Well, the CAC is now officially over and I'm still not fully recovered.  I have been procrastinating writing this article for a few days because quite frankly I really don't even know where to start.  Normally I like to give a report back on all of our sponsored rooms and what they have going on, similar to what I did for CAC Amsterdam.  After further review however, many rooms did not attend, so instead I will try to give a more broad recap of my experience at this years CAC.

To start, it still amazes me how the entire industry went into an uproar over one irresponsible post made on a message board.  Tempers flared, relationships were decimated, and thousands of dollars were lost because of false claims that no one including the original poster could seem to substantiate. Last week rumors were circulating that 400 arrests would be made at CAC, and that anyone attending was assuming a huge risk.  Both sponsors and affiliates were pulling out at a pace that even made me say to myself "Is this event even worth going to anymore?"  Now one week later, we are all left looking back at the whole situation wondering what the hell just happened.

Instead of harping on the negatives though, let's look at some of the positives that came out of the event.  Personally this was the best CAC I have ever attended.  I made contacts and deals over the week that will end up returning me thousands of dollars in profits over the coming months.  Anyone who is not sure about attending industry events like this should read my article on the importance of attending a Casino Affiliate Convention.  Not only did I have a chance to discuss new business ventures, I also got to meet up with old friends and make new ones in the industry.

My days were jammed full with meetings, but I did manage to find some time to gamble and party.  Speaking of parties, kudos to Brandon and the entire team at StinkyFishPoker.net for putting on a kick ass party. We (PAW) had a V.I.P. section at the party that got pretty crazy.  The bottle service was great, and being able to have all of my friends in one area was even better.  Often times I find that the social activities at the CAC are even better opportunities to do business than the actual meetings in the afternoon.

Upon arriving in the hotel room at MGM, I was pleasantly surprised to see a gift basket in my room from Kiwi Poker, Thanks Le.  I then hooked up with the guys from FriendSpacePoker (Steve & Kyle), StinkyFish (Brandon), PokerHeaven (Greg), PocketFives (Cal),  and a few others....we immediately ended up in a bar, imagine that.  The first nights party at The Lure nightclub in The Wynn was nice.  It was a good chance to see everyone and get caught up. I got to meet several people in the industry I have never met before.  If I remember correctly a few people got pretty intoxicated, you know who you are.

The next day I had meetings booked all day long but was able to have lunch with a gentlemen named Russell.  To make a long story short, him and I started brainstorming some ideas on a project I am thinking about undertaking outside of this industry.  He is a venture capitalist and a very bright person.  Together we came up with some great ideas and who knows, we may be business partners in the next few months.  The morale of this story is that you never know who you're going to meet and where this crazy industry is going to take you.

I wish I could give shout outs to everyone I got to hang out with or meet, but there is so many it would be impossible.  One very cool thing that Brandon was able to set-up though was a single table tournament for 8 of us in the poker room at The MGM.  It was a $60 buy-in and top 2 places paid.  Of course I bubbled and took 3rd, nonetheless this was really cool to play live with other affiliates.  I think we should organize a multi-table tourney next year for affiliates.  After this loss I continued to go on "slot tilt" the rest of the night and made a few visits to the high limit salons at multiple casinos.  It's nights like this that you fear having a Neteller debit card in your wallet.  Amazingly though the next morning I still had half my original roll that I arrived in Vegas with.

Aside from the Stardust feeling like a geriatric treatment center, the conference was good.  I didn't get the opportunity to attend any of the sessions, but I understand one or two of them were pretty good.  I did have an opportunity to sit down with Mark Lesnick and discuss not only the CAC, but everything that transpired the week prior.  In his defense, Mark is a nice guy and a savvy business person. Just like I went on slot tilt, he went on forum tilt and probably posted some things he shouldn't have.  Planning an event that is the size of CAC is a very difficult undertaking and can get very costly when rumors cause people to start dropping out.  I have agreed to work with Mark on some of the upcoming events to make them even better.  Regardless what your feelings are about what happened and who is wrong or right, it is over and there are more CAC's scheduled.  If you have ideas to make these events better, email them over and I will get them to Mark.

I was fortunate enough to sit on the panel in the final beer session with my friends Holis, Dominque, and Mike from Casinocity.  I have to say though it was a pretty un-exciting final session compared to the rakeback debate that went on in Amsterdam.  The topics discussed included promoting sportsbooks and the ultimate question that no big affiliate wanted to answer, "What is the biggest CPA available".  I think a new record may have been set by Holis for amount of beers drank on the panel. Nice work!

In closing, I have to say that CAC 2006 turned out to be a successful event.  Many things were said before CAC and at CAC that cannot be changed.  Considering the unsure environment we are all operating in right now, it is understandable how emotions can flare and this could all spiral out of control like it did.  My hope is that as an industry we can come together and get past the childish name calling and finger pointing.  The CAC is over, and all the B.S. surrounding it is behind us.  If you missed this conference, I encourage you to attend the next one, especially because it will not be in the U.S.  Now get on over to our affiliate forums and chat about the rest of the issues facing the industry.

And one last thing, everyone kept asking me why I always wear a suit.

A:  That's just how I roll.

Jeremy