Starting a Poker Website
Building Your Poker Website
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How to Promote Absolute Poker
is not one of the largest or flashiest poker rooms, but it still has a lot to offer its players.
Absolute Poker Lobby
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Absolute Poker Table
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Here are some points I think you could use to promote Absolute Poker:
Decent Action
Absolute Poker is a nice rounded poker room, and the affiliate program at
is top notch. At approximately 7,000 active players, Absolute Poker falls into the midsize level - there are plenty of players to find decent action. Absolute has good ring game and tournament activity and it's easy to find the table stakes you are most comfortable with.
Micro-Limits
Absolute offer limit holdem tables as low as $.02-.04, and Sit & Go's for as low as $.50 + .10. This is a great way to introduce beginner players into a real money game, without risking too much. The play money game offered by the poker rooms are fun, but do not play out like a real money game. These stakes are low enough to not intimidate the beginners, yet provide a more realistic poker experience.
Huge Initial Deposit Bonus!
One of the items that differentiates Absolute Poker from the others is its very large initial deposit bonus.
offers 35% of your initial deposit for up to $210 in bonus money when the player inserts the "AP35" bonus code. The usual bonus structure for the online poker rooms is 20-25% for up to $100, so Absolute has really stepped it up in this area. These bonus dollars are earned in increments of $10 for every 100 hands. This is also a pretty good rate compared to some of the other poker rooms. Not only can you deposit less, and get more bonus dollars, you can also earn those bonus dollars at an acceptable rate. There are plenty of poker rooms that make it much more difficult to earn your bonus. The Absolute bonus structure could be a very important characteristic for you when promoting Absolute Poker. Absolute does not have a ton of players, or a super-fancy interface, but they do offer this great starting bonus.
Player Points and VIP Status
Absolute has a few other very nice features that players may be interested in. Absolute offers the Absolute Rewards Program. Absolute keeps track of points for each of its players - the more you play, the more points you earn. These points are good for buy-in's into tournaments, Absolute Poker merchandise (coming soon), but also VIP status. Once you have VIP status, this allows you to investigate the other excellent feature of Absolute.
Once you have VIP status, you are able to run your own private mulit-table tournaments. This means you could host your own private tournament events just for your website visitors or members. There is a password that you provide your members and that allows them entry. You can also run your own freerolls to help boost awareness and traffic.
These are the angles I would try to leverage when partnering with Absolute. The tournament action is good at Absolute, as well as the ring action. But I think
really excels by offering some of these extras to its players. Your visitors may be interested in some of these points. There are a lot of players who care less about the action a poker room offers because they just plan on sticking around long enough to earn the bonus. These players are a good target for Absolute. You could promote your own private tournaments on your website, host them at Absolute, and this will also result in more Absolute sign-ups.
This is what people are saying about Absolute Poker (courtesy of FlopTurnRiver.com):
First time at Absolute by cardsman1992 @ 04, Nov 2006 |
Interface: Action: Support: Fish: Bonus:
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I signed up with Absolute to get the $750 bonus, plus take advantage of a rakeback offer. It was also one of the rooms that will accept US customers after the UIGEA was signed. Absolute doesn't seem to get quite as much traffic as Stars does now. Playing $100 FR, there are only 5 or 6 tables running at any time. There is usually a good selection of 6 max tables, though. I play mostly FR, but having to play 6 max has been a good addition for me. The players are a mix of rocks and fish, and it seems slightly looser than the Ongame network, where I played most of my poker. The bonus clears at one point per hand raked at .50 or more, so at $100 it clears reasonably fast. I understand the reloads are plentiful and you get rakeback while clearing bonuses. Support was prompt in response to my email, so I was pleased there as well. I think the software is much faster than Ongame as well. The only trouble I had with it was figuring out how to stay on the waiting list once I sat at a table, but I have that squared away now too. If there were more traffic here, I would consider playing here more once my bonus clears. As is, the best incentive to play here is the rakeback.
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FAR from my favorite by larryflew @ 22, Apr 2006 |
Interface: Action: Support: Fish: Bonus:
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All of my remarks are as they purtain to single tqable tourneys or sit and goes as that is primarily what I play. Summary - will not go back if and when my initial deposit runs out. So far Doylesroom and Ultimate bet are the ones I like the best overall. the good: site has disconnect protection, stats are easy to see and use, intant replay of last hand, use your own picture of anything as an avatar. The bad: No player profiles or information, bet slider is a PITA as you have to backspace over it to place bet, No $ labels once you are at the singlt table tourney tables-for those playing 2 tables that can be a pain in the behind not knowing which is a $10 table and which is a $1. Play feels slow and bulky, tables are dark and cards are small, tables are way to "busy" do not need to see drink tables extra chairs etc, if disconnected and you reconnect you have to find the table you were on as the site does not take you to it, chat is a pain to use, does not show your folded cards, no blind timers so you have no idea how much time is left before they go up, low stakes STT have HIGH rakes like 40 cents on $2 table - double what most sites are. NEVER clear their bonus structure, charge a fee withdraw by check,
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Take A LOOK by CorkyHoldem @ 28, Feb 2006 |
Interface: Action: Support: Fish: Bonus:
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Absolute Poker is the BEST, well maybe not the best but close to it. If you havent been there recently DO IT, they have made lots of software upgrades and the player base is GROWING, The guys at AP really are sweet To start off, Support is amazing-Dont know what the guy below me is whining about, support is very helpful and WILL get your problems solved, also AP has their own forum where the PRM Richard is really cool and makes sure you get taken care of if you have problems. AP listens, The guys at the forum all give ideas on improvements to the sites and they actually have done almost everything that we have asked them to do to change the site. Small and Friendly, you will know all of the regulars by the first week of play (including me stop in some time and say hi) plus there is still plenty of players to get games going (15,000 during the peak nowadays) Check out AP it really is a blast
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Good overall, but... by metaxy6 @ 13, Jan 2006 |
Interface: Action: Support: Fish: Bonus:
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AP is a decent site. I've been playing there awhile - I even recognize most of the players in the screenshot!! The interface is nice, functions are good, the games are good enough at peak times. The new bonus req.s make clearing bonus there more than moderatley difficult. But there's reloads every single weekend. If you want to play with bonuses, then plan for the weekend reloads. If your BR is tied up on other sites, or you just don't have $ readily available in Neteller, you've got to withdraw your AP money by Thursday to get it and re-deposit during re-loads. You get a lot of player (ARP) points that you can use to enter tourneys, but the tourneys have pretty measly payouts. Better off saving them and using them for fewer bigger tourneys. One thing that really bugs me is the ring game lobby. This is not user friendly at all, as the tables are not organized by stakes and they are constantly shifting as they refresh. So, you might be looking down the list and find a game w/55% flop rate that you want to check out. Then BAM, it's gone because everything just shifted and now you've got to hunt it down all over again. If you like to be careful about selecting your game, this might start to drive you nuts. In case this is a concern for anyone - I'll just add that I've never had any problem with a payout - they're not the very fastest, but you'll have it in 48-72 hours every time. Also, the bonuses clear automatically in $10 increments - no emailing support to claim the bonus or any of that stuff.
