Beginning on April 15th, the maximum rakeback offered on the USA-friendly Merge Gaming Network will rise to 35%. Around the same time, members of PlayersOnly and Sportsbook.com will migrate to the network, perhaps boosting its traffic five-fold.
The Merge Gaming Network is currently the 20th largest worldwide according to PokerScout.com and boasts a seven-day running average of 225 real money ring game players. Carbon Poker is the network’s flagship room and flanks sites like ACED, IronDuke, PokerHost, PokerMVP, Poker Nordica, Reefer Poker, and RPM Poker. The Merge Gaming Network rakeback percentage offered on most sites right now is 30%. However, the industry landscape is about to receive an extreme makeover.
Next week, the migrations of PlayersOnly and Sportsbook.com customers from the Cake Poker Network to the Merge Gaming Network will significantly boost traffic on their new home. Jazette Enterprises owns both sites and announced its intentions to move the rooms to the Merge Gaming Network in February.
Keenly watching the transfer of players are rakeback affiliate sites like ThisIsTheNuts.com. A representative of the rakeback giant told Poker News Daily, “The Merge Network is going to more than double in size with these new additions. PlayersOnly brings with them a lot of fish and very stellar deposit and withdrawal options. Overall, this is going to be a great move for the Merge Gaming Network and players should take advantage of it.”
An added bonus is the swarm of weak players that the Jazette Enterprises sites will bring. So-called “fish” are primarily interested in sports betting and view online poker as simply a diversion. The same ThisIsTheNuts.com representative explained, “They’re getting an opportunity to play on the highly-acclaimed Merge Gaming software against the weakest competition U.S. players can find.”
Already residing on the Merge Gaming Network is RPM Poker, whose stable of pros includes Mark “dipthrong” Herm, Aditya “Intervention” Agarwal, Dan “djk123” Kelly, Chris “cdbr3799” Dombrowski, Jeff “jpapola” Papola, and Stephen “Stevie444” Chidwick. Online poker forum staple “RPM Seth” told Poker News Daily that his site is looking forward to the forthcoming influx of players: “Since we at RPM are poker players ourselves, we are incredibly excited to see the network grow. More games, more players, and more action mean that it’s a great time to be on Merge. We know our players are excited and we look forward to continuing to provide the excellent service and value that we are known for.” RPM Poker and other Merge Gaming Network sites happily accept customers from the United States.
PlayersOnly and Sportsbook.com are currently members of the Cake Poker Network, which announced deals with three sites on Thursday: JuicyStakes, BeteXpress, and KakuyPoker. For players who prefer to continue playing on the Cake Network, affiliate sites like ThisIsTheNuts.com continue to offer 33% rakeback there as well: “DoylesRoom is one of the top options on Cake and we can help players move all of their Gold Chips, Gold Cards, and Gold Stacks to their new chosen site. Plus, they can get a brand new rakeback account on the Cake Poker Network.” Poker legend Doyle Brunson serves as the face behind DoylesRoom, while industry veteran Lee Jones is the Cake Poker Card Room Manager.
According to PokerScout.com, the Cake Poker Network is the 10th largest worldwide, with a seven-day running average of 1,880 cash game players and a 24-hour peak of 2,487. The network is well known for its Gold Chips, Gold Cards, and newly revamped Gold Stacks rewards programs. Its two major sites are Cake Poker and DoylesRoom; other network sites include Lock Poker, Power Poker, Red Star Poker, and Phil Laak’s Unabomber Poker.
The effect on the Cake Poker Network is not yet known. Industry insiders have heard rumblings of other sites departing the network, but no announcements have been made supporting the rumors.
The move is no doubt favorable for everyone involved. Good luck and congrats for this positive change!