Dealer Dan, pictured here with WWE Superstar Mick Foley, has been in internet marketing since 1996. He likes hugs, long walks on the beach, and making money while wearing his jammy jams. For more information, you can read all 
A question I am asked often is in this current climate, should we still be marketing to US players? Let’s be honest, there’s risk involved in this. No-one can predict the future, we don’t know how online poker in the USA is going to change over the next couple of months, and so to market to US players may backfire.
However not marketing to the US market is silly. You should be marketing to both US & Non-US, promoting certain sites to the non-US, other sites to the US players. Actually, with so many affiliates, especially US affiliates, getting OUT of the market recently, there’s no better time to market to US players. My only real advice is not to spend more than you’re earning at this stage if at all possible, because we don’t know how things are going to turn out in either the long-term or hell, even the short-term, and spending $10,000 on a monthly advertising campaign only to have US poker disappear just wouldn’t be fun now, would it?
With that, let’s get into the best site to promote right now, which is why you’re all reading this article.
Cake Poker.
(If you want to just go ahead and look through the affiliate program or signup then use this link however I recommend you keep reading so you can find out why you should be promoting it).
Many of you might not have heard of this poker room, which doesn’t surprise me. A lot of people don’t know or about it or promote it, which makes it all the better TO promote. Here are just some of the reasons you should be promoting it;
- US Player Friendly. Also a lot of traffic during the day, so still a great site to promote to non-US players.
- VERY VERY fishy players. Fishiest poker room online except for the Boss Network, which is obviously a great way to promote it to players. Even better than Party at its prime, and with the future addition of sportsbooks having it as a skin, it’s just going to get fishier.
- Lots of traffic, particularly at No Limit Hold’Em. Generally between 1500 and 4000 players online.
- 25%-30% commission, with room for negotiation.
- Excellent promotional department. They recently ran a “Win a Share of Cake” promotion, where one player could win a 1% share of Cake. They have a lot of other attractive promotions that other poker rooms don’t offer, including the Gold Card 500 and Gold Cards as a whole, which is a promotion that attracts a lot of players based on intrigue alone.
- Great Rewards/Loyalty Program, with a Cake Shop where players can buy the likes of Ipods, books and even Cake. No joke, players can actually sign up for “Cake of the Month”, and they receive gourmet, fresh-baked cakes delivered every month.
That’s just some of the features. These guys are commited to the US market, and are growing every day, particularly with a few more big players in the name of skins around the corner, which is why we should be promoting them now.
I just started promoting them in January 2007. I had looked into them before, and was impressed with both their marketing and business model, however I decided not to promote them at that time as they were still growing, and with no CPA deals available, I am reluctant to put any of my marketing budget into a new site. The only reason I changed my mind was because my friend Serge/Adanthar, who had been talking the site up for months due to the fish, actually won the 1% share of Cake Poker.
At this time I gave the poker room another look, started promoting it and things have just been excellent from there on in. I’ve only been promoting it to a few of my smaller markets too, however in the past few days have tied up some big advertising deals for Cake. I won’t go into figures, however I have NEVER had stats even close to what I’m producing right now at Cake, for a new poker room. Well, I’ll mention one figure: in four weeks, my players have generated over $60,000 in NGR, which is revenue minus bonuses, cake shop purchases etc.
I shouldn’t have to explain why I’m telling you this information rather than keep it all to myself as I’m sure you all know, but it’s because I want you as my sub-affiliate to make us both money. By signing up as my sub-affiliate at Cake you do not lose anything in commission, and as I’m one of, if not the biggest affiliate at Cake right now, they know I’m only going after quality sub-affiliates, and they’ll make sure you get the best service possible. You guys have the ability to reach markets I can’t, so it just makes sense to share this information with you.
So please sign up for Cake via this link, and if you have any questions about Cake, just drop me an e-mail at dan@dealerdangaming.com.
This article was written on February 13, 2007 however all articles are looked at on a monthly basis and updated to keep them relevant.
If you need to contact Graeme, please see his Contact Page. If you are an affiliate manager wanting promoted please see this page.
