Sorry for the lack luster effort on updating this blog every day this week. It has been an extremely busy week here. The planning is well under way for the Poker Conference and this is consuming a great deal of time. Likewise I have taken on a additional roll and will be managing AffiliatePrograms.com and the re-launch of what should be the leading site and community in the general affiliate marketing world.

All the technical stuff our developers are handling, as for those that know me, I am technically the most non savvy person out there. But if there is one thing I do know how to do, it is build a kick ass community of affiliates.

This is very exciting for me, and is almost a dream come true in respect to opportunity. What a killer brand and domain to be given the lead on! The site is going to Vbulletin and we are re-stucturing a lot of what is there now. I guess the most exciting part is that the general affiliate market is exponentially higher than both poker and casino combined.

Anyhow onto industry news. Today the APCW released their weekly perspectives video. To say this is a controversial one would be an understatement. Being a person that likes a little controversy though I will go ahead and embed the video below. I actually spoke with Jtodd about this on a $100 cab ride in London. I knew when it came out, it would create a lot of controversy.

I have no opinion on this as I am a losing player anyways. But like Fox News, I report, you decide. Make it a great weekend!

And PLEASE SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS IN THE COMMENTS ON THIS VIDEO!

Over the last two weeks, this has been THE biggest issue in the poker affiliate industry that I can remember in the last couple years. The current thread running at PAP has 360+ posts in it and almost 12,000 views. I think some affiliates have been wanting me to come out and publicly rip on FullTilt. I have spoken my peace a few times buried in that thread about how shitty I think the situation is.

There is no doubt that whatever excuses there are, if this involves rakeback, or if the policy gets changed to 90 days or whatever……….there is a certain amount of greed being shown by the executives at FullTilt. There are so many various arguments to this whole thing from each side, that it has really become quite a complex situation. Hell I could write an entire weeks worth of blog posts about all the various arguments.

• Is it FullTilt’s job to convert the players after we send them?
• What is FullTilt’s involvement with rakebackpros.com?
• Will existing players in our accounts be grandfathered out of this?
• Will these players continue being marketed to and converted with better offers after the 60 days is up?

In my opinion what the FullTilt executive team is thinking is this; They spend exponentially more money on print, television, and offline ads than on affiliate marketing. So if we send a player, and they don’t convert in that 60 day time frame, their real money conversion had to with some other form of marketing that FullTilt was doing and not our affiliate campaign. I might agree with this if it were 365 days or even 180……but 60 days, Hell No….. It is FT’s job to convert my PMP’s with newsletters, emails, bonuses, and great events like FTOPS. Some players may take longer than 60 days.

But if I don’t send FullTilt these players in the first place, they will never have this opportunity to convert them over the next few months (post 60 days).

Here’s the thing though. I have been in this industry for quite a while. There will always be some bullshit going on that is not fair to affiliates. I remember when Party/Empire were the same company and Empire offered rakeback while Party didn’t. We had the same issues there. I can think of multiple issues with rooms not tracking right over the years. Or times when rooms merged or were bought out and the affiliates lost their players. I also remember after the UIGEA I had money just disappear out of some affiliate accounts, and heard there is no way to pay us.

Hell, speaking of UIGEA, that stung harder than this whole FT thing ever will. The point is that we work in the online gaming industry. As much as I would love to see these companies affiliate programs operate with the integrity of CJ.com, Linkshare.com, and the big retail affiliate programs, it will never happen.

Although I strongly disagree with FT’s policy, there is plenty of money to be made with the other big rooms. Plus the whole thing is giving me a headache. I am not going to stress about it as there is really nothing any of us can do. If you are planning on removing Fulltilt from your sites, that’s 100% your decision. Be smart though and make this a positive by leveraging it. Tell the other A.M.’s you want to send them your FT traffic and negotiate a better deal.

With my wife making the last Ask Karen Anything post in this blog, I figured this would be a good topic for the Monday Motivational Message. Often times I am as guilty as anyone else when it comes to working mad hours and constantly having to check emails.

The one thing I have learned over the years however is that NOTHING is more important to me in life than my wife and children. You could take away my career and every dollar in my bank account, and as long as I still have my 3 girls I would be happy. Many people get addicted to the big money and opportunity in the affiliate or internet marketing industry. I was one of these people when I first started.

