A new online poker network focused on supporting its member rooms may be close to launch. The Equity Poker Network (EPN), founded by former BetOnline CEO Clive Archer, is touted as a non-profit internet poker network and is eyeing June as the month the virtual cards will be in the air.
EPN calls itself a “cooperative,” a network in which the network operator is there to support the poker rooms, not the other way around. Rather than feeding the network their profits every month, the member rooms keep them, paying just $10,000 each month to the network. That fee is used to keep the network running, not to line anyone’s pockets.
Those who also run their rooms in a way that benefits the network will also benefit themselves. Whereas other networks have encountered the problem of poaching, wherein rooms on the network steal each other’s customers, the original EPN room that signs up a customer is the one that keeps that customer’s lifetime rake. Should the player jump to another EPN room, no matter – the original room is still the one to reap the rewards.
Speaking of rewards, the rooms will be allowed to setup loyalty programs and even rakeback as they see fit, provided the rewards do not eclipse 50 percent of rake. Tournaments are also the domain of each individual poker room, rather than every tourney being the same on every (though we might assume some tournament will be network-wide to take advantage of the larger player base). This all should encourage innovation by the poker rooms (though they will all use the same software as the Chico Poker Network, according to PokerFuse.com) and healthy competition.
EPN will also impose what it calls on its website a “Shark/Winners Tax,” in order to encourage member sites to recruit recreational players. Recreational players, as opposed to professional grinders, supply the poker economy with funds, as they need to reload more often. During the last couple years, many networks have made moves to encourage their rooms to attract recreational, losing players, forgoing the professional winning players. It will be interesting to see how this affects loyalty programs and rakeback at EPN rooms, as programs that are better for the player may attract more customers, but they may also attract more winning players, resulting in the “tax.”
On the EPN website, Clive Archer said, “We’re rewriting the rules to provide small and medium size businesses with an opportunity to offer their players online poker without losing their shirts each month to cross cage and sharp players.”
EPN also stresses security for both players and poker room operators on its site, highlighting its clearing house, which will hold enough funds to ensure that all rooms can pay their players. The funds are held in separate accounts from the network’s operating funds, ensuring against both network failure and poker room failure.
