Due Due Diligence

[TheOPC]

Firstly, I want to say I love the concept of PAW - specifically because it gives me the ability to market many programs from 1 platform. Its also nice to think of getting 1 paycheck for the combined marketing efforts.

With that in mind, can you give me... and the entire forum for that matter an idea of how you go about selecting poker rooms to add to the great platform of yours? I would be interested in learning more about what Due Diligence is performed, as well as perhaps discussing the steps you take if a particular card room we're promoting steps out of line (read: is late on payment, decides not to pay - to either affiliates or players).

Issues of this nature are important to me as an affiliate and surely to others, and especially so in a multi-poker room platform such as yours, where we are really putting many eggs in the one PAW basket.

Again, PAW is a great platform, for which I am 100% happy with. Thank you in advance for your feedback and insight.

Edit: - I additionally will be working on a detailed review of PAW in the very near future and I want to be able to include much of that info in my review, as it will be extremely beneficial to myself and to anyone considering the PAW program.


Mike

[TheOPC]

1 too many Dues in the title... sorry

[suffolkpoker]

hello, do you want it changed? :-)

[kingcobra]

I can fix that for you if you want but I like the due due diligence Edit - Tom you're fast you posted that right while I was posted this - mine's longer though

This brings up a very good point and since you did throw this out to everyone I'll give you my take on this.

I don't think affiliates in general pay enough attention to this. Keep in mind though that the larger the affiliate the more that's at stake and the smaller ones can afford to be looser here since they can feel the place out more as they go and if something goes wrong they don't stand to lose that much. This doesn't mean that they shouldn't pay attention to this stuff but it's a matter of ROI for time spent and it's a lot lower. If there's problems with a place then a quick internet search then you can bet that if there's real problems there's all sorts of upset people that have posted about it somewhere and you can have a look and decide. If there's more on the line then you can take this further if needed.

In addition it's also a matter of the level of promotion of a particular room and the more prominent it is on your sites the more you want to be confident that things are going to run according to your expectations. Once again though there's a good part of this that you can only really determine from working with them, and in some cases it's only when you run into problems and see their response that you can only really gauge their quality of service.

With a service like PAW due diligence has to be higher since there's so much involved and they are taking responsible for your business as a liaison with the rooms. Any problems are going to be severely magnified due top not one but many affiliates involved and instead of having to determine and resolve these things yourself you now have a team of very experienced folks in a much more leveraged situation doing your bidding. This applies to all the categories you're going to have to be concerned about, from the initial selection to the negotiated deals to the ongoing performance evaluation to the problem resolutions.

A network like this is only as good as their people but given their organization is top rate as is the case with PAW then you're way ahead of the game in all areas versus what you could do on your own. The deals are better, the due diligence is better, the service is better. I'm not associated with them other than being a satisfied partner by the way but this setup is truly a win win and a no brainer.

[TheOPC]

Originally Posted by suffolkpoker

hello, do you want it changed? :-)

No, the title is fine as is... i just didn't notice it til after i posted.

[kane.elias]

Hi Guys,

Sorry for the late reply. The last week Mitchell and i have both been traveling for work commitments and have not had much time to check the forums.

Please note that a reply will be posted shortly to this question.

Regards,
Kane

[TheOPC]

Originally Posted by kane.elias

Hi Guys,

Sorry for the late reply. The last week Mitchell and i have both been traveling for work commitments and have not had much time to check the forums.

Please note that a reply will be posted shortly to this question.

Regards,
Kane

Hi Kane - no problem... I figured the timing of my post wasn't most ideal... I look forward to your response, as I am currently working a great deal on the due diligence process myself.

[TheOPC]

... the suspense is killing me...!

[kane.elias]

Ok guys,

I am here with my reply. Firstly I want to point out that in some cases I cannot go into too much detail as some of our processes and practices are kept closely guarded and I am sure that you can understand why that is.

In regards to selecting rooms for our network, in most cases we are finding that rooms are contacting us directly in order to get on our network. I believe this is due to the reputation of PAW that has been built over the years.

One of the most important factors when selecting a room to be implemented to PAW is the deal. Before a room is considered, the deal for affiliates must be fair and worthwhile. If the room does not benefit the affiliate then we will negotiate and if no deal is reached by both parties then we will leave it for now.

The brand is another key issue for PAW. With Poker Rooms popping up very quickly all over the internet we check to see the reputation of the room before considering them. This involves player feedback and also affiliate feedback on how they find the affiliate program works. As some rooms are relatively new and may not have built their brand up yet, we then go back to the deal. These rooms will be looking to grow and to do so will present PAW with a very attractive offer which we will then look at based on value for the affiliates.

There are a couple of other factors that can determine whether or not we add a room to PAW, these factors include.
·Player bonuses
·Free Roll participation
·Access to Marketing Materials (Banners etc.)
·Access to reports (can our scraper automatically pull data)

If we have an issue with an operator in regards to payments we will work closely to understand why an issue has arisen. We have developed great business relations with operators over the years and I think it is fair to say that both parties know that it is in our best interests to keep affiliates happy.

That’s not to say problems don’t occur. In most cases we receive quick replies in regards to any discrepancies and we ensure that both parties understand why the issues have arisen. Luckily for PAW we are yet to have a situation where a room has flatly refused to pay. If any did though, we again would enquire as to why and take steps to resolve the issue depending on the case.

At the end of the day PAW only makes money if affiliates are making money so it is in our best interest to make sure that our affiliates are looked after and realize that they are an integral part of the success of PAW.

Well that is it guys. I feel I have answered in as much detail as possible however if anyone wants more info or clarification, simple post a reply.

Regards,
Kane

[TheOPC]

Thank you sir! I didn't figure that we'd get all the details, as we have to all keep some tricks to ourselves... this sums it up for me though.