***Hero Poker CEO Official Player Relations Thread***

[Hero Poker CEO]

Originally Posted by desperad0oo7

This may have been answered before, but could you please dedicate a post to withdrawals? I think this is the biggest concern right now, not getting money on the site (many of us have already figured this part out). I am not asking in the case of a government crackdown but rather under the current circumstances.

Can players expect to be able to withdraw money? What methods are available? how long will it take? has it been done since black Friday?

Basically, I would love to get money on and start playing but I also want some sort of reassurance that I am not wasting my time.

We need to put this into a context because I think some American players who chose to inquire about playing are still thinking as though nothing has changed when in fact there are some considerations before I answer.

1. You know 1 month ago, literally 3 weeks ago, Merge was #24 in the world, now they are #9. Obviously the infrastructure is strained and pushed to its limits and while things have been ramped up, it's been in a constant state of ramping up/catching up. To make an absolute judgement on the ability to withdraw in a timely and organized manner right now is the same line of understanding in expecting a timely withdraw of funds from PS/FPT on the day of Black Friday. Of course it isn't to that magnitude, but I'm sure you get my point.

2. I'm sure you'll note that it has been done, 'usemywallet' and cheques have been issued. So yes, its not like its a black hole, I'm sure if it was, Merge would have been dead right now.

3. I can only say this, on behalf of Hero. We are a boutique site, that hasn't changed, we haven't experience a huge surge of sign ups because we launched during the Aussie millions and were more considered with developing our company's position and standards. So its not like I'm so overwhelmed that I can't function, and my main role is to assist the player in whatever way or options I can. So I'll say this. If you need assistance, the CEO of Hero will assist you directly and if I need to use my resources to expedite things, I will where appropriate. But as you know, most network sites including Hero use Merge to process payments, so if things are going through Carbon, well they will go through Hero, (I don't know about the other sites).

But again, I'd recommend if you are uber concerned about this, simply wait and see how long the checks take etc. Eventually things will settle down and then you can make a decision at that point. Now even if the checks work and it takes 3 weeks or 7 weeks, you may even wish to rethink it its worth to wait for check for some random period over just using a different and available method. But I hope you can understand what I'm saying here that, I will do treat you like only a CEO can treat a VIP.

http://www.pocketfives.com/f10017/me...shouts-636806/

But from p5s - I directly assisted one such player with a cash out recently from our 15k freeroll winner last week.

[Hero Poker CEO]

Originally Posted by PokemonKid

since hero poker CEO is setting the tone with his animal based humour

what do you call a Korean walking a dog

Spoiler:

a vegetarian

It's actually not animal based humour, it's regional, but maybe you knew that and you just wanted to share =)

But personally, just personally, I don't take offense to this as there are a lot of Koreans who eat dog (not as most nowadays) and if someone does own a dog, they very rarely would eat dog and most campaign against dog eaters nowadays. I try not get involved in this issue as it's pretty indefensible, but no offense taken =)

[Hero Poker CEO]

Originally Posted by TheRaiderr

On the opening to Aussies, can you make sure you open in time for us to get rakeback, or provide a mechanism to be in before that date.

Right now, we've just tried it, Aussie players can just register without their details and I can apply the rb to the account, but until its official, it won't be automatic, but yes, I will provide an automatic link for it for Aussie Players.

Cheers,
Dave

[Hero Poker CEO]

Originally Posted by caspermatic

So because VIP points are reduced so much if you have rakeback, having/not having rakeback doesn't make nearly as big of a difference as other sites/skins?

Rakeback will always make a huge difference because at 35% it starts off either at the top or exceeding that most top tier rewards you would get, after grinding like a nut to get there, add some VIP points on top of that, and its like gold dust on a $150 sundae.

But that is why even my rewards system set players up at the 25%-35% average range over certain stretches of earnings, as no rewards system can inherently compete with rakeback as a pure acquisition tool.

As the rakeback is used to draw players in, while the VIP system is supposed to keep them playing. If a VIP system was to draw players in, it wouldn't be designed to start off low then go high after achievement are reached, it would just start as high as it could and go go as high as it could while still maintaining some type of margin.

[Hero Poker CEO]

Originally Posted by Alobar

"Corwin 'Mig.com' Mackey"

lol, I wish there was an award for stupidest nickname ever

Cowin Mackey is his name
and 'Mig.com' is his nick.

Sorry if there was any confusion.

