1. yes we will release a cash VIP system and of course I've put a lot of intellectual investment into it and I am going to make it without considering the effects of RB as after June 1st new players won't be able to get rakeback and now our cash VIP system will need to somewhat competitive to an existing rb deals out there from other networks as was the case when I was at Stars and the issue of 'why don't you give out rb' was ALWAYS a daily issue of conversation, but an extremely well thought out cash bonus based VIP system should do the trick to level that playing field.

2. Ok, I'll just state it here, if any player cashes out with a check, I'll credit a players's user account for the $15 fee for any check $300 or over for 6 checks per year. Just PM me, or email me at rewards@heropoker.com and I'll sort it out. So, I know it's a manual process, but it ain't like I need approval for someone to manually credit your account or even make the policy right now after consideration from your's and the previous posts. It's an issue, lets resolve it now. Done.

*Player account will be credited the $15 fee for a check withdraw which is $300 or over for up-to 6 times a calendar year. Please email rewards@heropoker.com after the check has been approved (must be approved not pending approval as to prevent fraud of player check cancellation).

This will be updated in the website by next Friday at the latest and I chose $300 because its a reason cost for both parties at 5% transaction fee and it matches with our brand (that is my thought process in that order).

3. Thanks-honestly I don't want to be perceived as a jackal or scavenger here, we had a plan for brand and company position development over a period of two years and now I am managing our company to at least say to regs that, hey, we are another option and that's as much as I do want to push it because whether realistic or not, players use to PS/FTP will have expectations and will those expectations be met, even while lowered and coupled with the hit to confidence of US players? No I don't think so, but Hero was never set up with the intent to be a second tier site trying to survive off rakeback affiliates or compete with PS/FTP.

Hero has always had the same intent to define and be a boutique poker site which puts all our players first as VIPS through our priority on service as the key point of a user's playing environment. This hasn't changed, and we're under no illusion just because Merge has grown that somehow over night all the limitations and issues have suddenly disappears because the network is growing, likely the opposite is true. But in terms of our boutique objective: that needs to come from straight from the top because policy needs leadership as well. So thanks for the comment on that, I do sincerely appreciate it.

Cheers,
Dave

That's ok, wasn't calling you out on an e-sports background was more calling you out on trying to pander to your crowd by trying to appear a regular computer geek and getting a detail wrong

Good answer though and appreciate your response and me being wrong (did assume that was what you meant but wanted to test as well), makes me more confident in you and the site in general though I still have some lingering concern about the opening up to the au market based on my understanding of why Merge isn't open to australian players.

My concern isn't with Hero Poker since I'm assuming the corporate structure you are talking about that allows you to be open to au players is that there is no australian ownership in your company (which is the Merge issue iirc, the fact it's illegal for an australian to run an online gambling site) but more with the fact that as a skin, will my cash be integrated with the general Merge player funds pool and thus open to an Australian style black friday (whether kept in a seperate-to-operating account or not) or is each skins funds kept in accounts belonging to them?

Overall I do like what you seem to be bringing to the table as an option to move to until the PS/FT issues are resolved fully and I will most likely be opening an account there as soon as thenuts.com has you up as an option (prefer to keep my rakeback accounts in one place), hopefully before the rakeback option ends, but would be most appreciative for an answer to my concerns as well.

I have a question that may have already been mentioned, so sorry if so...

If I have created an account with Lock Poker in which I was automatically signed up for rakeback (but never deposited/played on the site), and now create a Hero Poker account, can I be removed from Lock Poker's rakeback program and added to Hero's? This is assuming I deposit onto Hero before June 1st obv.

Somehow got linked to this thread, found it interesting and read it all.

David I think you've done an excellent job presenting yourself so far and will keep Hero in mind as I figure out options going forward.

Pretty impressed with these responses so far.

Well, I've them to come into the thread and save my ass in this regards, but they are all over the world right now, and while they are my sponsored pros I respect their scheduling first in terms of if they are in juicy session, then I won't bother them whatsoever.

But until they come and save my bacon, here are some video bios/testimonies that we did as a company our Aussie Millions Launch where they do mention me and you get to see my ugly corporate fat cat mug. I might be a start-up but I'm not trying to run it as if we aren't ready to compete or that I wasn't a senior executive for Stars...new site, yes, but I'd like to think we are operating it maybe more like a boutique ultra mini Stars, if I could be so bold to make that comparison, but with RB! lol.

Gavin at the 3:05 mark mentions how he got involved.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peOnB...er_profilepage

Terrence at the 1:39 mark
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t-sz...er_profilepage

Julian at the 1:55 mark
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quswZ...er_profilepage

Terrence putting me in an Arm bar and Gavin not helping me 3:50 mark
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M39Gi...er_profilepage

Cheers,
Dave

This is so awesome. In the future I may be looking at playing more on Merge (waiting for my FTP $$ and some other stuff to see how much I'll be devoting to poker looking forward), and having a player make a sensible complaint and being able to just say "you know, you're right, let's change it" this quickly is a first in the poker industry. I'll be watching this skin with great interest, definitely have me interested in it (considering RPM, Lock, Hero atm )

Hi Derek,
I completely agree with you and to be perfectly frank that is why I was brought into the network with welcome arms, even though If you look around for HeroPoker on the rakeback sites, I'm not there as a strong RB affiliate pushed site. Even though we launched at the Aussie Millions in late Feb, but again, the more I think about it, I've set our company up as more like a uber mini boutique version of Stars: we have reputable pros, we do viral videos and we advertise over affiliate programs and spend the marketing dollars.

