suite, no PokerStars Lounge, etc. is simply because sites that accept American players aren’t allowed the Rio exhibition space this year.

Will seek confirmation on this … but until then, just know that wherever poker’s fiscal health stands, the pure Europeans will be the ones living the cush life during the main event this year.


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5 Comments to “How Suite It Isn’t”


  1. Kevin Mathers     says:
    June 22nd, 2008 at 12:54pm

    Betfair is title sponsor of the WSOP Europe. Everest Poker got a deal to have it’s logo appear on the poker tables and inner rail. The business registration rules, found at http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/pdfs/Businessregrules2008.pdf specifically say no online site that allows US players.


  2. DanM     says:
    June 22nd, 2008 at 12:59pm

    Oops, my bad … duly corrected on Everest. That’s what I meant to say.

    It’s still true that there isn’t as much online money flying around these days. But since sites taking American players are still making money, then perhaps they’re happy that they don’t need to engage in any sorta arms race in the hospitality dept.


  3. Lance     says:
    June 22nd, 2008 at 9:56pm

    This was also the case last year, was it not? Only 888 and PartyPoker had suites I recall.


  4. DanM     says:
    June 22nd, 2008 at 11:29pm

    No no … Ladbrokes had a really nice one. And didn’t one of the British sports bet sites, like Sportingbet or something? They were in the Brasilia Room, I believe. And I also seem to remember their presence coming a bit earlier … but I could be wrong about that.

    Maybe I’m just wistfully looking back still stuck in 2006?


  5. Lance     says:
    June 23rd, 2008 at 12:19am

    Right, but none of the American-facing sites had suites. Stars and Full Tilt were out of the picture. If you’re still stuck in 2006, does that mean that DonkeyBomber is still an unknown to most poker fans? Umm, wait a sec …