Although relatively new on the market, online poker room PokerShare.com has already adopted an aggressive marketing strategy, which includes trying to get it's name branded on a small town in middle America, and the site will forfeit a pretty little $100,000 to do so. PokerShare is now trying for the third time to put its name on a town, after two previous attempts proved unsuccessful.

Last month, PokerShare pinpointed the hamlet of Sharer, Kentucky as its first choice to bear the name, PokerShare.com. Seemingly, the assumption was that since Sharer and PokerShare.com both “share" (excuse the pun) a syllable, the transition would be perceived as less of a big deal. However, with no local authorities or infrastructure to speak of, there was no one in the rural district to entertain the bid, and thus the offer more or less petered out.

After Sharer, PokerShare turned to Bluff City, Arkansas. For the Bible Belt town, however, $100,000 was apparently not enough to warrant a pact with the “devil." Accordingly, the mayor of Bluff city rejected PokerShare's offer, reportedly calling gambling immoral.

For its third try, PokerShare turned to Bluff, Utah, which boasts all of 285 residents. Relative to attempts one and two, the online poker site is faring somewhat better in Mormon country. Although the offer has not as of yet been accepted, it also hasn't experienced flat-out rejection, which is already an improvement.

The Bluff Town Council is actually giving the offer serious thought. Bluff's Town Council Chairman, Patrick McDermott is reportedly taking the decision to the streets, so to speak, with plans to put the offer on the agenda for the November 2nd council meeting. He also intends to take an informal poll of residents' opinions on the matter, in order to gauge how the residents of Bluff would feel about writing PokerShare.com on their return address.

Even if Bluff decides to take the deal, there's a catch. Bluff's official status is that of a “special service area" located in San Juan County. That means that even if Bluff opts for the name change, San Juan County can still veto the deal.

Source:  Poker777 Staff

Sunday, 09 October 2005