Your feedback for PokerStrategy.com in 2011

Originally posted by VorpalF2F

Originally posted by luizsilveira

Originally posted by IngridN
Now, if you think about this you soon realize that you guys play there anyway with out them giving out that extra % , right?

Now what would you do if you were in PokerStars shoes?

Sorry, I can't say I agree. I'm barely playing @ Stars just because my account is not tracked, plain and simple. While I play 30k hands of NL30/50 on 888 poker I've played some 1k of NL10 at Stars.

Originally posted by IngridN
"It seems to me that it would just take a sit-down by the honchos of both PSes to iron out the details." <<-- and I wish you guys would understand that we sat down not once but a zillion times. You must respect the decision.

Thank you for your feedback.
Ingrid

Ingrid, you're right.
Perhaps we should be pressuring Stars.
Do we have enough members at PS playing on Stars to make a difference?

If everyone at PokerStrategy with an untracked Stars account suddenly went elsewhere, would it matter to them?

hey Vorpal,

This is obviously not a good solution. We have a zillion amount of members untracked playing there and we would never encourage anyone to go play elsewhere unless they decided to. I also don't know if we would make a difference to be honest and it wouldn't be a nice initiative in my opinion.

All I was trying to do is explain it to you guys from a business point of view. I'll try to ask Dominik (our CEO) to come comment here so we get more information about the current situation.

thank you for caring though

Ingrid

You're amazing. Nothing else to add.

Originally posted by akrammon
You're amazing. Nothing else to add.

Always sweet akrammon you guys the reason for it!

I think I might be the harshest critic of the site who actually really loves it too.

I think this site is ideal for new players, but less than ideal for advanced players.

If this is true, then PokerStrategy relies heavily on many new players entering into poker.

PS may not have a strong enough emphasis on developing players who can generate large amounts of rake.

First, I think they need to find a way to negotiate with sites so that existing aliases can become affiliated through PS.com.

Many players were already playing at their favorite sites before finding PokerStrategy, and I think PokerStrategy misses out on lots of value as a result. Those same rooms miss out because we're forced to play at other sites in order to achieve the desired status at pokerstrategy.

Has PS tried to negotiate with PokerStars to have existing aliases affiliated with PS? If so why didn't it work?

If mid/higher stakes players were affiliated through their favorite sites then it would make more sense for you guys to generate higher quality content. As it stands, the emphasis seems to be on basic/intermediate knowledge which doesn't really appeal to a lot of players who discover PokerStrategy after learning quite a bit about the game.

Originally posted by SvenBe

Spoiler

He luizsilveira,

thank you for your input - especially in regards to the Live Coaching sessions I agree with some points, but also see that its easy to give general criticism but hard to find points to start with. Let us take an example: Our coaches are of course instructed to not tilt, swear etc. during their live coaching sessions. In general this works out very well in my opinion. Of course there are some bad beats, one leads to another and one opponent is shouted at. But thats not the point, you are right that we always need to act professional. With guys like Collin Moshman & others we have made the right steps, also our homegrown communities coaches improve more and more.
I also think that especially beginner and advanced coachings should never be 'pure coaching', they will always include some small talk, some off topic to make the coaching more casual. That is the big difference compared to videos that always concentrate on the topic. It just makes it so much easier to follow and learning will be even more fun.

For the private coachings: We occassionally have the opportunity to hold private coaching sessions in our live coachings. This is a matter of fact, however we can not just do only those - we need to have a large variety in topics.
On the other hand we always have topics like "Session Review Opportunity with YourDoomPoker " and "Have your Database reviewed by leatherass!". However the turnout is rather low and we want to improve our impact by having material that is accessible for everyone (i.e. spending 10 times X$ on a private coaching is +EV for 10 Diamonds, but spending the same money on videos reaches much more Diamonds).

Thanks a lot for the careful reply. I don't want to keep a "discussion" as I do agree with you and get your points. I'll just try to clarify/complement a thing or two, also in terms of feedback.