Everything seemed to good to be true when checks were showing up every month, or in those days when I had a Neteller debit card that I could pull cash off of whenever I needed to. I wanted to work 24/7 because I knew the more I worked, the more I would earn.

Many successful online poker players also experience these same issues of working to much and sacrificing their family time. I realize I am only 31 years old, however this does make me older than about 80% of the other poker affiliates I know, so listen up! If there is any piece of advice I can give the guys still in their 20’s, it is the following. Work hard, make a ton of money, but don’t ever forget why you want to achieve so much success. When you’re on your death bed someday, nobody is going to give a shit about your affiliate business or how much money you have in the bank.

What is important is the type of person you evolve into once you gain success. Money truly isn’t everything and can actually make some people arrogant assholes (we all know a few rich people like this). Personally, I value being a great husband to my wife as well as the best Dad to my children more than anything in business. If I can accomplish these two things in life before I check out, I will feel like I conquered the world.

So this week during your busy work schedules, set a few minutes aside and have a good think about why you want to make so much money, or what your goal in life is. Although I love making money in the affiliate business, I can tell you nothing will make you happier than having your priorities aligned and having purpose for what you do. I also believe that what goes around comes around. If you are a good person in life and in this world, good things will come your way.

Finally my lovely wife was able to step away from her daily chores such as cooking and cleaning to answer these questions. These were all answered by her and not influenced by me at all. Thanks karen, I’ll put you in for a raise at your annual wife review.

I wanted to Thank you Jeremy for giving me this opportunity to communicate with some of your friends. That was a pretty brave thing for you to do! I had fun answering the questions, in fact I may want to set up my own blog page (just kidding)! <———Did she just call it a “blog page”……she did. Honey, on the internet we just call them blogs!

I look forward to meeting all of you in the future!

Karen

1. Hi Karen, I am curious how you have dealt with the long hours of Jeremy being in this business. I know how my own husband feels, and I keep thinking once I get beyond the early stages it will become a little less hectic and more on track. How do you handle this? Next question would be are you involved in the business at all?

There have been times that I have been frustrated with his long hours, but I try to remember that lots of people work long hours. In some ways it’s nice that Jeremy works from home because he’s physically around but I think he actually works more because his computer is always around and sometimes he has a hard time shutting it. I try to remember the perks of the industry and the flexibility it offers. I am not involved in the business.

2. Has the Enkey[Jeremy] ever walked into the bedroom wearing his Sweatsedo suit with his pimp chalice while making it rain & say;hey baby you ready to get it on with a baller?

He’s never brought the pimp chalice into bed. Wouldn’t want to spill on the sheets.

3. Is Jeremy nuts?

Yes.

4. What do you do on Sundays?

During winter, watch football and hang out with the neighbors
During summer, play croquet, spend as much time outside as possible, and hang out with the neighbors

We also spend time with the kids and do lots of family things together.

5. What did you think of Jeremy wanting to wear a Pink Bunny suit to the WSOP on national TV?

Nothing surprises me with Jeremy! I thought it would be hilarious.

6. How do you feel about Jeremy’s admiration of Asian prostitutes?

I always find that very interesting since he likes blonde hair blue eyed girls. Maybe he likes Asian prostitutes because they can’t speak English and talk back to him.

7. Do you play poker? If yes, who is better: You or Jeremy?

No, can’t afford to since my husband does. (j/k) I know how to and have on occasion played for fun. I’m not very good though. I’ll stick with Yahtzee.

8. Will you allow Jeremy to bring the children to any future CAP events?

Yeah, I think if the location is a kid friendly environment like the Atlantis again we’d bring the kids.

9. Enquiring minds want to know, why do you only make 3 cups of coffee every morning when we have a 12 cup coffee maker?

Jeremy, I never know when you’ll be up in the morning and I want you to have freshly brewed coffee, you deserve the best!

10. How often does he actually wear the sweatsedo?

At least once a week. I always have to have it washed and pressed when he is going to be traveling overseas, he likes to wear it on the plane because it’s so comfy!

