Some good poker network news to end the working week! The iPoker Network have announced that they will split their tables into 2 tiers from September 1st. One for the recreational players, and the other for the pro grinders.

I will start with a little background on the problem which iPoker are trying to solve here, and then explain how individual recreational players can benefit.

iPoker Network And ‘VIP Skins’

Big sports betting brands are the main bulk of the iPoker Network, with brands like Bet365, William Hill and BetFred supplying traffic to the poker rooms. This traffic tends to be less experienced in poker strategy terms, and more of the ‘recreational gambler’ type of player.

What happened over the years is that new members of this network took advantage of the loose and easy games, by offering grinders bigger ‘VIP returns’ to move to their site… still accessing the same tables.

For grinders (small stakes poker pros who multi-table for a living) this made sense, they were getting the equivalent of rakeback from these smaller sites.

The problem is that these skins poach the better players from the betting sites… the betting sites go to all the marketing expense of acquiring new players. Who then either lose quickly, or of they do become good players – disappear to the VIP Skins.

‘Parasitic’ is a strong term, and is used in the industry to describe network members who simply acquire existing players on the network by offering them a better deal. They add little or no value to the network as a whole by bringing in new players or getting more deposits (since winning players usually withdraw money rather than deposit it). That new money is the foundation of the poker economy… without deposits there is no game to play.

Now… the big brands on iPoker have said ‘enough is enough’

The Sports Betting Brands Fight Back – And Why This Is Good News

What has been announced is that iPoker will track all members, and on September 1st, any ‘skin’ who does not meet the following criteria will only have access to ‘tier 2’ tables. The criteria are:

6000 Active Players / Month
850 New Depositors / Month
A good fish to regular ratio

Many smaller skins will fail, and their players will not have access to the poker tables which the players from the big betting sites will be playing at. This means a small selection of tables for the failing skins, and those games will feature the more experienced players.

Here Is The Best News! The ‘top tier’ tables will be much easier… the grinders will be gone, and the huge majority of opponents will be there to have an enjoyable game of poker…

Well, I know where I will be playing – how about you??

How To Ensure You Are On The Right Side Of The iPoker Split?

Easy, stick to the biggest brands. I play with the biggest iPoker Site of all – Titan Poker… who have already committed to looking after their recreational players over and over again – most recently with the introduction of the awesome Titan Treasures bonus scheme.

Poker Bonus Network readers (that’s you!) can claim an extra $20 free cash on top of a 200% deposit bonus to check out Titan for themselves. Minimum deposit just $30 for the extra, use bonus code PBKLUB and I will ensure you get the extra within 48 hours direct to your player account.

You’ll love the Titan Poker games at the moment – just imagine how much better they are going to get come September!

Click here to check out Titan Poker for yourself now!