From Monday, all multi-table tournaments (MTTs) on PartyPoker will include no fees. The new promotion is set to last only for a limited time, though no specific date has been set for when it ends.
According to emails send to customers and new promotional material on their site, buyins for tournaments of $6 or less will increase to include the rake previously paid, so a “$5+0.50” tournament – $5 entry fee plus 50c in vig – is now $5.50 to enter with the entire amount repaid in the prize pool. Tournaments of a higher buyin are simply listed without the rake.
This certainly is not the first time a poker room has flirted with the concept of rake-free poker. Famously, WSEX, who also operates a sportsbook, tried the 100% rakeback model in their poker room in 2006 in hopes of attracting new customers. The room never garnered attention from recreational players and reverted back to a raked model a year later.
PartyPoker, who aggressively advertises their casino product within the poker software, is hoping the gamble of rake-free tournaments will attract new players to their cash games and the other operations of PartyGaming.
The poker room has caught attention in the past for making cuts to their tournament structures. Back in 2008, Party permanently set a $10 max rake for SNGs across the board, effectively reducing the industry standard 5-10% rake on high-buyin tournaments to 2% or lower.
One of the largest European networks, PartyPoker regained third place back in early June from rival IPoker, and with Full Tilt’s poker room still offline Party can currently boast a second place position. The network looks to get yet another boost in traffic with bwin players likely to move to the PartyGaming network this year.
