As the World Series of Poker (WSOP) prepares to deal the first hand of its 42nd annual tournament in May, some leading online poker rooms are ramping up their online qualifier marketing drives.
And, as we’ve mentioned before here at CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com, those WSOP qualifiers remain an excellent tool for poker and gaming affiliates to rake in new traffic and conversions.
Here’s why: The World Series of Poker is poker’s biggest event, and online gambling’s biggest traffic driver. According to online traffic monitoring group comScore, last year’s WSOP was responsible for 2010’s amazing 114 increase in online gambling activity.
The poker affiliate angle
What’s that mean for affiliates? It means that the WSOP fuels tons of Google searches every year. So, gaming affiliates using WSOP as a niche have any number of options in harnessing that traffic:
- WSOP news updates
- WSOP calendar updates
- WSOP player profiles
- WSOP online tournament qualifier schedules and updates
Qualifiers
That last point may be the easiest to promote. Knowing full well that the WSOP is the big daddy of all online poker events (and offline poker events, for that matter), virtually every online poker room with any sort of branding power has made a point of offering players qualifiers for the big game.
And that’s a big deal: Ever since 2003, when Chris Moneymaker won the WSOP crown after qualifying online, Internet poker satellite qualifiers are a legitimate — and even preferred — way for normal joes to score places at the WSOP table.
With that in mind, two CAP Listed Programs have recently announced elaborate WSOP qualifiers:
PKR
PKR has launched its own 2011 World Series of Poker Experience satellites. These tourneys give poker players the chance to not only qualify for the big game, but also win a few lucrative extras, like money for airfare and travel, plus coverage of accommodation and access to VIP events.
“Those who qualify for the WSOP via PKR.com will also get a real taste of party life in Sin City with exclusive invitations to the official PKR pool party, the 4th of July dinner, the official PKR party, and a tour of Las Vegas,” explains CardPlayer.com.
“We’d rather send a bunch of players to Vegas to have a great time than send a just a few to the Main Event,” said PKR Marketing Director Simon Prodger. “PKR Experience Packages are a great way to experience all the excitement of playing a World Series event, enjoying 5* Vegas and partying like a rockstar.” (That’s a great soundbite for affiliates to use on their WSOP promotions, by the way.)
PKR is a CAP Listed Program.
UB.com
And, as usual, UB.com has also stepped up to offer premier WSOP qualifier tournaments, on daily, weekly and monthly bases, starting this week. Up for grabs at the famous U.S.-friendly poker site is a $12,000 WSOP dream package; get those details here.
UB.com can be promoted via the Chipleader poker affiliate program, a CAP Listed Program.