Interview with Pacific Poker's Ariel Levy

In addition to interviewing successful poker players, we also feature interviews with people that work in the poker industry in our Weekly Shuffles. This week, Ariel Levy, an affiliate account manager at 888 Poker, sat down and answered some questions for us. online poker 468x60 How long have you been working in the online gaming industry? How did you get involved with 888? I have been working at 888.com since November 2006. I got involved with 888.com when I was searching for a job in the online marketing/sales industry. How do you see online poker changing in the next few years? Online poker will continue to consolidate - we will end with a handful of global networks that support all major languages and offer a variety of games beyond poker and casino. 3D poker, voice over and other UI enhancements will be there. Online poker will expand to other platforms (mainly mobile phones). I believe that it is a matter of time until poker will be declared as a "skills game" by most nations, and it will be even more accessible to the general public along with stricter monitoring, taxation etc. What do you think makes 888.com Poker unique? * We are one of the Pioneers of Online Gaming - 10 years of experience and continuous growth. * We are a public company so follow strict guidelines and regulations - we are a trustworthy, serious company. * Our customer support is one of the best in the industry. * We offer all popular poker games: Texas Hold 'em, Omaha Hi, Omaha Hi/Lo, 7 card Stud, not just Texas Hold'em. * We offer games for all levels and wallets, from 1cent/2cent to $200/$400 * Our casino games can be played from our poker client * We offer our poker games in most European languages. What promotions does 888 Poker have lined up for players? * Sports in IT: we are launching 888.it. The campaign will be implemented in 3 different phases in which we will offer our members information regarding out new exciting website and also encourage them to play more. * Blond legend: 888.com is going to launch a new Video Slot called "The Blond Legend" based on the pictures of Marilyn Monroe taken by the photographer Sam Shaw. We will have 2 parallel promotions: The Blonde legend Hollywood style trip raffle and a weekly quiz. * Hitman: Twentieth Century Fox is going to release Hollywood blockbuster, HITMAN. We will take this opportunity to offer our customers the chance to win a fun and exciting experience with VIP Visit to the Home Of The Movies At Fox Studios, Hollywood! What measures do 888 Poker do to prevent/punish collusion? We have developed and employ sophisticated proprietary technology intended to seek out and identify players acting in collusion. If the Company is informed during play about suspected collusive behavior, it may, in its sole discretion, investigate and/or terminate suspected players' access to the Service and/or block their accounts. What countries make up most of 888.com Poker player base? UK, Germany, Canada, France, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Sweden and more What happens more often: casino players migrating over to poker or poker players migrating over to the casino? Poker to Casino. What's the most unusual question, request, or complaint you've dealt with from a customer? We were recently asked if we would like to sponsor a member's wedding which takes place on 08.08.08...you'll need to wait to see whether we decided to or not!