WO2014128735A1

WO2014128735A1 - Process and system for dynamically searching indexed internet playing sites with guaranteed prize money and profitability indication

Info

Publication number: WO2014128735A1
Application number: PCT/IT2013/000054
Authority: WO
Inventors: Roberto TORRE
Original assignee: Torre Roberto
Priority date: 2013-02-20
Filing date: 2013-02-20
Publication date: 2014-08-28

Abstract

A process is described for dynamically searching indexed Internet playing sites, in particular indexed Internet poker sites ("poker-rooms"), comprising the steps of: a) finding on the web a first list of tournaments belonging to indexed Internet playing sites, in particular each one of such indexed Internet poker sites ("poker-rooms") putting available on-line at least one of such poker tournaments with guaranteed prize money; b) providing to a user a choice among one or more selection criteria of such first list of such tournaments belonging to such indexed Internet playing sites and selecting one or more of such criteria to locate a second list (E) of such tournaments belonging to such Internet sites contained in such first list, such tournaments complying with such one or more selected criteria; and c) providing at least one first synoptic mask (MJ for displaying general information related to such second list (E) of tournaments of such Internet playing sites. A system is further described for dynamically searching indexed Internet playing sites.

Description

PROCESS AND SYSTEM FOR DYNAMICALLY SEARCHING INDEXED INTERNET PLAYING SITES WITH GUARANTEED PRIZE MONEY AND PROFITABILITY INDICATION

The present invention refers to a process and to a system for dynamically searching indexed Internet playing sites, in particular indexed Internet poker sites ("poker-rooms") , with the purpose of locating the poker tournaments with guaranteed prize money that offer the best profitability for the players.

In these last years, there has been an important worldwide increase of the number of Internet sites which offer the chance of taking part on-line into "skill games" tournaments that provide for an enrolment and a payment of possible wins with cash money: among such games, the one which has been most developed is by all means Poker, in all its variations (such as Texas Hold' em, Omaha, etc.).

Many of these Internet sites dedicated to the game of on-line poker (also called "Poker-room") , in order to try and attract more and more players, propose, in their daily programming, many tournaments which offer a guaranteed prize money even if the enrolment amounts (technically called "buy-in") paid by the enrolled players are not enough to cover the whole prize money amount. For example, a tournament with a guaranteed prize money of € 10.000 and with an enrolment amount of € 10 should reach at least 1000 enrolled people to cover such guaranteed prize money: otherwise, if the enrolled players are lower than 1000, for example 900, the same players could play to divide among them a prize money greater by € 1000 with respect to the paid € 9000, and the missing partial amount of the guaranteed prize money, in this case € 1.000, is covered and paid by the Poker- room. The above situation occurs in many cases during the day, and this is due to different factors, more or less depending on the will of the same Poker-room (such as, for example, advertisements, wrong evaluations, marketing strategies, etc.).

In parallel with the quick developments of the Poker-room, many types of players appears, who, due to their capabilities, are able to extract a gain from these skill games: obviously, such players try and take part into tournaments that show the best winning expectancy and, first of all, pay much attention to take part into guaranteed tournaments whose prize money is higher with respect to paid enrolments. The intrinsic disadvantage deriving from the above proliferation of on-line Poker-rooms is that the high number of such Internet sites on different networks with hundreds of tournaments every day, puts the players in front of the difficulty of quickly and efficiently finding the type of tournament which they like most, in particular if they are tournaments with guaranteed prize money.

The current art proposes some software applications that try to make it easier for a player to search in Internet the desired on-line tournament depending on one or more selection criteria pointed out by himself: such applications however do not allow in particular to analyse and signal the characteristics of potential profitability of the indexed Internet poker sites ("poker-rooms") , and in particular of the tournaments with guaranteed prize money.

Therefore, object of the present invention is solving the above prior art problems, by providing a process and a system for dynamically searching indexed Internet playing sites, in particular indexed Internet poker sites ("poker-rooms") , that provide a search engine capable of locating on all on-line indexed (national and international) Poker-rooms, depending on certain filters set by the user, and signalling to the user the best tournaments that offer a guaranteed prize money.

In particular, object of the present invention is providing a process and a system for dynamically searching indexed Internet playing sites, in particular indexed Internet poker sites ("poker-rooms") , that analyse the characteristics of such tournaments with guaranteed prize money on such indexed Internet poker sites ("poker-rooms") and point out to the user the potential profitability of such tournaments.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention, as will appear from the following description, are obtained with a process for dynamically searching indexed Internet playing sites as described in claim 1. Preferred embodiments and non-trivial variations of the present invention are the subject matter of the dependent claims .

