To end the week, the Everleaf Network, which includes sites like Minted Pokerand accepts players from the United States, merged its previously separated player pools. Now, players on sites like Minted Poker will be intermixed with users logged into the ITA Network and U-Poker Network, which according to Minted Poker primarily consist of Italian players. For Minted Poker faithful, the news means a softer player pool and more tables to choose from.

Plus, Minted Poker just turned four years old, making a larger player count the ultimate birthday present. PocketFives.com sat down with Minted Poker’s Neil Butterfield to discuss the change and how the site’s players will be affected.

PocketFives.com: Can you tell us a little bit about the effect you’re seeing of the player pools being merged into one?

Neil Butterfield: The number of tables you’ll find on Minted Poker has more than doubled from what it was. The number of players has also more than doubled. You’ll see over 100% more tables and we’ll get to about 80 to 90 active cash game tables at our peak on Friday. The majority of our action is at $0.25/$0.50. On Thursday, we had 14 to 15 €1/€2 tables. Compared to two days ago, that’s a huge increase.

PocketFives.com: Are you seeing player counts increasing?

Neil Butterfield: We’re getting players as this news comes out. There’s more action and there are more tables you can play at, and it’s only going to get bigger.

PocketFives.com: Will we see any impact of the merge on Minted Poker tournaments?

Neil Butterfield: It will affect tournaments, but they were sharing some of the player pools already, so it’s still something we’re working on. I think our guarantees will double in the next month or two, though. Our daily guarantee is $2,000, which will probably go to $4,000. The Sunday guarantee should get to $7,000. Come this weekend, we’ll get a clearer picture of how many more players will play these tournaments. Friday is our full first 24-hour period.

PocketFives.com: Why weren’t the player pools combined before?

Neil Butterfield: The decision not to do it was based on input from our Italian partners 18 months ago. We, as a partner, pushed for it for a long time. We know our players are benefiting more now than they were before. We now have more of a balanced player pool, with our players being some of the stronger ones.

PocketFives.com: What deposit method do you recommend for Minted Poker?

Neil Butterfield: The most popular, and the one I’d recommend every time, is Western Union. On a bad day, it might take 36 hours to fund your account, but it’s generally less than an hour.

PocketFives.com: How long do cashoutstypically take?

Neil Butterfield: We have a thread on TwoPlusTwo, and the players there are reporting that they’re getting the cash in hand from as short as a few hours up to two days. That’s actually getting cash in your hand, which is quicker than any other method.

How it works is you request a cashout via Western Union. Within 48 hours, you’ll receive a transaction number, which you then need to take to your local Western Union store along with an ID and you’ll get your money. This is the smoothest thing I’ve seen with a partner.

PocketFives.com: Minted Poker is a member of the PocketFives Partnersprogram and offering a no-fee Western Union deposit for first-time depositors from our site. Besides that perk, why should PocketFives.com members sign up for Minted Poker?

Neil Butterfield: We offer what I think is one of the highest rakeback offers in the industry at 40%. We also have four different first deposit bonuses. We have very good rake chases, raked hand races, and rake races. For PocketFives.com members, we have a $14,000 rake chaseand $5,000 in other races. We also have a reload bonus of $444, which is the highest amount we’ve ever had. Overall, if you take advantage of what we have, you can get upwards of 100% return on your rake.

Sign up for Minted Poker.