This is the key they are using international processors there for doj not gonna touch them cause there not gonna get the laundering charges and bank fraud and there is not 1 law on the books saying online poker is against any law there for DOJ has nothing on them!!!

Most people have no clue why this all went down!! This blog should help....http://www.dragthebar.com/poker-blog...jump-post-1263

Bodog has no chance. The software limits you to a max of 4 tables, yet you need a quadcore with 4 GB because of the inefficient programming and memory leaks. Play for houts without restarting the client and it'll eat all your memory until it suddenly crashes.
It's also extremely bot-tolerant, they are considered to be their best customers so they just run 24/7 because they know Bodog doesn't care.
And I believe rake is higher than normal in several areas.

It took the DOJ over 4 years to shutdown FTP/Stars. How much money do you think these sites raked in during that time period?

You might well be right on your last point, but that really depends on how quickly legalization moves forward. If it takes like 5 years plus, someone with the brains+balls is going to have decided that they want to become a billionaire and start the next Party/Stars/Tilt.

100% on-point about their super ram intensive client. They use to be very bot-tolerant, but have straightened up a bit...still bots on the site, but if you report them action actually gets taken against them.

Merge especially has grown quickly. It wouldn't surprise me if they continue to grow over the next year or so. It will be interesting if they or Cake or Bodog pick up the advertising vacuum left by PS and FT.

I highly doubt that will happen. The networks will be very hesitant to accept advertising from any gambling site until legislation is passed.
If the networks do suck it up and allow it, Merge and Cake are unlikely to go crazy because of the affiliate structure. There are so many different sites all in business for themselves on the network. They won't put money together to advertise one specific site, or the network as a whole. The only way the network were to make a major push would be if it were to merge (no pun intended) into one singular operation and brand with equity ownership between the skin owners and go that way.

You are absolutely correct. No network with multiple skins has ever advertised heavily on TV. It's just not possible. Only Bodog could do it since they have no skins.

That's a GREAT must-read article, ty for posting it.

I hear what the naysayers are saying, but this:



is Merge's 6-month graph from PokerScout (I extrapolated the orange part of the line because the current graph doesn't yet reflect today's 1,480-seven-day-average number of players statistic).

Perhaps they "merge" their affiliates and come up with a better name, grandfathering in their current affiliates, then using a non-affiliate model: advertising on websites, using sponsored pros, etc. for their new growth (isn't that what Pokerstars/Full Tilt did at first?). Perhaps their recent revenue bump frees up a LOT more $$$ for advertising which gets the steamroller moving even faster (don't you think Bluff, Card Player, Poker News and the others will be more than willing to make "deals" with the sites the American sites that are still around?). Sure, these newly propelled sites won't be making their own entertain-mercial poker shows any time soon, but neither did Stars/FT in their nascent beginnings.

Yes, the software is not great, but that can change quickly too. Merge's client is actually not that bad today (will someone please tell these sites to allow Avatar uploads?) My point is, this thing is already on a roll, it'll be interesting to see/predict where their trajectories peter out and why...anyone who looks at a graph like the one above and thinks these guys are going to slow down soon just doesn't like nature.

Merge revenue isn't up that much...everybody who is playing is getting 60-100+% RB with their current promotions

You're right, but if this were likened to the "buildup" phase of a startup company, even a fledgling upstart firm might be pleased with a doubling of revenues in 6 months. These sites/networks may or may not realize the long term potential of what they've just been handed --- but I'm sure a light has gone off somewhere.

And think about it: each incremental player is now going to be lower cost to acquire...all these sites are already built/tested/working/profitable(?) with a low need for capital to keep things running smoothly for now. And the 60-100% rakeback will fall away one day to something more realistic (and hopefully still better than Americans are accustomed to) over time.

cake # 3, wat are you smoking son?

pretty sure they were a solid #3 for a while before UIGEA. i actually got on them before i got on Stars.

Aha. Therein lies the problem.

Rubbish. Every processor wherever they are eventually needs to be connected to the player's bank (be it Instant Echeck or Credit Card). You can't operate completely offshore if you want to take deposits and send cashouts.

cake always has some juicy .5/1 plo games running

fyp

You can be assured that bots are NOT welcome at bodog and they directly violate bodog's Player Agreement . The bodog security team works hard with both bot prevention and bot detection and if someone is found to be violating the rules, they will be dealt with accordingly, resulting in account closure and seizure of funds. Please send a message to CS if you think you have identified any bots at bodog poker.

Thank you,
Becky

Do any of these sights/skins work with Macs like Pokerstars or Cerus did?

If they do I cannot seem to find them?

Kaz

merge has some really nice 400-1knl games, running 24/7.

Carbon works with Mac, so I'd assume the whole Merge network does as well.

was going to post this basically.

The first of the sites that are staying open to the US that actually gets good software and a good reward program is going to sweep up the entire market.

There are a lot sharks without a feeding pond at the moment. Make a move.

the average poker player is not going to put money on any of these sites after the DOJ just seized all of the money.

no foreign players are going to risk their bankrolls on these crappy sites either

those of you banking on cake and bodog actually running a good business haven't been paying attention for the past couple years

I heard a very similar thing post UIEGA.

And traffic took a big hit. For all the increased numbers we're seeing, it isn't a drop in the bucket to the numbers lost by the big 3.

Go play on a new, smaller site if you want. None of them seems nearly as trustworthy as Stars. You can't imagine your money is nearly as safe or that the game play is as protected. Didn't we feel even safer at Party, a publicly traded, totally legit business?

Cake - oh, we should have encrypted your hole cards? Our bad. We'll check to see if you've been cheated. (crickets) Please don't leave. Our new software update doesn't work? Well, just go back to the old one. No foul, right?

When one of these sites just takes your money at a time of their choosing, don't be shocked. When one of these sites can't pay off when the DOJ comes after them, understand it was completely expected. I wonder what the odds are that all three of the new big three pay off when the time comes? Heck, at this point it looks like only 2 of 3 of the old Big Three are likely to pay off. If we're unlucky (I hope we're not) it will be 1 of 3.