Help me understand the affiliate world

[barongreenback]

I understand that there are two ways an affiliate gets money. Either a refer-a-friend type one off cash sum or a % of the rake that the player pays. Does the affiliate get to choose which method or how else is it determined?

I joined some sites before I'd realised about the whole affiliate system. I may have joined some through banner ads and one I did get a free book for joining through a website. Any way of determining what they got for me?

I suddenly have a big problem with the idea of someone getting paid for my play for the rest of my life. This strikes me as a flawed system. It's money leaving the poker economy which hurts players long term. Rakeback has problems too but for different reasons.

Thanks in advance for any help,
James

[barongreenback]

Anyone help here? Say if this isn't known.

[B1GF1SHY]

The affiliate gets to choose which option he wants. You can't determine which option you're signed up under unless the affiliate tells you I suppose.

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I understand that there are two ways an affiliate gets money. Either a refer-a-friend type one off cash sum or a % of the rake that the player pays. Does the affiliate get to choose which method or how else is it determined?

I joined some sites before I'd realised about the whole affiliate system. I may have joined some through banner ads and one I did get a free book for joining through a website. Any way of determining what they got for me?

I suddenly have a big problem with the idea of someone getting paid for my play for the rest of my life. This strikes me as a flawed system. It's money leaving the poker economy which hurts players long term. Rakeback has problems too but for different reasons.

Thanks in advance for any help,
James

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I'm curious about how this money leaves the poker economy?

you can email party and ask them to remove you from any affiliate code, from what I understand

[absentx]

If you signed up somewhere and received a free book, then it is very likely the affiliate was payed a one time fee from the poker room. This is called CPA, for example, the room may of payed the affiliate $75 since he referred you, then he buys you a $25 dollar book and he makes $50 dollars. Everyone wins.

In the case of MGR, you have to realize, party poker (or any other poker room) hasnt brought all these players themselves, they rely on affiliates to advertise for them, and then bring in players.

Also, your rake all going to party is taking money out of the poker economy too. It really makes little difference if it goes to party or an affiliate. It probably has a better chance of making it back into the economy if an affiliate gets it actually. Most affiliates are players too, plus they also might use that money to advertise more and attract new players.

[KKsuited]

bottom line is this, Poker rooms have to pay people to advertise their site and bring in players. The poker rooms are willing to pay people who will do that. The pay is based on how much the player plays.

The really big affiliates like KrazyKunuck(sp?) at UB is VERY valuable to UB. If you are someone who knows pro's or other heavy action players, HELL YES a site will pay you to bring those players to the site.

Most affiliate (bigger ones at least) spend thousands of dollars a year marketing different poker rooms. In return, they get a piece of the rake. Simple business.

Players act like affiliates do nothing but sit back and collect money, that in turn the player feels like is his. The player is not bringing in other players to the site, they are just playing poker. Therefore, you pay a rake of 5% or whatever. The player is not entitled to a portion of that back unless they do something above and beyond just playing.

The idea of the player should rakeback totally defeats the purpose of an affiliate. That's why most of the better rooms (Pokerstars, Party, Paradise, etc.) don't allow rakeback.

If players want some of their rake back, then discount the rake taken. Affiliates are paid to bring in players, bottom line.

And yes, you can chose how you want to be paid.

[KKsuited]

one more thing, you absolutely can not ask party to remove you from an affiliate code. That's an agreement between the room and the affiliate, has nothing to do with the player.

[memphis57]

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Most affiliate (bigger ones at least) spend thousands of dollars a year marketing different poker rooms. In return, they get a piece of the rake. Simple business.

Players act like affiliates do nothing but sit back and collect money, that in turn the player feels like is his.

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Like the OP, I've started wondering about this income stream I've been throwing off to someone unknown. I understand how business works and I can see that some (most) affiliates work pretty hard for their money. I'd also like to add an additional point in their favor that I haven't seen others point out, namely that for every player like me who winds up playing many hands and paying mucho rake, they probably have several signups who play 1000 hands and quit.

But still, the fact is that most affiliates also take advantage of an information gap that exists when most people first sign up. We don't know how valuable new prospects are for the poker sites. We don't know about rakeback. We don't know that once you sign up through someone on a given site, you are locked in for life.

I'm probably not unusual in that I signed up not with a big affiliate, but with a friend from my local b&m casino. Actually, he was more acquaintance than close friend, but he presented the deal as a favor and that's the way I took it. He signed me up tp Party and helped me get an extra bonus and even gave me half of his fee. He said he was making $10 off signing me up.

So, needless to say, I was a little irritated later when I learned about affiliates and came to realize that he was making a percent off my play, and had probably made hundreds if not thousands instead of the $10 he had claimed.

I think it is that information gap that bothers players like the OP and me, and the irrevocable nature of the actions we take before we realize fully what's going on. And that's why, I think, you see stuff like the whole skin deal and people signing up under relatives names and all that bullsheet.

I really think it would be better for the sites and the whole online poker community if things were arranged in a more straightforward manner, especially for experienced players. Maybe the affiliate system is best for catching fish and feeding them into the system. But there out to be a time limit (# of hands, actually) for how long an affiliate gets paid from an original signup, then players should be allowed to get a better deal.

[SinCityGuy]

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The player is not entitled to a portion of that back unless they do something above and beyond just playing.

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One could also argue that there's something wrong with a system that allows an affiliate to make more than the median income of an average family just off of one high volume player who happened to click on a banner to sign up for a poker site.