Classics,
It sounds like you work for PokerStars. I have been promoting poker since its inception and I remember paying less than 1 dollar per click for the top position on Google for the keyword POKER. My point is that I have been in this game a long time and I know that Pokerstars has either faulty statistics in regards to their affiliate program or they are shaving their affiliates.
By the way, I would not be surprised if ESPN does some editing on all their airings of the WSOP and block out all the logo advertising that people on the final table are wearing.
Before Overture and Google stopped the gambling pan, I do not recall even seeing ads for pokerstars.com via PPC. That is because everyone knows their affiliate program has problems.
It is like comparing Microsoft to Apple. Apple is far superior in regards to stability, yet Microsoft dominates the game. That is because Microsoft is a marketing machine. Same thing goes for Party Poker. They are savvy marketers and will remain #1 for quite some time.
I would not spend much time promoting ClassicPoker and FullTiltPoker because I believe they are too late to the game. The PPC ban is going to put them as well as several of the smaller sites out of business.
Just for the record, I have played poker online for real money @ pokerstars, empirepoker, partypoker, pokerroom, planetpoker, true poker, ultimate bet, pokerroom and in brick and mortar card clubs for over 10 years.