It is intended that all enclosed claims are an integral part of the present description.

It will be immediately obvious that numerous variations and modifications (for example related to shape, sizes, arrangements and parts with equivalent functionality) can be made to what is described, without departing from the scope of the invention as appears from the enclosed claims.

The present invention will be better described by some preferred embodiments thereof, provided as a non- limiting example, with reference to the enclosed drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows an example synoptic mask for displaying information related to many Poker-room tournaments made through the process and the system according to the present invention;

Figure 2 shows an example detailed mask for displaying information related to one of the tournaments displayed in the synoptic mask of Figure 1;

Figure 3 shows an example detailed mask for displaying information related to another tournament among those displayed in the synoptic mask of Figure 1; and

- Figure 4 shows an example detailed mask for displaying information related to still another tournament among those displayed in the synoptic mask of Figure 1.

In general, the process and the system according to the present invention aim to provide a search engine for a user that allows locating and displaying a list of tournaments of indexed Internet playing sites, in particular of indexed Internet poker sites ("poker- rooms") with guaranteed prize money, depending on one or more search criteria, and finding and aggregating information related to such tournaments to synoptically or in detail provide the user with aggregated and/or computed indexes that operate as decision support for his choice, in any Poker-room, of the tournament that provides the best chances of profitability.

The process according to the present invention therefore comprises the steps of:

a) finding on the web a first list of tournaments belonging to indexed Internet playing sites, in particular each one of such indexed Internet poker sites ("poker-rooms") putting available on-line at least one of such poker tournaments with guaranteed prize money: as known, indexing an Internet site means inserting such site in the database of a search engine, through the use of suitable keywords ("meta-tags") ;

b) providing the user with the choice among one or more selection criteria of such first list of such tournaments belonging to such indexed Internet playing sites and selecting one or more of such criteria to locate a second list E of such tournaments belonging to such Internet sites contained in such first list, such tournaments complying with such one or more selected criteria. For example, such selection criteria could comprise:

at least one selection criteria by nation: selecting the single nation of the Poker-room or groups of nations, for example in alphabetical order from A to Z or vice versa; and/or

at least one selection criteria by Poker-room: selecting a single Poker-room or groups of Poker- rooms, for example in alphabetical order from A to Z or vice versa; and/or

at least one selection criteria by tournament starting date/time, for example from the most imminent one, from a certain date/time, between two ranges of date/time; and/or

at least one selection criteria by guaranteed prize money, for example from the highest to the lowest; and/or

at least one selection criteria by guaranteed residual amount not covered by enrolments, for example from the highest to the lowest; and/or at least one selection criteria by percentage value of the guaranteed prize money not covered by enrolments, for example from the highest to the lowest; and/or

at least one selection criteria by tournament specialty, for example Texas Hold' em, Omaha, etc.; and/or

at least one selection criteria by tournament type, for example No limit, Pot limit, Knockout, etc.; c) providing at least one first synoptic mask i for displaying general information related to such second list E of tournaments of such Internet playing sites: for example, as it is possible to note in particular from Figure 1, in which an example of one of such first masks Μχ is shown, for each one of the tournaments belonging to such second list E and located from such first list depending on one or more of such criteria selected by the user, such first mask M_x can be organised so that such general information comprise:

original nation 1 and name of the relevant Poker- room 3; and/or

tournament starting date/time 5; and/or

closing date/time of the enrolments to the tournament 7; and/or

remaining time T_R upon closing the enrolments to the tournament 9; and/or

tournament specialty 11; and/or

amount M_G of the guaranteed prize money 13; and/or - amount Bj. of the individual enrolment amount 15 ("Buy-in") ; and/or

part Q_M or partial amount of the enrolment amount being part of the prize money 17; and/or

part Qp or partial amount of the enrolment amount aimed for the Poker-room 19 ("Rake"); and/or number of players N_G enrolled at that time 21; and/or

total amount I_T of the enrolment amounts collected at that time 23: such value can be computed as I_T = N_G *

value of gross coverage C_L 25 and net coverage C_N 29 at that time ("Overlay") : as known, in the specific technical field, the term gross or net coverage ("Overlay") means the amount of money that a poker-room must add to what has been collected by the enrolment amounts to reach the amount of the guaranteed prize money taking into account or not the amount of the reached "Rake"; in particular, the gross coverage value C_L can be computed as C_L = M_G - Q_M * N_G, while the net coverage value C_N can be computed as C_N = M_G - Bj_. * N_G; and/or

gross ROI% index R_L 27 and net ROI% index R_N 31 at that time: as known, the acronym ROI ("Return On Investment") means the profitability on invested capital; in particular, the gross ROI% value R_L can be computed as R_L = 100 * C_L / (Q_M * N_G) , while the net ROI% value R_N can be computed as R_N = 100 * C_N / (Β_Α * N_G) .

