Is this the real Caselli?

January in London is home to the most outrageous parties the iGaming industry can offer up and the job of covering what they’re all about is down to the new guy, aka me. After researching the conferences and events surrounding these parties you start to think whether the headache trying to get your head around it all is worse than the one you woke up with on January 1st.

The easy part is that ICE Totally Gaming runs from 24th January to 26th January before the London Affiliate Conference takes over from 26th to 29th. It’s when you delve into the party schedule you find yourself posing more questions that’s healthy. Is it all one big head-fuck or are these parties actually different? How much does it cost for a fresh set of veneers? Will the real Michael Caselli please stand up!?!

Being a young whippersnapper you think being asked to research two parties that look remarkably similar is part of the initiation. “We’ll get the dude to try and cover ICE ICE Baby and Fire & ICE. That’ll knock the stuffing outta the cocky so and so.”

Two parties, with similar names, organized by similar sounding people. I go to the bosses they say nay; they’re two parties in their own right but even they want more distinction than that.

Delving deeper you start to realize they’re ever so slightly different. ICE ICE Baby, taking place on Tuesday January 24th at 7:30pm, isn’t an what you might think…which is an iGaming industry tribute to Vanilla Ice. Instead it promises boozing with 1,100 industry colleagues organised by Sport Betting Community (SBC) founder Rasmus Sojmark…in collaboration with iGaming Super Show – an event that comes under the auspices of Alex Pratt and Michael Caselli. Basically, Rasmus works hard to get the drinks sponsors to make the night a messy one whilst Caselli and Pratt do their best to bring people to the table before the floor and finally the gutter.

Confusion comes with the next night’s festivities. Fire & ICE is the gambling industry’s longest running party. It hits London’s Gilgamesh and is organized by Lyceum Media’s Jodie Thind and…Michael Caselli. It also intends to get together everyone from the iGaming industry through the ancient art of drinking until you can’t walk and find yourself in the Victorian gutter of Ye Olde London.

Where’s the distinction then? Has Caselli’s thirst for partying caught up with him to the extent that two parties in two nights with the same two bunches of people can take place (not that we’re complaining, a party’s a party after all). Or is there actually two Michael Caselli’s in the iGaming industry?

Probing further gives a better indication of what differs between the two nights of the Caselli-party-athon. ICE ICE Baby is a free knees-up aimed at giving the worst hangover imaginable. Fire & ICE is the entertainment event of January with most guests paying for their own drinks. WOW. Am I glad that’s finally cleared itself up. I’ve had better cases of Delhi belly!

How about those veneers…we would ask Caselli how much it was to get the infamous pirate party tooth fixed but alas we had no idea who to contact! Next time you’re at an iGaming industry party just make sure you take a look at the teeth. Might be the only way you can tell the difference between the two!

Conference News

Lifestyle News

Paddy Power and Becky Liggero

It really has been a turbulent year for the online gambling industry, a statement that Sport and iGaming Conference 2011 Chairman Michael Caselli supported in his opening speech. Everything from Black Friday to the eventual removal of the UK white list, to fragmented Europe, taxation and the declining economies around the world have taken the online gambling industry for a ride.

The Sport and iGaming conference provided a great opportunity to dissect what happened in 2011 and learn what’s in store for the sports gambling industry in 2012. The event itself took place at the beautiful Pinsent Masons headquarters in London, attracting around 100 delegates who enjoyed a series of panels and presentations, several networking breaks and a casual lunch catered by “five star sandwich makers”.

Trevor Watkins of Pinsent Masons led the morning’s first panel, three sports industry veterans who all emphasized that successful sponsorships and partnerships are all about data. Paul Fisher of the Jockey Club stated that consumer brands want access to sports teams’ data and the reverse while Trevor Birch of PKF stated that all clubs need to improve on data capture and data use.

Next up was Paddy Power of Paddy Power (!!!) who delivered a fun loving, charismatic and all around excellent presentation, without a doubt the highlight of the whole event. Over 20 short minutes, Paddy took us through the best PR stunts that Paddy Power PLC has pulled off over the years. Some of the stunts featured included putting out odds on the papal election, branding an Irish team’s hurling sticks, putting up (and pulling down!) huge “Hollywood style” letters spelling ‘Paddy Power” behind the Ryder Cup race course, sponsoring a confession box and calling it the “sin bin” and creating a “last supper” ad with the message of, “there’s a place for fun and games, clearly the last supper isn’t it”. And the list goes on.