[Hero Poker CEO]

Originally Posted by thecraminator

I had a couple of questions..I opened an account on both RPM and Carbon but was unable to deposit on either site..i linked my profiles to DragTheBar and was emailed that I couldn't get RB on Carbon because I was linked to another skin I guess, I used to play on Gr88 but that was months ago..so
#1 - I was wondering if I open an account on Hero will I be able to get RB? What promotions are you offering for first time deposits, do you have any agreement with training sites?
#2 - I am interested how you guys will be going about advertising to increase traffic on your site, I am a US player and since I doubt you will be doing any advertising here any time soon, will you be advertising abroad? TV? Internet?

#1. RB yes, if your old account was completely inactive for 60 days.
No agreements with training sites and just the standard $600 @ 100% but again pm if you'd like to break it up into multiple deposits to get the full bonus.
#2 We have 3 other main markets where we will engage in magazine, internet video promotions, give away a car, sponsored pros, additionally we are making partnerships with land based casino outside the US to host events after Sept.
Here is a sample of one of our promotional videos with Gavin Griffin and Terrence Chan & myself as the cannon fodder.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M39GiPwsZPQ

[Hero Poker CEO]

Originally Posted by KingKongGrinder

Like others have said, your rewards program seems to be geared towards tourney players. I almost never play tourneys.

We will be launching a cash game specialist 300 vip as well based that players can opt into. It should be finished by next week and launched on the site as option.

[Hero Poker CEO]

Originally Posted by Knytestorme

This would be really cool, if SC2 had LAN play.

You're saying all the right things, but little things like this really stick out to me.

While this was already addressed, when I think of LAN I do think of internet cafe,playing together in the same room even if through BNET's invite party system for SC2-to me anyway-same difference for social play, sucks for live tournament play with the actual lan function in the software, but that is Blizzard post Activision...or so they say...

But I was the 2001 WCG nation vs nation tournament organizer for Starcraft BW and have been involved with e-sports in Korea since 2002. Giyom..., Elky, Rekrul & Smuft are all my closest friends and I am minor shareholder in a top SC2 Korean pro team. And if are a part of teamliquid.net you'd know me already. But I get what you're saying about the LAN and little things, but if I had posted on TL, I still would have said LAN cause everyone already knows that SC2 doesn't have that as a given. ie. the rock vs Bnet SC2 comparison.

I hope that this clarifies things, cause I'd really hate to go through all this and be call out on my e-sports background as if I was some chobo.

Thanks.

[Hero Poker CEO]

Originally Posted by robhimself

I agree that it would be a good idea to have an option in the tourney ticket area to convert the tickets (minus the fee) to $. For example the $1+.08 tickets I am currently getting as a Barbarian could be converted for the $1 and I'd lose the $.08 fee. This could be done for any tourney ticket you could acquire, whether from the rewards system or not, as it benefits both the player who doesn't want to take the time to play a tourney or doesn't think they are +ev in that format and the site who still gets the same rake as if the player actually played the tourney.

I actually already do this for our players when they request it exactly as you've mentioned it and it's mentioned on our site =), but I am thinking of creating the cash game one with a slightly different structure, and still working on it.

Because with the tourney one, I was constrained by the actual value of the tournament tickets, whereas with a cash game one, I wouldn't be, so I could be very very exact to the cents in what I would like to convey through the VIP cash game system or else correspond it to expected buy-ins/limits etc.

Again, do I feel that are a majority of my player will be regs moving forward or new players? Even the tournament VIP system needs a significant amount of tweaking at this point as we start to engage more mature markets, but yes, you're right on the same lines of thinking I have.
Cheers.

[Hero Poker CEO]

Originally Posted by Diamond_Flush

When will your promotions page be up and running? The only info there seems to suggest I have to email to find out.

It's under web-development now as we are going to add in another frame for 'news and promotions' that will go between the current top frame under the top menu and the upcoming tournament display. But basically the website is being upgraded now and so it will basically deal with all promotions moving forward after June 1st which will be an interest post period for Merge.

[Hero Poker CEO]

Originally Posted by overrdose.

Seems like a pretty legit site. I have been looking for a site to play on while I wait to see whats going to happen.

Now that question is,how good is the software for multitabling? That could be a deal breaker. I'm not home atm so I can't open up a ton of tables and see for myself. (16+)

Honestly, people can, but it take a lot of manual table tweaking, so the set up time will be far longer than you are normally use to, also I recommend you hide the 'all in button' under game settings. But its 18 tournament tables max, plus cash (I assume up to 18 as well, but I was told unlimited by a Merge staff I believe, but I could be wrong, but I'll err to say, 18 +18).

