The poker world has had a chance to just take stock of the impact of the now infamous ‘Black Friday’ when the US Department of Justice took legal action against PokerStars, Full Tilt and Cereus.
Initial panic has been replaced with a degree of uncertainty.
It seems that the US Government have granted the sites permission to allow US players to retrieve their balances from the sites.
We are now in a situation of having tens of thousands of US players still wanting to play poker online but unable to use their usual preferred site.
There are still a number of sites allowing players from the US that haven’t been affected up to now by these proceedings. Namely, Merge, Bodog, and Everleaf.
Merge is now cemented as the number one site for US players in terms of player numbers and can only get bigger.
We would expect that the Merge Network, as a result of this, to break into the top 10 sites in terms of player numbers in the next few months.
We have tested Merge software ourselves and found it to be surprisingly smooth and there is technically no limit to the number of tables you can play at one time.
The site we deal with primarily, namely BlackChip Poker, also offer extremely good customer service.
They also do not hold the player balances themselves, which will re-assure more nervous players.
The funds are held by the Merge Network.
At the time of posting this the maximum allowed rake back on Merge sites is 35%, although this is due to stop for any new sign ups after June 1st 2011.
Our particular deal on Black Chip Poker offers a private rake chase that can take player returns up to a total 65%
We would urge anyone that is even remotely interested in playing at Merge to sign up before 1st June and our Black Chip deal is the best one out there.
Now the dust is starting to settle on the poker community, there is no doubt that the US poker players are in a completely un-enviable position.
However, it has also led to sites improving their offers to not only attract the US players (assuming the Network allows it) but also to attract the thousands of players that took their funds off of PokerStars, Full Tilt and Cereus while they waited for this to play itself out.
Bottom line is that there has never been a better time to look for a new deal……
Thursday, 12 May 2011
Friday, 15 April 2011
Play against Italians!
We have seen a sharp increase lately in deals on sites that have Italian players among their numbers.
Although we don’t have any direct evidence, we are led to believe by some very experienced online players that the Italian players may not be as tough to play against as a lot of other nationalities.
We are seeing that players are willing to sacrifice a few percent of rakeback in favour of a significantly increased winrate.
For this reason we are delighted to be able to offer a selection of deals which allow players to take advantage of this situation.
One is on the ENET Network, which is primarily for Italian players but software also allows players from other countries to register.
Although ENET do not allow rakeback to be offered, we still have some great deals including deposit bonuses.
Another option is a site called Piranha Poker which is actually on the Everleaf Network.
The great thing is that not only does it include all the normal Everleaf players, it is also the ONLY site on Everleaf to have a license that allows them to sign up Italian players.
These Italian players cannot play against players in the normal Everleaf player pool so the only way to share a table with them is to sign up through Piranha and you will then have access to all the tables where the Italian players are.
The fact is that Piranha has maybe double the normal number of tables running compared to the other sites on the Network and even some exclusive ‘4 seater’ tables.
You also get 35% rake back on this site, paid direct into your account each week.
Sites including Italian players really are extremely popular at the moment and we believe we have the very best options around.
Although we don’t have any direct evidence, we are led to believe by some very experienced online players that the Italian players may not be as tough to play against as a lot of other nationalities.
We are seeing that players are willing to sacrifice a few percent of rakeback in favour of a significantly increased winrate.
For this reason we are delighted to be able to offer a selection of deals which allow players to take advantage of this situation.
One is on the ENET Network, which is primarily for Italian players but software also allows players from other countries to register.
Although ENET do not allow rakeback to be offered, we still have some great deals including deposit bonuses.
Another option is a site called Piranha Poker which is actually on the Everleaf Network.
The great thing is that not only does it include all the normal Everleaf players, it is also the ONLY site on Everleaf to have a license that allows them to sign up Italian players.
These Italian players cannot play against players in the normal Everleaf player pool so the only way to share a table with them is to sign up through Piranha and you will then have access to all the tables where the Italian players are.
The fact is that Piranha has maybe double the normal number of tables running compared to the other sites on the Network and even some exclusive ‘4 seater’ tables.
You also get 35% rake back on this site, paid direct into your account each week.
Sites including Italian players really are extremely popular at the moment and we believe we have the very best options around.
Friday, 18 March 2011
Giant return deals..........seriously
Another month goes by for the fast moving world of the poker affiliate.
