Even though the decision to segregate certain rooms on the iPoker network has been in the works for months, when the actual plan was carried out earlier this week there was plenty of confusion, and plenty of questions iPoker players wanted answered.
Originally players were told that certain rooms (Tier 1 rooms) would have some of their low-limit cash-game tables and Sit & Go’s separated from the rest of the network (the rooms comprising Tier 2) but all other tables would still be shared by the entire network. The segregation was meant to reward poker rooms who brought in an influx of new, casual, players by keeping their low-limit tables from being decimated by the rakeback grinders on other skins.
But, what occurred on Wednesday was that all No limit Holdem tables from the lowest levels to mid-stakes have been completely segregated with Tier 1 rooms having their own tables, while Tier 2 iPoker rooms use separate but similarly named tables.
Complicating matters was the silence coming from the iPoker Network on the split, and any type of clear response to player concerns and questions. It’s well documented that poker players do not adjust well to changing conditions at their favorite poker rooms (they chose them for a reason after all) and with such a dramatic change the iPoker Network has not done a good job of explaining all the details.
It will be interesting to see how iPoker handles all of these player concerns regarding the split, and if and what the network decides to tweak –It’s still unclear if the split was supposed to be as announced (with Tier 1 rooms having exclusive cash game and Sit & Go tables not available to Tier 2 rooms, but sharing all other tables) or if the network decided to go with complete segregation.
It will also be interesting to see how the Tier 1 and Tier 2 rooms grow collectively, and what effect the network split will have on iPoker’s overall traffic numbers. While some people feel the incentives to reach Tier 1 will cause smaller skins to step up their game and adjust their marketing strategies accordingly, others in the poker world feel the split will simply consolidate power with the top performing skins on the network.
According to PokerFuse.com, the iPoker skins that are known to be Tier 1 rooms are, Bet365 Poker, Paddy Power Poker, Poker777, Titan Poker, and William Hill Poker. In order to meet the criterion to be a Tier 1 room a skin must sign-up at least 850 new players each month and have total base of 6,000 players.