About the live coaching, you are absolutely right that " its easy to give general criticism but hard to find points to start with". I have to assert a mea culpa here as well, since I've seen it happening and was too passive/did nothing about it. I think, however, that the forums would be a very bad way to give such a sensitive feedback; what would be the correct way? Help ticket?

Then again, I have no problem whatsoever with tilt, swearing or what have you. Coaches are humans beings of course, and are subject (even involuntarily) to all that. Plus, of course it can be fun in a way etc. Get TwiceT's example for instance: he calls everyone fishes, makes jokes, laughts on the mic, curses sometimes. But coaches a lot in the process. Just what I mean is I've seen a few live coaching sessions where there was no coaching whatsoever.

About the private coaching, I get your point 100%. And I'm one that has taken advantage of various opportunities to get coaching/feedback quite often here (I have at least 3 videos made "about me" I think). I was just think in a way or ways to improve on that, as I "feel" (more than "know") there is room for improvement there. Like has been just said above, in your attention to intermediate players. That was just one idea I've seen on other sites and, like said, felt tempted by.

One thing is those sessions (at least the ones I had) feel a bit isolated. 1hr live coaching in a vacuum is not veeery helpful. Maybe one way is to hold more projects like vonki's (for example), or have (again for example) one member each month to get public coaching (4 times, once a week) in one of the public coaching slots. Maybe everyone could profit more from improving our own games that way, as often we do similar mistakes. Plus, I think it would help to have focus on the live coachings. (obs.: I don't mean all live coachings should be like that; I just mean 1 hr a week could be for a project like that, a different member each month, and then discuss on forums etc. how much in what way he/she improved).

And so on... just random ideas to try to help in what I can.

Originally posted by datsmahname
Has PS tried to negotiate with PokerStars to have existing aliases affiliated with PS? If so why didn't it work?

read thread, found out some info. kinda obv that this topic would come up. ty for addressing it in part.

Its still quite :f_mad:. I dont wanna play at iPoker~! ok, maybe I move some mobnies to play my reg stakes. Idk.

<3 PokerStars <3 PokerStrategy

Very dramatic love triangle u no.

Originally posted by datsmahname

Originally posted by datsmahname
Has PS tried to negotiate with PokerStars to have existing aliases affiliated with PS? If so why didn't it work?

read thread, found out some info. kinda obv that this topic would come up. ty for addressing it in part.

Its still quite :f_mad:. I dont wanna play at iPoker~! ok, maybe I move some mobnies to play my reg stakes. Idk.

<3 PokerStars <3 PokerStrategy

Very dramatic love triangle u no.

I know sad for me to see everyone's hurtful love triangle. I wish we could solve the situation but as it is at the moment, we just have to settle with the current agreement.

If I'm allowed to ask; what kind of income do you guys receive from PokerStars. Is it this or you guys receive more than this? http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/affiliate/

Originally posted by datsmahname

Originally posted by datsmahname
Has PS tried to negotiate with PokerStars to have existing aliases affiliated with PS? If so why didn't it work?

read thread, found out some info. kinda obv that this topic would come up. ty for addressing it in part.

Its still quite :f_mad:. I dont wanna play at iPoker~! ok, maybe I move some mobnies to play my reg stakes. Idk.

<3 PokerStars <3 PokerStrategy

Very dramatic love triangle u no.

Hi all,

whether and how re-tracking is possible or not is for the poker room to decide.

With PokerStars, we have tried finding a solution multiple times throughout the years, unfortunately, without success.

Best regards,
Dominik

Originally posted by ragney
If I'm allowed to ask; what kind of income do you guys receive from PokerStars. Is it this or you guys receive more than this? http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/affiliate/

Hi ragney,

This information is only available for the relevant department at PokerStrategy.com and is strictly confidential information, I hope you understand.

Thank you
Ingrid

I understand, no problem

Was just way to curious because I rake about $8,000 - $10,000 yearly on stars ♦

This site has been responsible for reinvigorating my love of poker so, although I agree with an earlier poster’s light hearted suggestion that this thread is a gentle shakedown, you can have my vote. It is the least I can do.

