Free Poker Hand History Replayer/Analyzer

I saw that Bluffware recently went into beta and figured I would give it a try. Bluffware is a free hand history analyzer created by Beanie.  The basic idea behind the site is once you create an account you will be able to post your online poker hand histories. For each hand history posted it creates a youtube type page where you can replay the hand, leave comments as well as rate the hand.

I created an account and got the username Poker.  I am not much of a poker player and didn’t have any saved hand histories to post so I figured I would play at Full Tilt Poker and accumulate a a few. I multi-tabled at the nosebleed blinds of  .25/.50 playing No Limit Hold-em and pretty soon had some hands to post.

It was a little confusing posting the hand history because the Post A Hand button looks more like a header rather then a button. Though, once I got over that hurdle I was able to post hands and it was a smooth process.  When you are uploading a hand history you have the option to make it public or keep it private which is nice feature for people that want to analyze the hand without sharing it with the world.

Overall I thought Bluffware was a good hand history replayer and I think poker players will find it useful. I really like the youtube type page but was confused on how to use the Session Notes that are on each hand history page. I edited it on one hand thinking it was a place for the poster to put commentary on the hand but it then showed up on all of my hands…so I dunno. It was really nice visualizing the hand and having a way to keep my hand histories. When I play poker it’s not to make money so it’s nice having something to brag or in most cases tilt about after a poker session.

Bluffware.com also allows you to embed the hands anywhere including your blog…And with that…lets watch some hand replays. Also, notice how you can expand the table to full screen, it’s a nice touch.

Free WIFI at Las Vegas Strip Hotels

I recently went on a trip to Las Vegas and brought my laptop forgetting that hotels don’t offer free wifi. It is actually pretty ridiculous that you can stay at  most 2-3 stars hotels and get free wireless but you step on the Las Vegas strip and all of the 3-5 star hotels charge $15+.

It is not like I can’t pay the $15 dollars and often times I have but I would expect classy joints like Bellagio and the Wynn to offer complementary wifi. I would even be fine if they charged me a couple dollars more in the room reservation fee. That way they would end up making more in the long run and could hide the fee and claim that its “free” wifi and everyone is happy.

This time I was able to get my email and do a little surfing with my iPhone so I saved my $15 bucks for the next time I need to actually edit some sites or get work done.

I would have to say I hope MGM reads this…just bought some stock (I am a sucker for high risk stock) at $3.20 and $3.25 so hopefully they can finish the city center and start giving “free” wifi without going bankrupt….It’s just that easy.

What Domain Would You Choose for SEO purposes?

Recently, I found a keyword that I wanted to target and decided I would check to see if the domain was available. Of course, the .com was taken but the .net and .org were available.  I don’t mind developing domain names with either of these extensions but since it was a two word keyword, I also searched to see if putting a dash between the keywords was available. The dash .com was also  available. The last domain name option would be to add another keyword to the domain to get the .com.

The basic problem with .net, .org and dash is you you may lose traffic to the .com.

Using a domain with an added  keyword  makes the domain harder to remember and you may not get as much search engine benefit of having the exact keyword match.

I have used all of the above domain buying options except using a dash. So I bought a dash domain name and will report on how it goes.  I may buy a couple more to get a general idea on whether the search engine benefit is as much as you would get as if you used .net/.org counterparts.

I run into this question quite often and haven’t decided which type of domain name I prefer. I usually end up picking one and then the next time I have the problem go with a different option…I figure it can’t hurt changing it up because long term no one knows how google will rank extensions and dash domains but if anyone has any evidence or thoughts on which is best currently…let me know.

Initial Internet Marketing Attempts

Kdollar.com was my first domain name and was purchased on 10-11-2004. I bought it after I saw a deal on slickdeals for a year of hosting and a free domain for $7.77. As a slickdeal addict I couldn’t pass up the deal, even though I had relatively no experience making websites and had no idea what type of site I wanted to make.

The first website I did put up was in 2005. WayBack Machine has a screenshot of the site on March 17, 2005.  Like most poker affiliate marketers, it was a free money site. Easiest money in the world…I collect a $150 CPA when someone deposits and I give them back $50 or a DVD player. Well that didn’t last long, after signing up all my friends, the market dried up and no one else was coming to my site. That’s when I decided to post it on slickdeals…it didn’t last long as everyone claimed it wasn’t a good deal and their were more legitimate sites (smart people, hahaha).

So I put up a new and improve poker affiliate page on May 27, 2005. I was a little smarter this time and cut out the free money part…why give them money when you don’t have to. This page lasted until August 2006 when I took the site down as I had already launched a new poker site with an actual poker domain name that was getting search engine traffic. I probably made a couple hundred dollars with my new and improved page…that’s one or two real money players in a year (big time).

I decided that it was time to take kdollar.com to the next level and make it a deals site. I was going to take slickdeals head on and was going to beat them at their own game. Kdollar.com was going to be a cross between slickdeals and digg. Visitors would submit deals and then would be able to vote on deals (1-5 stars) and the deals with the most votes would go to the top. I thought the idea was original enough and slickdeals was just a simple forum at the time, so I figured their users would be stoked with my voting features. I found a php developer from China who took my rough outline of the site and made it a reality.

The kdollar deals site went live on Aug 29, 2006, with a basic design. I got the site re-designed as well as adding a couple features on October 4, 2006. The site in my mind was a success as it was my first php driven site that I took from an initial idea to a working site and it functioned almost exactly how I had planned…though I had no users.

The biggest hurdle for anysite including  kdollar.com was getting users. Right before I launched kdollar.com, slickdeals got revamped and added voting as well as some additional features which in turn made my site a lot less attractive.

So like any one that has a site with no users…you need to fake them. I hired a couple people from DigitalPoint forums to post deals. I had them post deals on the site, just a few deals a day with different screen names. I paid them a meager $15 dollars a week for around 25 deal posts.

The site got a huge traffic boost when SEOmoz listed it on their web 2.0 awards and I started ranking for a lot of the deals that were posted. The problem was the users that came through google didn’t stick around for long and most of the time they were taken to expired deals. So like any good internet marketer I added adsense and made a couple bucks that way.

After awhile I gave up on the kdollar.com deal site and had my posters stop posting deals as I realized I would need to put a ton of work into the site to ever get it going. The only people that ever posted were my paid posters as well as other website owners who posted their sites items…which were crap.

So today I decided I would take the kdollar.com deals site and turn it into my internet marketing blog. That was a long intro….but I figured the blog has to start somewhere. I am currently a poker and casino affiliate who is really lazy. Hopefully I will post every now and then but I wouldn’t expect much.