The message Paddy got across was even if publicity stunts fail or cause controversy, the goal is talkability. There are very few who can argue that Paddy Power has mastered the art and is the industry leader in this department.

Later in the day Mike Shaw of comScore presented data on the digital sports gambling industry. In summary, Mike left us with three key points, 1)The UK is one of the leading markets for digital sports, 2)Not all users are created equal and 3)Social media may offer untapped opportunities for users. All delegates will receive a soft copy of all the data presented and if you want to learn more, sign up with comScore.

For the rest of the day, the focus shifted to mobile gaming and the rise of social media, two very important things for the sports gambling industry. Aideen Shortt, author of the Mobile Gaming Report, emphasized that operators are mainly focusing on smartphone mobile products despite the fact that feature phones are more prominent, especially in emerging markets such as South America, Africa and Eastern Europe. As a result, we will likely see different mobile gaming market leaders in emerging markets as we do in smartphone heavy regions.

One of the takeaways from Aideen’s presentation included that stadium owners should consider investing in technology that supports in-running betting. Such technology would add great value to potential online gambling company sponsorships and of course the punters would love it too. Another valuable takeaway emphasized the power and importance of facebook comments and likes. An example of just how powerful these tools can be can be is the “Jesus Christ in Richmond Park” amateur YouTube video that received over 1 million views in a day due to the power of social media.

Before enjoying wine and refreshments at the concluding networking session, Michael Caselli closed out the conference and left us with the following thought: you need state of the art technology in order to stand out. Improving technology is great advice for success in 2012 and we look forward to seeing what Sport Business and iGaming Business come up with for next year’s event!

Conference News

It would appear the phrase “often imitated never duplicated” would apply to us in this case. We can’t fault Michael Caselli for trying to follow in our footsteps or for basically taking a small but integral portion of our site and attempting to make an entire business out of it. In fact, we want to congratulate them on recognizing a great idea and give them a pat on the back, “Nice try”.

The CalvinAyre.com Gaming Directory is the gaming industry professional’s only comprehensive guide. Not only does the events calendar have all the major industry events; but it also has the lesser known ones that can sneak up on you. Our Online Gambling Events & Conference Directory covers all the gaming conferences and industry events.  It also lists countless Marketing, Business and SEO, conferences for the entire year. In this directory alone, are all the tools and dates that an industry professional would need to further his/her personal professional development and that of his/hers business. It doesn’t stop with just gaming industry events, it also includes an extensive and exhaustive listing of every major Sporting and Poker event in the calendar year. A reference and planning tool like the CalvinAyre.com Online Gambling Events Directory and Conference Directory is an invaluable resource, so it’s nice to see others following our lead.

It makes perfect sense for anyone associated with the gaming industry to have one site that they can visit and be completely up to speed in our industry. There should be a site where the gaming industry can learn the inside information on what is happening in our industry on the ground in North America, Asia and all over the globe, and a place where they can get video updates covering gaming conferences and check out the latest photos and videos from the most rocking industry parties. That one stop shop is and will continue to be CalvinAyre.com, but we don’t mind copy cats.

In fact, Calvin is quite accustomed to being imitated but never duplicated, Michael Caselli seems to have made an whole industry out just copying Calvin actually. We’re just wondering if he got financing for this latest copy cat move from any of the big public companies, wouldn’t that be rich? We’ll take it as a compliment.

Marketing News

See Michael Casselli in action at the iGaming Spring Social

Comic Timing Cartoons

iGaming’s biggest annual party, Fire & ICE: Unmasked, is this year celebrating its 10th anniversary on 26 January 2011 and they’ve again got the backing of GTECH G2.

“We’re very proud to be associated with the most popular party on the industry calendar,” said William Scott, VP Commercial, GTECH G2. “It’s an excellent opportunity for us to socialize with our business partners and for us to give something back to our industry.”

Held at Gilgamesh in Camden, London, one of the centre of the iGaming universe’s most elegant venues, the bash takes place slam bang in the middle of two of the biggest shows on the calendar, the ICE show and London Affiliate Conference.

“We wouldn’t be able to produce this special event without the support of corporate sponsors like GTECH G2. We appreciate the continuing support of GTECH G2 and we’re honoured to accommodate their VIP party for the third year,” said Jodie Thind, Lyceum Media.

Last year’s event, which saw us discover Michael Caselli’s penchant for goats, will be a hard event the better but if there’s one thing you can count on when Lyceum are involved it’s that they tend throw one hell of a party.

“Things have changed a lot since our first Fire & ICE party, that’s for sure,” said Caselli. “The industry has grown beyond all expectations. I think we had about 60 or 70 people at that first Fire & ICE and last year we had nearly 2000!”

