Any 'lowered rake' news?

Are there any poker sites that have lower rakes (yet)? It appears Paradise has all the action locked up so it would seem a logical response by a competitor trying to gain some of the business. At least that's what my Econ. 101 professor told me.

The drop at Truepoker is lowered from 20 to 12 dollars, a pretty steep increase in rake at least at the 1/2-tables where pots often get between 10 and 20 bucks.

From what I can gather from the new sites, Nick, is

that they all claim they don't want to get in a price war.

(From numerous emails to them)


I guess they are happy having 1-4 tables going for a full rake

rather than 20+ at a reduced rake.


It really is amazing that after 2 years:

Nobody can compete w/ paradise

Nobody has lowered their rake


Paradise controls so much of the market right now, that

the only way for a new site to come along and get jump

started and take a big piece of the pie away from paradise

is to come up with fast software, and then to drop their

rake, at least for the first few months.


I also wish paradise would lower their rake for a period

of time instead of giving money away.


Say for example have a 1 month marketing promotion where we

only pay half the rake.


This will do a few things:


#1 prevent players from winning $10,000 and cashing out $9,000


#2 prevent players who rarely play there from logging in


during giveaway and winning any $


#3 The money goes back to all of us


#3 is particulary important because the games are so dead right


now that the only way to rejuvenate them is to lower the


rake for a significant period of time....1 month wouldnt be long enough.


But until they learn that the rake is to high, internet

poker will continue to have a bad reputation (from its trickle

down effects)


Just my 2 cents

Here's a copy of an e-mail I have just received from a small poker site. I think you might be interested in reading how a small site perceives itself, and its thinking on the rake. (I have asterixed out various names for anonymity purposes.) :-


"Hi Mike.


Thanks for your reply & comments. We always appreciate them. Sorry its taken me a little while to get back to you, its been very hectic around here & I wanted to just spend a little time on my response to you.


We're actually not trying to compete against ********, and are actually running a very small & intimate site. As such we do not have games going on very often. We understand many people prefer to play at a non-stop action site, and we wish those people all the best. We're in the business of providing a small and intimate site so that our members can get to know each other. And instead of people playing solely at our site, we encourage players to join one of the big sites, as lets face it - it's very convenient to be able to choose from a wide selection of

games and limits in action any time of the day which is what both

****** & ******** offer. Then our members can just stop by ours occasionally when they want a different kind of atmosphere or to catch up with some old friends or make new ones. (The most popular time is from around 8pm EDT.)


It's not for everyone, and we understand that. Thankfully, our business relies on the fact that it isn't for everyone.


Regarding rake, ******** can afford to beat anyone & everyone at

that game - so that's not a strategy we have any plans on.


Again thank-you for your comments, and I wish you all the best with wherever you choose to play.


Warmest regards,


****

Support."

You overlook a problem here, one that I have seen in many places. The reality is that a lowered rake kills action. What happens is that the best players gravitate to the lowest rake, while the action players don't care a bit about how much the rake is. So you get games full of rocks and that chases away the action players as well and then everyone ends up back where they started from except the biggest of the rocks who insist that its better to play their 3 hands an hour at the lowest rake joint. Not a pretty picture.

Truepoker has not changed its rake structure for any games other than 1 - 2 games.


Truepoker has capped the rake in 1 - 2 holdem games at $1.00, regardless of the number of players. A $1.00 rake is taken only when the pot reaches $12.00 in called bets. In addition, unlike some of our competitors which break the rake down to change, we take no rake if the pot is below $12.00 in called bets.


Finally, we are concluding our testing for multi-table tournaments specifically designed for lower limit players. We are presently offering beta-testing with real money tournaments for very low entry-fees and buy-ins.


Please feel free to send any coments directly to Truepoker, especially if you are a 1-2 player at our site.


David Gzesh, CEO

I don't have to send you my opinion. What difference would that make? You already know it. I want lower rake, not higher. You made this change without notifying your customers, so I'll do it for you. The lowering of the drop probably raises the rake at the 1-2 tables with at least 50%, probably more, as most pots are between 10 and 20 dollars. How often does the cap at 1 dollar make any difference? How many pots are over 40 bucks - one out of fifty?

yes, this is going to be very bad for this site. I am a $1-$2 holdem player and am very upset right now. Previously I said some nice things about this site. I take them back. This site is sneaky, from the ceo post you can see. ya, we will cap the rake at $1 for $1-$2 holdem, how many pots in this game reach $40.00?

Let's boycott Truepoker.com, it has poor service, like a vampire in the dark, greedily sucks money out of beginner players in $1-$2 holdem.

I am sorry you view us that way. Truepoker offers $ 1 - 2 holdem players zero rake for the smallest pot contested pots.


The truth is that Truepoker charges ZERO rake for $1 - 2 holdem pots which are less than $12.00. Other sites take a rake for much smaller $ 1 - 2 holdem pots.


According to their websites, both Planet and Paradise charge rakes at $.25 to $ .50 for $1 - 2 holdem pots at $5.00 and $10.00 respectively. That does not make them "greedy" or "vampires".


As for "a player at truepoker.com",


I am truly sorry if our rake for $1-2 games policy has cost us your patronage. I have read your favorable posts about our site in the past. Do you really think it unfair to collect some rake for pots between $12.00 and $20.00 when we collect ZERO below $12.00 ? How many pots you win at Truepoker would drop $ .25/ $.50 if we raked at $5.00 and $10.00 like the competition ? (Those quarters add up quickly. Under our rake structure, you win them, under the competition's you drop them.)