We’ve spent the last few weeks making further subtle changes to the website.
We’ve streamlined the way we give the information on each particular Network and increased the amount of information we give for each individual site by devoting an entire page to each deal.
It is while doing this that we got a true picture of just how insanely good some of our deals are.
Obviously we knew they were good but some are really quite exceptional.
Take, for example, the deal we have on an Entraction site called Club4Aces.
Players get 30% rakeback PLUS a deposit bonus that adds another 20% PLUS reloads every second month PLUS rake races that can add between 5-30% PLUS a completely private rake race that can add another 10-20%.
Many players on this site, maybe raking between €1k and €1.5k per month are enjoying returns anywhere between 50-80%
If you just happen to hit the sweet spot with your rake that happens to pay a prize that equates to a high percentage return then you could literally be looking at close to 100% back.
And this is a STANDARD deal. Nothing that breaks any rules.
We have this deal because we are fortunate enough to have built up a reputation that means that sites that have these exceptional deals contact US so we can promote them.
We don’t necessarily have to go in search of these deals. Often they find us.
Looks like our hard work has paid off……….
We’ve spent the last few weeks making further subtle changes to the website.
We’ve streamlined the way we give the information on each particular Network and increased the amount of information we give for each individual site by devoting an entire page to each deal.
It is while doing this that we got a true picture of just how insanely good some of our deals are.
Obviously we knew they were good but some are really quite exceptional.
Take, for example, the deal we have on an Entraction site called Club4Aces.
Players get 30% rakeback PLUS a deposit bonus that adds another 20% PLUS reloads every second month PLUS rake races that can add between 5-30% PLUS a completely private rake race that can add another 10-20%.
Many players on this site, maybe raking between €1k and €1.5k per month are enjoying returns anywhere between 50-80%
If you just happen to hit the sweet spot with your rake that happens to pay a prize that equates to a high percentage return then you could literally be looking at close to 100% back.
And this is a STANDARD deal. Nothing that breaks any rules.
We have this deal because we are fortunate enough to have built up a reputation that means that sites that have these exceptional deals contact US so we can promote them.
We don’t necessarily have to go in search of these deals. Often they find us.
Looks like our hard work has paid off……….
Thursday, 17 February 2011
Free iPads for all.....
Microgaming Network which includes, Purple Lounge, Ladbrokes and Unibet have been going to great lengths to make sure that players are treated fairly.
They wanted to avoid a situation that sees sites within the Network ‘poaching’ each other’s players.
This does nothing of benefit for the Network in general and only leads to sites having to work on smaller and smaller margins.
For the last 3 or 4 months Microgaming have actively been ensuring that all of their sites comply with the rules regarding player rewards and returns.
‘Rakeback’ in the sense of a fixed percentage payment is not allowed on this network. They have their own VIP points based system that gives players ‘Loyalty Bonuses’.
This return can be a maximum of 30% of the generated rake.
This means that the only difference between the various sites are the additional promotions that they run.
For this reason we had lengthy discussions with Affiliate Managers at Purple Lounge to try to come up with a suitable incentive to attract new players.
We have just launched the free iPad Promotion.
All players need to do is generate 9000 VIP points within 3 months of registering.
We realise that this is a fairly large requirement but it has to be remembered that this does not affect the 30% Loyalty bonus and anything players win in the site’s own races and promotions.
It is also worth comparing this to some of the other so called ‘Big Affiliates’ where the only way to get an iPad with some of their deals is to meet a rake requirement AND somehow win through in a freeroll tournament.
We considered a similar system but decided that we wanted it to be fairer. You play enough, you rake enough, you win.
Guaranteed!
We are considering offering this incentive to some of our other deals and would also appreciate any feedback from Blog followers about other similar type promotions they would like to see.
They wanted to avoid a situation that sees sites within the Network ‘poaching’ each other’s players.
This does nothing of benefit for the Network in general and only leads to sites having to work on smaller and smaller margins.
For the last 3 or 4 months Microgaming have actively been ensuring that all of their sites comply with the rules regarding player rewards and returns.
‘Rakeback’ in the sense of a fixed percentage payment is not allowed on this network. They have their own VIP points based system that gives players ‘Loyalty Bonuses’.
This return can be a maximum of 30% of the generated rake.
This means that the only difference between the various sites are the additional promotions that they run.
For this reason we had lengthy discussions with Affiliate Managers at Purple Lounge to try to come up with a suitable incentive to attract new players.