Cheers,
David

[Hero Poker CEO]

Originally Posted by robhimself

A concern I have right now with Merge is the $15 charge for a check cashout. In my view (and the view of many grinders I've spoken to), the rake we pay comes with the expectation of a few things.

1. A safe environment to play aka, the games are on the up and up, there is reasonable security against someone hacking my account, etc.

2. The site is doing advertising to appeal to fish as well as the grinders so that there is a balance in the games and a stream of money coming into the site so the games don't die.

3. Deposits and cashouts are done effectively, securely and in a timely fashion.

I think the $15 charge for a check cashout is charging the players for something that rake should be covering. If rake isn't covering it then you guys are giving too much rakeback and should reduce it slightly, because I know for a fact that some people are not depositing on Merge because they have to pay to get money on and pay to get money off.




I've been playing 12-16 tables pretty easily using cascade, however the software is definitely not geared towards mass tabling though as they still have lots of unnecessary popups, you have no way of knowing when you've busted a tourney and so on. I find playing 16 tables more difficult on Merge than playing 30 on Stars, but hopefully with the new rake pouring in they will listen to the players and fix some of the stupid things like a popup not only on the table you cash on when you bust, but also a popup on another table telling you again that you cashed, 2 popups for regging a tourney (and the enter key doesn't work for hitting "ok" on them), etc.

1. Check Fees
I think that is an excellent point, mainly because this is one area I haven't put as much thought into as part of something systematic because I was just resigned to assist personally, but one thing was that through the VIP system we would like to simply provide certain VIP gifts/merchandise for free for making to certain divisions and I think that can be also extended to: if you are a level 100 centurion then you get 2 free checks per month etc. And I know that other sites currently do this, but I failed to consider that point as well for our own VIP, so thank you for that.

2.Security, Advertising and Deposits/Cashouts
Merge does have its own security team that monitors the entire network; I know that Lock has their vault functionality, but I think that with the new client upgrade that password token will also be an option for players.

I think only a handful of the sites will do mass market advertising, but since my background is in Stars, its what I'm experienced in more than this type of rb promotional focus; and I'm fine to do it because while other sites may be reg heavy, I'm sure I'll see the dividends later for us as well, as the network still is relatively small.

Deposits/Cashouts: again done by Merge, merge is swamped right now for obvious reasons, I will assist where I can, but a true measure of Merge's capability will come in a couple of months, I'm sure.

3****lti; when the upgrade comes up, then, hopefully the functionality will improve significantly, until then, unfortunately you'll be reminded it is not stars every time you get assaulted with a pop up or get timed out, but I know that people do successful grind on Merge to some extent, again, I think its really a matter of going old school and manually tweaking the windows and getting into a new set-up process.

[robhimself]

Originally Posted by Hero Poker CEO

1. Check Fees
I think that is an excellent point, mainly because this is one area I haven't put as much thought into as part of something systematic because I was just resigned to assist personally, but one thing was that through the VIP system we would like to simply provide certain VIP gifts/merchandise for free for making to certain divisions and I think that can be also extended to: if you are a level 100 centurion then you get 2 free checks per month etc. And I know that other sites currently do this, but I failed to consider that point as well for our own VIP, so thank you for that.

2.Security, Advertising and Deposits/Cashouts
Merge does have its own security team that monitors the entire network; I know that Lock has their vault functionality, but I think that with the new client upgrade that password token will also be an option for players.

I think only a handful of the sites will do mass market advertising, but since my background is in Stars, its what I'm experienced in more than this type of rb promotional focus; and I'm fine to do it because while other sites may be reg heavy, I'm sure I'll see the dividends later for us as well, as the network still is relatively small.

Deposits/Cashouts: again done by Merge, merge is swamped right now for obvious reasons, I will assist where I can, but a true measure of Merge's capability will come in a couple of months, I'm sure.

3****lti; when the upgrade comes up, then, hopefully the functionality will improve significantly, until then, unfortunately you'll be reminded it is not stars every time you get assaulted with a pop up or get timed out, but I know that people do successful grind on Merge to some extent, again, I think its really a matter of going old school and manually tweaking the windows and getting into a new set-up process.

I think you guys are doing a fine job with the other 2 sections, I was merely listing the 3 that we talked about being what rake went towards, the deposits and cashouts are the only spot I think needs fine-tuning and I like what you said in this post on the subject.

I have a ton of faith in Merge making some significant upgrades and I look forward to the increased tables (and thus increased rake) this will make possible.

[travis5018]

I think imma give it a try, i need some more mtt's in my life

[DiamondDixie]

Too bad I've been on Carbon for awhile even before Black Friday so I guess Hero isn't an option for me! Love the look and your efforts.