Obviously, since some of the above general information are dynamic, since their value substantially depends on the variable number of players that can be enrolled to the various tournaments till the closing date/time of the enrolments to the tournaments themselves, the process according to the present invention comprises the step of updating and/or computing, where required, the above information in real time;

d) possibly, selecting by such user at least one of such tournaments from such second list E of such first mask Mi and providing at least one second detailed mask M₂ for displaying at least particular information related to such tournament selected by the user: for example, as it is possible to note in particular in Figures 2, 3 and 4, in which some examples are shown of such second masks M₂ related to the tournaments of the first three lines of the first mask Μ_χ of Figure 1, for every selected tournament from such second list E such second mask M₂ can be organised so that such particular information comprise :

reference number of the selected tournament 4; and/or

estimated amount I_SM of the prize money distributed to the winners of the selected tournament 6: in particular, such amount I_SM can be computed as I_SM = N_GS * Q_M (obviously, should the result be lower than the guaranteed prize money, the value I_SM = M_G would be assigned) ; and/or number N_G10m of players enrolled in the latest 10 minutes 8; and/or

number N_G60s of players enrolled in the latest 60 seconds 10; and/or

- estimated value N_GS of the number of players enrolled upon closing the enrolments 12: in particular, such value N_GS can be computed as N_GS = N_G + ( ( (N_G10m + N_G60s) / 600) * T_R) where T_R is expressed in seconds; and/or

number N_GC1 of necessary players for reaching the gross coverage C_L 14: in particular, such value N_GC1 can be computed as N_GC1 = M_G / Q_M; and/or

number N_GCn of necessary players for reaching the net coverage C_n 16: in particular, such value N_GCn can be computed as N_GCn = M_G / Bi,- and/or

- estimation of the value of the gross coverage C_LC 18 and of the net coverage C_NC 20 upon closing the enrolments: in particular, the value of such estimation of the gross coverage C_LC can be computed as C_LC = I_SM - (N_GS * Q_M) , while the value of such estimation of the net coverage C_NC can be computed as C_NC = I_SM - (N_GS * Bi) ; and/or

estimation of the gross ROI% index R_LC 22 and of the net ROI% index R_NC 24 upon closing the enrolments: in particular, the value of such estimation of the gross ROI% R_LC can be computed as R_LC = 100 * C_LC / (Q_M * N_GS) , while the value of such estimation of the net R0I% R_NC can be computed as R_NC = 100 * C_NC / (B_± * N_GS) . To simplify, it is possible to provide that the estimated value of the gross R0I% index R_LC can never be negative (being set as a minimum equal to zero) , while the estimated value of the net R0I% index R_NC can be negative at a maximum for a percentage equal to the incidence of the "Rake" Q_P on the "Buy-in" Β_±.

Obviously, in such second mask M₂ one or more of the general information taken from the related first mask M_x can re replicated, for example:

original nation 1 and name of the relevant Poker- room 3; and/or

tournament starting date/time 5; and/or

- closing date/time of the enrolments to the tournament 7; and/or

remaining time T_R, preferably expressed in seconds, upon closing the enrolments al tournament 9; and/or

tournament specialty 11; and/or

- amount M_G of the guaranteed prize money 13; and/or amount Bi of the individual enrolment amount 15 ("Buy-in") ; and/or

- part Q_P or partial amount of the enrolment amount aimed for the Poker-room 19 ("Rake"); and/or number of players N_G enrolled at that time 21; and/or

total amount I_T of the enrolment amounts collected at that time 23; and/or

value of the gross coverage C_L 25 and of the net coverage C_N 29 at that time ("Overlay") ; and/or

gross ROI% index R_L 27 and net R0I% index R_N 31 at that time.

In practice, through the process according to the present invention as described above, the first mask Μ_λ proposes and displays the tournaments with guaranteed prize money of all indexed Poker-rooms with some synthetic data listed, while the second mask ₂ proposes and displays the detailed data referred to the tournament of the desired line.

