WPE's "NO RAKE" - or "rake refund" rather

Dear World Poker Exchange Client:

World Poker Exchange is about to turn the online poker industry on its head. Starting today, we'll be completely eliminating the rake from the real-money games in our poker room, regardless of table limit or game type. This makes World Poker Exchange the world's only venue where it's completely free to play poker-and yes, that includes tournament play as well.



The house rake is poker's silent killer, and depending on how much you play you could be losing hundreds or even thousands of dollars a month. Use our handy rake calculator to see how much money you've been leaving on the table.

To start receiving the benefits of No Rake Poker, just sit down and start playing. Each week, we will simply tabulate the total amount of rake that you contributed (including tournament fees), and return 100% of that amount to your account. As before, you can transfer funds seamlessly between your poker account and sportsbook account at any time.

We believe poker should be a fun, free service available to all our customers, rather than a means to "rake" them over the coals. With the advent of No Rake Poker, World Poker Exchange is now the only place where it truly pays to play.

Best Regards,

World Poker Exchange
www.worldpx.com




Found this in my junk e-mail box
this would be great if there were no strings attached...which i have a feeling there are

what do you guys think the catch is?


ps. sorry for links - didn't know how to take em out - but they're linking to cardschat.com for some reason

The catch is that soon it will become the toughest site on the net as players who care about rake (i.e. not donks) migrate there.

Originally Posted by ChuckTs
what do you guys think the catch is?


That is a good possibility DM! Or the site is struggling to begin with and will be gone within a year from going broke.

THEY say it's because this offer will generate a lot of revenue for their associated gambling sites (get ready to be spammed to hell). But I think this sentance is odd "Each week, we will simply tabulate the total amount of rake that you contributed (including tournament fees), and return 100% of that amount to your account". Why not simply not charge fees and rakes in the first place? I smell a minimum refund limit, or some such clause.

The other possibility is that they will get a large sign up with this deal, and then be "forced" to introduce a rake / fee at a later date.

I totally agree, i smell a rat here, like you say rob why not simply have no charges in the first place, somethings up with this, it dont sound good. buck

I now have a WPEX account !
You guys argue about it, while I play it.
In fact, I'll post my progress when I'm done.

They don't take a percentage.

Fish, have you played there? I've seen posts on other forums saying it's a load of shite with ultra tight players (or bots), antiquated interface, crashing software, and incorrect refunds (i.e not all your rake is actually refunded). From the horses mouth, is it any good?

I had a look and decided I'd come back when I could play Omaha High/Low on there...

Yes. Still do.

It has a lot of 'ultra tight' players,but they are certainly beatable.

That ranks right up there with "rigged". = not worth commenting on.

so? It still works.

Name me a site that hasn't crashed before.
My rebuttal to whatever site you name = "WRONG"

aNope.

Yep. Although I wouldn't multi-table here.
I just open one table along with 3 tables on another site



For those of you with pokertracker or pokeroffice.
Check out the rake paid tab.
Wouldn't that be alot nicer in your pocket?

For those without a pokertracker type program, unless you are new to poker, there is no hope for you. (but that's a debate for another thread.)

Hi all,

I just started playing at wpex two days ago, and here are some details of what I've found so far...

Most importantly, the rake: Yes, it seems we do get 100% of it back. In the cashier window there is an account button showing the normal balance, and a rake button showing how much you've earned so far in rake (this gets updated every time you get up from a table). I started playing on Monday, which was the day where everyone got paid their rake. A lot of players were totally elated as they typed away in the card rooms.

As for my own rake so far, this is the end of my third day of playing, and I've accumulated over $120 in rake so far. This is from playing 3 tables at a time, which is the max they allow right now for multi-tabling (I actually sent them an email asking for the ability to have at least 6 tables being played at a time). I've also played over 10 hours each day, mostly at $25NLH, $10NLH, and $50PLO/8 (I had to start my own plo game, but people show up and the table fills eventually).

Software: Over all, it's been fine. There are times though where there is a slightly delayed response to betting/checking/folding. On rare occassion there is also an annoying "socket error" message that keeps popping up, but this goes away eventually.

Players: I've logged enough table-hours on wpex now to safely say these guys aren't tight at all, at least at the lower limits. Perhaps some of them go with the theory "the more hands I see, the more rake I'll get" (which is true). I've especially enjoyed the PLO/8 games where people sit down and really don't have a grasp on the game at all. PLO/8 is my game of choice, but for the whole rake thing I decided I needed to get better at holdem since that's where all the action is right now. So for now I'm just buying in half-stacks at 25 or 10 NLH, and things are going fine. I've seen these guys make a lot of crazy plays so far.

How is wpex making their money then, if they don't collect rake?:
1. Drawing poker players in hopes that they will also make sports bets or play blackjack.
2. The money that we deposit in the first place goes somewhere. That somewhere ends up in some sort of bank where they can collect interest, and interest = profit.

Why don't they just eliminate rake all-together?: Strange, but I actually prefer it this way. I like seeing all the money come in that I've been missing out on at places like Party. It's really more interesting this way, and I don't think I'm the only one that thinks this. I'm sure that's what wpex is thinking too.

Hope this clears up some concerns. I had my reservations about this site too for a while, but took the plunge. I'm quite happy with it so far though.

I think the catch (as was probably previously mentioned) is that they'll switch back to a smaller-than-average rake and slowly bring it back up over a couple years - why make money solely on banking the rake and getting interest, then returning the %100 rake to their clients, when they can bank the rake and get interest aswell as do like every other site does and keep the rake?
I personally don't think they've got their money's worth in new customers with this promotion because it just sounds too good to be true...though i am considering taking a look

Of course, they're not just holding your rake. They're also holding whatever funds you have at your site. I wonder how much interest a site like Stars or Party get from the collectively deposited funds they have.

Actually in a interest bearing account of just say 2 million dollars you are looking at an income generated of $100000. Now take the actual amount of money that is taken in at a site for the "held" rake, money in accounts, spin off sports bets and other little charges they have you are talking a lot of money. If they get enough players they don't need the rake.

I love WPX. This is the greatest bargain online especially w/ US players so limited in options these days.

i play wpxand also like it maybe it will change but in the meantime i am going to play there and get my rake back

I always said that a site should do this... I think they would make enough money just advertising other sites.. and obviously as they said it will bring more people to their