We have just launched the free iPad Promotion.
All players need to do is generate 9000 VIP points within 3 months of registering.
We realise that this is a fairly large requirement but it has to be remembered that this does not affect the 30% Loyalty bonus and anything players win in the site’s own races and promotions.
It is also worth comparing this to some of the other so called ‘Big Affiliates’ where the only way to get an iPad with some of their deals is to meet a rake requirement AND somehow win through in a freeroll tournament.
We considered a similar system but decided that we wanted it to be fairer. You play enough, you rake enough, you win.
Guaranteed!
We are considering offering this incentive to some of our other deals and would also appreciate any feedback from Blog followers about other similar type promotions they would like to see.
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
Freeroll Freeloaders
Tuesday 25th January saw the monthly $500 Tetleyboy Freeroll take place on Betfred.
It’s an event that has been taking place for maybe 18 months now and proves very popular with the players.
Even though just over 100 players are actually eligible to play, there is generally a field of around 40 that actually take the time to register and play.
There is no minimum requirement for rake to allow players to become eligible for the event, only that they needed to have opened their Betfred account under our link.
However, this month we noticed a field of around 80 with about 2 hours to go before the start.
We asked Betfred to look into this and, sure enough, they found a number of entrants with ‘suspicious characteristics’ associated with their account.
Identical IP addresses or a sudden extra number of players from a certain country.
27 players were removed and, to our knowledge, only 1 of those maybe should not have been.
At least, only one bothered to contact us to query why he had been removed from the list.
It just goes to show that we need to be vigilant with these sorts of events.
There are sites dedicated to finding these freerolls and publishing them to members to participate.
We knew this sort of thing happened but had no idea that the lowly ’Tetleyboy Freeroll’ would attract so much attention.
In fact, just last month, when the event was posted on the Tournament schedule on Betfred and open for registration, we looked 3 days before the tournament and there were over 350 names on the list!!
iPoker had set no restrictions on the entry and it was basically open to anyone on Betfred to enter.
These names were removed in good time but it did show us that there are an awful lot of players out there looking for the absolute maximum value wherever they can get it.
Next month the Freeroll will be password protected and hopefully that will stop what happened here.
We like to make sure that the most value is gained by genuine Tetleyboy customers.
It’s an event that has been taking place for maybe 18 months now and proves very popular with the players.
Even though just over 100 players are actually eligible to play, there is generally a field of around 40 that actually take the time to register and play.
There is no minimum requirement for rake to allow players to become eligible for the event, only that they needed to have opened their Betfred account under our link.
However, this month we noticed a field of around 80 with about 2 hours to go before the start.
We asked Betfred to look into this and, sure enough, they found a number of entrants with ‘suspicious characteristics’ associated with their account.
Identical IP addresses or a sudden extra number of players from a certain country.
27 players were removed and, to our knowledge, only 1 of those maybe should not have been.
At least, only one bothered to contact us to query why he had been removed from the list.
It just goes to show that we need to be vigilant with these sorts of events.
There are sites dedicated to finding these freerolls and publishing them to members to participate.
We knew this sort of thing happened but had no idea that the lowly ’Tetleyboy Freeroll’ would attract so much attention.
In fact, just last month, when the event was posted on the Tournament schedule on Betfred and open for registration, we looked 3 days before the tournament and there were over 350 names on the list!!
iPoker had set no restrictions on the entry and it was basically open to anyone on Betfred to enter.
These names were removed in good time but it did show us that there are an awful lot of players out there looking for the absolute maximum value wherever they can get it.
Next month the Freeroll will be password protected and hopefully that will stop what happened here.
We like to make sure that the most value is gained by genuine Tetleyboy customers.
Friday, 14 January 2011
A look back at last year.....
Welcome to our first ‘blog’ of the year.
It’s a good time to reflect on how we feel last year went and look forward to the future.
The first thing we have to say is a massive ‘thank you’ to all of our loyal customers.
2010 saw Tetleyboy Affiliates pass the 600 player mark in terms of accounts we handle at various sites.
This is no mean feat for an independent affiliate that started out with no customers.
We like to think that this is a direct result of our hard work in making sure that all of our players get the deals and the service they deserve.
Fingers crossed we hit the magic 1000 this year.
Last year also saw a complete over-haul of our website.
