Monthly Archives: December 2020

The Secret Coach: Premier League half-term report (part two)

Last week, we spoke to The Secret Coach about the bottom half of the Premier League and how each of the 10 teams that occupy the lower half positions are struggling.

This week, it’s the turn of those lucky ten teams who sit in the upper echelons of the English Premier League.

The Secret Coach is a professional football coach in English football… who will remain anonymous. The Secret Coach has worked with some of the biggest names in the game, been through the coaching badges and is currently part of the coaching team at an English league side… and that’s all we’re telling you. As ever, this week, The Secret Coach pulls no punches!

Who is doing well and why? Let’s delve into The Secret Coach’s half-term report, with some A-grade action along the way.

CMD368 appoints Robert Pires as brand ambassador

December 23rd, 2020 – CMD368, Asia’s leading online betting operator has announced a partnership with former FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Championship winner Robert Pires as its brand ambassador.

The legendary French forward will collaborate with CMD368 to promote the brand across Asia ahead of the upcoming UEFA Euro 2020 competition and conduct various digital marketing activations to further boost the brand’s awareness across the region.

Voted as one of the greatest players to suit up for Arsenal FC, Robert Pires gained prominence attributable to his exquisite touch and silky finish. He was part of the ‘Invincibles’ squad that went unbeaten for the entire 2003-04 season and played crucial roles in winning the Premier League title that season.

Robert Pires said: “I am proud to represent CMD368 as the brand ambassador and I look forward to working with the brand closely to produce entertaining content and rewarding experience for the users.”

Leadstar Media secures affiliate license in Pennsylvania

Lead generation company Leadstar Media expands its US presence with a third license in the country. The PA license covers both online betting and casino in the state.

The new license will allow Leadstar Media to display and market licensed online sportsbooks and casinos in PA.

Leadstar Media has already acquired licenses in both New Jersey and Indiana, in addition to Illinois and Iowa where they are permitted to offer their services. Pennsylvania becomes the fifth state in their US expansion. Pennsylvania is the second largest state for regulated online gambling in the US and, strategically, an important market for Leadstar Media.

– Pennsylvania has an attractive igaming market which allows us to market both online sportsbooks and casinos. In addition, players can register accounts online as opposed to a physical location, an imperative part of our business model. PA sits second only to New Jersey when it comes to gambling revenue and has showcased great growth since it launched last year. It goes without saying that we’re pleased to have been granted access to the Keystone State, says Eskil Kvarnström, CEO of Leadstar Media.

Life experiences provide a great foundation to excel at business

There are a lot of ways to get the necessary tools and skills to be successful in the business world – higher education, internships, mentoring and on-the-job training. Perhaps most important, though, is the school of hard knocks, better known as life. Life experiences provide a wealth of knowledge and training that can be directly applied to business activity in order to make better decisions for both personal advancement and the success of the business.

Life, by its fundamental nature, is full of ups and downs, good times and bad. All of the positives and negatives are chances to learn something new and, as an entrepreneur looking to break into any industry, you have to be ready to face a roller coaster of emotions and activity that will result in some days being productive and others bringing setbacks. Only those that have been able to learn how to overcome adversity in life can find true success in a business environment.

At the core of establishing any type of business or venture is the ability to solve problems. When a difficult position presents itself, it’s time to choose one of two paths – the one that lets the problem dictate the solution or the one where you dictate the solution to the problem. Life experiences inherently include the need to make decisions and that decision-making capability will be a strong asset in the business.

Most people find themselves, at some point in their lives, having to take risks. It could be getting on stage in front of a group of people or getting behind the wheel of a car for the first time. As an entrepreneur, you have to be willing to take risks to find success, as you’re often stepping into the unknown. Once you make that decision, you have to be prepared to stay committed and see it through until the end.

How a COVID-19 Vaccine Will Impact Live Poker Tournaments in 2021

Want the live poker tournament scene to return to normalcy at some point in the near future? Then get the COVID-19 vaccine, and tell all your friends and family to do the same.

Live poker isn’t getting back to normal until you take this shot. (Image: startribune.com)

This isn’t a pro-vaccine article, and we aren’t being paid off by Pfizer or BioNTech to write this. Nor are we here to scold you if you don’t trust the vaccine that is about to roll out in the US. If you don’t feel being vaccinated is necessary or you question the safety of the vaccine, that’s your right. We aren’t going to pass any judgment or control your life. Your body, your life, your beliefs.

But you should know the likelihood of major live poker tournaments in the US, including the WSOP, returning in 2021 is low if not for a successful rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine.

CalvinAyre.com’s most read Bitcoin stories of 2020

Bitcoin continued to take big strides in 2020, further proving to the world it’s utility as a blockchain and creating new opportunities for the gambling industry. Here are our top five Bitcoin stories from 2020

Becky’s Affiliated: How Gap600 enables instant transactions for iGaming payment processors

When you think of Bitcoin and gambling, the first thing you probably think of is a fast and cheap payment method. Gap600’s CEO Daniel Lipshitz joined CalvinAyre.com’s Lead Reporter, Becky Liggero Fontana, to explain how instant, guaranteed transactions at low cost are already happening on the Bitcoin SV blockchain.

