A new room with its own software has opened its doors. PokerAce is based in the Philippines and plans to attract players from the Asian market.
Joe Hachem and JC Tran head up the PokerAce team with 2012 Main Event Finalist Steve Gee and tournament pro Nam Lee signed up as Team Pro’s.
In line with their stated mission, PokerAce is offering tables in US dollars and Chinese Renminbi: “Our mission is to be an ambassador for the development of poker in Asia.”
An interesting industry innovation is that there are three different table types each with a separate rake structure. The rake structure is standard for pure poker player tables with most tables at 5% with a $3 cap.
Players from the sportsbook and casino will find tables reserved exclusively for them that are not visible in the general poker lobby. Rake caps are much higher on these tables.
There are also “mixed” tables where poker players can play against players from the casino and sportsbook, and again the rake caps are higher. At $1/2 to $25/$50 there is a $9 cap, way in excess of industry standard. If winning players want to play against weaker gamblers they will have to pay the price.
Unusually the software is not a downloadable client. It is exclusively an online application. multitabling up to four tables is currently allowed, although there are plans to increase this limit for tournaments. Until player liquidity improves there are no guaranteed tournaments on offer, but there is a satellite to the 2012 APT Manila offering two guaranteed entry packages.
The site has a limited selection of games. Limit, No Limit and Pot Limit Hold’em are available together with 13 Card “Chinese”Poker.
A PokerAce rep, PokerAce_John is available on 2+2 and has been answering questions about the new site. Customer support on the site itself is available 24/7 and there is no annoying pop up automatically asking you if you need help on your first visit.
PokerAce has obtained a regulatory licence from the First Cagayan Corporation, which is the regulator for the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority in the Philippines. First Cagayan was the first regulator to be established in Asia and is a subsidiary of Leisure and Resorts World Corporation, a listed company on the Philippine Stock Exchange.
Players from the rest of the world are welcome as long as they are not from one of the following countries: United States of America or its territories, Philippines, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia, Taiwan, Israel, Antigua and Barbuda, Netherlands, Antilles, Estonia, or Cyprus, France, Denmark, Italy and Spain.
