888.com has announced it will no longer be paying any CPA revenue on players sent from China or Switzerland. Having run the PAW network for the last year, this really comes as no surprise to me. I know if you listen to certain people in the industry, they will tell you that China and Asia in general is a great market to be getting into.

It very well might be an emerging market for baccarat or some of the other Asian games. But in respect to poker affiliate marketing, it is nothing more than a Cess pool of CPA scammers and bonus abusers. And it’s not just individuals trying to defraud the poker affiliate programs either. These guys have networks of people that all sign up as affiliates, and then sign up under each others trackers. They will deposit the minimums and play the absolute minimum to collect CPA.

I know it sucks for the legitimate poker affiliates in China (if there are any). But I commend 888 for making this move. It’s operations like these Chinese guys are pulling off that ruins CPA programs for the rest of us. It’s not just 888 that is getting killed by the Chinese CPA Scammers either, it’s every poker site that has a CPA program with lower requirements. Last year on our network we lost around $20K due to these guys scamming us on our casinos at the time. Nice Work 888! Here’s the release.

In accordance with the provisions of the 888.com Affiliate Program terms and conditions, Cassava Enterprises (Gibraltar) Limited, the owner and operator of 888.com and the 888.com Affiliate Program, will no longer pay affiliates any CPA (per player commission) commissions in relation to new players resident in China.

Following recent reviews Cassava Enterprises (Gibraltar) Limited (”Cassava”), the owner and operator of 888.com and the 888.com Affiliate Program, has concluded that the Swiss player value no longer justifies the previously offered CPA (per player commission) deals. Therefore and in accordance with the provisions of the 888.com Affiliate Program terms and conditions, Cassava will no longer pay affiliates any CPA (per player) commissions in relation to new players resident in Switzerland (and will reward affiliates by paying commissions in accordance with the revenue share plan).

Ahhh yes, kids running around everywhere, getting to deep fry turkeys, seeing family members, brandy slushes, football……………………..and oh shit, you know the dreaded question is only weeks away.

Random Relative: How’s it going Jeremy?

Jeremy: Not bad, I hate this weather, but other than that everything is great.

Random Relative: How’s Work?

Jeremy: Going real well, been quite busy.

Random Relative: What is it exactly that you do again?

Inevitably, whether you’re a poker affiliate or a general internet marketer, this question is going to come up. And the deeper you get into the conversation and explanation, the more difficult it becomes. I remember when I first started in the business, I was so excited to tell everyone what I did.

I would go on and on about affiliate programs and how I actually got checks sent to me every month. After a few years however, I finally realized that trying to explain the business of poker affiliate programs was a futile effort. Half my family members still use AOL and dial-up, and even this is only once a week.

Anymore I have a blanket statement I use, “I do internet marketing for online poker websites.” And I leave it at that. If they try to ask any further questions I usually just make it sound pretty boring and keep it simple. For example, “I just assist them in marketing on various websites, it’s pretty boring actually, hey how about those Bears!”

The problem with trying to explain affiliate marketing is that it is a difficult concept for most people whom are not internet savvy to grasp. Then you throw in online poker, and how you earn either a CPA, or a % of the rake…….now you have just crossed the line and entered into the impossible explanation. And it gets even worse when the following happens. That one annoying aunt or uncle keeps pressing that gambling on the interweb is illegal because he saw a story about it in 2006.

So if this is your first year really having your feet in the affiliate business, do yourself a favor and take my advice. Keep any explanation of what you do to a third grade comprehension level. You’ll save yourself lots of headaches between now and 2008. Besides, it’s funner when they speculate and gossip about what it is you do when you’re not around anyways.

Speaking of the holidays, here’s the Griswold Family Portrait. My wife thought it would be a great idea to bring the whole family in the back yard with no coats in 20 degree weather. <—–Good times, not really. Those may look like smiles, but they are really “F*** it’s freezing out here faces”.

I remember a couple years ago when all the buzz in online poker was mobile gaming. Sites like Pokerroom.com spent millions of dollars to be on the leading edge of this technology. Back in those days at CAC events, this is what all the big rooms were talking about. I bet I heard or read about mobile gaming a hundred times in 2006.

The big hype on mobile gaming was back in 2005-2006. We are now a few weeks away from 2008, and to be honest I don’t think mobile gaming ever lived up to all this hype. I am not trying to say “I told you so”, but even back in those days I was reluctant about mobile gaming. I know my friends over at PartyGaming have tons of money wrapped up in the concept, but I still just don’t ever see it becoming huge.

If anything, it can maybe just bring in some incremental users or make the companies like Party look good by being “leading edge”. From what I see, there really isn’t a great demand in the market from real money players for mobile gaming.

Here are a five reasons I think the mobile gaming concept has, and will continue to be a failure in the online poker market:

1. Speed and Disconnects - Cell phone speeds are unreliable and slow. In the U.S. it is hard to have a 30 minute conversation without dropping the call at least once. Disconnects are always a pain in when playing online from a computer with broadband or DSL speed. Imagine how bad it would be on a cell phone. I see this being a major objection for real money players.

