Over the last few days, the Everleaf Gaming Network has instituted a new policy that will limit the types of tables that players can join once they have won more than €750 (approximately $1000) during a week on the site. The move is the latest in a line of actions by certain poker sites to improve the respective site's ecosystem and reward depositing players -- players that feed the games with new deposits -- versus winning players who withdraw what they win. The new policy is posted on the Minted Poker website and states that each player's status will be reset at 0:00 AM ET each Sunday, again making all tables available to all players. Unsurprisingly, the move has been met with widespread criticism from players. Despite the negative backlash, the new policy allegedly does not affect a large number of players on this small network. According to a Minted Poker rep at 2+2, "less than 0.004% of the player pool" is affected by the policy, or 1 in 25,000 players. Minted Poker goes on to say that the other 24,999 out of 25,000 players will have easier games to enjoy. Some players, however have disputed the actual numbers of players that are being affected. Players that are one of the unlucky (lucky?) few that win more than €750 are greeted with the following message: You are not allowed to play on this table because your player rating is too high. Players who attempt to join one of the winning tables are met with a message of their own warning of the impending danger "The rating of the table is higher than yours, do you really to play on this table." There doesn't appear to be specific tables allocated for winning players just that Everleaf has restricted their ability to join tables with players who have lower ratings. Some reports from winning players who have reached the threshold indicated that they could still play at dollar tables without restrictions.
According to Everleaf Network representatives, the network will be lowering rake caps on all dollar tables to $1 for the months of November and December, with the network even hinting that the rake decrease could last even longer. The rake reduction will affect players at Fixed Limit games of $2/$4 and up as well as almost all No Limit and Pot Limit dollar tables. Rake caps at other tables will not be affected due to maximum rake already being $1 or lower. The current cap on most dollar tables is up to $3 depending on how many players are seated at the table. This is not the first time a poker room has offered such a promotion. This summer, the iPoker Network introduced "Rake Break" tables at many cash games while Party Poker slashed buy-in fees on multi-table tournaments. Similar rake reducing promotions have been quite effective in attracting rake-minded players not to mention an increasing number of recreational players who are becoming more familiar with rake. In an article we posted around the time of these promotions, we explained that these reduced rake promotions are good for players and affiliates alike. With an average of 400 real money players on the site, the Everleaf Network is currently the fourth largest site to accept play from the U.S. and the second largest U.S. facing room to allow rakeback. The network has seen a sizable bump in traffic over the last few weeks as new skins have joined the network. Prior to the recent surge, traffic on the network was decreasing, according to online poker traffic site PokerScout. Cashout options on the site are abundant for European and U.S. players (relative to other rooms), with PAS currently giving the room a B+ grade for cashouts to U.S. players. PAS publishers can promote 40% rakeback at Everleaf poker rooms Minted Poker and RaisandFold. Both sites are also currently offering large sign-up bonuses of up to $2,500 (Minted Poker) and $2,000 (RaiseandFold), respectively.
In the last week, the industry received updates from three U.S. states in their efforts to regulate online poker. From existing online poker sites, the industry received a long awaited statement from Full Tilt Poker, while Party Poker announced rake changes. These stories and more are a part of this week's Industry Update from PAS. Intrastate Legislative Updates: Casino regulators in Nevada have proposed new rules for internet gambling should the United States congress pass a favorable bill. The proposals can be read on the Nevada Gaming Commission site. In California, a bill to legalize online poker, SB40, has been declared dead for 2011 by the state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg. On the other side of the country, Raymond Lesniak has reintroduced a bill in New Jersey, the same bill that was previously vetoed by Governor Chris Christie. Party Poker Rake Changes: Earlier this week, Party Poker switched to the weighted contributed rake calculation system. Also planned with the update was an increase to rake caps at many high limit games. The move unsurprisingly turned out to be unpopular with players, who staged a protest by sitting out of real money cash games to protest the move. After the outcry, Party Poker overturned the new rake caps but has kept the industry standard weighted contributed method. Full Tilt Update : Full Tilt Poker released a statement on the status of investor negotiations last week. They stated that the exclusive negotiations with European investors had ended but that discussions are still ongoing with the European investors and other potential investors. Full Tilt Poker also apologized for the lack of communication and maintained that communication would be improved in the future. Meanwhile, Subject Poker reported that Full Tilt Poker's shortfall -- from credited funds that weren't collected from U.S. player deposits -- may be larger than first thought. Latest Traffic Update from PokerScout: Nine out of the top ten online poker sites were down last week in an expected seasonal decline. The only network from the top 10 that saw an increase was Merge Gaming, which hasn't even started to accept new U.S. players yet. PokerScout also reported that Bodog and the Cake Poker Network, two other top U.S. facing sites, also saw weekly gains. Jottings: Facebook eases gambling advertising restrictions... The Poker Pros Network will be leaving the Cake Poker Network and move to a proprietary network in the "early Fall." The site will also stop accepting new U.S. players as of August 31st...Phil Helmuth adds to the skepticism over online poker in D.C....PKR data shows 89% of online poker players men.
Recent Comments