There are some industry considerations though, to give you some background,
1. Networks are platform service providers, so they do balance the growth of the network and the benefit that a new skin does provide as a minimum. The problem is really an issue of quality, whereas the network itself still has a similar net gain from having 50 or 100 sites, but the actual risk is diversified or there are a few dark horses mixed in there to possible bring in new markets.

2. The issue is a freerider issue, if 'Skin A' is doing mass marketing and other skins are just feeding off that mass marketing, and player funds are moving from 'Skin A' player to other sites and 'Skin A' has no chance to recoup their marketing spend, then 'Skin A' has no motivation to simply prop up the others in the network and will engage in the same RB affiliate behavior.

3. Merge has held its own up to this point and even grown, because a massive area of liquidity is sports book players who have massive bankrolls and don't give a crap about bankroll management because they are only single tabling anyways in their spare time between bets. Had Merge or Bodog not had this base player base, then things would be much the same as many other poker networks that have only had poker and come and gone. And the same thing applies for both the ipoker and microgaming networks but on a casino side; simply poker for sports books or casinos is just a valued added feature that is why most sportsbook/casinos really don't give a crap if the poker is growing also as its not screwing things up.

4. That being said, this is not an indefinite situation as seen with ipoker last year where they simply banned whole swaths of players who clearly were playing on some type of under the table rakeback affiliate deal and who were sucking money out the system faster than their existing players could add it in, and also making it a really crappy playing environment. A great poker game is one where it has a variety of different players, not just 9 nits and one casual player who actually wants to play a board and have fun rather than get knocked around every time they are in the big blind or out of position. So the network needs to manage the quality of the games or simply put the ecosystem will eventually start to crumble.

5. I sincerely believe that Merge's management is top notch and well aware of the entire framework and are seasoned in this and have been slowly and deliberately pushing towards more quality. The biggest sign of this is that after June 1st there will be no RackBack given, so sites MUST engage in marketing or they will eventually be hurting really bad. Why?

Well first off, I was under the impression the internal memo was still under discussion, but some sites jumped the gun and announced it to their affiliates right away. Why? Because there are other things in the internal memo that have been disclosed by these sites as well that I guess basically spooked them into actually announcing it and now making it policy for all intent purposes lol.

I'm not going to get into those other policies in the memo, but what would spook a site into such a strong reaction, I think its obvious if think about it because RB only really gives value to a grinder when there is a rb associated promotion because even if you're running bad, with your rakeback and your rb based promotion, you will end up with something at the end of the month-whereas even with rb, if you run bad and continue the volume, I dont' care if you have 80% rb, you still go broke. I'm not saying that rb promotions are off the table, but there is more to that memo than what other sites have disclosed. That being said, I'm not trying to slag these other sites because #1. they are running a business too,
#2. they will have to engage in marketing and if they have an existing affiliate network, why not use it and
#3 if you've never actually done marketing, real marketing strategy, then you're pretty screwed anyway if you can't give out RB, so they will need a buffer to figure things out.

But for Hero, hell, I swear I didn't discuss or ask for it, but I'm like a fish in water after June 1st.

So to begin this part: first off 'fist pump' to my fellow alumni of PwC, I was in the performance improvement advisory division attached to an audit division. And to answer your question, will Hero be bringing in a wide range of players.

Yes, I do feel I'm the most well positioned to do so and even pre-recent events I was committed to doing that for the network regardless of cash flow issues because our investment was already set up without any revenue consideration for a two year branding exercise. But we have opted to move our timeline up a bit further but in terms of my mass marketing achievements.

1. Primarily responsible for opening up and initiating the current steady growth of Poker in Asia (it is as big as it sounds and not an exaggeration, but keep in mind that it is in the context of having the full support of PS at the time with their uber bankroll, but still it is not a small achievement) and that is a whole universe of new players.
2. Was primary business figure for doing the actual legislative process for legalizing poker in Macau in the Casinos with the Macau Gaming Commission (DIJC) along with Danny McDonagh (APPT tournament director).
3. Established the first joint marketing gaming venture with SJM with the biggest card room in Macau at the Grand Lisboa, you may have heard of it, its called PokerStars Macau.
4. Established the biggest regional tournament in all of Asia by player numbers, the Macau Poker Cup.
5. Opened the Taiwan market to TV Poker content on a regular basis
6. Did first viral online poker reality show based out of Singapore
7. Worked directly with 411 productions (WSOP EPSN production crew) for two years on the APPT 2007-2008
8. Hand picked and developed the first Asia Team pro from local player base
9. Set up first overseas relationships for the Macau Poker Cup live satellite in Japan


And what was the result? Well, Macau has like 5 major poker card rooms now, and in terms of growth and revenues, I can't comment on that, but lets just say, during my time it increase from 2006-2010 about 25 times from its 2006 number. The player number in Asia alone in Stars will still exceed that of even what Ongame has now for its entire network.

