Your Players Overall Player Value

[Jeremy]

Here is a recent article for poker affiliates to get you thinking about overall player values of the players you send to poker sites. Feel free to discuss your thoughts on player values in respect to choosing MGR vs. CPA, as well as any other thoughts or questions you may have in respect to this important topic.

The Importance of Player Values for Poker Affiliates

[Beanie]

that is a real theme for me is just trying to maintain a partner mentality. I can't always say I feel it come back from all of the rooms but gradually I think I have worn most of my main partners down.

The reality is CPA is the take it and run model and MGR is the long term approach. But their are arguments for CPA that are real strong. For instance if you want to jump in and make a big splash CPA can help you with that.

I would also argue that while CPA might not be the end all be all its likely much more effective for rooms than many of their marketing programs. All of these rooms need better retention programs. As the industry begins to get smaller I really hope that becomes the trend.

Then rooms will see what CPA can really do for them and who is the partners and who are the cheats.

[Jeremy]

Good insight Beanie. Many rooms hate CPA because they see it as just that (hit and run), but then you have rooms like Stars that have exceptional player value and retention and whom have never entertained anything but CPA.

They are laughing all the way to the bank by choosing to have always done CPA programs versus MGR.

I also agree that many rooms spend way to much time trying to recruit new players, and not enough time trying to retain the high value players they already have. I can't count how many times I have tried a new room out and ended up playing there for a while raking way more than anyone's CPA, yet never even got an email for reload bonus or anything. Not even a "wow, this guy plays 10-20NL, maybe we should try to keep him at our room."

In a perfect world rooms should want to pay CPA versus MGR. This way they can pay the down payment on the player up front and retain 100% value for the lifetime of the individual player.

With all that said, I really would love to see Stars come to us with a revenue share plan.

[xpertadvice4u]

Originally Posted by Jeremy

Feel free to discuss your thoughts on player values in respect to choosing MGR vs. CPA, as well as any other thoughts or questions you may have in respect to this important topic.

The Importance of Player Values for Poker Affiliates

As a neophyte, I am surprised that rooms can afford to pay $100 and up CPAs. They are already in the hole for the matching bonus, which most have.

Player deposits $100, plays 500 hands, room has to give player $100, and - if it is Sun - has to give me $200 (can't wait until that happens one day!), and then there is PAW's cut.

So, room is out at least $300, plus lots of other costs.

For 500 hands raked at $1, they have collected $500.
So that leaves $200 net after bonus and commission for my player.

Oops...but don't forget that maybe they had to pay bonuses for 5 other players out of that $500 rake!

So, the room will not actually see my player's bonus and my commission covered until my player has actually played in the neighborhood of 3,000 hands at a buck, and has contributed one tenth of that rake, or about $300....and then they might start to see some ROI, and that could take a long time.

I cannot help but think that Party, for example, is interested in driving up their numbers for stock manipulation purposes...so people can cash out. However, that is for a different thread...but I really have trouble seeing how they can make any money out of the run of the mill players... so, I think these bonuses must be like loss leaders because the churning fish help to keep the sharks and whales happy and producing rake.

I agree with the partnership theory, even though it is pretty one sided, given the draconian terms the rooms all seem to have - where they are judge, jury and exectutioner and do not have to justify their decisions at all.

I can't afford to bribe the players to play....which is what I see rakeback/kickback/cashback as being....but I think I can come up with some promotional ideas that will keep players playing after they have claimed their bonuses....ideas that take into account "long tail" theory and Web2.0 principles....only time will tell.

Plus, I kind of think it is in my best interests to improve the playing ability of the players I send....for their sake and mine!

So, I think that sites that can educate their players, like Ryan is trying to do (rcnastermind) will be improving the value they bring to the rooms, and improve their negotiating power, in the long run. I will be sending my members to Ryan's site to learn how to play better....until I can provide similar quality content myself.

The longer those players can survive - and the more hands they can help generate rake on - the happier the rooms and I will be...and the longer I will survive as an affiliate.

So, I'd like to look at this from a partnership perspective....but, not having any deep and meaningful relationships with affilate managers/rooms, I think it just makes common sense from an enlightened self-interest perspective.

And that leads me to one of the only negatives I can see about the PAW program:

PAW gets the credit for the players, and I have no opportunity to be developing my own relationships with the rooms I will be promoting here.

I don't know how that is likely to change....but, I guess, some day, maybe I will have to leave the family nest and strike out on my own in order to form and nurture those "partnerships" Jeremy has worked so hard to attain and maintain.

I believe that I will always owe a debt of gratitude to PAW for providing a means to ramp-up more quickly than would have been possible otherwise.

[edmc]

Iv always opted for MGR

Doylesroom changes cut that off.

Im not having to much luck with fulltilt fees.

A lot of my longer term players just woke up one day & quit at the same time.

A year ago MGR seemed the obvious choice for building an affiliate base.

Now with all the shuffling around & unstableness of the market, CPA is seeming more appealing, even if its just for remarketing the money.

I pick up run of the mill players, generally from the SE's.

Previously it was good to have a lot of steady players but I dont seem to be getting the value thesedays. Dont know why. Its not all down to the US ban

[bg]

Good thread.

I would like to see a nice rev split - with an option to sell out all of my players that are active in 6 months. Now I would not dump something that was making me loads of money but I would feel very comfortable with the option to cash out. Am I dreaming? Are poker rooms willing to buy back the players for an agreed and fair amount from affiliates after a period of time?