The PokerTribe and PokerTribes sagas continue with the news that the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma has launched GreySnowPoker as a real and play money product operating on the back of an Isle of Man gaming license.
We all have a freezer containing a thousand frozen dreams, stuck to the peas, dead pieces of chicken and the ice cream that gets a caning when your wife tells you for the umpteenth time that you provide her with zero support.
I know what’s inside mine.
I wonder what’s inside the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma’s?
I know one thing for sure.
There’s no online poker room.
The creation of GreySnowPoker is a slow, plodding, snail-like, fat bloke sitting on a Budgie, stuck in first gear, trying to get up a hill sort of tale.
First, there was a guy called Fereidoun “Fred” Khalillian, who cut a deal with The Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma to build an online poker room that the world would adore.
The price was $9.4m.
The tribes would call the joint PokerTribes.com.
Only the site never materialised. It’s a ghost. An online poker room played by ghouls that listen to symphonies of the dead.
In classic Frankie Goes to Hollywood style, the two tribes went to war and sued Khalilian, and at the end of all the blood and guts, the court sided with the man who a Californian beak recently issued a restraining order against due to threats of mutilation and death towards employees of Monster Products.
Monster Products enter the tale because despite Khalilians shady past (read here) the technology company acquired his company, Universal Entertainment Group (UEG) intending to put some meat on the skeleton of PokerTribes.com, dropping the ’s’, and relaunching as PokerTribe.com for the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma.
Still with me?
In the springtime, along with the bugs, butterflies, and bees, The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma announced the launch of a beta version of GreySnowPoker, an online poker room named after the true meaning of the tribe – The People of the Grey Snow.
PokerTribe, plural or singular became about as relevant as a wristwatch.
GreySnowPoker Launches Real Money Version
Things have moved on.
The beta-testing must have been successful.
A few days ago, I received an email from the GreySnowPoker team telling me that they were open for business, working on an Isle of Man gaming license, becoming the first Native American owned site to operate under such a thing.
The poker room is open for real and play money, although I can’t seem to make head nor tail of who is eligible to play on the platform. The press release weighed heavily on the side of fairness to players, focusing on the inability for third-party software providers to help players hunt bums and also a new rake free model.
Now, don’t get too excited.
You still have to pay the man to beat the man (or woman).
GreySnowPoker calls the new system FairPlay and players pay a single flat fee (the equivalent of 3% of their stack) when they leave a cash game table. The press release indicates that tournament fees are also some of the lowest in the industry.
GreySnowPoker’s Managing Director, George McIntosh, has plenty of experience in the poker industry counting positions in the Ongame Network, bwin and PokerStars amongst his previous posts. Before joining GreySnowPoker, McIntosh clocked in for The Stars Group as Poker Promotions Manager for Iberia.
McIntosh wrote:
“We’re determined to make GreySnowPoker the world’s most reputable online poker destination, leading the way in integrity, innovation, fairness and fun. Throughout our journey, we’re also dedicated to promoting the Native American culture and community.”
Let’s hope if we ever get the chance to take a peek into his freezer of dreams we don’t see a man called Khalilian with stalactites hanging from his bloody nose.