Do what you have to do to get into this party, as it’s going to be one you really can’t afford to miss.

Lifestyle News

LINKS:
Super Show 2011 Venue
Video igaming Super Show Party Highlights
iGaming Super Show Video

Conference News

Lifestyle News

These obviously aren’t on the same scale as the eGR awards taking place just a couple of months previous, everyone likes to win an award though. It’s high time you got yourself nominated then. Nominations for the awards close on Monday 25 October leaving only five days to get your arse in gear to be in with the chance of a gong.

Thursday 27th January 2011 is the date you should pencil into your diaries which is the night before the London Affiliate Conference commences. CalvinAyre.com will be covering the awards you can get your hands on a DAF award if nothing else.

Business News

The main purpose of our trip to Florence was to attend the wedding of an iGaming industry friend of ours, ahem, Michael Caselli, and to taste some wine, tour some castles, see the sights, and enjoy meals with industry friends. I had the time of my life and I came out of this trip with one major revelation…caviar and champagne for breakfast is AMAZING!

Welcome to the highlights from our trip.

The hotel
We arrived at the Four Seasons hotel with a bit of a buzz because Calvin insisted on having caviar and a bottle of champagne for breakfast before flying out. Of course he did. Anyway, the Four Seasons in Florence is a spectacular property including the largest private garden in Florence and two large buildings, one a former home of the Medici family and the other a former convent. A CONVENT! How appropriate. Guests staying in the deluxe suite are greeted with Dom Perignon champagne on ice, a huge plate of fresh and dried fruit and other treats that magically appear throughout the stay. The deluxe suite also includes a hammock, several bathrooms, a hot tub, fresh flowers, a terrace, a private garden, ridiculously attentive customer service, a view of the Duomo and all for the bargain price of I don’t even want to know.

The wedding
The actual wedding ceremony of our industry friend took place at 12:30pm in the center of Florence and the reception began 3.5 hours later at a Villa situated in the stunning Tuscan countryside. This 3.5 hour gap must have served as a perfect opportunity to do some sight seeing in the city, right? WRONG!!!!!!!!! The iGaming industry guests abandoned all sight seeing plans and beelined to an Irish bar right across the square from the ceremony…and remained there until the reception. As I’m sure you can imagine, this pilgrimage resulted in some rather drunk guests, ahem, Calvin, but everyone certainly had fun and no harm was done….at least that we can remember.

The wine, food and castle
While in Florence, Calvin also decided to film a “Booze ‘n Castles” episode and invited me along for the ride. This time we went to visit the Castle of Verrazzano, or as the Italians all it, “Castello di Verrazzano”, located on a hilltop in Chianti Classico and strategically placed across the valley from the Medici castle, the Verrazzano archenemy. The booze consisted of Italian red wine that was proudly grown, picked, pressed, fermented, and poured right at the 1000 year old property. After a beautiful lunch full of Italian wine, sausage, prosciutto, bread, pasta, pork, salad, cake, biscotti, coffee and grappa, we took a boozy tour of the wine cellar and castle and learned a lot about Italian history, most notably that a member of the Verrazzano family discovered the coastal areas of North America and that the castle’s pen of wild boars was where our lunch came from.

The last supper
The next day, despite the wine-induced hangovers we were both fighting, Calvin and I had one last meal with the newlywed Michael Caselli before we both flew to new destinations. We choose a “mozzarella bar” right in the center of town and naturally complimented our dishes with more wine, limoncello, espressos and sambuca because what’s a lunch without cocktails? Ah, what a way to top off a great weekend in one of the most beautiful cities in the world with some of my very favorite people. Va bene.

Checkout the Picture Gallery & DAF award from Calvin and Becky’s Florence Festivities!

Lifestyle News

If you were at the wedding reception last night, you know that Calvin Ayre was, very simply stated, drunk as f*&*$ck. He clearly had more fun than anyone, and to be quite honest, the entertainment value of his presence was worth millions- you could even call it “The Calvin Show”. I am not sure how Calvin does it, but one thing is for sure…no matter what he’s doing or where he is, he always has fun.

Lifestyle News

Michael and his wife Fatema exchanged wedding vows yesterday afternoon in Florence’s Piazza della Signoria and celebrated with family and friends at a breathtaking villa overlooking the Tuscany countryside. Of course Calvin and I don’t go anywhere without a camera, so stay tuned for the inevitable video encapsulating our Florentine adventures, and in the meantime, CalvinAyre.com would like to extend a huge congratulations to the happy new couple, Michael and Fatema Caselli!

