What happened to Poker Mountain?

[greatbrit]

Hi,

I work for the software development company that developed Poker Mountain. I don't think we had any accusations of 'shady', although thanks to brownthumb we had plenty of it being 'poo', which were pretty accurate. The gist of the story is that we contracted out the programming to a 'reputable' offshore company, but they gave us their F team who knew nothing about programming, poker, graphics, or internet, and did the best they could to make our software as unstable as possible; it crashed during our freeroll tournaments, it crashed in cash games, it showed zero balances in accounts that really have money in them, it was not our finest moment. Daniel was associated with the site as our ambassador, along with TJ, but as we dragged on trying to clean it all up Daniel finally left for greener pastures. We have kept the site alive but have stopped actively promoting it while we completely rewrite the software from scratch, this time using actual (and excellent) programmers.

The plan is to relaunch later this year, with great software and very generous promotions in the hope that we'll be given a second chance. We will be honoring all the cash matching bonuses already in progress or transferring them to something comparable, the same with our 'Summit Points', and of course any money on deposit at the site will still be fully intact.

I'll be happy to answer any questions (in this thread please) and hopefully will be able to give you an update before the end of the year.

Best regards,
Paul Westley
(greatbrit)

[Full Metal]

Won't the smell of poo linger even after all the [censored] is mopped up?

[Photoc]

[ QUOTE ]
Story goes :

Someone posted a bad story about "Poo Mountain" on Two-Plus-Two.
All Two-Plus-Two'ers stoped playing on "Poo Mountain".
"Poo Mountain = NO MORE.

Just goes to show the power of Two-Plus-Two. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Poo never had players to begin with, so this story is BS. The MOST I saw in about 4 months on there was something like 3 tables of cash game players. It's not because the all mighty tighty 2+2ers had anything to do with it.

[kdog]

[ QUOTE ]
The plan is to relaunch later this year, with great software and very generous promotions in the hope that we'll be given a second chance. We will be honoring all the cash matching bonuses already in progress or transferring them to something comparable, the same with our 'Summit Points', and of course any money on deposit at the site will still be fully intact.



[/ QUOTE ]

Well, if you can admit there were problems and get them fixed before relaunch I guess a second chance is fair enough. Especially since I still have $400 in uncleared bonus there. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[greatbrit]

That's a good question Full Metal, only time will tell if people are willing to give us another chance, we know we messed up badly the first time. But I hope you'll agree that in our favor we haven't run for the hills or tried to relaunch with a new name, we just think the most honorable way to handle it is to be honest about the mess, try to do the right thing for all the customers we've upset, and hopefully move on. Of course I totally understand if you or others don't think we deserve another chance.

Best regards,
Paul

[greatbrit]

[ QUOTE ]

Well, if you can admit there were problems and get them fixed before relaunch I guess a second chance is fair enough. Especially since I still have $400 in uncleared bonus there. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Hello kdog, yes, we've had big discussions about how to handle the uncleared bonuses, we'll figure out something so that everything you've accumulated so far will be carried over, or if we switch to a new bonus system then find a way convert it over, and we are also thinking of maybe things like exclusive freerolls for previous customers to try to make it up to you. I very much appreciate you giving us another chance, that's all we can ask for.

Best regards,
Paul

[Full Metal]

Why would anyone go to Poo Mountain instead of World Poker Exchance. Definitely a poor time to make your return. Maybe cut losses and admit defeat?

[Photoc]

How many poker sites do we need nowadays? Just look at bonuswhores and see the tons of skins/portals on there. I highly doubt PM will succeed on it's second attempt. I for one won't be there. With as huge as the market is, how does a site's management screw it up so bad that no one ever wants to back there after they launch the first time? I mean, really, take a cue from every other succesful site out there and become a skin of one of them is probably the best bet.

[redickulous]

what type of bonus will you be offering to get the poker players back on your sight ? 100% up to $300 at 4x raked hands ? I think this would be fair and get you a player base quick

[greatbrit]

[ QUOTE ]
Why would anyone go to Poo Mountain instead of World Poker Exchance. Definitely a poor time to make your return. Maybe cut losses and admit defeat?

[/ QUOTE ]

Defeat was definitely an option the investors considered, but remember we already have a huge amount of money invested in the infrastructure of all the hardware and internet pipes, the customer support group, the marketing partnerships, all of the legalities and complexities of setting up an online poker site, etc. so writing new software, although expensive, is probably not such a bad investment. As for the timing, look at Full Tilt, they came out at a pretty bad time, but they have the most incredible marketing that has shot them to the top of the ladder. We have very deep pockets so could maybe go that route too, or maybe just having better promotions than the other guys will be enough, or unique software or unique ideas might go a long way to getting us a following. It's certainly not the greatest time to be launching, but I think it's still possible to find a way to become successful. I think one of the strong things going for us is that almost everyone in the company comes from a poker and online poker background, we know what we like and dislike in other software, so coming to the party late also has it's advantages in that we can expand on the good ideas from the other sites, and avoid the things that didn't work out so well. Or I could be so wrong [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Paul