With 23 bidders and 88 bids in the fight for PokerNewsDaily, I can only imagine the joy “b***2″ felt upon binking the auction. No word on who that buyer really was. But they didn’t even play in the game for Pokerterms.com, a sister site to PND also put up for auction that went to “s***n” for $8,359.

This is the first time I’ve heard of an on-line auction for a poker site. It seems as if Protos Marketing, the site’s parent company, was trying to unload these domains (and related assets) pretty fast. I wonder if they are feeling the effects of Black Friday on affiliate-based poker media, or if the previous owners needed cash for WSOP Satellites something bigger and better yet to come.

I’ve overheard several people at the Rio talking about friendly wagers they had on the selling prices for these sites. Curious if people here participated in any prop bets … or the actual eBay auctions?

Here is what the buyer(s) really got for that price, and with the PND brand:

This marks the final week of a no-reserve eBay auction for the PokerNewsDaily domain, content, associated accounts and more. Originally posted on Wednesday June 15th, the auction has attracted significant attention in the poker world. Several thousand people have viewed the auction on eBay and it has also attracted 15 bids in the first five days.

The auction itself includes the following (stats as of 6/14):

The pokernewsdaily.com domain name.
The PokerNewsDaily brand name (there are no registered trademarks)
All of the content (articles, site reviews, player profiles, videos, etc) on the site. There are over 5,300 posts, over 3200 comments and over 3100 registered users.
The PokerNewsDaily facebook page with 236 likes.
The PokerNewsDaily twitter account with 6174 followers and 283 listed.
Any other data contained in the PND database such as registered users, external click tracking data, etc. Nothing of substance or potential usefulness will be deleted prior to transfer.
The full customized WordPress install including the custom theme and the configured plugins.
The original PSD for the theme (which was purchased in a contest on 99designs) and the .AI file for the logo (which was purchased in a separate contest on 99designs).
The PokerNewsDaily Google Apps account which includes our support@pokernewsdaily.com email address and several years of emails. This account also includes our Feedburner feed with 1552 subscribers (813 of those are email subscribers via FeedBurner).
The PokerNewsDaily Google Analytics account which has data going back to July 24th, 2009. This account has the Google Apps account as an administrator so you can simply delete our access to it once the deal has closed.

However, the auction does not include existing affiliate accounts, writer contracts or a non-compete from PND’s parent company, Protos Marketing. The full auction listing includes additional information and the full terms.

In addition to PokerNewsDaily, Protos has also put up PokerTerms.com for auction. PokerTerms is a leading online poker dictionary with over 1200 term definitions and some very high Google rankings for highly-searched poker terms. PokerTerms has attracted an additional 13 bids and significant attention.

Watch the episode below:

You tell me. It’s different, that’s for sure … I do know Poker Affiliate World is a pretty big mega-affiliate that at least at one point was owned (at least in part) by PokerNews … and with or without Tony G’s involvement, a huge chunk of online poker signups pass through PAW in some capacity.

From: Poker Affiliate World
Date: June 7, 2011 6:01:44 PM PDT
To: Pokerati.com
Subject: Full Tilt Withdrawal Option Disabled – Temporarily

Dear Affiliate,

Due to recent issues with Full Tilt Poker in regards to “Black Friday” we have temporarily removed Full Tilt player transfer from our withdrawal options until further notice.

We are confident of a resolution in the near future so please feel free to use another method or wait until this option is reinstated.

Regards,

The PAW Team

Hoping someone who understands this stuff better than I can clue me in to what I’m missing between the lines.

Meanwhile, Tony G is saying that he might skip the 2011 WSOP … supposedly because he can’t keep up with the young players. Ahh, if only it could be that simple this year.

On yesterday’s show they talk to Pauly — one of the Top Two Podcasters on Tao of Pokerati — who lets it be known that while player money from PokerStars may indeed be filtering back to American players via US banks … affiliates got a form letter saying they would not be paid, and I think it sounds like he’s saying they have no intent to in the near future or ever.

Check with the Tao of Poker to see if he (or someone else) posts this letter. Until we see it I can’t know if Pauly — who removed his PokerStars affiliate banners — is simply speaking the aggressive truth or just playing squeaky-wheel hardball or both. He is a New Yorker, after all — from the Southern District no less!

UPDATE: He has posted it.

Tony G, the owner of PokerNews is next on the show — and really, for all the voices that have been clamoring since “Black Friday”, he’s one of the biggest names in poker with a direct connection to the money-flow from Full Tilt, Stars, and others to do an in-depth, candid interview.

Here’s a clip from the show to give you a taste.

download

And click here for the whole episode.

Controversial for sure … but his words seem to be less publicity-whorey than usual. The G says any American depositing money on any site is high-risk, and payout could be unlikely. While believing that Stars seems to be making good, he sees signs that Full Tilt accounts could be in greater jeopardy — and calls out Howard Lederer and Phil Ivey specifically to address the issue (either in public or private) and possibly offer up their personal assets to take care of players.