2. Screen Size - How big can you make a cell phone screen? Not big enough that any regular online player will want to look at it. The opportunity to misclick or misread is exponentially higher than playing on a computer. Imagine playing on a 2″ screen with a stylus…..yuck. Once again, many real money players are not going to want to deal with this. Likewise I think your hands and thumbs would be sore holding and typing on a cell phone for hours.

3. Cost & Power - The cost of data transfer for cell phones is still rather expensive. There are hundreds of stories right now about new iphone users racking up thousands in cell phone bills. Also an application like this on your phone will burn through your battery life fairly quick. Especially when you’re thinking in terms of “poker time”.

4. Phone Calls - One key component here that is seldom mentioned. We’re talking about cell phones, we like to TALK on them. I know there have been countless times I have answered my cell phone when playing online poker. Furthermore, what happens when your in a big hand and the phone rings possibly overriding your browser?

5. Multi-Tabling - Over the past 2 years “multi-tabling” has become very popular. This will never be feasible on a cell phone.

And finally just why? This is the question I have been asking since 2005. Anyone who wants to play online poker for any amount of time surely can find a wifi spot, or somewhere to play on their laptop. Whether it’s an airport or at school, Wifi is prevalent in so many more places than it was back in the days this was introduced.

I’m sure there are some degenerates somewhere that love playing mid to high stakes from their treo’s with a sylus, but I have never met anyone who plays for real money on a cell phone. Nor have I ever met anyone that thinks it would kick ass to play on a 2″ screen while depending on cell towers.

With the evolution of new phones like the iphone, I do think that surfing the web from phones will continue to gain in popularity. For those of us on the business side of online poker however, I wouldn’t look for mobile gaming to become a booming niche any time soon.

Maybe I am completely off base on this one. But I think the entire concept of mobile gaming was a flash in the pan. Back when internet browsing was introduced on cell phones, it sounded like a hot idea to everyone including affiliates and operators. In reality though, it just doesn’t make sense for 95% of the real money online players.

There is one trait I have seen in almost every successful person I know. It is that they surround themselves with other successful individuals. Likewise the way they surround themselves with successful work ethics, habits, and attitudes is very clear.

This concept was made main stream and popular by Stephen Covey’s popular book, 7 habits of highly successful people. However I’m sure throughout history, this principal has been practiced by almost all successful individuals.

You can see this first hand in the poker affiliate industry by simply attending any of the conventions. The successful affiliates tend to all hang out together. When they are in their offices working during the day, they chat and pick each other’s brains on messenger. I don’t believe this is merely by coincidence either.

Everyone has heard this principle before, however there is much more to it than simply speaking with successful people on messenger or having beers with them at conventions. It’s a mindset that you must adapt too. No matter how many successful people you know or speak with, if your thoughts and attitudes are negative, then your results will be too.

It is also equally important to have successful ethics and habits in your day to day life. I’m sure many people like me still have those friends from high school who are no better off now than they were 5-10 years ago. Let’s face it, if you’re daily habits include self destructive activities like abusing drugs, hanging out with losers, or just being plain lazy, then you are clearly not living in a way that the successful people YOU strive to be are.

I hate to throw this out there, but specifically in the poker affiliate industry, I think poker in general can be a major hindrance to affiliates. It’s easy to get caught up in a poker game or tournament online for several hours. Or if you’re running good, it’s easy to just play poker for a month and forget about the affiliate business. That’s great until you have a massive downswing, lose your bankroll, and realize you just lost an entire month of productivity as well as all your money. Not too mention the mental roller coaster, loss of sleep, and other bad habits you practiced throughout this month.

For poker affiliates starting out, this can be one of the biggest obstacles to overcome. You need to decide which is more important, being a poker player, or being a business person.

If you’re one of the 5% of online poker players that can actually make a living playing, congratulations. If not, take some time off and focus on building your affiliate business. Trust me, it’s a much more rewarding getting 5 figure checks every month from affiliate programs than from “running good” for a month. Being a losing, break even, or minimal winning player is counterproductive to “Surrounding Yourself With Success”.

One of the most important things I always remember about success in both business and life is this; Successful people to do the right thing even when no one is watching. Sure, nobody wants to sit and write content for 6 hours in an office by themselves. But on the path to success, there are going to be lots of things that you don’t want to do.

Even if you are not at the level you want to be at yet, it’s time to start planting successful seeds in your mind. Start speaking with other successful affiliates. If one of your goals is to buy a new Mercedes, drive through the car lot a few times a week. If you want to make $10K a month, write it on a piece of paper and tape it to the top of your monitor. Perhaps you want to make enough over the winter to take the family on a surprise vacation, make that location your screensaver.

Action Plan: Think about your current surroundings in both business and life. Are you surrounding yourself with the right people? Do your daily habits align with those whom you aspire to be like? Take a few minutes after reading this to think about your surroundings and what you could change.

Also, take away all the ethics of this movie. But if this does not motivate you, I don’t know what will. Much of what is said here could easily be correlated to poker affiliates and the poker affiliate business.