The Merge Gaming Network will be ending its rakeback program effective January 31, shifting players to a VIP Program. PocketFives can independently confirm that the news affects all of Merge, not just Carbon Poker.

In an e-mail sent to players, Carbon Poker outlined its rationale for taking such action. “This change enables us to offer larger and more beneficial bonuses and ultimately allows for an improved distribution of bonuses to our players,” the e-mail stated. The removal of rakeback will apply to all players currently on the site as well as new players who join in the future.

The changes at Carbon Poker were met with a cacophony of outrage from players who had participated in the rakeback program on the site. An official representative from Carbon Poker, CarbonRyan, has been interacting with the players on the Two Plus Two forums where he went into further detail on the switch: “We believe that moving away from rakeback to an improved VIP Program is that best way to build and improve the overall poker ecology of our network.”

“While we understand that many people who currently receive rakeback will not feel the same way, we are taking these steps now to secure the longevity of the network and put ourselves in a position to offer more rewards (and ensure that they are) more evenly distributed across the entire player base on the network,” he concluded.

As more players sounded off on the decision by the site, CarbonRyan elaborated a bit more on the situation: “Most of the industry’s largest poker sites reward players in this way (through points programs rather than rakeback), with only us and a small remaining few still offering rakeback as a rewards structure. It is an outdated framework and (Carbon) stands by the decision totally.”

Although Carbon has yet to unveil its revised VIP Program, the levels set under the current situation allow for players of all types to receive benefits. The Carbon Poker VIP Program currently has six levels – Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, Ether, and Ether+ – that have monthly point requirements. A player is awarded different benefits depending on how much he plays during a month of action.

In each of the six categories, players can earn cashback rebates depending on the level they are currently at. For example, an Earth level player earns a daily VIP cashback rebate of 6%, while an Ether+ player earns 35%.

Player reaction has been lukewarm, and that may be putting it mildly. “I don’t see how this could help the ecosystem,” Two Plus Two poster JimAfternoon commented. “All the high volume, higher stakes guys are already on VIP. Nothing will change for them. It’s the medium and low stakes volume guys whose rake is going up.”

“I’ve been extremely loyal to Carbon despite all of its recent moves,” poster 413AceKing stated. “A recreational player model is a more profitable long-term decision, but (Carbon) is going about it the wrong way. They should just stop offering rakeback to new players and just suck it up and not back out of agreements with existing players. I don’t have the time to put in serious volume to make this move make sense for me.”

Whether the move will have an effect on Carbon Poker’s player numbers will be something closely watched. The Merge Gaming Network is the 20th largest network worldwide in terms of real money ring game volume, according to PokerScout. The Merge Network had a peak of 1,373 cash game players on Tuesday and its seven-day average is 700.

PocketFives does not recommend playing online poker on sites offering rake-based games in the United States like Carbon Poker. Your money may be at risk. We feel more comfortable at this time recommending no-rake sites such as HogWild Poker.

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