The business strategy I sent in place for Asia was valid up to mid 2010 and the fact it has grown shows that I did my work. And I worked like a mofo and didn't see my wife for nearly 8 months of the year and out of the first 6 months of my first son, I missed the first 3 months due to work and travel. But, that was my choice and I won't say a bad thing about Stars, it was an amazing place to work at, the senior executive staff are all extremely top notch, I know it is a very ethical company for the industry it is in and I absolutely was 100% devoted to my staff and team. My line manager always, gave me the benefit of the doubt and I never felt constrained there and always appreciated. But I wanted a new challenge, and I thought that challenge was in private equity, but I'll tell you, this is infinitely more harder, and if this should work the way I have set it up to work, then I want my own HBS case study written about it. lol. Ok, not meant to be a sick brag, but when it comes to business marketing strategy, I ain't afraid of anyone and given the time and the minimal sufficient resources I will find a way to manage the competitive forces, even if I have to choke on humble pie, I'll survive to make it happen. My uncle was VP of LG Electronics, I know what sacrifices it will take to really make things work and my family do support me on that as well.

But just to note: this is my business to business attitude, I don't think you can 'will' a successful business, it need to be afforded to you by your clients/players who recognize your sincerity and respect.

So to answer your final question:
It is not my intention to bring in more fish to the network,
I want to bring in a couple of continent of players into the network.

I didn't quit Stars cause it was too tough, it wasn't tough enough.

Regards from one ex-PwC to another,
David

Dear Twoplustwo-ers,

I will continue to respond to the outstanding posts in another 10 hours from now so that I can focus on some other task will my full attention, please feel free to re-post your post if you feel that I missed it (which is possible) or if the other related posts did not sufficiently answer your question directly.

I do appreciate the most business oriented questions as it does allow me to further articulate our views and thank you for the positive comments, it is most appreciated after all the human spirit needs all the help it can get no matter how confident a person can be, we're all just human too.

I will get to the PM now.
Thanks & regards,
David

Please break it down to Barney level for me about rakeback.

So you can opt in for 35% rakeback, but you will receive fewer points while playing?

I'm a recreational player, not a hardcore grinder, if that makes any difference.

Thanks.

Thank you!

this thread has gotten a bit wordy. Tough to find into

Do you allow US players?

Don't really know anything about Hero Poker or the Merge Network but I have to say I really like the way you're handling questions here and obviously giving honest answers even in spots where it might not make your site look as good to the average poker player. Plus any site with Gavin and Terrence as pros can't be that bad.

No idea if I'll ever play on Merge but if I did I would probably sign up thru your site just based on this thread. Best of luck with everything.

<pitchfork> THE FREEROLL JUST GOT CANCELLED, I WANT ANSWERS!!! </pitchfork>

True story

Not a great sign, but I have faith there's a good reason. Hopefully they read my mind and are rescheduling it for a time I can play.

Hi guys,
It is going to up again soon, I think I know the error and it entirely my fault, but I must have inputed the bonus calculation incorrectly and the system shut down the tournament, will update shortly.

Regards,
David

It is back up, please re-register, I had put an old bonus code on the play through and it got rejected by the system at that point; but better now than 1 minute beforehand, but entirely my error's not the networks.

It is the same password and located in the Tournament: Scheduled: Special for May 15, 2011

Again, apologies for that.


Thanks & regards,
David

No problem, I assumed based on the strong signs so far that the situation would be fixed and it has been.

Thanks, keep up the good work.

So um, yeah, here I am. As you can see from post count I'm not on 2+2 too often even though I've been around a pretty long time (first account created around 2000-2001 I'd guess). So I'm not too sure how much 2+2 cred that I myself have, but fwiw, I first met David a few years ago when he was a big important suit with Stars. I was a sponsored Stars pro for two APPT events and I guess David was happy with what I did and brought me on for HeroPoker. David is definitely working hard, very possibly too hard, on developing the site, and I'm glad to be representing his brand.

And that's all I guess. Let me know if there any questions, although, again, I'm pretty bad at remembering to follow-up on forums and such. I'll try though.

You don't need post counts, you've got street cred.

Hi Terrence I just wish you also forgot to register for Limit Events. You KO'd me in 2 major Limit Tourneys just prior to the Final table. I'm going to open an account on Hero Poker and look forward to dishing out a little revenge.

Good to see the Koreans get involved with online poker

I tried to sign up for rakeback on your link, but it doesn't work for some reason. I might have missed it while reading through the thread, but how do you sign up for rakeback?

2nd

LOL - some more MMA for you Bud.