I'm an editor I am

The first week as the editor has been a busy one, although for all intents and purposes nothing really has changed. I still do the daily news on pokernews, I still sit in front of my desk for a similar amount of time with occasional breaks to entertain the dog and so on. Besides all the additional editorial and administrative duties, I’ve found my phone has not really stopped ringing. Admittedly half those calls the people never even knew I was the editor now (most thought I was already) but it still seemed like a sign of things to come.

My aims really for UK Pokernews are essentially to attract more and more regular readers, which sounds simple but it ain’t. More hits basically will mean more revenue and of course it will also mean that we are producing something people like, easy right? I’ve literally got a hundred ideas on how to do this (and would love to hear other peoples thoughts) but my general ethos is if I can keep things very grassroots, stick to the stories, the players and the card rooms people in the UK give a toss about, then that will reap dividends. I aim to have two interviews with UK players a week, this week it is probably two of the most talked about UK players of the last week, Tony Phillips and Aisling Collins. Both good little interviews imo, Tony seems like a smart lad and in particular Aisling impressed me, I am sure there will be plenty of detractors in that she won a fast structured tournament and was a complete unknown, but from talking to her she really studied the format which not many players bother to do in the TV tournaments.

I’m also really loving ChipMeUp at the moment, its such a dudey little site it reminds me of when I found ebay for the first time. I really want to promote ChipMeUp in the UK (Anyone who heard me on Jesse Mays Poker Show on Tuesday will know that as I stumbled through explaining the transparency of the site) and have bit the bullet and made an event of my own. I stake a lot of players but never been staked myself, I usually play 100% within my bankroll so don’t see the need, but to help get CMU promoted in the UK I have 25% if myself up for grab in $15 chunks at the £168 side event at DTD this Sunday. I was desperate to get down to DTD this weekend after all the closure rumours, kinda scared me into trying to actually cash once in the place in case it did close/change hands.

WSOP prop bets. I broke even in the 40k event by backing Bonomo each way, but I am now down backing Dario Alioto (rather than my 2nd choice Jason Mercier doh) in the PLO. In truth, I would always back Alioto at a final table because he put on a card perfect performance in the WSOPE PLO when he won and I think is the new Rafi Amit. Good to see Ivey win his bracelet bet, that should cripple Las Vegas. news/daily-poker-news/2009/06/uk-wsop-event-10.htm. We had a promo on ChipMeUp which I wasn’t eligible for where some guy won 3% of his win for $9.