The domain name you choose is the most important part of your start up website. This is not only true with your performance in the search engines but also with how easily your potential customers will identify and remember your domain name. The latter can be vastly improved by finding a domain name that can be branded well with a logo or mascot.Google and other search engines use your domain name as part of your score when ranking you for searches. If your domain name is missing rakeback, rake or even poker from it then it will already have a disadvantage over your competitors. The search engines know by your domain name how your site relates to a user's search. A domain name missing key search words will almost always be outperformed by domains that include the keyword. This is especially true at first.The first thought you should have when buying a domain name is trying your best to find a domain name that not only catches the search engine's attention but your potential users as well. Try to use some creativity. Finding a domain name that includes your best search term followed by a potential branding word or phrase is very important. Using a little creativity now can go a long way in increasing the potential of your website. This doesn't just go for poker, this goes for all online industries.When it comes to a rakeback partnership between you and PAS you may be adding rakeback offerings to enhance your already existing business. We have successful coaching, bonus and other gaming sites as our partners. If this is the case we will use what is called a subdomain. In most cases we will use rakeback.yourdomain.com to help you with your Google performance.As a PAS publisher there are additional things you can do for your site. In the admin of your site in your CMS each page has a section to edit the tags of your site. Making your own unique page titles, keywords and descriptions for each page will greatly improve your visibility in Google. It only takes about 15 minutes to tag your entire site and the return on this small time investment can be incredible. There is nothing more satisfying then seeing Google sending you potential customers for free.If you ever have any questions about domain names or our SEO features please contact John at support (at) pokeraffiliatesolutions.com or Tony at tonyg (at) pokeraffiliatesolutions.com.

Until the end of the year Spin32 Poker is offering a 100% up to $1000 first deposit bonus. The bonus clears at a rate of 250 Comp Points per $1 and releases in $10 increments. It is deducted from MGR. Even if you have accounts on other Merge Gaming skins you can still receive this bonus if you haven't played in the last 60 days. Combine that with 30% rakeback paid daily and Spin32 being U.S. friendly and this is a great deal!

In August, publishers that chose to offer our Races and Rolls promotion saw a significant increase in player sign-ups, deposits and MGR. The goal of Races and Rolls is to bring the biggest and best rake races and freerolls to Internet players throughout the world. If you haven't opted in to this promotion you should consider that promotions like Races and Rolls give you competitive advantage over your competition. It enables your site to stand out and makes players excited about signing up with YOU. Promotions mean conversions. It is something you can accentuate and market to your userbase. When players see $100k in overlays, it encourages them to sign up for that free cash. Upon signing up on your site, the players deposit and begin playing poker. This process ends with you the publisher making more money.
Basically, there is no reason that you should not be taking advantage of this free promotion.
All members of the Poker Affiliate Solutions network of publishers are able to offer this promotion to their players. In September, you have the opportunity to offer over $100,000 in promotions to your players FOR FREE! For information on how to opt in to these promotions please contact me at TonyG at PokerAffiliateSolutions dot com.

In other news, for months, the poker community has discussed the pros and cons regarding the implementation of a new schedule for the final table of the 2008 World Series of Poker main event. Commissioner of the WSOP, Jeffrey Pollack, announced on May 1 that the final table of the main event is going to be delayed until November 9th. Pollack's plan is to have the head ups battle for the first place prize of $9,119,517 broadcast live on ESPN on November 11th.
The WSOP commissioner commented on the reasoning behind the final table delay saying, “I think this same-day telecast is really going to be a cliffhanger that will be must-see appointment television. Really, what we’re doing is shifting the paradigm. Now, poker fans will be anticipating who will win instead of just talking about who won, and after seven weeks of live play at the WSOP, there will now be an additional 16 weeks of promotion and relevance that I think will lift the entire game of poker and further mainstream the incredible personalities that make the WSOP so much fun and so interesting.”
This is great news for us in the poker marketing business. I believe we will see an increase in mainstream media attention towards poker. And with media attention comes advertising. Online poker sites are already battling for commercial spots, player sponsorships, signs, and other branding techniques for the final table broadcast. We will see many of the rooms we offer on our sites all over the television. More media + more advertising = more players! These players get to online poker sites through online marketing companies like ourselves. We provide incentive for the new player to join a poker room through our rakeback program.
It is important you seize this great opportunity. New players will be looking to the Internet for information pertaining to online poker room offers. While our publishers in the United States are not allowed to purchase advertised links on the major search engines, our international publishers have more options. All publishers should also work on improving their SEO (search engine optimization) in anticipation of increased poker related word searches in upcoming months. Additional design work can be very helpful for publishers as well. As marketers, we want to keep our potential customer's attention on our product. To increase conversion rates, be sure that your rakeback sub-domain is linked in a number of places from your homepage and interior pages. Come November, their will be an influx of new players combing the Internet for information on poker rooms and special offers. Let's be sure that we are ready for this great opportunity to increase our player base and branding.

