Doingpoker News

Online poker players being penalized for winning. Is this a blackjack syndrome - "winners will be banned" - or a way for poker networks to control the fish-to-shark ratio?

Numbers of online poker players have been blocked from their favorite cash games at Microgaming skins. The reason: they were winning players.

Behind this surprising (and illegal?) action from some sites in the Microgaming (iPoker) network lies a desperate need to deal with the "rakeback problem".

The rakeback problem

The financial margins of many online poker rooms have been under attack in the last years, all because of illegal rakeback deals.

Even though the poker networks prohibit rakeback (Party Poker, PokerStars, Microgaming, Everest Poker, Ongame), many skins have continued to offer their players generous rakeback dkeals under the table.

After all, rakeback is a very effective marketing channel. Many pros and semi-pro grinders have made a living off this kind of deals. Anything less generous would imply a big cut in their income.

The problem is that the rakeback reduces the margins for both skins and networks. This has even made it hard for some of them to survive the harsh times of financial crisis.

Downward spiral of illegal rakeback

Sites that don't offer illegal rakeback deals have lost their customers to those that do. Money that could have been spent on regular marketing to attract casual (losing) players has been spent on attracting sharks - players who withdraw more than they deposit and thereby shrinks the poker economy.

All in all, the "rakeback problem" has been a real headache for the poker industry. A couple of months ago, newly started Bodog Network announced a the most brutal rake cannot be the best way to make casual players stay in the fish tank.

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PS  Also, if you manage to bring in only losing players to the network - who will they lose to?