State of the CheckRayz site address...

Now that I've kept everyone waiting long enough, we can get down to business. I promised a "State of the CheckRayz site Address," so I shall deliver. That being said, here we go...

The state of the Rayz site is strong. We went "live" three short months ago, worrying about whether or not our database was going to be in place before our first tournament (that had me both scared and irritated). Now, the "Death Star" is fully operational. Since our January start, we've held 31 tournaments (scheduled 35 - four cancellations/postponed) and placed over 120 people on the leaderboard. We gave away over $3100 in freeroll and money added dollars for the first quarter alone. For the second quarter, I plan to double the amount of poker tournaments we offer and double the free money we offer. Expect to see anywhere from sixty to seventy five freeroll and/or money added poker tournaments during the second quarter.

When the quarter began, we really weren't sure who our "go to" poker rooms were going to be. Clearly, River Belle Poker have stepped forth and rose to the occasion. River Belle became our Leaderboard Sponsor, and continues to offer us top notch support and great tournaments. Their affiliate reps are among the best in the industry, and CheckRayz will continue to do bigger and better things in the future with River Belle Poker. They are definitely part of the "master plan."

Hollywood Poker is a once a month stop for our tour. It has proven to be among the favorite "spots" for several of the members. We'll continue holding our once a month buyins there, with the intentions of driving numbers to justify having two monthly tour stops there.

Poker rooms such as Kiwi and Titan poker have also helped contribute to our growth. I look forward to continuing to work with them as well.

Despite or previous challenges, WE WILL hold monthly heads up MTTs at Celeb Poker, with the first one scheduled to go off without a hitch on Wednesday April 12th. Once we get this kicked off properly, it will prove to be a fun event, in addition to a learning experience for all. Did I mention that we have a special first time deposit bonus at Celeb, which is exclusive to CheckRayz members?

In the month of March, we welcomed Poker4ever as our newest member to the CheckRayz site. Poker4ever are a brand new poker room, both to us and to the online poker world. They have a good understanding of the business end of things, and I believe them to be a long term successful poker room. In addition to the normal menu of tournaments they've offered us, they also have agreed to a monthly $500 freeroll poker tournament for all who rake 1000 hands in a given month (we need 20 peeps to hold the tournament). They will continue to get the support of CheckRayz. As we grow together, there will be growing pains along the way. But, I expect them to be a key player in our long term growth.

This month, CheckRayz will be holding three member appreciation tournaments for the first quarter. River Belle plays host to these tournaments. The first of three is designed to "reward" the members who have accumulated leaderboard points during the first quarter tour. By design, this tournament rewards our members for their hard work, and for playing tough from start to finish in our tournaments. The second, our leaderboard shootout, shall crown the first quarter champion by taking our top ten for the tour, and putting them in a steel cage. Last man/woman standing shall emerge victorious, the first ever CheckRayz Leaderboard Poker Tour Champion. This comes as no small task, as each and every member of the top ten are straight up monsters on the virtual felt. Finally, the "challenge" tournament will allow me to reward those who have stepped up and took my challenge by either referring three people to the rayz tour, or showing thanks to our leaderboard sponsor (river belle) and raking 250 hands. Winner of this will take down $100 and receive a purchased and activated copy of poker tracker.

Looking to the second quarter and beyond

Going forward, we will continue to proudly represent the Shark Powered Network in our endeavers. My personal goal is to help drive the membership through the roof to make the network the biggest on the net. In order to do such a thing, however, Sharky and I need your continued support through tournament participation, forum activity, play-through, and building and maintaining the electricity surrounding our Network. I'm certainly able to speak for the both of us when I state we're committed to continuing to offer top notch events at the best poker rooms on the net.

In the second quarter and beyond, I remain committed to going further, one step at a time, with helping our new and experienced members alike in improving their game. I'll continue to talk strategy regularly here in the Poker Pub, and additionally, I will commit to at least one game per month where we can, as a group, discuss hands as they play out (thank you Sandi for this idea). I have been... and continue to be very proud of the strong, tight, aggressive, and solid level of play in the CheckRayz tournaments. I embrace the idea of being known as the site who holds events with smaller, tighter fields and will work hard to maintain that image. Working with our newer members will assist greatly in accomplishing exactly that.

Finally, I plan on providing further incentives to our membership to support our poker rooms. Details are in the works, but expect something big. I am happy to say CheckRayz is now "on the map".. and bigger, better things are yet to come.

Mike




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