Published on June 8th, 2007 8:15 pm EST

Party Poker has been actively trying to snuff out any affiliates who offer rakeback to their clients over the past year or so, and have taken their battle to new heights over the past couple of days.

partypoker affiliate smackdownIt all started with Party Poker saying that as of June 1st, if a player closed an existing account with Party Poker and opened a new account (for the purposes of rakeback or because of other financial incentives), then this new player account would no longer contribute to the affiliate accruals of the new affiliate account that they signed up with. So basically, if you had an existing account, and opened a new account in order to qualify for rakeback, the affiliate that you signed up under will no longer be getting paid for your account. Or, perhaps you were offered some kind of a sign-up bonus for opening up a new account under a new affiliate. Again, the affiliate you signed up under will no longer be getting paid for your playing activity.

Now here's the real kicker. Party Poker, in line with their affiliate terms and conditions, has the right to go back and deduct money from the affiliate for traffic that they deem to be referred through "fraudulent means." Meaning, all of the rake that you generated for your affiliate since you opened up your second account; Party Poker is going to ask for any money paid out to the affiliate back. So if over the last few months, you generated $10,000 in rake total, and the affiliate you signed up under was paid $2500, then Party Poker is going to deduct $2500 from the affiliates account.

For affiliates who signed up hundreds or thousands of players by telling them to close their old accounts and sign up for new ones underneath them, this adds up to a lot of money. Some affiliates are logging in and reporting that they have a negative balance of $100,000+.

What is unknown at this time is if Party Poker will just be keeping any money that they don't have to pay out to affiliates, or if they will be returning any money to the affiliates who had their players poached. We will continue to ask around and update this story as we get more information.

If you are a player who signed up for a second account, you probably won't notice any change. If you are receiving rakeback, then I wouldn't expect any more payouts, as your affiliate most likely will not be getting paid, and likely has a HUGE negative balance that they will never work off.

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Filed Under: Online Poker Rooms

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