Think Party will ever kill off the affiliates?

[ivo]

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What Party Poker may not realize as a benefit from the rake return affiliates is that rake discount causes players to play more hands, and play less at other sites. If Party ever cuts out affiliate payments, it will be the first paving stone in the path to dominance by another site.

Planet Poker and Paradise Poker have both ignored the needs of players and have paid the price.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes,and maybe
1 BR Player=15 DailyDonk Players

[SNOWBALL]

Party affiliates who give unauthorized rakeback payments help party to stay competitive with other sites that either have better CS and player rewards like stars, or better rakeback/software/bonuses like UB, etc.

[ColdCaller]

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Just curious what other affiliates think....think Party will eventually close their affiliate section? I mean they've already shown how much they care about affiliates with the Empire mess, how long before the shareholders point out that 8%(I think thats the rate) of Partys profits are going to affiliates when they're big enough that they don't need em anymore?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, absolutely. This % of MGR model is extremely stupid when it comes to business analysis. It's only a matter of time before the board of directors axes it.

[onlinerounder]

Even Party still needs fish. I don't think the pond is reproducing nor do I believe even with Party's millions to advertise can they afford to do away with affiliates. I could see a solely CPA arrangement as a possibility in the future but I don't believe Party could do that on it's own. I think it would take an industry wide shift in that direction which I don't think will happen in the short term. Then again online poker is still in it's infancy. What is the short term? Only a few years ago Planet and Paradise were industry leaders. I personally feel those who are anti-rakeback have some valid points as do those who are pro-rakeback. It's tough to create a perfect poker world. How often do we sit around and wish we could run a poker site ourselves. Sometimes it seems as though it would be so simple to run a perfect site if we could make all the decisions. But alas what satisfies one player another player could care less about.

[StellarWind]

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I could see a solely CPA arrangement as a possibility in the future but I don't believe Party could do that on it's own. I think it would take an industry wide shift in that direction which I don't think will happen in the short term.

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Stars already does this and they still seem to be in business. IMO anything Party and Stars both do is an "industry wide shift" regardless of what the small fry are doing.

There is zero doubt in my mind that Party will screw their affiliates as soon as they decide they don't need them. They have no ethics whatsoever in dealing with partners and suppliers. They have the right to terminate affiliate agreements at will and they will do so when they decide it suits their purposes. It's not like they've never done anything like this before. Everytime they acquire another poker room or casino they terminate the affiliate contracts and keep the new players without paying compensation.

[onlinerounder]

Stars has always operated this way though to my knowledge so it's not a recent shift. I agree though that Party and Stars are pretty much the industry. Anything major they do will have industry wide implications.

I hate to step in this quagmire but I'm going to make a comment about Party terminating the Empire affiliate agreements. I'm not trying to defend Party but in the business world corporate mergers more often than not lead to layoffs, plants and headquarters consolidating or closing, etc. These decisions are unpleasant, unpopular, and adversely affect a great many people. Those decisions have to be made though and are up to the business to make. It would be great if they didn't have to cut those costs to maintain a certain profit level and everyone could keep their jobs but that's not reality. The way I look at it is Party made a business decision and after a merger layed off a bunch of employees. Many of those long time employees are not going to be happy and understandably so. This may not be a great analogy but what looks obvious to us as being wrong may look very differently to people on the other side of the looking glass.

[StellarWind]

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The way I look at it is Party made a business decision and after a merger layed off a bunch of employees and failed to pay those employees money due for work already performed. Many of those long time employees are not going to be happy and understandably so. This may not be a great analogy but what looks obvious to us as being wrong may look very differently to people on the other side of the looking glass.

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Fixed your analogy.

Empire affiliates were promised a lifetime percentage of the rake paid by their signups. Then one day Empire took the players that their affiliates had gotten them and sold them to Party. Empire kept all the money from the sale of the players and Party is keeping 100% of future rake. Empire and Party agreed to rip off Empire's affiliates and keep all the money for themselves.

They did this by invoking the termination clauses in the one-sided affiliate contracts. It's (maybe) legal but it also shows a complete lack of concern for ethical principles. Party did the same thing when it acquired the other skins and I've read complaints about earlier casino acquisitions as well.

My point is that Party has screwed affiliates out of their residuals many times already. If they ever decide that screwing their own affiliates is +EV then they will do it. It may occur abruptly or they may do it gradually by adding new requirements that many affiliates cannot possibly meet, such as increasing the minimum number of signups per month or demanding that you be exclusive to Party and not rep other rooms.

[Unabridged]

[ QUOTE ]
What Party Poker may not realize as a benefit from the rake return affiliates is that rake discount causes players to play more hands, and play less at other sites. If Party ever cuts out affiliate payments, it will be the first paving stone in the path to dominance by another site.

Planet Poker and Paradise Poker have both ignored the needs of players and have paid the price.

[/ QUOTE ]

how? you think a bunch of angry affiliates could stop fish from flocking to party?

[Greg Miller]

Last time I logged into my Tradal account, they had a notice indicating that Party would be paying affiliates (via Tradal) for players signed up before the sale.

As for CPA vs MGR, there's a trade-off there. CPA shifts risk from affiliates onto merchants (poker rooms, in this case). Many of the sites are currently unwilling to offer CPA, and many of those that do only offer it to certain affiliates or switch affiliates from CPA to MGR when they're not getting the results they want. It's hard for me to imagine those guys suddenly reversing course.

I suppose it's possible that we might see some poker rooms follow the Stars model, with a small number of trusted CPA affiliates and no MGR affiliates. I don't think the small sites will really want to take on the increased risk and hire a bunch of people to police their affiliates, though.

[QTip]

My affiliate has just informed me that he was cut off, and PP is no longer providing him with stats. This includes the month of February, which is $2k gone that I've already played.