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 
As I’m sure most existing Full Tilt Poker affiliates know, Full Tilt Poker recently made the decision to enforce their policy of a player being removed from an affiliates tracking if, after 60 days, they aren’t qualified as a real money player. This has been covered in detail on poker affiliate forums so I won’t go into it here. Bottom line is that this decision was made, and there doesn’t appear to be any way to get this changed.
However there is a bigger problem stemming from this situation – the definition of a real money player, as per Full Tilts terms and conditions. Currently, the T&C state that a real money player is someone who makes a minimum deposit onto the site. What does this mean? It means that if a player receives a transfer on Full Tilt but doesn’t deposit, or wins a freeroll and gets their bankroll started that way -after 60 days, the player will be removed from your reports, as they aren’t classified as a real money player. So in theory, someone can get a transfer for thousands of dollars, play NL600 every day for 60 days generating thousands of dollars of revenue – yet aren’t classified as a real money player, so you wouldn’t get the credit for sending them to the poker room.
I’ve contacted my affiliate manager at Full Tilt, and I have sent in an official letter to Full Tilt that she will forward onto management. I encourage all affiliates to do the same – please e-mail your affiliate manager pointing out the inaccuracies and problems in the current definition of a real money player, and ask that this be forwarded onto management. April 1st is when the new policy takes place so time is ticking away – drop everything you’re doing, and send that e-mail today.
Below is the e-mail I sent, so you can see in more detail the exact problems with this situation, as it renders a large part of the affiliate community(sites targeted to freeroll players as well as private freerolls) completely obsolete.
Hello,
I am writing in regard to the current definition of a real money player, as per Full Tilts terms and conditions. The current definition is that a real money player is any player that makes the minimum deposit(of $45-$50) into their Full Tilt player account. I am asking you to look at, and revise this definition, to accurately describe a real money player.
The current definition excludes players who, instead of making the minimum deposit, have either started playing on Full Tilt Poker due to a money transfer, or started their bankroll via freeroll tournaments, and have no need to deposit due to that. Ideally, the definition should be revised to include both of these specifics.
For example – according to the current definitions, as an affiliate, I can have a player sign up at Full Tilt via one of my tracking links. This player can make the minimum deposit of $50, lose all that money in an hour generating under $10 of revenue for the site and never play again, yet be classified as a real money player.
However I can refer a player to Full Tilt and transfer them $1000. They can play NL600 or similar 3-5 hours a day for 60 days. They can generate thousands of dollars in that 60 days, yet if they do not deposit during that time period, are removed from my account as they are not a “real money player” as per the current definitions.
Due to the situation in the US with online poker at the moment, I’ve set up a transfer network with my players to help get them started on Full Tilt. Some aren’t able to deposit, others don’t currently have the bankroll to take advantage of the $600 bonus so get a transfer instead. If either of these occur(and they do on a regular basis), then these players wouldn’t qualify as real money players under the current plan.
Freerolls are also a big part of any poker room. Many freerolls are run on a daily basis on Full Tilt Poker, both public and private. Many websites out there cater to just freeroll players. Full Tilt even allows affiliates via the affiliate backend to create freerolls. Yet these will be made redundant under the current policy. The goal behind promoting a freeroll to players, is that you get the players to sign up under you, win money in the freeroll, then play on the poker room, hopefully retaining and increasing their bankroll, all the while generating revenue for the poker room and affiliate. With the current definition of a real money player, these players would be removed from an affiliates account after 60 days. From my experience, 1%-2% of actual freeroll players will deposit, so the current definitions render this form of marketing useless.
I am asking you to please look into, and revise, your definition of a real money player, to include transfers and freeroll players. For the good of your own business, I suggest a revenue target, where if each individual player generates a certain amount of gross revenue, they are classified as a real money player. This amount should be low, in the $5-$10 range. Not only is this a fairer definition, but it can be a better business move for Full Tilt. For example, if I create a money-added freeroll at Full Tilt Poker, get 100 signups, and 10 people cash – I now have 90 players that I need to try and convert in 60 days. Under the current terms, I’d have to encourage these players to deposit – and if you know freeroll players, you know the chances of that happening is extremely small. However if the terms were revised to an MGR goal, it encourages the affiliate to run more money added freerolls or even run contests where players win money transfers, to ideally get them generating revenue for the site, and thus be classified as a real money player.
Thank you for reading. If you need any further information or clarification, please don’t hesitate to contact me at dan@dealerdangaming.com
Dealer Dan
https://www.DealerDanGaming.com
March 13th: We reached a positive resolution to this thankfully. You can read the follow-up article here.
This article was written on March 10, 2008 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.
