TonyBet, the independent online poker network that serves the international (non-US) market, is the latest operator to change the way they pay out rakeback.
In an innovative move, that takes effect from March 7, the new rakeback system will see losing players get higher levels of rakeback with winning players getting less. This will all be determined by player performance on a daily basis.
Losing players can expect to receive 25%, 50% or 80% in rake back, which will be paid into their accounts once a-week, on Mondays.
The breakdown
The new rake will be levied at 5% of every pot which goes to a flop. It will be capped at €2.50 on each pot, regardless of the stakes.
- Players losing €100 or more will receive 80% rakeback for that day’s play.
- Players whose results for the day are between -€100 and +€100 will receive 50% rake back.
- Players who win over €100 will receive 25% rakeback.
The new system does not apply to the Open Face Chinese (OFC) games which is TonyBet’s speciality.
Protecting Recreational Players
Over the past 6 months we have seen operators change the way they reward players in a move to protect the recreational players, and this seems no different.
Most notably we saw change come from PokerStars back in November, when they announced that they would be changing their VIP rewards scheme – with benefits being capped at the equivalent of 30% in rakeback.
This move resulted in the widely reported pokerstars boycott, that was lead by the high profile Dani “Ansky” Stern, who achieved fame from his participation in the TV show “2 Months 2 Million.”
Early this week news also came that 888, the world’s second largest poker network, will be changing changing the way their players are being {n:27974-888-shifts-more-vip-rewards-recreational-players-recognized and rewarded} by switching to a “mission-based” loyalty program that no longer compensates players for high-volume play. The new system will reward play across poker, casino and sportsbetting under a single unified loyalty program.
An 888poker representative stated “we want to reward players for other activities, including long term loyalty to 888poker, rather than only for grinding.”
The new 888 loyalty program is set to come into effect on March 28.
Reenergizing the Player Pool
In all these instances, the reward schemes have been tailored to give recreational players more of an incentive to play. Of course, by incentivizing more play by recreational players, the pros have more opportunity to benefit as well.
