Get 125% / $2,500 on 1st deposit!
New players only. Exclusive Welcome Bonus of up to $2,500
The MPN, formerly known as the Microgaming Poker Network, announced yesterday that they are planning to change the rake format in the network, effective sometime in October. When networks announce rake changes, most players will always think it is for the worse, but this time it actually looks like it has been thought through just a bit.
Head of Poker at the MPN, Alex Scott, posted a blog post on the MPN network site where he announced the rake changes and also explained why they were going to make them. The MPN cares about the long-term player pool and understands that the more rake they charge, the less players can win.
At the same time they are combatting the “parasite-players” as they call those who only cares about their short-term gains and not about the network or the other players. They are combatting seating-scripts, they are taking datamining hands to court to get them to stop and they introduced tablename change for players.
“At the MPN, we and our operators have taken measures against parasitic play. For example, we’ve taken our first steps in combating seating scripts, we’ve taken legal action against datamining sites, and we recently introduced alias changes. The goal of all of these changes has been to improve the experience of players on the MPN and create a more even playing field. They are ‘win win’ for us all, because if the changes cause players to stick around for longer, they not only have a better experience but also generate more revenue for our operators.” Alex Scott wrote in the blog post.
The MPN will basically charge less rake on the micro and small stakes, while increasing the rake slightly on the highest stakes. Furthermore they will no longer round-up when charging rake, but instead round-down, which should benefit the smaller stakes significantly.
The rake percentage will still effectively be 5%, but the new rake caps should make it easier for the small stakes players to make a profit and keep more money in the system rather than being taken out as rake. The maximum rake charged on the smaller stakes will range from one to three big blinds, which means that at a €0.01/€0.02 table, the rake will be between €0.02 to €0.06 and nothing more, all depending on the amount of players playing at the table.
“Rake at micro stakes and low stakes is decreasing. In fact, we expect to have the cheapest micro stakes games of any major provider. Our expectation is that this will result in longer lifetimes and a better overall experience for players in most games, and some of these players will stay longer, or move up in stakes. This reduction will be financed in part by increasing rake slightly in other games.” Alex Scott added.