Poker not a good investment

[CharlieMaxwell]

The WPT, ubiquitous on TV and generally credited with starting the current poker craze, has now gone public by trading under the symbol WPTE. You too can call up your broker and essentially place your bet on the growth of poker.

Read the rest of Wild Bill's story by going to the RX home page at www.therx.com

Charlie

 

[DavidMatthews]

I think ESPN made a mistake televising the Omaha tournament. I mean, how many people can get into that game when they have no idea how to play it?

 

[Mr NJ Sports]

They have overkilled poker on TV. Enough is enough.

 

[VaultedTreehouse]

With that as a title, I expected an article on the gambling pros and cons of poker. Instead I get an article on overexposure for poker. Where's the truth in advertising? Does Wild Bill get paid for this b/c I'd like to write some articles.

 

[marias]

ME

 

[olddog]

Bill failed to mention that Lakes Entertainment has many more investments/interests than the WPT. Lakes primarily builds and (I imagine) runs casinos on Indian reservations. These casinos, if run properly, have good profit margins.

As for overkill TV exposure, I imagine that's what people said when TV decided to broadcast Monday night games, then Sunday night games, then Thursday games.

 

[GreenDoberman]

Why write an article on investment when there is no mention of the fundamentals of the investment?
Talk about the float, the market cap, valuation.
Nowhere was the performance of Lakes Entertainment stock mentioned.
This is like saying too many people drink beer right now, eventually less people will drink beer, so BUD is a bad stock to buy.
Very shoddy article in my opinion, and I try not to be too critical of others efforts.
Read the Motley Fool article about this stock if you want a more grounded point of view.

 

[InsideThePylons]

Another beauty of a article.

Why doesn't he write about something he has at least basic knowledge of?

 

[MariaSharapova]

For how long is the wpt tied into the travel channel???they should try and get hooked into
a more watched channel with a large male
demographic like Spike or Tnt.But i won't like
it if they replace MXC/Takeshi's Castle on
Spike.
Ciao from Maria,and Don't Get Eliminated!!

 

[WildBill]

You guys are the ones that ought to do some research first! Lakes was an early stage investor, but they just spun the WPT off and it trades as WPTE. What Lakes owns or does has nothing to do with the merits of this right now. And Lakes right now isn't anything to get excited about as it is, they have ZERO operations going. They have a couple of deals with tribes that can't get the approvals they need for casinos.

You people just make me laugh. Maybe we should disclose this first, but I get about 500-700 words per article. I am not allowed to do a S-4 filing recap for you. If you really want to know the details about an IPO, the SEC requires plenty of disclosure and I would certainly expect you to do your own research at some point. As for one of the critics, I ought to know about these things, as I participated in putting one together and when I am not writing articles I am working on investment issues as part of my regular job.

As for the numbers, I can tell you they are profitable, barely. Their current P/E ratio is about 100x. And as for the comment about Motley Fool GD, go read what they wrote about this stock. The writer didn't mention one number about it! He talked about LACO, but they have little to do with it now other than being an owner of the stock. Lyle Berman (majority shareholder) has very little involvement in the WPT, his contribution was made early on in money and advice. What the writer doesn't say is that they don't have anything distinguishing other than the cachet of being the WPT. There are no patents, no real exclusivity deals that matter, and most importantly no barriers to entry as we have all seen.

Instead of bashing me, why don't you all contribute something useful to the debate? Imagine if one of you posted a pick and I responded "terrible pick, you suck" and that was it? What would you think of me doing that? I would love to hear contradicting views on my articles, would really welcome it. But for people just out to bash for whatever reasons, yet respond with "I know more than this guy" and leave it at that just doesn't impress me at all. I try to share some of what I know, what do bashers share other than their envy?

 

[GreenDoberman]

Evidently I touched a nerve. I stand by my opinions. I realize what you do for a living and realize the limitations of an article. And I agree that the stock is not a good buy, but that is just an opinion. I was looking for some facts to back it up. I'm not disagreeing with your analysis. Just lacking some facts to back it up.
In your own words, your article summarized as "terrible pick, you suck". Float, P/E, market cap, valuation- I know you are familiar with these ideas, but likely most of our readers are not. Instead of bashing and getting into personal flaming wars, let's educate our brethren.

 

[RobFunk]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Float, P/E, market cap, valuation- I know you are familiar with these ideas, but likely most of our readers are not. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I'd be one of those readers who "does not". But I'd still read such an article, nothing wrong with something that gets people talking/asking questions. . .I have no comment on the article itself.