You do have to take Tony G with a grain of salt, as potential conflicts of interest abound — he represents PartyPoker, for one … but also owns PokerNews, which does (or did) a lot of business with Full Tilt and PokerStars as well as the WSOP. He also could just be looking to fill a “good guy” power vacuum in poker … but this interview doesn’t seem loaded with the usual G bluster for attention; he conveys sincere concern in his offer to “help” and admits that he feels some responsibility to players that his site sent to Full Tilt.

He also says repeatedly that “No US company has ever survived a DOJ prosecution.”

Yeow. I have no clue if that’s accurate or not … (I’m still looking around for verification of the 92 percent conviction/guilty plea DOJ success rate I’ve been touting) … but it’s probably not far from reality. Whether or not there’s any competitive tattle-tales in play, it seems a good bet that in the coming weeks we will see more facts emerge that simply can’t be spun in a positive light … which may already explain the silence by some.

The father of Andreas Oscarsson, the PokerListings cofounder murdered in Sweden two months ago, says his son was the victim of a professional hit. He spoke on Swedish TV (their equivalent of America’s Most Wanted, I believe) in hopes that the public can help police solve this crime.

Apparently there was almost no evidence left behind.

Oscarsson, of course, was one of the biggest success stories of the international online poker boom — not as a player, but in helping bring players to online sites — and he accumulated vast wealth in a relatively short period of time. The semi-retired poker affiliate kingpin was on a brief holiday to his family home in Sweden this past August when an unknown assailant quietly broke into the house. He was shot six times with what investigators believe was a silencer-capped pistol as his wife, parents, and two-year-old son slept.

Hear Oscarsson’s father in his own (chilling) words:

download

You don’t need to speak Swedish to kinda-sorta understand what this is really all about …

Click below for two recent stories (Google translations) about the highest-stakes murder the Swedes have seen in a long while … one police do not seem close to solving.

“Proffs mördade min son”

“Professionals murdered my son ‘

In the evening he comes up on TV3′s program was called – the father of the 36-year-old businessman in the poker industry, who were murdered in the childhood home of Skoftebyns in Trollhättan on tredje August.

“This is a professional job”

The father hopes that television appearance could lead to police find those who murdered his son. For he is convinced that more than one person behind the murder.

- There is no behind, instigator of the murder. I am absolutely convinced, “says the father.
The police have told him that his son was six shots and that the gun had a silencer, and he thinks it is a professional assassin who is behind the murder.

- They have rekat here in advance, the thing I am absolutely convinced.
The father believed that it was his son’s fortune, which made him a target. This or that the assassination will be a revenge for something.

Pokermord tas upp i tv

Poker Murder raised on television

Six weeks after the murder of a 36-year-old man in his parents’ home in Skoftebyns in Trollhättan police are still no clear traces of what police believe may have been a contract killings, carried out by a hired killer. Tonight appears the father was assassinated in TV3′s program was called.

Television program takes up the case while very appreciative memory of the murdered Andreas Oscarsson from Trollhättan in recent days been reading both in several local newspapers and in national press. It describes 36-year-old of his friends from childhood, student and business community as very well-liked and popular, a generous, cheerful and very multifaceted person.

Father’s appearance in Wanted is in the hope that more people should be able to contribute with tips to the police to clear up the murder. The father is involved in a recorded element with distorted voice and no picture. He tells Swedish Radio West that it is prudent.

Because police believe that there is a contract killings, is in the circle of relatives of murdered worried. His two-year son, who was the grandfather of the villa in Skoftebyns in Trollhättan at the murder, is back with her mother in the United States.

Andreas Oscarsson managed by six shots. Murder weapon was probably a gun with a silencer, since neither his dad or neighbors in the densely populated residential area awoke.

Anyhow, something to think about in lieu of online poker’s political efforts — that it probably doesn’t help us to be in the same game as debt consolidation penis enlargement free mp3 downloads paris hilton sex goat fucking:

EMBED-If The Internet Was Real – Watch more free videos

Maybe some day we’ll see “legitimate” sites refuse to reward affiliates who use such methods?

Breaking News! A grand jury has just indicted an online gambling payment processor! Plus, a New Jersey Senator rolls out new poker legislation, and affiliate programs change their Terms & Conditions!

Seen in the Amazon cash game area (reading a story in the New York Post):

UPDATE: Oops, maybe swine flu wasn’t the best comparison.

The fallout from our Cardspike investigation continues, as the partners who have run Casino Affiliate Programs (CAP) for years have now turned on one another in a power struggle battle royal. Whether you’re a webmaster or a player in this industry, you should be very concerned about the negative attention being generated for our industry.

