I sincerely doubt that Merge, after having just reintroduced the rakeback program after it's 1 year hiatus, is not going to turn around and remove it again.
The following was also posted in the Carbon forum and pertains precisely to the issue at hand.
Here is a suggestion which effectively slightly lowers the rake for the players, and with no risk, is likely to increase Merge's net expected profits.
In similar fashion to Poker Stars, allow players to purchase cash bonuses with VIP points such that, to earn the bonus, there is a `play through' requirement.
Example: 5000 VIP points buys a $50 cash bonus, released after the player earns another 500 points.
Here are the benefits to site:
A) Formally the site loses nothing, since to release the $50.00 bonus, the player must first donate another $50.00 in rake.
B) The site actually profits from such a transaction, since the site saves the cost of processing/buying/warehousing/shipping 5000 VIP points worth of merchandise.
Longer term benefits to the site are:
i) Another incentive to attact more new players
ii) To encourage players from Cake to switch to Merge
iii) To keep loyal players playing at Merge and not switch to Cake
iv) To keep Merge regular players playing longer and more often, chasing the carrot of earning or clearing a bonus.
Regarding the LHE economy as a whole at Merge:
Currently a substantial fraction of the LHE action is generated by solid regs at low/micros stakes, nursing modest bankrolls and rarely making substantial deposits.
Many such players have rakeback deals and are unable to participate in points for cash.
The lure of merchandise is not enough reason to play extra. However the siren song of cash bonuses will keep many of us at the tables longer, and more often.
According to the Carbon thread a proposal has been submitted and they feel they are close. Still want to keep this thread alive since not everyone goes into the carbon one.
If so that would be fantastic if they are on par or exceed Pokerstars.
I'll settle for < pokerstars, my rakeback is far better so tough to compete there but somewhere in between current rake and pokerstar's rake would be a good addition. I have no idea how to market it to bring more players in, but maybe something in the new formula will help drive some more action.
Now that change is imminent, I have one more idea how to make limit games better for everyone, site and player. Make limit games rake free for everyone 55 years or older.
Old people never cash out. They can't figure out how to scan their ID's. So it's a valuable group to have on a network. There are over 5 billion old people on planet Earth, the market is huge. Whoever gets them first will dominate online poker for a hundred years. That is a fact. Channel them all into limit games if you can.
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