I could only get through a couple minutes, but I have to ask: is there a minimum weight requirement to be a fan of ICP?

Yeah this.

bwahahahaha

What a joke. 2 tables of 100NL currently running on Merge right now. I understand that it is the summer, but come on, 2 tables on a Saturday afternoon.

8 tables on lock

Yeah I saw that. I am comfortable on Merge but it looks like I am not going to have a choice but to switch.

ok, looks like the time has come for me to start starting tables on merge again.......

well i'm trying to start a bunch for you at 100, but just getting grimmed at every table... no wonder no one plays here

pretty unfortunate for the site if I sit alone at 4 tables of 100 as basically an unknown and get no action besides grimmers

agreed, the site is in big trouble with respect to cash gaming. I've been in talks with Nathan about bringing cash game volume back to merge, and there's just really nothing to do about it other than offer some sick bonuses.

again?

lol

you say that like it's akin to chopping an arm off.
I think poker sites have been unbelievably complacent when it comes to bringing some creativity into the process of adding incentives for rec players.

There are OTHER things that can be used as incentives besides reload bonuses ya know?
It's also hard to maintain your rec player pool when you're charging them 1.5pt/100 (or thereabouts) for BBJ on top of their normal table loss rates

can you discuss some of these other potential options to attract players? Ive been in talks with Nathan lately about ways to try and bring cash game players back to merge, and fish. I'm of the philosophy that the biggest reason the games have been declining and moving towards lock is that 4k bonus they offer. I've tried to tell him to offer a 4k Bonus to BCP players to match it, but I'm not sure that's ever gonna happen. But I'd like to hear anything you or anyone else might have to offer in terms of a way to attract players back to merge, regs or fish.

rake free september

1/2 rake would work. table selection sucks.

grinding too many tables atm to make a comprehensive post on the matter, I will do later tho.
If ya think Nathan would be interested in bouncing some ideas, you can give him my skype

ummm...what about the fact that lock has dealt rakeback?

I don't think recreational players really care that the BbJ takes away from their winrate. If anything that's a plus for merge. I can't wrap my head around why everybody switched including rec players. Merge service, payouts, and software is all better.

yeah, thats the problem. it's tough to say why everyone just up and went to lock. my only guess is DJO giving out higher rb %'s than merge gives out, so a lot of ppl that were only getting 35% daily or up to 45% monthly on merge, made Lock accounts and got 60% through DJO, and then on top of that the 4k bonus and Ronin is a huge attraction. Like jah said, dealt rake is part of it too, as all the rakeback whores that used to just be empty seats on merge helping tables stay running, moved to lock. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if lock is putting a bunch of bots into their ring games to keep games running and push action. At this point, I don't know what if anything merge could even do to get people to come back. Hopefully the bigger bbj, and poker maximus in september will combine to bring a lot of play back onto merge. Merge seems to have put way too much focus into the huge rake race, and tournies. The problem with this, there's a ton of casual pro's who only play like 2-3 hours a day, maybe 50-60k hands a month, and they are helped almost none by the race to riches. The only people the rake race helps is people who put in 15k+ rake each month. There's literally 0 promos on merge that attract low or medium volume cash game players.

You are 100% right regarding better and fresher incentive ideas for not only rec players but for regs alike.

The rec players don't have a clue about rake and the effect that is has on winrate. That is why most of these guys play bbj tables to "hit it big" and you always see guys berating other guys for making plays where they are like "dude, you just screwed us, that could have been a bbj hand"

You guys want more fish to come to merge right? I'm pretty sure stuff like dealt rake/WC rake or some sort of half rake promotion would have absolutely 0 influence on where fish decide to play.

ummm...what about the fact that lock has dealt rakeback?[/QUOTE]

Wow, I didnt even know that Lock was dealt method. That is so huge for all those rb pros that keep the games going. No wonder people are willing to deal with sh_tty customer service and cashouts.

that's not even close to what I was talking about

people just play on lock now because there are way more fish on there than on merge.

why that is the case i have no idea but promotions targeting regs is not going to make much of a difference in the games on merge.

Fair enough, I get that it bleeds them more quickly hence more money is lost to site and less money for the regs. That being said, rec players love the bbj tables because it is really there only chance to "hit it big" similarly to all the rec players who play MTT's with the hope of hitting it big just once.

I think that one of the major reasons for this is that Cake has been around a long time and still has way more ROW players still, where I think Merge is predominately US based players. I think that the US based players who go through the trouble of playing on Merge are more competent than your run of the mill fish.