Tony G

Anybody that follows the online gambling forums knows that Bodog has seen better days. Bodog was founded in 1994 and has never met such a challenging time in their entire existence.

Bodog has had several issues that go beyond the UIGEA. One is that they had their domains registered in the U.S. In September 2007 a judge awarded nearly $49,000,000 to 1st Technology LLC. Bodog had few assets in the U.S. and so their prized domain names were awarded as collateral as a part of that suit. This left Bodog in a situation where players were unable to find their site. Bodog went with Newbodog.com and later that month settled with Bodoglife.com. It would prove to be very difficult for Bodog to have the massive marketing and internet presence they once had when their recognizable domains were lost.

Another issue is that Calvin Ayre, founder and former CEO, decided to antagonize U.S. law enforcement. He always had the vigilante “catch me if you can” attitude but he couldn’t keep a low profile. This gave the U.S. government an added incentive to pursue Bodog. Calvin Ayre has since turned over the North American operations (essentially just the U.S. since Bodog has never accepted Canadian players) to Morris Mohawk Gaming but that hasn’t turned the heat off.

It was reported late in July that over $24,000,000 was seized from a U.S. processor after a two year investigation into Bodog’s processing. The processor was making check payments to U.S. players on behalf of Bodog and several other U.S. facing gambling sites. After the seizure Bodog announced that this was not a direct asset seizure of Bodog. While this is true it certainly hurt in more than one way.

First Bodog’s share of the loss had to be substantial. Some in the forums have speculated it was around $15,000,000. Considering the slim margins this would be the profit on roughly $300,000,000 in sports wagers. While some say that Bodog can afford to take a hit like that it still has to hurt them financially. Another problem this brought out in the open was that Bodog and its processors are targets of a massive federal investigation. While there are plenty of processors willing to process payments to U.S. players there aren’t many that want to get involved with Bodog fearing they will become targets themselves. This has presented Bodog with many problems.


Players have been complaining constantly about Bodog’s cashout delays. They are among the longest in the industry. The only way to cash out of Bodog for U.S. players is by check. Right now it is taking about 2 months to receive a check. While players that don’t win will never notice the delays because they don’t cash out serious players have run out of patience and are leaving.
What does this mean to players and affiliates?

To players with some patience this is a great opportunity to play somewhere that has extremely soft games. The sharks are running for the doors but the fish are staying since they don’t know there are problems. With football season almost here the games will only get better. Also players outside the U.S. are not having any problems at all getting paid. Affiliates shouldn’t miss a beat either. It will take some patience but the checks will come. Affiliates promoting Bodog through PAS have nothing to worry about as you will get paid for Bodog at the same time you get paid for all of the other rooms you promote through us regardless of whether we have been paid yet. This is certainly not an ability to pay issue for Bodog, this is only a processing delay.

Bodog has also had issues in non gambling related ventures. Bodog’s Mixed Martial Arts venture was a failure and many feel the music venture will be a money pit as well. Combine this with reports of massive customer service layoffs in a Bodog division and things are really rocky right now.

There have been some rumors floating around that Bodog may leave the U.S. market very soon. Barring some really major news don’t expect that to happen. Even if it does happen it would be shocking to the industry if they left before this football season ended and that is 6 months down the road. Keep in mind that since the U.S. is Bodog’s biggest market leaving would be an absolute last resort. This is especially true since Bodog has been unable to get white-listed in the UK, doesn’t take Canadians and hasn’t been successful in attracting European players. For now expect the status quo.
Pokeraddict

Poker Trillion has been in a war with Boss Media for the last five months over being kicked off the International Poker Network (IPN) that Boss Media manages. There has been a lot of emotional mudslinging on the part of Poker Trillion. They have made several claims that have not been substantiated by the online gambling community and denied by Boss Media.

This all began earlier this year. Poker Trillion was offering players 30% rakeback in cash which is the cap on IPN. The trouble is that they were also giving players 50%-60% rakeback on tournament entries which is not allowed under network rules. Players can only receive 30% back and that is only if they rake $100 or more in a month. This made Boss Media and other skins unhappy. Poker Trillion refused to honor the demands of Boss Media and the end result was the removal of Poker Trillion from IPN.

