Another WPTE post

[J_V]

I'm sorry for doing this again, but I have to. The WPTE sucks as bad as any company can suck.

They have never turned a profit. The poker frenzy is slowing and growing old. They are being boycotted by many top players.

There are dozens of other better poker productions with WPT never being that good to begin with. Everyone that knows anything about Lyle Berman seem to say he's a less than stellar businessman.

My friend worked for WPT and quickly realized that they have no idea what they are doing (and he's qualified to judge, IMO) - example being that 2 of the top 3 officers had no idea what twoplustwo was until he brought it to their attention less than a year ago. The rating of the shows are slipping and they were never that good to begin with.

Can anyone envision a scenario where this company can actually turn a profit? Any what are the pitfalls in shorting this company?

[Dan Mezick]

There actually used to be an advantage tax-wise in shorting a stock that goes to zero.

Since you never have to cover, you never used to have the taxable event.

Now when a shorted stock goes to zero, it is considered to be a taxable event even in the absence of a buy-to-cover action.

Too bad.

Can WPTE go to zero? Yes, in the trading game anything can happen at any time.

I certainly wouldn't go long with this stock. There are 2 potential pitfalls for shorting it, though:

1. It has $30 million cash on hand and no debt. Thus there's a floor on how low it can go. It'll be a while before it gets into deep debt and starts its death spiral.

2. Takeover possibilities. Other than the WSOP, which is owned by Harrah's and thus not likely to be sold, WPT is the most recognizable televised tournament. I could see this getting bought out by one of the online poker sites in order to leverage the brand name and get exclusive sponsorship. As the online world consolidates more, the advantage of branding will go up.

[lastsamurai]

why are you guys wasteing your time with this company when there are so many other better investments out there...