The Kentucky domain name seizure case has a verdict, and it’s good news! Also, not such good news for the online poker room Cardspike, as we finally get closer to the truth, and how Casino Affiliate Program’s Lou Fabiano may be connected.

We have online gambling news from the UK as Google loosens advertising restrictions for our industry. Also, what can US poker players do right now to help their cause?! Plus, we start to put the pieces of the Cardspike puzzle together!

And earlier in the week … Are we finally starting to learn the truth about Cardspike? Yes! But is it the whole truth? That’s still to be seen. See the latest “confessions” from those involved in the Cardspike scandal. Plus a visit to the Affiliate Summit and take a brief look inside!

We continue our look into Cardspike’s alleged connection to Casino Affiliate Programs. Plus, indusry news that could tie online gaming to terrorism as we wait on an important decision in Kentucky!

The next thing I learned was that Full Tilt is supposedly going to be opening an online sports book. I don’t have a date or any details — other than that it will be only for non-American players, Europeans specifically, and that it’s super hush-hush.

Again, this is just rumor, and I have not called anyone from Full Tilt to confirm — because I’m pretty sure they won’t tell me, and I fear “aggressive interrogation” should I say too much — but I can attest that it comes from a reliable enough source that were there an online sports book that took wagers on such likelihoods, I would definitely bet on it.

Online gambling news, as the founder of Party Gaming pleads guilty to violating the US Federal Wire Act. We also give a follow-up report on the Grand prive’ Casino Group, with evidence of thier lies as they continue to steal affiliate commissions.

Many of you already know that the Grand Prive Casino Group has elected to steal webmaster commissions. These guys have shut down their affiliate operations while maintaining all the casinos where webmasters sent their traffic. Their casino are eCogra Approved, licensed by Kahnawake, and powered by Microgaming… so what do they think of all this?

The Grand Prive Casino Group recently shut down their affiliate program. However, they continue to run their casinos and profit from the players their webmaster partners sent to them in the past. They have cut their “partners” out of the deal they made with them, and are keeping all the profits!

Webmasters should be informed and take the action they feel is best. Players, do you really want to trust people like this with your deposits or your winnings?

(If you were someone who unknowingly lost money to the cheating, wouldn’t you love to study the replays of the hands where your action seemed to go bizarrely awry?)

Further reports say at least one of the above-mentioned refundees has been playing with it, and winning a lot. Considering that most new players on UB clearly haven’t done some basic searching on the internet, it’s plausible that the games here are particularly soft these days.

I really wanna believe what Annie Duke says about the fantastic security now in play at UB … and heck, beyond playing there, might Pokerati actually be able to make some affiliate bucks off any pimpage? For now, of course, all we’ve got to go on giving necessary reassurances is an AP/UB infomercial explaining it all that has since been taken down once people actually started to see it.

In this week’s episode:

Congressional Hearings on UIGEA…
Barney Frank Heads to the Hill…
We all know our friend Barney Frank isn’t shy about speaking his mind, calling UIGEA the “stupidest”law ever passed. Now, he’s taking his straight talk about the law before Congressional Committees on the issue. See what was said!

Coverage of the Amsterdam Conference…
Reporting from Amsterdam!
We’re hear and we’re causing trouble! See our exclusive report from the Casino Affiliate Convention, and where J. Todd has been having to spend the night!

In this week’s episode:

US / EU Deal has Serious Issues…

There are some in the European Union who are not at all happy with last week’s announcement of a deal to compensation over the online gambling ban. In fact, it looks like the US may have even mislead the EU on what the deal was about

This could help our industry stay on life support a bit longer… and we’re not dead yet!

Antigua gets $21 Million and Piracy Rights…

The World Trade Organization has decided to allow Antigua to recover $21 million in damages by violating US copyrighted products, just like the APCW predicted in November of 2006!

Antigua was asking for $3.4 billion, and the award is well below that. So can a measly $21 million make a difference at all? Maybe…

Germans Give EU the Finger…
Germany has decided to ban internet gambling as of January 1st, 2008. They say that they have to protect their monopoly, and they expect the EU Court of Justice to come after them… and they don’t care.

Help Push J. Todd Over the Top!

I’ve been nominated by the Casino Affiliate Programs for “Best Overall Affiliate” for 2007. Ain’t that cool? But voting is getting down to the wire!

J. Todd has faithfully brought you Perspectives Weekly for over a year now, and never missed a week for vacation or sickness, and now all he asks of you is your vote!

Click the link below to visit the CAP Awards page, then scroll to the very bottom where it says “Best Overall Affiliate” and vote for “Integrity”… that’s the handle J.Todd uses over there!

Vote for name “Integrity” under “Best Overall Affiliate”!

Join the Fight!!!

Click here to watch Part 2. Brought to you by APCW.org.