- The highest stakes in No Limit Hold’em games have been reduced to $3/$6.
- Fixed Limit Hold’em games max out at $30/$60, Pot Limit and Mixed Games at $10/$20 and some Split Pot games at $20/$40.
The highest limits offered by the Merge Gaming Network were removed from its lobby as part of a software update earlier this month.
Unannounced, the highest stakes in No Limit Hold’em games have been reduced to $3/$6. Fixed Limit Hold’em games max out at $30/$60—as a result of a prior reduction last year, Pot Limit and Mixed Games at $10/$20 and some Split Pot games at $20/$40.
In some instances, heads up games have been saddled with even lower limits. Heads up Limit Hold’em is only offered up to $5/$10 and heads up PLO peaks at $1/$2.
A similar reduction in stakes was implemented at PartyPoker last year as the site removed all stakes above $5/$10 in No Limit and Pot Limit games and reduced the highest stakes in Fixed Limit games to $30/$60.
At the time the change was touted by PartyPoker as a move to improve the site’s poker ecology and serve its “players’ best interests.”
Merge is currently the third largest poker network that continues to serve the US market, according to PokerScout.
The network soared in popularity following the crackdown on US-facing online poker sites by the US Department of Justice in 2011. However, a parting of ways with Lock Poker in 2012—one of its biggest skins at the time—and the closure of several other skins in recent months have allowed its competitors to surpass Merge in overall traffic.
All three major US-facing networks have made changes to their network apparently in the name of “poker ecology.”
Bodog infamously implemented anonymous poker tables across the whole network soon after Black Friday. Lock poker just last week announced “Fair Play Technology” which will categorize players by skill level.
