Poker Affiliate BlogPoker Affiliate Blog, courtesy of Jeremy Enke, expert in Poker Affiliate Marketing.

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According to Forbes.com, software giant Playtech has signed a poker licensing agreement with Italian gaming operator Snai S.r.l.

Snai is one of Italy’s largest land-based operators; this deal represents its attempt to get into the online gaming market.

“Snai will be given the complete catalogue of online poker games that are available under Playtech’s poker network,” writes GamingAlerts.com, “which means players will have the opportunity to play Texas Hold’em as well as Omaha, a game becoming increasingly popular online.”

“Although the real-money version of Snai’s poker room will not be available until the last quarter of 2008, a free ‘play-for-fun’ version is available now, which means people will have the opportunity to get a taste of what the site will be all about.”

The news comes right as Playtech announces its acquisition of MIXTV Limited, a mass multiplayer (MMP)  gaming provider. Read that story here.

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August 14, 2008 (InfoPowa News) — Speculation that the business impact of recent cheating scandals at Tokwiro subsidiary Absolute Poker.com may have been considerable resurfaced this week as players reported receiving emails from the company offering to reopen their accounts.

The emails note that the incident ” … was indeed a major shock to us and as a result we are working on many initiatives to improve the transparency and security of our business.

“In addition, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission engaged a third party auditor — Gaming Associates — to review all potentially affected transactions and to verify that the security breach has been closed. This audit was concluded and it’s results were duly published.”

The email goes on to recognise the completeness and accuracy of the KGC conclusions, and accepts without reservation the KGC’s findings and sanctions — a reference to the $500,000 fine levied on the company by the KGC. It voices the hope that the company can now put behind it ” … a most distressing and regrettable experience for the Company, its employees, and its customers.”

Assuring that it has taken actions to remedy the flaws in its systems, Absolute goes on to inform players that it has appointed a team of both internal and external members to improve controls and install safeguards, improving internal practices and ‘guaranteeing’ what it claims is the safest playing environment in the industry. No detail on these arrangements is given.

“Having experienced first-hand the devastating impact of a security breach, we fully appreciate the importance of trust and security for AP itself and the broader industry,” the email continues.

“A secure site goes to the heart of player confidence, and we are more committed than ever to ensuring that confidence. To that end, we have taken it upon ourselves to hold a series of ‘poker security summits’. AP will invite respected and independent members of the poker community to focus on innovative and cutting-edge ways to further improve AP’s security and enhance its transparency.”

The email ends by reiterating the desire of the company to close the book on “this sordid affair” and offers assistance to players who wish to reopen their accounts.

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Hey gang: Big news, Poker Trillion is offering a special promotion to PAP members.

For a limited time only,  PAP members automatically get 5 percent extra revenue share as well as $50 CPA. Poker Trillion doesn’t offer this to anyone else, so PAP members should take advantage of this great deal!

Remember, Poker Trillion is one of the few sites that accepts U.S. players. That’s a great advantage to those of you with high amounts of traffic from the U.S.

And the timing for this promo couldn’t be better, given the upcoming $500 Freeroll scheduled for this Friday. For more details on this great program, check out the Poker Trillion website at http://www.pokertrillion.com.

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CashRake just announced that it’s offering all of its affiliates double commissions for 30 days for promoting JamPoker! Affiliates can join the promotion at any time during August at http://www.cashrake.com/promotions.php. Their earnings will then be doubled for a period of 30 days, up to a possibly massive 70 percent. 

Join CashRake today to take part in this great promotion and really maximize your poker earnings. For more details, check out this link.

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Has anybody been following the story about recent claims that computer programs will “destroy online poker”?

Last week, Andrew Smith’s widely read column on the Dallas Technology Blog claimed that this was “probably” the case, citing as evidence recent articles on the topic that ran in the EE Times (”AI beats human poker champions” and “Card-playing bots could doom online poker“).

Smith’s blog entry seemed to touch a few nerves, triggering a debate that still continues.

And today, according to InfoPowa News, Polaris creator Dr. Darse Billings has gone on record to discredit the notion, stating that such a claim is “ridiculous”:

Polaris probably sports one of the most advanced Artificial Intelligence systems yet developed for applications of this sort, but Dr. Billings wrote that it does not present a serious problem for human players despite its impressive performance against professional players and Stoxpoker coaches alike in recent times.

Blogger Andrew Smith opined that because online poker is anonymous, this could impact the future for online poker rooms as the integrity-challenged could put poker bots, as humans, into various online games. This assertion appeared to overlook the millions of dollars invested in sophisticated poker bot identification software by major online poker companies like Poker Stars and Full Tilt.

Billings did not hold back in his response to the opinion, calling it a “ridiculous conclusion.”