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Absolute... by JJDylan @ 08, Mar 2005 |
Interface: Action: Support: Fish: Bonus:
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Interface - I really like absolutes software/interface, it looks nice and works great, ive never had any issues with dissconects or anything of that nature, and the player avatars make it really easy to remember people youve played before. Action - One of the downsides of Absolute is that there are a limited number of tables, but ive never had to wait more than 5 minutes to get into the game i wanted, so it isnt a big deal for me. Ease of Game - the players at absolute are TIGHT. even the .5/1 games i was playing were super tight, but upon further inspection, they play very tight/passive so just crank up the agression and there is plenty of money to be made. Bonus - I signed up and got 35% on my initial bonus, and it wasnt hard at all to clear, plus the cashier window lets you know exactly how far you have to go to clear the next part of your bonus (they release $10 for every 100 raked hands of .25) Overall ive had a great experience at Absolute, and the tight games are actually a nice change of pace from the loose party games ive become used to.
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Absolute Poker Review by ttanaka @ 07, Jan 2005 |
Interface: Action: Support: Fish: Bonus:
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Hey guys, I kinda like this site. I played in the NL ring games over there, and I was surprised how soft the games were. It's not maniac-style, super-loose and throwing money away, but more like a tight passive game. At first I thought the game might be tough, since everyone was playing pretty tight, not seeing too many flops. But then I noticed they would fold to most bets. And they would fold to re-raises. Obviously, this is when you turn up the aggression a notch and win every hand you play. It was a nice, easy game, IMHO, and I think I'll play at Absolute for a while longer. Especially cuz that bonus is so large and will take a while to earn. Definitely worth checking out, though, at least if you're interested in the no limit ring game.
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The bonus is the thing... by koolmoe @ 04, Oct 2004 |
Interface: Action: Support: Fish: Bonus:
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Interface: The interface is not too bad. The animation and sound is not objectionable, and the chat feature is easy to use. I like that player comments appear beside their avatars in a ballon (sort of like comic strips), so you don't have to follow a box with action and chat intermingled. The standard auto-play buttons are there, and you can set an option for the tables to pop up when action is required. I really like that the lobby shows the % pf players seeing the flop for each table. I prefer this stat to average pot size for table selection. That said, there usually aren't a whole lot of options for different tables for a given limit. There are some things that I don't like. First, there is no option to not show uncalled hands automatically. This means whenever you win an uncontested pot, you have to click a button or wait to not show your hand. This causes unecessary delays. Second, I don't like that the login screen has no option to remember just your login name. It either remembers your login name AND password or neither. Third, I don't like the combination slider-bar and text-edit box used on the no-limit table. On almost every other site, the text in the text box comes up selected so that you may type in (and automatically replace) the initial amount that appears in the box. The slider is hard to use to get a specific amount, and typing takes time since you typically have to backspace and type rather than just type. Finally, when a player takes action, the avatar changes to the word (Call, Raise, etc.). At least one player (and perhaps more than one) who plays regularly on the site uses "Raise" as his avatar, presumably to angle shoot and get others to fold their hands. If you multitable, this avatar can be confusing. Action: At first I wasn't really happy with the site because there were not always low limit games available. Through time, I found that if I am willing to vary my play (some limit, some no-limit), it's pretty easy to find a good game. I particularly like that the NL tables have relatively high max buy-ins compared to other sites. Technical/Customer Support: I have never used this. Ease of Game: Absolute falls somewhere in the middle in terms of players seeing the flop at the lower limits. Typically, 3-4 players will see the flop at the $1/$2 to $3/$6 games. I find that a lot of the players are reasonably tight and pretty easy to read. Bonus: I signed up with Absolute specifically to collect the 35% bonus - up to $210. What is particularly good about this bonus is that you collect it in $10 increments. If you fail to play the required number of hands before the bonus expires, you still collect a portion of the bonus, unlike other sites that are all-or-nothing. Lately Absolute has been offering a lot of 15% reload bonuses, which is rare compared to most sites. Absolute also offers Absolute Points that you can use to buy into freerolls and WSOP subqualifiers.
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The Poker Affiliate Guide - How to Build and Promote a Better Poker Website
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