Before I started using Poker Strategy, I had a very arrogant approach to the game. I was attributing my losses to bad luck and a need to appease the Gods. Tragically, it took a few dollars and many goats until I realised otherwise.

The site is excellent

I have delayed my response because I have struggled to think of improvements. I have a few ideas – think of them of tweaks:

Perhaps the initial journey of a new recruit to the site could be made more straightforward. Convincing the poker curious to try the game is not particularly easy but, given what Poker Strategy offers, this site should be able to do it. It must be successful in a lot of cases but maybe the conversion percentage could be increased by looking at the journey of the initiate and including a few more subtle hooks.

Could the home page have a search function?

The site could easily become the poker community’s Facebook. It has that site’s stickiness but Poker Strategy’s mode of distributing gossip and updates still feels a little pre Mark Zuckerberg. If it could incorporate the psychology behind status updates, Tweets and photos of the poker world’s equivalent of accident prone pets, the level of community contribution could drastically increase. Moreover, if that were to happen, the site’s capacity for self marketing would be huge.

This is a small point and I’m bit loathe to mention it because the videos have been very helpful – but, in a small number of cases, they could benefit from a stronger sense of structure and sharper editing. Some of them have moments when the narrator begins to waffle, which is acceptable in a live conversation, but grates a little in a sixty minute video. It gives the impression that the person is adlibbing advice. Given that the volume of videos is large, maybe there could be a new year project to clip a few of the less structured ones?

I also have an idea that could help resolve the untracked accounts at PokerStars issue. I’m not sure it would work but it could be pitched at a test case and it would be an experiment in which neither party has anything to lose. If interested, send me an email and I will respond with the idea.

Anyway, I love this site. To marry such a solid business model to educational values and a sense of community is an act of genius.

Long may your labours be rewarded.

“Poker Strategy: Keeping my hands free of goat’s blood since 2011.”

Hey FingersMalone,

thanks for your splendid feedback!

Originally posted by FingersMalone
Perhaps the initial journey of a new recruit to the site could be made more straightforward. Convincing the poker curious to try the game is not particularly easy but, given what Poker Strategy offers, this site should be able to do it. It must be successful in a lot of cases but maybe the conversion percentage could be increased by looking at the journey of the initiate and including a few more subtle hooks.

Quite true.
We worked on that end in recent months already, e.g. trying to allow more choice besides the "free 50" funnel.

The journey that you describe is indeed a long one:
- sign-up
- valdation
- game type choice
- quiz
- poker room choice
- poker room download
- optional ID check
- possible transfer problems

We know we're not there yet - and partly, we will not be able to deliver big improvements in the next months, as our resources are focussed on developing a fully new platform - which then will be a long-term solution with a lot of flexibility.

Could the home page have a search function?

The mentioned new platform will have a global search function.
But as it's a from-scratch development, it won't be too soon that we're finished.

You can expect our trading school, supposed to launch first half of 2012, to be also a kind of "public beta" for "PokerStrategy.com 2.0".

This is a small point and I’m bit loathe to mention it because the videos have been very helpful – but, in a small number of cases, they could benefit from a stronger sense of structure and sharper editing. Some of them have moments when the narrator begins to waffle, which is acceptable in a live conversation, but grates a little in a sixty minute video. It gives the impression that the person is adlibbing advice. Given that the volume of videos is large, maybe there could be a new year project to clip a few of the less structured ones?

It's true that many videos are not especially well-structured.
In itself, that would be okay if there would be a clearer separation between the really great videos and the "normal" videos that are produced in larger quantities.

We will think about how we can bring a makeshift solution for that before the new platform comes.

I also have an idea that could help resolve the untracked accounts at PokerStars issue. I’m not sure it would work but it could be pitched at a test case and it would be an experiment in which neither party has anything to lose. If interested, send me an email and I will respond with the idea.

On that issue, I have to admit that you should not be optimist. Believe me, we offered a lot of options and didn't come to an agreement.

If you like you can drop me a mail to lutz@pokerstrategy.com - but as said, I don't expect your suggestion (sound as it might be) to be practicable.

Again, thanks for your elaborate feedback!

Best,
Lutz