Polaris was the product of scientific research, and had never been used to compete online in contravention of the rules of most Internet poker sites, and the use of bots was not a catastrophe for online poker, he observed. The program only plays heads-up Limit Hold’em, which is not a popular variant. Modern programs are not strong at No-Limit or multi-player games.

“Secondly, it is not difficult to identify a known program. If you use the Fritz chess program to play chess on an online server, it will be obvious to everyone. The same applies for poker. Since using programs is against the poker site’s terms of use, if you do it you will have your account closed permanently.

“I started the research into poker A.I. in 1992, and we have had a very large team of excellent researchers working on the problem for many years. We have made a lot of progress over the past 16 years, but I can assure you, the sky is not falling,” he concluded.

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No matter what type of poker affiliate website you run, understanding the latest overall internet technology trends can help you better promote your poker affiliate offers and increase your conversions. New ideas and web 2.0 tools emerge frequently in the affiliate market. And implementing these new approaches in addition to your current strategy can help keep you one step ahead of the competition.

How can web 2.0 technologies help your poker affiliate business you may ask? Many of the latest technologies can improve your promotional tactics, increase your website traffic and generate more conversions to the poker sites you are promoting. The following are just a few of the existing technologies that you should currently be using to your advantage:

Blogs – An Important Promotional Tool

While blogs aren’t exactly the newest Web technology in existence, they remain one of the most vital. Blogs can serve as one of your greatest assets for promoting new content on your site and attracting traffic to your inner pages. Blogs provide a more personalized experience for your viewers and direct them toward related materials on your site. Linking to your website from your blog is also a great way to ensure your Web pages achieve the best possible search engine rankings. Not that it needs to be said, however by improving your search ranking results, you can draw in a dramatically larger number of viewers to your website.

Podcasts – An Attractive Marketing Feature

Podcasting has become a popular and appealing marketing tool that allows affiliates to draw in more customers and inspire them to learn more about their sites and the products they are promoting. Providing free podcasts on your website is a great way to attract new users. The most effective podcasts are those that provide information and tips that listeners find valuable. You can also include a marketing message or call to action in your podcasts that will entice the listener to take action or sign up at a poker site through your link. Here at PAP, we have seen great success doing a weekly radio show and podcasting it.

RSS Feeds – Expanding Your Audience

RSS (Real Simple Syndication) offers a fast and simple way to expand your online audience. You can improve the range of your poker affiliate site by allowing users and other websites to subscribe to your site feed. By doing this, readers will always know about the latest updates to your site. Other websites and blogs can add your feed to their own site. These incoming links can help improve your search engine rankings while also driving targeted users toward your site.

Youtube– The Viral Revolution
Online videos and especially Youtube has emerged as one of the most popular trends in recent years. Online users enjoy producing, watching, and distributing these online videos, which opens up a huge marketing opportunity for poker affiliates. By producing funny, interesting, or informative videos, poker affiliates can establish astonishing results with word-of-mouth advertising or your video being embedded on other sites.

No matter what specific niche your poker site is devoted to, always consider what existing and web 2.0 trends can do for your website. If you don’t already have a blog, start one immediately to reap the rewards of this proven marketing tool. Other technologies such as podcasting, viral video and RSS feeds can also be put to good use. By using emerging technology trends to your advantage, you can get the most out of your poker affiliate sites and remain one step ahead of the competition.

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Following growing success at the CAP London and Amsterdam conferences, CanAffco will be hosting its next event on Saturday, September 27th at the CAP Barcelona affiliate event, which is set to be the biggest iGaming affiliate event ever seen with well over 70 stands and 1,000 plus attendees.

The CanAffco Affiliate Boot Camp events are one-day seminar series hosted by many of the top affiliates in the iGaming industry, and are designed for new affiliates, and for those established affiliates that are interested in increasing the profitability of their businesses.

Confirmed speakers for the Barcelona event include; Karim Wilkins of Rake the Rake, Jeremy Enke and Greg Powell of Poker Affiliate Programs, Nicky Senyard with Income Access, Jason Rosenberg of the Online Forum Challenge, and Gian Perroni with the Canadian Affiliate Management Company. Additional speakers will be added prior to the event.

“The Affiliate Boot Camps have been created to help affiliates that are new to the industry, or still relatively inexperienced, understand not only the great opportunities that they have in the gaming business, but how to achieve them.” said Gian Perroni, President of CanAffco.

“These are instructional seminars for affiliates, taught by affiliates, so we know that they will be on point. These boot camps are also a great way for affiliates that have not been exposed to the gaming industry to get a handle on how dynamic it is. We look forward to meeting with the affiliates that are dedicated to taking their businesses to the next level.”

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