Greg

As of writing this review of the Amsterdam Affiliate Conference both Jeremy and I are in the air on the way back home. For me it’s the absolute best place to recap the week before. I am not online, haven’t been home yet to get distracted and can’t be reached on the phone. It’s nice to actually zone out sometimes and think about what just happened. Lots of the time spent in Amsterdam is a blur, no matter how many trips you make there per year. This time around was no exception. However, taking into consideration the dynamics coming into this conference; many of people have decided that Amsterdam is for three things. Making more money for themselves when they get home, speculating about the nature of the online gaming industry, and taking in all the extra curricular activities the city has to offer. I’m not sure if that is the priority list, but I am positive it’s not in that particular order.

So I arrived early, Tuesday April 28th early. I repeated the sound judgement call I made a few weeks back for CAC. Get off the plane, get into a taxi and head the airport. Once I arrived I went upstairs to the nice but massively overpriced Hotel Okura. I threw my stuff in the room and washed my face. After that I headed downstairs to the hotel bar and ordered an €18 chicken sandwich with salad. Remember I did say this place overpriced. After being served the meal (which I am pretty sure was off a Children’s menu) they notified me that there are no hats allowed in the hotel. I stuck my Party Poker beanie in my jacket and ate up. I bet they wouldn’t have made Beyonce remove her fashion piece if she came by for a quick bite. Yeah, Beyonce was staying at the hotel. I didn’t see her, but Jeff from BestCasinoPartners.com had the opportunity to meet her.

Wednesday was a boring one. Basically I did some work on my laptop and watched a few more familiar faces stroll in. We did hit the A4U Expo as well for an hour. Thanks again to one of my favourite forum owners out there for the ‘press pass’ (Matthew Wood). Thursday was Queens Day so it was a good play to play it cool.

Alright, for anyone who knows or have searched on YouTube you know that Queens Day in Amsterdam is off the hook. It’s wild in the sense that even the locals who have been there 30+ years treat it like a shark swimming up on you from behind. It’s one of those surreal moments where every five minutes you’re going, “this is really happening.” If college was like this I would be completing my Masters and going for a PhD. These guys know how to party. Jeremy and I walked no less than 6 miles, drank no less than ½ liter of vodka and spent no less than 3 hours looking for a can back to the hotel at 3am that morning. It was a seriously good life experience.

How we got up for the show at a decent time still amazes me. There were people at the show Day 1 who had not been to bed yet. This industry is full of animals. I am not kidding you that dudes I work with at Tower Gaming should be in the Ironman. My ego was crushed by their stories of debauchery. Now I know why they understand gaming so well, they are simply just cut out for it. Overall I was pretty pleased with the show. Taking into consideration everyone actually was hoping for a bust so they could hit the internet forums it was a decent show. The most common complaint, outside the ASOP getting cancelled again, was that the show ‘wasn’t as big as London.’ Newsflash here to anyone savvy enough to read this far into the post. There are not going to be any more shows as big as CAP London 2009. I’ll call it now and put that speculation to rest. We had a killer lunch with PokerListings.com and I also had some fun with the usual suspects inside and outside the expo.

We did some stuff this night that I can’t remember. It must have included the Red Light District, pizza slices and Strongbow cider. I’m satisfied that sufficient enough of a recap.

Day Two was really enjoyable for me. I came to the show late and immediately got involved in a good discussion on SEO and geotargeting outside. There were solid search people here this time around and I really appreciate how open they were. We are going to bring a few on the radio if contracts permit. Enke and I made it a consistent 3 years running speaking at Affiliate Boot Camp about Poker Affiliate Strategies. It was your typical no holds barred approach to what relevant. We had a great turnout this time around also. The highlight of my show was a session attendee telling me this was ‘the best part of the show’ to him. I sincerely appreciated that and it made it definitely worth the while. I decided to reflect on my good nature immediately afterwards with a double Jack Daniels and Ginger Ale. Note: This trip I decided to change it up to mix the JD with ginger ale in an attempt to be creative. The jury is still out there.

Now this night was just silly. On so many levels it was crazy and fun and dangerous. It was totally irrational and everything you expect from the people behind this forum. As you guys know Jeremy is a bad gambler. Not in the sense he spends a lot, it’s just that his picks are as random as a monkey picking stocks. He had to watch the Kentucky Derby because he had money on the race. He just didn’t know which horses he had bet on. Degenerate.
We went to the Intertops party at the infamous (after Kyle Healey) Player’s Club right off Dam Square. This was a screw up on the conference planning group. Every event was within 4 blocks on the square; but our hotel was miles away. Anyway, we are going to going off a little on Intertops and a few other people this week on the radio show, so tune in. We have to drop some bombs every once in a while to keep it real and this will be no exception. We had a great steak dinner with our homeboys from Bodog and then settled in at the wildest sports bar I have ever witnessed. Jeremy is going to write 500 words about this very event so I wont go into too much details. Here are my Cliff Notes: Celtics Win, Cover Charge for a Fight we weren’t aware of, segregation, 27 mixed drinks, Hockey madness with Canadians, Bodog is a wild bunch (still), Thai people love boxing, the sun comes up at 7am in Amsterdam and Jeremy Enke misses another flight.

Sunday Bloody Sunday. We slept in some this day taking into account we were out till 8am the night before. I think we got up around 4pm or later actually. I was really hungry so we took showers and headed out. I am going to give everyone a chance to guess now where we went. It wasn’t the Van Gough museum. It wasn’t the Anne Frank house. It was the only place in Amsterdam you can actually get an Obama burger, the Red Light. Now, we aren’t total scumbags, we just know this area the best and have a good idea where food and drinks are. Alright, I tried. Seriously I was talking to Jeremy and both of us have been to Amsterdam more than any other city in Europe. If this whole gambling thing doesn’t pan out I always have a home as a RLD tour guide to fall back on. I had a good time tonight. I consumed the most dangerous thing of the entire trip this night even, a shot with orange juice. I am allergic to citrus fruit but the guys from Rounder Radio didn’t know this. I can’t blame them, it is kind of weird. I was being a baby after this and worrying so I headed back to the hotel It ended up being a good idea because we got up and made our flights. Before checking out the whole Tower Gaming crew did throw the Hotel Okura a few more bones. Five people ordering eggs with bacon and toast - $235.00 no joke. I did mention Beyonce was here so maybe it’s a Rockafella surcharge.

These reviews are hard to write. It’s almost like giving an awards acceptance speech; you’re inevitably going to forget someone you had a really good time with. It’s all about name dropping and talking shit about the parties you went to and who bought you bottle service. This review is more satire than just facts. I figured since there are maybe 3 good writers in the whole industry that go to shows I needed to do ‘my thing.’

Here is my conclusion, the trip was good. It was better than the previous CAC show and I would go back next year. I didn’t fight anyone, although Alex Pratt did insinuate I start one outside the conference. These shows are never going to be as big as they were in 2006. I am done with Amsterdam now till next year. I honestly need some time off. I am pretty boring dude at home so a solid week there is a stretch for me. I have a lot of really good friends in the business so from that aspect I always enjoy it. I talk to Enke about 4 hours every day as it is so that wasn’t too far off. He also asked my wife to have phone sex about 3 times this week (also standard). I had to run to catch my flight home after going through customs so right now I am good. I am going to take it easy tomorrow and look forward to seeing everyone else recap of the show. I am one word over 1,700 right now so it’s a wrap. Comments away…