Lifestyle News

Donovan McNabb who isn’t arguably, isn’t maybe, but IS the flat out, hands down best QB in Philadelphia Eagles history. Now he is heading back to the city that never loved him, a city that never truly embraced him and he’s coming back leading the rival Washington Redskins. All McNabb did for the city of Philadelphia and the franchise was make them a perennial contender, yet he’s consistently judged on not having won a Superbowl. It’s funny, you don’t see Dolphin fans angry at Dan Marino.

But there’s a twist to this story, a man shrouded by hate for his actions, Michael Vick was taken under McNabb’s wing and McNabb mentored Vick during Vick’s first season back in the NFL after well, you know. Now, Michael Vick isn’t the Vick of old, he’s better. He’s as fast, and more accurate than ever before and he has the Eagles rolling and the city screaming Vickadelphia! Goosebumps. This is why the NFL is most watched show on American TV, becaue you can’t script this stuff, but you sure as hell can bet on it!

Sports News

As CalvinAyre.com’s On-Site Reporter for Baller Strip Poker, I learned two very important lessons tonight:

1)Hot strippers are suckers for poker players. You would not believe the swarm of ladies who lined up at the door just waiting to pounce on the innocent and unsuspecting poker pros and players who walked in the front door. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life- I guess it pays to be a pro sometimes.

2)Strippers have husbands…or at least that’s what the management says. I hate to break it to you boys out there, but apparently many of these ladies are spoken for, and therefore we are not allowed to film or take pictures of them inside the strip bar, even if they are fully clothed. I mean, don’t their husbands know that they strip? Oh well, I don’t make the rules.

Bluff Europe’s Michael Caselli did a great job with putting together tonight’s event and recruiting some of the pros in town such as Jeff Madsen, DevilFish, Sam Trickett, Antonio Esfandiari, Keith Gipson and just about all of team UB. The night began with a cocktail reception full of strippers, poker players, industry friends, pros, appy’s, and champagne, and once the players identified their stripper of choice, the crowd was escorted downstairs and to the poker tables. After the simple rules were explained and a few cocktails consumed, things really started heating up, and the clothing started coming off. By the end of the evening, there was a little touching, a little smooching, a few “I love you’s”, and god only knows what else.

Seeing as everyone had so much fun at Baller Strip Poker with all the girls, gamblin’, drinkin’ and carryin’ on, my only question is, where the HELL was Calvin Ayre?!

Checkout the Baller Strip Poker Video here.

Poker News

In a result that surprises absolutely no one, our poll winner and the now undisputed champion, Calvin Ayre was voted as the biggest media whore by an overwhelming margin. Was there ever any doubt?

Next, self-proclaimed “media whore” Michael Caselli came in 2nd place.

Rolling in third place was our very own Blowjob Bodog Becky, Rebecca Liggero, which you’d think her colorful nickname would have garnered her a few more votes.

Rounding out the list of media whores in fourth and fifth place was Dan Fleyshman and J Todd respectively.

Please do us all a favor and don’t forget to remind the self proclaimed media whore Michael Caselli how he lost when you see him at Poker in the Dark!

Lifestyle News

So who should we find in Leicester Square mingling between film premieres, whilst sharing an ice cream at Rendezvous, than media whore, and the man putting on the event, Bluff Europe’s Michael Caselli, who’s understandably excited at the prospect of upwards of 20,000 people rocking up.

“We get people coming from all over the country – some of the leagues come down by the bus-load. People have even flown in from America, India, so it’s got a good global appeal.”

The event is now into its fourth year and has gone from strength-to-strength with numbers growing year-on-year, but what can attendees expect to find when they stroll under Poker in the Park’s arch at the entrance to Leicester Square, apart from the beauty that is Liv Boeree?

“Basically it’s a free poker fair with pretty much everything poker that you can possibly imagine. We’ve got two tents that are spreading free sit and go’s every hour, on the hour, poker lectures with some of the biggest names from the UK and abroad, a poker tuition tent where you can improve your game. After parties are going on at Ruby Blue, live auctions from Bidibot, and also you can get poker gear from the merch tent.”

If you’re running the thing though the big question is probably how you’re going to keep up the staggering visitor numbers, that have grown ten fold since the first year.

“This year we’ve added two tents so there’s more things to do than last year, a dozen in total. Also we’ve added 50% more live sit-and-go tables so we should be able to handle the additional capacity.

