Merge Pops Players by Exploding Rake!

New structure....




Old structure.

A well-respected guy who is always on internet poker over at 2p2 did an analysis and basically its anywhere from a 10 to 22% pop for NL cash players.

PLZ, write Merge (your skin) and tell them you will be playing less unless this is reversed.

They already took away our rakeback; this is a total slap in the face.

LHE players banded together and got their rake structure revised less than 6 months ago- it is possible!!!

LETS DO THIS!!

People plz check in and confirm you have written Merge. The next step should be a boycott day.

Merge explodes rake for players!!

Simply moronic move by Merge management after removing rake back entirely without any real right to do it. I guess US internet poker really is pretty much dead at this point...Bovada being the exception, but also disallowing any rakeback/VIP program.

The saddest part is people don't even seem to know at the tables!!!

Old structure....



New structure.....

You posted the same pic twice.

Fixed, now write Merge!!!!!!\


The LHE players got the rake structure reformed at Merge like 5 months back.

WE CAN DO THIS....EVERYONE JUST NEEDS TO TAKE 5 MINS OUT OF THEIR DAY TO WRITE THEM. Then maybe a boycott day.

It isn't that hard if we get a dozen regs on board to cripple the games.

LETS DO THIS!!

This is such a joke, what is happening with online poker right now

I was confused for a second because I thought the first picture was the old structure. Didn't see how that could be a bad thing but now that I see which one's which, sucks to be on Merge grinding low stakes...

Yeah not a fan of that also instead of letting u rebuy durning tourneys they have that new reentry so they can collect the fees each time ...congrats merge nice way to exploit the same people that are making u money.

good grief just got home after a week on the road wit5h dad and had decided to make carbon my second site after bovada only to see this.makes me glad im running good live. maybe try lock instead at least they have the cc 500.

I mean its just one of those things man. casinos take a ton plus uhave to tip a dealer so you really don't have it too awful bad on merge.

$4-$5 max rake it's and absurd!! I'm not from US, so, definitely I won't play cash games in carbon anymore.

just withdraw if you can and move to new regulated states;p

eichroll said:

I mean its just one of those things man. Casinos take a ton plus uhave to tip a dealer so you really don't have it too awful bad on merge.

Click to expand...

There's a huge difference in the volume you would put in online vs live so they don't really compare at all.

And to Smidjet, dont go to lock! Read up on some of the horror stories with WD's right now over there.

I'm up for it I'm really pissed with merge right now...should we boycot for our rb to come back to?

Is just me or are the OLP sites getting EXTRA greedy??

they are increase the rakes now...
what happened...
so new rules effective from now?

Was on Carbon this morning and it was deader than usual.
Spent 3 hrs at the same table [4NL/FR]with regs I think.
Some of the guys in chat were saying the high stakes MTT'ers have disappeared....

I would be interested in organizing a "sit out day" or weekend and collecting signatures for a petition to Merge.

Guys, listen, the LHE players banded together on 2p2 and got their rake structure modified-its definitely possible.

No rakeback, fine....even though the vast majority of people are like me and will never see rakeback through the VIP even approaching 30% I guess that is fine IF you keep the rake reasonable and the software/site good.

But now this......this is a slap in the face to everyone who has been loyal to Carbon through the post BF era.

WE NEED TO GET A DECENT NUMBER OF PEOPLE TOGETHER TO FIGHT THIS....IT ISN'T THAT HARD.


I'll be #1, who is going to be #2????

A2345Razz said:

I would be interested in organizing a "sit out day" or weekend and collecting signatures for a petition to Merge.

Guys, listen, the LHE players banded together on 2p2 and got their rake structure modified-its definitely possible.

No rakeback, fine....even though the vast majority of people are like me and will never see rakeback through the VIP even approaching 30% I guess that is fine IF you keep the rake reasonable and the software/site good.

But now this......this is a slap in the face to everyone who has been loyal to Carbon through the post BF era.

WE NEED TO GET A DECENT NUMBER OF PEOPLE TOGETHER TO FIGHT THIS....IT ISN'T THAT HARD.


I'll be #1, who is going to be #2????

Click to expand...

I'll bite

Well, we got 2.....

Can we get a few more people on board please.

Like I said, the LHE players got together to push them to reform the rake structure in that game and it worked.

I can't believe people really don't care about a huge increase in rake!!

Cmon now

I would but im an MTT'er. I play cash on there maybe once every few weeks for an hour or so. With that said, ill prolly avoid it altogether now but I doubt they care if I sit out

Doubt you'll change anything at this point though. They need the dough and that's final in their eyes.

If they need dough, then they need to keep games running. A quick look at poker scout shows Merge has been in decline since the RB reversal and now has seen a SHARP downturn in players since the Rake Grab.

Since the LHE players were able to get things fixed, I think it is possible.

Either way, it is important to at least let the sites know we notice them abusing their established player base.

just another reason I'm not a cash game player.

A2345Razz said:

If they need dough, then they need to keep games running. A quick look at poker scout shows Merge has been in decline since the RB reversal and now has seen a SHARP downturn in players since the Rake Grab.

Since the LHE players were able to get things fixed, I think it is possible.

Either way, it is important to at least let the sites know we notice them abusing their established player base.

Click to expand...

I helped fix the LHE rake (actually it was all fixed limit games).

I don't think we're gonna have any luck with NLHE.

There may be a case for getting PLO rake adjusted down.


Also, it wasn't really the rake increase that killed traffic, it was that Jazette decided to separate all it's cash games from the rest of the nework. Only MTTs are still shared among them and the rest of Merge.

Kahntrutahn said:

I helped fix the LHE rake (actually it was all fixed limit games).

I don't think we're gonna have any luck with NLHE.

There may be a case for getting PLO rake adjusted down.


Also, it wasn't really the rake increase that killed traffic, it was that Jazette decided to separate all it's cash games from the rest of the nework. Only MTTs are still shared among them and the rest of Merge.

Click to expand...

I am not saying it was SOLELY one reason, but to act as if scrapping RB had little to no impact is simply ridiculous.

I know I have played much less, and also avoided playing a lot of HU/SH situations, etc.

I don't think there is any way to isolate out factors empirically, but I know in chatting with regs that scrapping RB was a big factor in them grinding less.

We are talking about a 25% drop in about 2 months......it is quite probable more than one factor was at play tbh...but whatever the specific reasoning, we can be certain of one thing:

THE CURRENT DIRECTION OF MERGE IS LEADING IT TOWARDS A SMALLER AND SMALLER PLAYER BASE/GROUP OF REGULAR GAMES.

And that cannot be good ultimately for the bottom line.

curly said:

just another reason I'm not a cash game player.

Click to expand...

Reason number one for 90% of MTTers is they have no clue how to play more than 40bb.

Just saying though.....