WSEX = RAKE FREE!

[lacky]

well, how do you show the average player how neat it is, and how much they are "giving back" if they don't give it back?

[ilya]

[ QUOTE ]
Something about this site doesn't seem right. Try talking to the players at your table. No one ever responds, despite the fact that there's no way to turn off chat (someone correct me if I'm wrong).

EDIT -- Not to mention tons of limp-reraising/capping preflop, followed by folding to a single flop bet. Plus tons of monster hands.

[/ QUOTE ]

Someone responded to my chat at the very first table I opened.

[almostbusto]

i've cleared 220 in rake so far according to the cashier. tons of limp reraising. i mean TONS. was also in a 5 handed game where nobody folded the flop heads up ever. i am seeing lots of weird play like homer saw. definitely a couple of guys who open LRR in the SB then check fold the flop when its T high...


with that said, i am stuck 800$. been playing a combination of 10/20 5/10 and a little 3/6. i am getting colded decked pretty hard(probably nothing gross but it feels like way with all the action), even though i am making nutish hands fairly often i am getting kicked in the teeth when the guy who capped 85s or 34 turn/rivers me.

we'll see i guess.

[MaverickUSC]

Not all of them have these restrictions. They are actually quite profitable when you find one w/o restrictions.

Bryan

[MicroBob]

I agree. Although WITH rake it still only takes a couple bad players to make a table worthwhile.


FWIW - I will personally see to it that their plans attract at least 1 more sports-bettor (small-time though).
I occasionally place sports-bets on a couple of other sites but never opened an account at WSEX.

If I have a game that I want to bet and am getting identical lines at WSEX then I'm definitely placing my bet there.
Partly just as a 'thank you' but partly as encouragement that bringing in these new players with rake-free poker really DOES get them to the sports-betting side.


This is an especially interesting rake-free experiment because WSEX is already a well-established site so we don't really have to fear having our money taken away or anything like that. Plus, their motivation seems pretty clear.


I do think it could work as they hope.
From their perspective: they see these poker-players (some good, others bad) passing some chips around and experiencing typical poker variance. Eventually, some guy who is on an upswing decides he's on a hot-streak and wants to continue to press his luck on the Duke/NC game or something.

Could be especially true with the tournaments. Some guy wins $20k in a $100 buy-in tourey. WSEX can hope and expect that every once in awhile the big-tourney winners will turn some of that money right back around into a sports-bet.


I saw the opposite happen at Bodog as well.
Some guy drops a ton on the poker tables and says that he's okay with it. He'll just get it back by placing a big bet on his "can't miss" Ohio State game or something.


So whether it's "spending big while winning" or "trying to make back one's losses in one shot" there is a decent chance that typical gambler-logic will help make this little rake-free experiment successful.



Also FWIW - I don't think they will cut it down to 95% RB after 3 months as others have speculated.
They might cut down the RB eventually...but they want to give this idea of bringing in sports-bettors a real try (just guessing).


Football season is the prime sports-betting time of year.
So I'm not sure they would want to cut it off before then. And they might actually offer EXTRA incentives come Aug, Sept, Oct to keep the players coming (perhaps reload bonuses or overlay tournaments and stuff like that ON TOP OF the 100% rakeback).
However, since this might be primarily a European site I'm not sure if that means that American football is less of big deal to them.
There's also the World Cup coming in June which only happens once every 4 years and I'm guessing has significant sports-betting action internationally.


I saw the 60 minutes piece on the WSEX guys a few years ago and the general impression I got is that they are rich, rich, rich.

[OldYoda]

This may be a dumb question but, what about sng's? Is the fee considered rake and refunded?

[Synergistic Explosions]

I'm starting to question the motives of many posters on this board. When an established site with 1000+ players turns off the rake, we get dozens of posters who have never even played the site giving their negative opinions about it.

Just STFU and let the site be. You don't have to participate in a rake free site. But why try to spin it as a negative when it isn't?

[MicroBob]

It said 'tourney-fees' in one of the posts in this thread so I'm assuming it includes SNG's.
I saw the question about SNG's 2 or 3 other times in this thread but didn't see whether it was answered or not.

[TheHammer24]

This is not going to work at all for WSEX. I see what MircroBob is trying to say, but you are forgetting that Sports Bettors now are going to lose some of the money that they would have bet on Sports at the Poker table. To the bettor, he loses $100 either way, but to WSEX, if he was betting on sports he WSEX is up $100 -- now all the 2+2ers are up $100.

Realistically, this cannot be permanent. It's a very poor business decision. Think of it as promotional.

[MNpoker]

How much money do B&M poker rooms earn for Vegas Casinos? (In relation to a row of slot machines.)

Poker has always been the loss leader for people to lose at other forms of gambling. Why should it be different on-line?

-- I'll be opening an account here, and will do my football betting here as well (more as a ty than anything).