We felt that when we started, our layout was just right for the deals we were offering. However we decided that now our selection has grown to such an extent that we needed to make the website more user friendly for anyone visiting.
We feel we have improved it greatly but we are constantly ‘tweaking’ it to make sure we stay at the top of the list of affiliate sites. Any comments or suggestions from our customers is always appreciated.
We also added a number of extra benefits for our players that we are especially proud of.
Firstly, the ‘Grinder’s Bonus’.
This allows us to pass more real cash rewards to our players and also enhance our deals even further to attract more new players.
Secondly, the free Deuces Cracked membership.
In case you are not aware, just about every deal we have qualifies players for a free membership to the excellent poker training site. All you need to do is rake a set minimum amount, usually $500, and the membership is yours.
A number of players have taken the time to contact us to thank us for this service and also explain to us just how valuable the membership has been to them in terms of improving their winrate and also giving them more confidence to move up to the next level.
We are sure that 2011 will bring many changes to the online poker industry but we will do everything we can to stay one step ahead and make sure that the very best possible service is offered to our players.
Goods luck to you all in the coming months and I hope that you hit a permanent upswing!
It’s a good time to reflect on how we feel last year went and look forward to the future.
The first thing we have to say is a massive ‘thank you’ to all of our loyal customers.
2010 saw Tetleyboy Affiliates pass the 600 player mark in terms of accounts we handle at various sites.
This is no mean feat for an independent affiliate that started out with no customers.
We like to think that this is a direct result of our hard work in making sure that all of our players get the deals and the service they deserve.
Fingers crossed we hit the magic 1000 this year.
Last year also saw a complete over-haul of our website.
We felt that when we started, our layout was just right for the deals we were offering. However we decided that now our selection has grown to such an extent that we needed to make the website more user friendly for anyone visiting.
We feel we have improved it greatly but we are constantly ‘tweaking’ it to make sure we stay at the top of the list of affiliate sites. Any comments or suggestions from our customers is always appreciated.
We also added a number of extra benefits for our players that we are especially proud of.
Firstly, the ‘Grinder’s Bonus’.
This allows us to pass more real cash rewards to our players and also enhance our deals even further to attract more new players.
Secondly, the free Deuces Cracked membership.
In case you are not aware, just about every deal we have qualifies players for a free membership to the excellent poker training site. All you need to do is rake a set minimum amount, usually $500, and the membership is yours.
A number of players have taken the time to contact us to thank us for this service and also explain to us just how valuable the membership has been to them in terms of improving their winrate and also giving them more confidence to move up to the next level.
We are sure that 2011 will bring many changes to the online poker industry but we will do everything we can to stay one step ahead and make sure that the very best possible service is offered to our players.
Goods luck to you all in the coming months and I hope that you hit a permanent upswing!
Thursday, 16 December 2010
Calling all 'Web Wizards'
We are in the fortunate position to now have a large player base and good reputation within the affiliate community.
This means we get a healthy influx of new players in the form of referrals.
However, to compliment our drive to recruit more sub-affiliates, we want to examine the opportunity to get new customers who have searched for rakeback deals using Google or other search engines.
This is a specialised area that we can’t claim to be expert in.
However, regular visitors to our website will have noticed several changes to the wording and appearance over the last month or so.
We would be very interested to hear from any of our players who have some advice on SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and how to improve our Google ranking.
We could, of course, just recruit some random company that claims to be able to guarantee a top 10 position for any website, however we would prefer to discuss this sort of thing with people that also have an interest in our site and in online poker in general.
If it turns out that any of you have contributed to a marked improvement in our website performance then we would certainly be looking to reward you.
I hope to hear from many of you in the near future.
This means we get a healthy influx of new players in the form of referrals.
However, to compliment our drive to recruit more sub-affiliates, we want to examine the opportunity to get new customers who have searched for rakeback deals using Google or other search engines.
This is a specialised area that we can’t claim to be expert in.
However, regular visitors to our website will have noticed several changes to the wording and appearance over the last month or so.
We would be very interested to hear from any of our players who have some advice on SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and how to improve our Google ranking.
We could, of course, just recruit some random company that claims to be able to guarantee a top 10 position for any website, however we would prefer to discuss this sort of thing with people that also have an interest in our site and in online poker in general.
If it turns out that any of you have contributed to a marked improvement in our website performance then we would certainly be looking to reward you.
I hope to hear from many of you in the near future.
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