Spotlight - CarbonPoker.com / Merge Network

[Jeremy]

I am happy to see affiliate managers participating in this thread. Both Cake and Merge have great software so it will be interesting to see what it does to the poker economy for our players that don't exclusively play at Stars and Tilt. I am very interested to see how it all plays out.

Thanks to the AM's for chiming in here as well.

[actyper]

So far it only appears to have taken a slight hit. Of course it might take a bigger hit over the long term with less fresh sign ups.

As far your other comments, why does Cake software suck? That was always one of my favorite things about Cake was the software. That plus th games were the softest of any rakeback sites.

The software sucks because it is old school and very glitchy. Games being soft is probably 2 years ago as it is now considered one of the "rockiest" sites out there just behind ipoker. Cake had the opportunity to become up there, but they are slowly lagging and haven't done much to improve the past year.

In terms of Merge I agree with Kaus about the tournament schedule. There is really nothing to play for Mid level+ tournament player. There needs to be a decent weeknight nightly (ie $50 - $10k) and something else on a sunday to go along with the $50k. I like the move to making it a freezeout, even though it played like a freezeout anyways.

[CK]

Stephen - I just have a fairly basic question but want to get this right. With the new VIP system - Will players move up based on the number of points they earn per calendar month, or based on the points they earn whenever they earn them.

Are there any requirements for maintaining a level. I see a decayed for not logging but other than that will a player be able to maintain his status forever as long as he continues to earn something within the 90 days.

[Beanie]

I am happy to see affiliate managers participating in this thread. Both Cake and Merge have great software so it will be interesting to see what it does to the poker economy for our players that don't exclusively play at Stars and Tilt. I am very interested to see how it all plays out.

Thanks to the AM's for chiming in here as well.

I am optimistic about the NEW Cake software but the old software has always blown and is likely the biggest reason Cake hasn't competed with some of the bigger sites. It just never felt ready for prime time.

I have played on Merge the last three days and I love the software. Just love it. What few flaws it has can easily be polished.

With all that said I think people are looking at this as if it is only a Cake and Merge situation. I foresee a lot of marketing around these sites that will really affect the big boys, possibly even more than Cake.

Certainly online sites getting better is good for everyone. I haven't seen a mass exodus of my players wanting to leave Cake but time could be the story on that one. I doubt it though, it's really tough to get people to leave their home and for a lot of people Cake is there home.

[wjb316]

I am optimistic about the NEW Cake software but the old software has always blown and is likely the biggest reason Cake hasn't competed with some of the bigger sites.

Funny you say that. I just wrote a Cake review yesterday and said almost the same exact thing as you.

They would do much better dumping their photo avatars and going with something simpler, cleaner and faster. The Merge software looks much better but it still runs pretty choppy compared to Tilt and Cereus.

Maybe recreational players like the graphics but I prefer performance. The old school UB software was so sick! When you get into the game and start making a lot of decisions, the graphics become meaningless. Performance is the key. This is only my point of view as someone who spent hours every day grinding out a living. Might be different for the casual poker players out there. One thing I can tell you though - the fast UB software kept this high volume player around for quite a while. I was earning $3,000+ rakeback payments and their lightning quick software was one of the main reasons I played there.

About the Merge tournaments - I was looking for a few yesterday and didn't see much. With the influx of players, Merge would be smart to take a temporary hit and host a bunch of guarantees, plus offer more freezeouts every day of the week at all levels. Might start out slow but if you build it, they will come. You already have a shit ton of affiliates ready to push you - especially since stars and tilt shit all over us. This is your chance!

[MJ]

I have played on Merge the last three days and I love the software. Just love it. What few flaws it has can easily be polished.

I feel the same way, Merge is my favorite software.

WJB you are spot on too - all Merge needs to do to kick some ass is eat some guaranteed money tournaments, they don't need to be huge just make sure there is 5k and 10k guarantees all over the place and eat it till they fill. These type of $10 guarantee tournaments are what the fish want anyways.

The one thing Merge has always needed to do and seemingly never paid attention to is improving banking - more deposit options, more cashout options, no $25 fee for a freakin paper check that takes 8 weeks. BANKING above all else is why Stars kills it.

[ianw]

Thanks for all your input guys. I can tell you more massive improvements are scheduled for the Merge software. We are looking at a 1st July date for a new platform which will cut out a lot of the what you have described as "choppiness" and increase performance. This change will also allow us to become mac compatible, and multi lingual inside the client, which will be great for you guys with non US players.

In the meantime we are looking at increasing the tourny schedule and doing some fast development on having late reg, this will allow us to grow the base faster and not get killed by overlays as we grow.

In terms of banking, we know things have been rough for the last few months, but we have now got a solid bunch of processors in place and I expect things to improve instantly.

Yesterday was our biggest day for a long time and today is looking like it is going to smash that, so things are looking up for you and your players.

Again thanks for your guys patience and we appreciate it. We have some very exciting stuff coming out of the Carbon Poker office that I will be able to share with you shortly.

[Student]

In terms of banking, we know things have been rough for the last few months, but we have now got a solid bunch of processors in place and I expect things to improve instantly.

So no more waiting 5-6 weeks for a check as most players wait that long. also when did this gointo affect as a few players are waiting about a month now for a check

[ianw]

We are clearing through the backlog and expect to be fully caught over the coming days/weeks.
If anyone is having issues, please contact me directly and I will do all I can to get them resolved ASAP.

[Jeremy]

Here's a new landing page that Carbon came out with. Looks like these two networks are going to have a friendly battle on their hands!

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