Poker Trillion came out and made this statement after filing an attempted lien on IPN’s assets:

“"It is to be expected that if Boss Media follow the proper code of conduct then they will shortly make a full and complete disclosure to the Stockholm Stock Exchange on which they are listed; this invariably will have a catastrophic effect on their share price, and may even lead to the arrest by the authorities of certain members of their management team and the possible suspension of their shares."
"This in turn would mean that players not in the Poker Trillion stable could find their funds that are held by other partners of Boss Media in serious jeopardy."
In my opinion this is completely absurd. Poker Trillion, in the middle of a nasty legal battle threatens other players on IPN. The claim that players would lose their funds due to this legal battle is laughable. Let’s say Poker Trillion is right about all of this and sticks it to Boss Media. Why would shares being suspended affect player funds? They are held in trust by the LGA. Is Poker Trillion telling us that if they were somehow awarded the assets of the company that they would run off with player’s funds? Are they just trying to destroy IPN’s business by arguably defaming comments?

Poker Trillion then announces they have been awarded garnishes on bank accounts tied to Boss Media. While this was true it was reported by third parties this was only as a guarantee of player funds on any potential legal award. They were not actually awarded the bank accounts as Poker Trillion claimed. It’s still business as usual at IPN.


Now fast forward to this week. Poker Trillion announces they have been awarded the IPN servers and that Boss Media must close its doors.


POKERTRILLION.com Successful in its Application to Seize Boss Media Servers in MaltaMalta August 18, 2008 --The online poker site POKERTRILLION.com has announced that on 18th August 2008 at the First Hall Civil Court, Malta (Court record and Complaint Number 755-08), Judge Gino Camilleri issued a judgement authorising Trillion Ltd to enforce seizure of the Boss Media Malta Limited and Boss Media AB servers, and that these servers cease being used for any commercial activity as from 18th September 2008 with Boss Media not being allowed to appeal the court’s decision any further.This judgement, which relates to Trillion Limited’s multi-million Euro law suit for breach of contract against Boss Media AB and their associated companies, comes off the back of a number of successful applications made to the courts in Malta by Trillion Ltd. POKERTRILLION.com C.E.O Andy Pyrah explains, “Today’s decision will in effect bring down Boss Media’s operation in their licensed jurisdiction of Malta on September 18, and any partner still on the Boss (IPN) Poker Network at this stage will see their service closed down too”.The judge further ordered that the cosignatory which is now responsible for the equipment also provides full accounts of the revenues being generated from this equipment.Pyrah comments further, “It should also be noted that despite appeals from Boss Media, we’ve been successful in every one of our applications that we’ve filed with the courts in Malta and this includes having our initial garnishee order increased from €5million to €20million earlier this month, this in turn means that there is now a €20million freezing order on all Boss Media’s assets within this jurisdiction, and in accordance with European law we will be applying for this to be executed all over Europe”.
This claim has been made by Poker Trillion but has not been backed up with court documents or third party confirmations. Boss Media denied the release in this statement:

Poker Trillion’s recent comments are a reckless attempt to support a legal action that is without merit and initiated as retribution for their dismissal from the Boss Media network. To be clear, player funds are not affected by the current proceedings. All players’ funds are held separately under the control of the Malta Lotteries and Gaming Authority and cannot be seized by any court.
Poker Trillion is a former customer of Boss Media who was terminated because of rake back violations. They have since then repeatedly tried to disrupt the Boss Media business through the dissemination of groundless rumors. In April 2008 Poker Trillion alleged in a press release a claim that among other things, Boss Media player funds where frozen. The allegations were false but typical of the type of tactics employed by Poker Trillion.While there has been no hearing on the merits of the Poker Trillion suit, there have been preliminary hearings on the matter. Boss Media has assured that adequate security is provided in Malta in the event of an award of damages against it which we believe be to unlikely.Boss Media is currently exploring various legal options regarding our Maltese assets and can assure that Boss Media has the requisite assets in place to ensure that our business will continue to operate with the highest standards. In the extremely unlikely event that any Malta operations would be affected, Boss Media have high-performance back-up systems in place to ensure continued service to all our customers and their players.
I find it difficult to believe an attorney was consulted before these releases were made. There is simply too much misinformation and emotion in them.
So what should players, skin owners and affiliates think? To me the only thing this tells me is to not touch Poker Trillion. This was all very avoidable. If Poker Trillion had followed network rules or taken the threats seriously they would not be in this situation. Now they have shown themselves to be what I believe very childish in an industry that looks for leadership. All of their players were paid and Poker Trillion received all funds owed by Boss Media. Poker Trillion has moved on to the Everleaf Network and life should go on. It seems to me all they have done since being forced out of the IPN door is make a bunch of noise to damage the reputation of a company they obviously never respected to begin with. If they had put all of this effort into improving their own business instead of trying to publicly destroy another business they may have built a massive poker room.
Pokeraddict