Small Steps and Big Leaps - PokerStrategy.com takes a look back at 2009
New poker rooms, a new video section, new rake races - those are just some of the changes that PokerStrategy.com brought you last year. Read on to discover all the changes and find out what Xantos has got on offer for you in the new year.
2009 stands as a symbol of great change and progress for
PokerStrategy.com. There was growth in virtually every area, which
increased the offer for our members many times over, be it with poker
rooms, rake races, or more importantly, for the various communities.
But read on, to see for yourself how PokerStrategy.com spent the previous year in Gibraltar!
New poker rooms, new video section, new rake races
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| Team B2B, that stays in constant contact with our poker rooms |
The list of our Partner poker rooms
grows steadily, so that the larger selection let's you pick the one
that's just right for your online poker career. Just this past year,
we've added the following rooms to our line-up:
The video section was updated as well - it's bigger and clearer than ever before, and offers you loads of
new features. and his team have worked
hard to accommodate your wishes and lively feedback - the result is a
video section that focuses more than ever on quality and interesting
content.
For those of you who like statistics: 600 new videos were made
available to our members in 2009. For those that couldn't get enough, more than 400 additional English videos were published, that supplied you with everything you needed to know.
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| The Education Team, which whips up your articles and videos |
PokerStrategy.com strives not only to provide you with interesting
content, but it also works constantly to negotiate the best deals for you
with our partner poker rooms, be it with rake races or tournaments. The
following figures show the enormous growth in this area:
While
the first quarter of 2009 only saw $15,000 worth of monthly rake races,
apart from the Top 250 promotion, by December this was worth $70,000 -
and in January 2010 we'll break yet another record with $123,000 in
rake races, over and above the $100,000 for the Top 250.
Team PokerStrategy.com is pumping up
In May 2009, PokerStrategy.com introduced its Pro Team of top-class players: The first four players to comprise Team PokerStrategy.com,
nazgul,
trader,pokernoob, and
allanon85, kicked off directly with the WSOP in
Las Vegas. The live ticker in the forum for every such event gave you
the chance to follow the goings-on in real time. Your favourite, by the way, was clearly the PokerStars EPT in London -
156,229 hits on the live ticker put this event well-ahead of other
tournaments held at various venues.
As the year went by, the team was extended further. In November, Black Member Simon
Münz joined the team for the EPT
Vilamoura, followed by bongbob who showed his
stuff in the EPT Prague. Right in time for the start of PokerStars
Caribbean Adventure, the team was enhanced by the addition of the Dutch
player Bjorn
bjorn1987 Verbakel, who will continue to play for
Team PokerStrategy.com when it hits the road again.
New languages, new Black Members in other communities
The PokerStrategy.com community grows and grows. Although the German community is still by far the largest when it comes to the number of users, the other languages have
not been sitting idly by.
PokerStrategy.com now supports a total of 18 languages. Further
extensions are planned for 2010. Thanks to the new communities, as well
as the increased activity in our forums, there were a total of about
5,000,000 posts and an increase of more than 1 million posts from the
previous year 2008, for which the post count lay just under 4 million.
Clearly
the service that PokerStrategy.com offers all its members would not be
possible without the numerous customer support staff who are available
for you round the clock. The number of employees has grown tremendously
in 2009. Overall, there are more than 100 employees in Gibraltar, most
of whom are engaged in the well-enhanced customer support area.
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| The team leader of the community manager Kai und Leo |
The team leaders of the communities section, leo258 and kai, agreed that the community teams succeeded in ensuring a good atmosphere on the website and in the forum, especially in the smaller communities. This was most notable towards the end of the year, when the number of employees increased multiple times in order to provide community members with an even better service.
The challenge for the future now is to achieve an even closer collaboration between the community section and the customer support team. The main focus of the coming year certainly remains the growth of all communities, especially with an improved product.
Last but not the least, 2009 produced the first non-German speaking Black Member.
Now, we have Black Members in the German, Portuguese, Russian, French, Polish, Hungarian
and Chinese communities. We are delighted to be able to welcome them to
our Black Member parties in 2010!
Outlook 2010
After the eventful year of 2009, the benchmark is
set pretty high for 2010. Above all else, we want to ensure the
satisfaction and trust of PokerStrategy.com members. To this end,
xantos shares the following:
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| Xantos offers a glimpse into 2010 |
"With all that we’re packing into 2010, we want to prove to you that
we’re the best choice for you – as a poker school, poker community, and
also as a poker affiliate. We’d like beginners to pick up more from
where they are; we want to give ambitious players in all limits and
game formats improved and more diverse educational content, consistent
with our quest to support their way to the top; and we also want to
give our top players the best value in the market, both financially,
and with our content & services.
What's more, with our transparent communication policy and an always-on
improved customer service, we’d like to give you the feeling that
you’re in good hands. We hope that our many small, and some large,
changes in 2009 have given you the confidence that we’re really going
to spare no effort in the coming year to continually expand what we
have on offer. We only ask that you continue to give us your feedback,
both positive and negative – because only then will we know what you
need, and what really helps you, on your way to establishing your poker
career.
We wish you a successful 2010!"
iGB Nomination and your feedback
We can hardly fail to mention that in 2009, PokerStrategy.com was nominated, for the very first time, for the iGB Affiliate Awards, which are the most meaningful acknowledgment in our field, and for which you can still cast your vote until the 8th of January.
So, as you can see, a whole lot has happened here at
PokerStrategy.com, and of course, we'd love to get feedback about your
experience with us in 2009. Share your praise, criticism, and
suggestions with us simply by posting in the following forum thread:
