Due Diligence

Taking steps to know your online poker rooms

For many of the online poker rooms I promote, I utilize an affiliate platform provided by Poker Affiliate World. Poker Affiliate World is unique in that its users are able to offer several poker rooms though one program. As a result, I’m able to offer Cake Poker, Party Poker and FullTilt to my websites visitors. At the end of the month, I am compensated all in one place.

Having payment centralized in this manner means I don’t have to worry about cashing out 50 poker accounts every month in order to combine and collect my pay. Its both easy and convenient! Additionally, I only have to deal with one affiliate manager, who takes care of the questions I put forth involving any of the many rooms I have in my offering. However, I was a bit flawed in my logic in that offering more was better. This is not necessarily the case.

Doing your “Homework” When Dealing with Strangers

I made a post in the Poker Affiliate Programs forum (PAP) yesterday, asking Poker Affiliate Programs if they could provide me feedback as to what “homework” they do in selecting the poker rooms they offer for promotion. I haven’t received a reply yet. Additionally, I am not expecting a reply until Monday, in the interest of fairness. It occurred to me though, even if they reply that they do all kinds of homework, check for this, that, ensure licensing… is that really enough for me?

I’m certain they have SOME process of screening poker rooms they promote. In the interest of fairness, I’m also sure they are compensated for accepting players into their program – rightfully so. They provide a great service to me and several other affiliates who promote poker on the web. My point is, even if they have a strenuous screening process, does that excuse me from doing my own research? I would venture an answer that it does not excuse me and I should not take a “homework pass.” If I am promoting poker online, I should know who I am promoting and be able to offer some history and insight into who it is YOU might be doing business with.

Get to Know your Online Poker Rooms

Over the next few weeks, I am going to take the time to conduct thorough research on the poker networks as well as the online poker rooms I promote via the Online Poker Circuit. I want to get to know each network provider and offer useful facts and information on each and every poker room I list. The Online Poker Circuit will provide the most thorough collection of background information regarding our online poker networks, and poker service providers we can. I am not selling myself short when I say I am going to commit time and effort into digging deep to help my visitors know who they are dealing with.

I’ve had some eye opening experiences in both the online poker world, as well as on the home front – so I’m not sure what I’ll manage to muster up. Either way, I am committing to revealing an impartial, objective overview of each poker room and poker network I promote. This doesn’t mean I will remove everyone… or shuffle things around. It simply means I am going to do a far better job of researching and informing. Additionally, I am going to implement a rating system, taking into consideration trust factor, history, customer service, as well as overall player experiences.

I’m also going to open up the door of opportunity for poker room managers to offer feedback on their products, so that they may either defend or refute my findings, which is more than fair. Additionally, I will consider other players and affiliates experiences to be relevant to my research. My goal is to do my own homework, without having anyone spoon feed me the information. Allowing someone to hand me a press pack is a cop-out, and I want to know with conviction that I can trust with a higher degree of certainty the information I put forth.

Important Facts I Seek in My Online Poker Network Homework

It stands to reason that I should focus my research so that I don’t end up bouncing all over the web, like a lost dog searching for a bone. I want important facts, as well as supporting and additional details. With that in mind, upon each poker network overview, I plan to discover at least the following:

• Detailed Poker Network History – how did the network come about, who runs it, where were they located, where are they located?
• Criteria for Poker Network Admission – Does the poker network have a criteria for admission of newer online poker rooms, or are they allowing access to just anyone paying the licensing fees?
• Who is in charge – Who is the decision maker? No really… who is the decision maker for the network?
• How has the Network evolved throughout time – Are they changing with the business based on customer needs and industry trends? Is the network of poker rooms an industry leader providing innovative ideas and services to their players?
• How does the Poker Networks Management Identify and Solve Problems – Is the poker network proactive in identifying rogue poker rooms? When a problem is identified – be it a security issue in their software, a rogue poker room, a customer related problem, or any other problem poker networks encounter are they proactive or reactive in their handling and identifying problems?

Important Facts I Seek in Reviewing Online Poker Rooms

I intend to offer a thorough overview of each online poker room I offer at the Online Poker Circuit. Upon completion of my “homework,” each individual poker room overview will contain at least the following information:

• What are the multiple ways I have to contact a poker room
• Who runs this online poker operation anyway?
• How can I contact this online poker room if I have a problem?
• How long has this poker room existed?
• Is the network they are on the first poker network they used, or have the bounced around?
• What kind of poker industry track record does this poker site have?
• How do they handle crisis or problems their poker room encounters?
• How can I deposit funds or withdrawal my winnings from the online poker room?
• What kind of bonus structure and incentive programs does this poker site offer?
• How does this poker room differ from other poker game providers on its network?
• How is this poker room different from poker sites not on its network?
• What personal experiences do I have with this poker room as a player?
• What personal experiences do I have with this online poker room as an affiliate?

It’s about history, knowledge, trust, and experience

In doing this little bit of homework, I intend to provide background information on each poker network and poker room online that I offer.  Knowing who the poker service provider is, where their brick and mortar poker office is located, how to contact the poker site management is an important step in knowing who you’re giving your online poker business to.  Background information such as their history in the online poker industry, and determining what the poker sites place is within the industry today is imperative in knowing who each coalition of poker rooms within a network are.  Uncovering reasons to trust or not trust in the integrity of poker providers is a must for poker affiliates and poker players alike.  Understanding what is in it for you – why should you frequent the discussed poker room?  With each review, I plan on detailing, critiquing and analyzing each of these aspects while adding my personal touch – and more.

My entire menu of poker offerings will not be completed in a matter of a day.  I’m certain each review will take a fair amount of time.  As I complete an overview of a poker network or poker room, I will post to my blog.  Additionally, I’ll update my poker offerings pages to reflect my reviews, and rate the poker networks and poker sites.  Over time, the Online Poker Circuit WILL have the most detailed, comprehensive poker network and poker room overviews on the entire web – guaranteed.  First up on the list of overviews and reviews will be the Merge Network and corresponding poker rooms.