The announce of a new legal poker-site entering the US market

Bluff magazine tweeted me this article earlier today... http://bit.ly/k5kZ8t
I was worried that internet poker was going to become extinct in the USA.
What do you think?

Don't like the layout of these "WPT" esque sites one bit. If this becomes the standard post black friday, I will be most upset =(.

What exactly makes this site legal, while the other arent? Is it bc you will have to pay to play? Isnt that the same as free rake based sites? Or does this site not offer any exchange of currency? Like you play to win chips or points which later are exchanged for prizes, such as tv, ipods, and cash?

Anyone else notice there's some pretty serious names behind this site? I'm in no hurry to play on it but I'll definitely watch its progress with interest...

This basically is the same thing as the National League of Poker which has been around for years and is also run by Zen Entertainment.

I'm going to keep an eye on this. I don't get some of the comments on that site (granted, there are only a total of 3) complaining of the $20/month subscription fee in place of rake. If it's going to have a large player base, a wide variety of games, and plenty of them running at any given time, it will be worth it. I pay way more than $20 in rake in a typical month even with rakeback.

Edit: Oh, I just did a bit of reading, and it seems I misunderstood how subscription-based poker sites work. Apparently, you pay a fee instead of depositing money, and more or less wind up playing with play money for a chance to win some cash prizes??? Wait, what, NVM, I guess I'm not holding my breath for this to be a viable replacement for Stars/FT.

I've played on this type of site before, there were a couple of them, can't remember the names,definitely won't be wasting my time on this site!!!

Out of interest, what didn't you like about them? And are we talking before Black Friday when you had loads of real-money alternatives?

The thing that interests me about this site is AFAIK it's the first time people with a legit poker background (as opposed to video games or whatever) are getting involved in a site of this nature. Chops and Poker Royalty really know the industry. I can't think of any others that have taken the sponsored pro approach. Plus I think there are a lot of American players that will play just because they lack any other options. So I'll be watching with interest...

http://www.zenentertainmentnetwork.com/zen_is.html

Zen is also the game played by Hustler, which I do play at daily. Search for my Hustler review in another thread, and you will find out what I know.

You can play for free. I am. But I am also bombarded by noisy advertising before games start, and during the breaks. Incidentally, there are 3 breaks per hour....

It is an uncomfortable table to sit at, ads all around the actual table, and no player tools. No notes, HH's are a bear, and you can not save them.

These are functions of Zen, not any particular provider.

What that $20/month supposedly does is stop the advertisements, and allow you to play what looks to be juicier games.

You CAN NOT build a bankroll. There are no cash games, only points games. If you win money, they pay out at the end of the month after you win it. So if you win money today, May 25, they will send you money after the end of June.

[quote=OzExorcist;1747308]Out of interest, what didn't you like about them?
OZ pretty much what DJ explain grafic's sucked alot of noise, add's ,jumping in your face then u had to pay in order to get rid of them, I just can't point out one thing, I just think the whole thing sucked!!!! try no pay poker if there still around and see what I mean.

hmmm, i'm glad that they are thinking of ways to allow US players to play competitive poker without having to worry about the next round of DOJ shut downs, but it would almost seem like you would need to play a lot to consistently earn back or exceed your $20 subscription in points

agree.

That's one way of looking at it. The thing to remember though is sites like this are mostly targeted at casual players and for a lot of them they'll be looking at it and see that they can play all the poker they want and the most they can lose is $20 per month.

Article confirming that's their target market here: http://wickedchopspoker.com/rise-pok...ne-poker-site/

Now I'm wondering why FTP reopened my Iron Man Challenge on its promotions page. I can't earn any medals w/playchips,

Agreed it's a site for recreational players, like the facebook poker app...
but this way they can build up a loyal player base over the next months/ years and once the US pokermarket opens up zazang guess who will have a nice headstart...

SpadeClub poker WAS another monthly membership site bought out by ZEN.....

DJ...I was playing Hustler for like 2 weeks and then came to se that it is a complete waste of my time. I still do like the the UFC KO poker though a lot. Hope to see that game in a more serious play environment somewhere downt the road. How are you doing over there. Have you won any money to speak of?

From what I've heard it's almost impossible to play these subscription sites profitably.

I won $10 in April, so it should, in theory, get sent to me after the end of May, which is today.

You all will be the first to know.....

If anybody is interested... Rise is having a $1000 freeroll tomorrow at 9pm. I've already recieved an invitation, and right now I can't think of any reason why I wouldn't want to play.

Im signed up for it as well, good luck at the tables!

First place gets $500 cash, second place gets $250, third gets $100, fourth gets $50, and fifth-ninth each get $10. Tourney has 240 players in it as of 9:30 AM this morning.

Probably true but like I said above, for the majority of their target audience making a profit from poker is a foreign concept anyway...

One of the things I do like about Zen, they keep me informed. Via email, I get reminders that I had qualified for a tournament Monday, and it starts this evening. I wake to that reminder. None of our beloved poker sites did anything like that...ever. Zen even reminds me again (via an email), shortly before the event starts.

Yesterday, June 1, I got an email telling me that I had won a prize, but since this had not been done previously I had to do an e-verify that I was over 18. I should not have that problem again.

I expect my $10 sometime this month.

Don't spend it all in one place!

Well..seven minutes in and I've busted out of their kick-off tourney :-(

The advertisements aren't that bad. Just turn the volume down and wait till your tourney starts. Three minute breaks occur every 30 minutes. All tournaments on the site appear to have the same structure: 10 minute blind levels, 1000 starting chips at 15/30.

They offer three options to players: free play with commercials and qualifier tournament access, a $4.99 "Elite" membership that nixes the commercials and opens up access to a forum, chatroom, videos, etc., and then the $19.99 VIP membership that eliminates the qualifiers, allows one to compete for an additional $20,000 per month in VIP-only prizes, allows one to compete on the leaderboard, and also allows one to play "cash games" (with points, of course).

Bottom line: based on my experience, if you are not a subscribing member, the qualifying tournaments are going to require a LOT of luck to navigate. Primary prizes are "points", and the payouts are extremely weighted to the top finisher. I would skip the "Elite" membership entirely as it seems to just nix the commercials; you still have to play in qualifiers in order to win any cash unless you are VIP.

So your out eh? I'm at 55 out of 177 so I seem to be doing ok so far.

Now I'm in 10th place.
If this keeps up I'm putting in a rail request.

well this is interesting .. i just downloaded and am already in a 100$ tourney without qualifying or anything so not bad. The layout is semi confusing but it looks alright so far.

Only complaint i have at the moment would be for some reason the poker table will not move over to my second desktop?? In the history of having 2 desktops I have never had anything that wouldn't move over so that is weird.

I have that same problem, can't re-size the tables either. I have the Hustler version of Zen.