In the cases proposed as examples in Figures 2 and 4, the tournaments of the first and of the third line of the first mask M₁ have been taken into account, in order to demonstrate that, between such two tournaments, though being identical in their structure and their guaranteed prize money, the most convenient one in terms of ROI% is the first one instead of the second one, contrary to what can appear at first sight.

In fact, taking into account the time missing for closing the enrolments, the process according to the present invention allows estimating that, for the first tournament, both gross and net ROI% will be positive, while for the third it is estimated that the gross and net ROI% upon closing will respectively be equal to zero and negative. In the first tournament, the advantages for the players are due to the fact that they can expect to play for a positive net ROI (+3.1%) and simultaneously the "Rake" (commission paid to the Poker-room) will have no incidence, but instead the Poker-room will have to pay € 1.500 for covering the guaranteed prize money.

The process according to the present invention therefore allows providing the user/player with a valid decision support about which of the displayed tournaments belonging to the second list E he can enrol in to maximise the amount of the possible win. Merely as an example and to facilitate the understanding of the operation of the process according to the present invention, Figure 1 shows a first mask Mi including ten tournaments that, for an easy comparison, have the same guaranteed prize money equal to € 50.000, with the same "Buy-in" value, but that have different times and tax levels ("Rakes") .

Against such variables, the process according to the present invention advantageously allows the user/player to understand into which tournament is convenient for him to enrol, due to a R0I% index estimated as best. The process in fact, by processing the above estimations depending on the considered variables, provides a concrete answer to the user/player as demonstrated when analysing in detail the first three tournaments of the first mask i of Figure 1 and the related second masks M₂ included in the respective Figure 2 to 4 : in particular: the second mask M₂ of Figure 2 shows the first tournament having both ROI% (gross 22 and net 24) estimated positive at the end of the enrolments;

the second mask M₂ of Figure 3 shows the second tournament having a gross ROI% estimated 22 positive and a net ROI% estimated 24 negative at the end of the enrolments;

the second mask M₂ of Figure 4 shows the third tournament having a gross ROI% estimated 22 equal to zero and a net ROI% estimated 24 negative at the end of the enrolments .

With respect to the above estimated indexes, for a player it is undoubtedly more convenient to enrol in the first tournament than in the other two considered.

Taking moreover into account that some Poker-Rooms return part of the collected "Rake" to the players (in terms of "fidelity prize"), for some players it can be interesting to take also part into tournaments which, though estimating a negative net ROI, show a positive gross ROI (like in the second tournament having the second mask M₂ of Figure 3 in which an incidence of the "Rake" is estimated only at 5.3% instead of 10%).

It is wholly clear that the present invention further refers to at least one computer program comprising computer program code means adapted to perform all or part of the steps of the above described process when such program is run on a computer.

The present invention further deals with a system 1 for dynamically searching indexed Internet playing sites, in particular indexed Internet poker sites ("poker room"), that allows implementing the process according to the present invention as previously described. In particular, the system 1 according to the present invention comprises:

means for finding on the web such first list of tournaments belonging to indexed Internet playing sites, such tournaments being preferably a guaranteed prize money;

at least one remote device (like, for example, a smart-phone, a PC, a tablet, etc.) cooperating with such means for finding, for example through at least one application residing on such device calling such means for finding in order to operate on-line through at least one Web Server (WS) device on such first list, such remote device being equipped with data input means and displaying means, such input means being adapted to allow a user to select one or more selection criteria to locate a second list E of such tournaments belonging to such Internet sites contained in such first list, such tournaments complying with such one or more selected criteria, such remote device being further equipped with processing means adapted to compose, compute and display, through such displaying means, at least one of such first masks Mi and at least one of such second masks M₂ including the previously described information.

Claims

1. Process for dynamically searching indexed Internet playing sites, in particular indexed Internet poker sites ("poker-rooms") , characterised in that it comprises the steps of:

a) finding on the web a first list of tournaments belonging to indexed Internet playing sites, in particular each one of said indexed Internet poker sites ("poker-rooms") putting available on-line at least one said poker tournament with guaranteed prize money;

b) providing to a user a choice among one or more selection criteria of said first list of said tournaments belonging to said indexed Internet playing sites and selecting one or more of said criteria to locate a second list (E) of said tournaments belonging to said Internet sites contained in said first list, said tournaments complying with said one or more selected criteria; and c) providing at least one first synoptic mask (M_x) for displaying general information related to said second list (E) of tournaments of said Internet playing sites.