“It just seems to grow, and grow, and grow. Hopefully people have a good time the year before and they know that they should come the following year and they tell their friends. So I think a lot has to do with that.”

Obviously one of the star attractions at this year’s event will be the presence of Evander Holyfield, courtesy of Real Deal Poker, who you’ll be able to go head-to-head with in the middle of the event itself, and attempt to knock out the champ, which is far from the only without equal aspect to this year’s event.

“I think a boxing ring in the middle of Leicester Square’s pretty unique – the Evander thing’s going to be great. Bodog’s got loads of tables, and are apparently creating the inside of the tent to look like the Las Vegas city-scape, so that should look really wild and be fantastic. Bidibot’s got a live auction site – a penny auction that auctions off tournament chips, poker chips, credits at different sites, seats in tournaments, and they’re going to have a live auctioneer down here. Victory Poker has a pretty unique concept – basically they’ve got some heads up play and if the loser of the heads up match chooses he can either go in the dunk tank and be dunked himself or choose one of the Victory Poker models to be dunked for him – so that’s kind of weird and wonderful.”

As mentioned earlier, Bodog is sponsoring one of the two poker domes that will be dominating the tree-line of Leicester Square for two days come September, and as an online site, Caselli explains the difference it can make to the customer base

“If you want to give a real experience to your players, something that’s tangible and something you really can’t do as an online site normally, then Poker in the Park is pretty much the perfect format for that. People can come down, in the Bodog case for instance, and really experience what the brand’s all about. It’s not unlike the Las Vegas World Series of Poker lifestyle show, in the sense that we just have loads of poker enthusiasts down to have a great time. The difference of course being this is outside, a little bit more fun orientated, so it’s a great way to entertain your players and thank them for being loyal members of your site.”

So, how does Michael fancy the my chances against Evander in the ring, in a bout?

“Well probably the question is how smart would that be? It would be a real bad idea, you’d have to have some pretty crazy odds for me to put money on you.”

Damn thought I really had a chance at staying unbeaten there.

How about Michael’s status as the aforementioned media whore? Surely our interview is one of thousands the supremo has given in the past week?

“I’ve been called a lot of things and that’s one of the nicer ones so I can appreciate that. We’ve done a lot of interviews actually. We’ve been on Poker Channel, just did this morning, Sky Poker the other day, so basically we’re doing tons of media. We were also in the Independent, so you’ll see more and more of this. Of course the poker websites are picking us up, and obviously it’s great to be on the tablog and on CalvinAyre.com, but we’re promoting it pretty much everywhere and I think we’re getting a great response and we’re working quite closely with Poker Europa with the entire festival”

Exactly. Media Whore!

If you require any more information on Poker in the Park or the month long London Poker Festival you can visit the respective websites at www.pokerinthepark.com and www.LondonPokerFestival.com. Otherwise CalvinAyre.com will see you up London town in September.

Poker News

August 12, 2010 (London, UK)

Among the stars already confirmed to appear at the Poker in the Park lecture theatre are Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott, Roland De Wolf, Jamie Gold, Nik Wealthall, Neil Channing, Nik Persaud and Phil Laak (injury permitting). Poker in the Park organisers also confirmed that more exciting names will be confirmed soon.

In addition to the stars in the lecture theatre, the five-time World Heavyweight Champion, Evander ‘the Real Deal’ Holyfield, will be on site with the RealDealPoker team at a special boxing ring marquee where players can go heads up against the current WBF world title holder .

Poker in the Park founder and organiser, Michael Caselli, said, “Having guest speakers of such calibre is an incredibly important part of what we’re offering at Poker in the Park. For the fourth year running, we’re honoured, and humbled, to have so many star names turn out to give their advice and share their fascinating stories to the possible poker stars of the future.”

A full schedule of speakers will be coming soon to www.pokerinthepark.com.

//ends//

Media Enquiries:
Jodie Thind
Lyceum Media
jodie@LyceumMedia.com
+44 (0) 208 123 7184

Note to Editors:
The London Poker Festival is the world’s largest schedule of poker and poker related events. Throughout the entire month of September, poker enthusiasts from around the world can partake in the 100+ listed Poker Festival calendared events, play at more than a dozen festival venues, and attend poker seminars, hosted parties, and special events. This September, watch the London poker scene come alive as the city plays host to the WPT, Poker in the Park, the EPO and the WSOPE. For a full calendar of festival events visit

www.BritishPokerFestival.com

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Lifestyle News

Check out the Party writeup, Pictures & the Drunk as fuck award at the iGaming Spring Social London.

Lifestyle News

Lifestyle News