- The first real-money mobile poker app available to US players has been launched by CarbonPoker.
- Microstakes cash games at limit and No Limit Hold’em are all that are available, but the offering will be expanded soon.
- The app is optimized for iOS rather than Android, but as a browser based implementation it works with both.
- The Merge network will be hoping for a traffic boost from its first to market mobile offering.
CarbonPoker is the first Merge Network poker room to launch a real money mobile poker app. Until now, none of the poker rooms which still accept US players have been able to offer poker for mobile devices.
The app has been available in testing since February, and was followed by a beta test using volunteers sourced from 2+2 which started early in August.
The app is browser based, so it works across all devices, but CarbonPoker rep Ryan said that it was not yet optimized for Android. No problems with iOS implementation have been reported in the support thread for the mobile app on 2+2.
Limit Hold’em (LHE) from $0.05/$0.10 to $0.50/$1 and No Limit Hold’em at micro-stakes are the only games to be spread in this initial version, but plans include expanding the range of cash games and adding tournaments as early as possible.
Mobile poker is the fastest growing section of the market and Merge is hoping to get a step up on its US facing rivals. As the sole mobile poker offering currently available, CarbonPoker is positioned to capitalize on players’ brand loyalty.
The Merge Network has lost out to Bodog and WPN in the cash game traffic rankings over the last year; a rake rise for mid stakes cash games contributed to substantial under performance against the market.