2. Process according to claim 1, characterised in that said selection criteria comprise:

at least one selection criteria by nation; and/or at least one selection criteria by Poker-room; and/or

1 at least one selection criteria by starting date/time of the tournament/ and/or

at least one selection criteria by guaranteed prize money; and/or

- at least one selection criteria by guaranteed residual amount not covered by enrolments; and/or

at least one selection criteria by percentage value of the guaranteed prize money not covered by enrolments; and/or

- at least one selection criteria by tournament specialty; and/or

at least one selection criteria by tournament type.

3. Process according to claim 1, characterised in that, for each one of said tournaments belonging to said second list (E) and located from said first list depending on one or more of said criteria selected by said user, said general information comprise:

original nation (1) and relevant Poker-room (3) name; and/or

- tournament starting date/time (5) ; and/or

closing date/time of the enrolments . to the tournament (7); and/or

remaining time T_R upon closing the enrolments to the tournament (9) ; and/or

- tournament specialty (11); and/or

2 amount M_G of the guaranteed prize money (13); and/or amount Bj_. of the individual enrolment amount (15); and/or

part Q_M or partial amount of the enrolment amount being part of the prize money (17); and/or

part Qp or partial amount of the enrolment amount aimed for the Poker-room (19); and/or

number of players N_G enrolled at that time (21); and/or

- total amount I_T of the enrolment amounts collected at that time (23); and/or

value of the gross coverage C_L (25) and of the net coverage C_N (29) at that time; and/or

gross ROI% index R_L (27) and net ROI% index R_N (31) at that time.

4. Process according to the previous claim, characterised in that it further comprises the step of selecting bysaid use at least -one- of said- tournaments from said second list E of said first mask (Μχ) and providing at least one second detailed mask (M₂) for displaying at least particular information related to said tournament selected by said user.

5. Process according to the previous claim, characterised in that said particular information comprise:

- reference number of the selected tournament (4);

3 and/or

estimated amount I_SM of the prize money distributed to the winners of the selected tournament (6); and/or

number N_G10ra of players enrolled in the latest 10 minutes (8); and/or

number N_G60s of players enrolled in the latest 60 seconds (10); and/or

estimated value N_GS of the number of players enrolled upon closing the enrolments (12) ; and/or

- number N_GC1 of necessary players for reaching the gross coverage C_L (14); and/or

number N_GCn of necessary players for reaching the net coverage C_n (16) ; and/or

estimation of the value of the gross coverage C_LC (18) and of the net coverage C_NC (20) upon closing the enrolments; and/or

estimation of the gross ROI% index R_LC (22) and of the net R0I% index R_NC (24) upon closing the enrolments.

6. Process according to claim 3 o 4, characterised in that:

C_L = _G - Q_M * N_G; and/or

R_L = 100 * C_L / (Q_M * N_G) ; and/or

- R_N = 100 * C_N / Bi * N_G; and/or

4 I_SM = N_GS * Q_M dove I_SM = M_G se I_SM < M_G; and/or

N_GS = N_G + ( ( ( Nciom + N_G60s) / 600) * T_R) ; and/or

G_CI = M_G / Q_M; and/or

N_Gcn = M_G / Bi; and/or

- C_LC = IS_M ~ (N_GS * QM) ; and/or

C_Mc = ISM - (N_Gs * B±) ; and/or

R_LC = 100 * C_LC / (Q_M * N_GS) ; and/or

R_NC = 100 * C_NC / (Bi * N_GS) .

7. Computer program comprising computer program code means adapted to perform the steps of said process according to any one of the previous claims when such program is run on a computer.

8. Computer program according to the previous claim and contained in a computer-readable media.

9. System (1) for dynamically searching indexed Internet playing sites, in particular indexed Internet poker sites ("poker rooms") , adapted to perform the steps of the process according to any one of daims 1 to 5, characterised in that it comprises:

- means for finding on the web said first list of tournaments belonging to indexed Internet playing sites, said tournaments being a guaranteed prize money;

at least one remote device cooperating with said means for finding in order to operate on-line on said first list, said remote device being equipped with data

5 input means and displaying means, said input means being adapted to allow said user to select one or more of said selection criteria to locate said second list E of said tournaments belonging to said Internet sites contained in said first list, said tournaments complying with said one or more selected criteria, said remote device being further equipped with processing means adapted to compose, compute and display through said displaying means at least one of said first masks (M and at least one of said second masks (M₂) including said general and particular information.

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