Bitcoin for Gambling

Alejandro Revich shares END 2 END’s Bingo expertise

END 2 END is a leader in Bingo Multiplayer solutions, and as simple as Bingo might seem, it needs localization just like any other game to suit a target market. CEO and Founder Alejandro Revich joined our Becky Liggero Fontana after SiGMA LATAM to share how his company makes it easy for operators to offer up the right product every time.

The secret, as it turns out, is to take all of the hard work out of the operators’ hands, and localize games for them. “In all the world, bingo, it’s different,” Revich shared. “All our clients have different implementation of bingo, so we take some time to create a very parametric platform. The idea for us is to adapt our technology to the business of the client, not the client adapt to our technology. Mainly in LATAM, we are near to Europe, so we play Bingo 90 balls mainly, but for example in Colombia, the most important game is Bingo 75, like U.S.”

Watch the full interview to see how END 2 END handles aggregation for a multiplayer game, and their efforts to keep innovating Bingo for new players. And if you haven’t yet, watch all of our videos as they go up by subscribing to the CalvinAyre.com YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5alto3upacVideo can’t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: Alejandro Revich shares END 2 END’s Bingo expertise (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5alto3upac)

Biggest Poker Story in 2020: Global Health Pandemic Cancels World Series of Poker

Unless you live in a bunker and have no access to the internet (which would be impossible considering you’re reading this article), you know all about the damage COVID-19 has done to the live poker industry. In 2020, COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the 51st annual World Series of Poker, a heartbreaker for the poker community.

Let’s all hope the Rio Convention Center is packed again next summer. (Image: somuchpoker.com)

Each summer, thousands of poker players from all around the world travel to Las Vegas to compete in prestigious and juicy tournaments, and to win coveted gold WSOP bracelets. But that didn’t happen this year for the first time since 1969, a year before the World Series of Poker originated.

Summer for poker players isn’t just about chasing poker dreams and winning money. It’s also about catching up with old friends you don’t get to see the rest of the year. This past summer, however, was quite different. There wasn’t a reason to travel to Las Vegas as the WSOP was canceled and replaced with an online bracelet series on WSOP.com and GGPoker.

Poker on Screen: The Lock-In with Dara O’Kearney & David Lappin (2020)

It’s impossible to ignore tragedy, and the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us that more and more each week. For many people, denial has given way to acceptance. For others, it’s not something they can comprehend, so they choose not to. A huge number of varied responses are all understandable, no matter how different they may be.

Each week, we write about poker and players take to the tables with a desire to focus on each event, each player, each hand. In a way, we ignore the pandemic ourselves a little in an effort to entertain, as everyone in the media does.

In the end, though, ignoring tragedy is impossible. Poker players who have taken to YouTube during the pandemic have tried, but perhaps the most triumphant broadcasters during this odd time in human history have been two men who are used to sharing a lot of time and bringing audiences into their world.

To say that The Chip Race is a successful podcast is a huge understatement. It’s the five-star hotel of the podcast world, providing every guest with everything they need from the metaphorical chocolate on the plumped pillow to a complimentary stay in the attendant spa. In the fine print, however, are a series of probing, personally revealing questions asked by two of the easiest guys in poker to talk to. As a result, the interviews are great, and the show is all killer and no filler.

College football odds: Early bowl lines & trends

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

Christmas Eve is annually perhaps the worst sports day of the year in North America because the NHL and NBA always are dark on December 24 and the NFL usually is – which is the case this year. However, there is one college football game Thursday: Hawaii of the Mountain West against Houston of the AAC in the New Mexico Bowl at 3:30 p.m. ET.

Because nothing was normal in this college football season due to COVID-19, the New Mexico Bowl naturally isn’t being played in New Mexico but from Frisco, Texas. State COVID guidelines in New Mexico wouldn’t allow for it to be played there. Houston is a 13-point favorite in the second all-time meeting between the schools (2003 Hawaii Bowl), and the Warriors are 2-5 ATS in their past seven overall.

There is also a bowl game on Christmas (along with an NFL matchup and five NBA games) as Conference USA runner-up Marshall takes on Mid-American Conference runner-up Buffalo in the Camellia Bowl (2:30 p.m. ET) from the Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama. The Bulls are 3.5-point favorites, but the Thundering Herd are 7-1 ATS in their past eight bowl games.

Latest Super MILLION$ final table features Petrangelo, Dvoress & Filatov

With just two Super MILLION$ events left in 2020, players were desperate to make the final nine of the penultimate final table showdown on the GGPoker schedule in this popular tournament series. 

There are plenty of big names at the final table but leading the way in chips is the Irish player ‘Xingyun888’, who has 4.6 million chips and a slim lead over Nick Petrangelo, who has 3.3 million and will be feeling confident ahead of the final.

Petrangelo is a great player and recently joined Joey Ingram on his Poker Life podcast to discuss winning a World Poker Tour Championship event for $490,000.

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