[olivert]

[ QUOTE ]
Olivert,
I think the # of sites sponsoring big names is actually decreasing. Full Tilt and Poker Stars are doing a lot more than they used to, but it seems like a number of medium/small sites have stopped. and when they do, it's for a very specific demo.

So I agree that some 22 year old American has basically no value, but I also think deals for attractive players are harder to come by from most sites. The # of bidders seems to have decreased, but I'm not sure.

[/ QUOTE ]

The marketing focus of online poker schools have shifted from North America to Europe and "emerging markets".

The European Continent is definitely THE hot spot right now, given that TV poker is peaking in Europe to the point where state-sponsored gaming monopolies in Germany, France, and Italy feel threatened enough to crack down HARD on the likes of bwin.

Given that Europe lags behind the U.S. by two years, I would expect TV ratings in Europe to start declining in 2007 and flatten out by 2008, just in time for the poker industry to be forced to migrate to East Asia, where Macau (China) will be the obvious hub of activity, in order for poker to continue to grow.

--

Back to Victoria Coren:

1. Obviously PokerStars will have to put in a bid for her services because PokerStars is the presenting sponsor of the EPT, and because PokerStars is positioning itself to go public on the AIM portion of the London Stock Exchange.

2. I would also expect FullTiltPoker.NET to put in a bid, as TiltWare is also positioning itself to go public in London. TiltWare already sponsors The Hendon Mob and TiltWare just spent a good chunk of marketing money to buy TV time on Sky Sports to present the FullTiltPoker.com Million Dollar Cash Game.

I would be more than surprised if neither PokerStars nor FullTiltPoker were to bid for Coren's services, given that whichever entity that ends up with Coren will be able to use Coren's presentation event/press conference as a "marketing" event.