11. What is his nickname? ex.) puppy, pooky, sweetmeat, etc. Pretty much does he have an embarrassing petname that you call him by?

Sorry but he doesn’t have an embarrassing pet name that I call him. The only thing I can think of is that sometimes I refer to him as JE.

12. Do you like Jeremy’s new hair cut?

When his head was shiny bald I didn’t like it. It made him look like he was sick. But after it grew out a week or two I really do like it. He looks a little like David Beckham (the hot soccer player).

13. Does he wear a hat recently?

He did wear a hat for the first week since it is so cold here. One night he even went to bed with a stocking cap on.

14. I would like to know what he does when he is outrageously angry. Does he swear and scream and kick things or does he approach it in a calm way and resolve it quickly?

Jeremy never gets angry. Seriously, He is the happiest and most upbeat person I know. He approaches things in a calm way.

15. Do you know who Melissa Midwest is?

Yeah, she’s hot.

16. Do you ever wish Jeremy worked a regular 9-5 job? And does he spend money on you or keep it all to himself?

There were a few times I definitely wished he would just work a regular 9-5 job. In the beginning of his career I would have liked the stability of getting a pay check every 2 weeks and knowing exactly how much money you’ll be paid. That was one of the hardest things for me to adjust to, especially because we have a family to take care of. Jeremy spoils me and loves to spend money on me and the kids (he better not keep it all to himself since I don’t make any money! Except for the tips I make at amateur nights at Tiger Tail in Rockford. Just kidding!!)

17. Is he as crazy in real life as he sometimes sound on the internet? Do you have anything to do with the business. Does he let you know what projects he is working on?

Yeah he’s the same at home. I don’t have anything to do with the business. He does let me know to some extent what new and exciting projects he is working on.

18. What is the one thing you love about what he does? In the same regard what is it that you dislike the most?

I love that he is happy and that he loves doing what he does. The thing I dislike the most is trying to explain to people what my husband does for a living. People just don’t get it. So I say internet marketing.

19. How often do you get called a “M.I.L.F.”?

LOL. Occasionally I have.

20. Over Under on Jeremy having his first 10 mill year?

Don’t even know what to think of that. Can’t imagine making that much in a year.

21. What are your thoughts about online gambling and your husband working in the industry. Also what do you think about Jeremy playing the high limit slots?

I was a bit apprehensive about the industry in the beginning. I just didn’t want him to go to jail. Ahhh, the high limit slots, Jeremy usually doesn’t tell me about how much he’s gambling when he’s in a casino. I just like to hear about it when he wins. I am not a gambler at all and don’t like to lose money.

22. Do you guys have a joint bank account?…Did you sign a pre-nup?

Yeah, we do share a bank account since I don’t make any money. No pre-nup , he wasn’t making much money when we got married. No need for one either since we have never had a fight in 10 years and don’t intend on leaving eachother. Jeremy’s always said “whats mine is his and his is mine.“

23. Did you know Jeremy was such a leader when you met him? At any point did you think he would give up and work a normal 9-5 job? Finally, if you could change 3 things about him, what would they be?

Jeremy’s always been a leader in whatever he does. He doesn’t give up easily and when he puts his mind to do something, he makes it happen. There’s not a whole lot that I would change about Jeremy. After being married for 8yrs., I’ve come to love him for who he is and that includes good and bad qualities. I would only change little things like I wish he would pick his dirty laundry up off the floor.

24. What’s the weirdest thing you have ever seen Jeremy do?

Probably offering to wear the pink bunny suit to the WSOP. Recently betting his hair on a football team.

25. Did you marry Jeremy because he was “ghetto like dat” or was it because of his “balling” nature?

Jeremy was definitely not balling when I first met him (he was a paramedic on an ambulance, and although that’s a noble profession, he didn’t make much money. So I’d have to say because he’s “ghetto like dat”. He sure makes life fun and interesting, never a dull moment when Jeremy’s around.

26. Did you ever ask Jeremy to come to bed with the pink bunny outfit on?

No, not yet. But that’s a good idea, I don’t doubt he would do it! One Easter he did wear it around the house for the kids though. They loved it.

27. Have you ever cheated on him?

Never have and never will.