Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Merge Gaming Network Review And Users' Guide

The Merge Gaming Network* (e.g. Carbon Poker; rakeback) is an excellent choice for many people, especially because of it's profitability, but serious players may find its traffic too limited.

Merge Gaming's greatest strength is that it has the worst players of the six major US-friendly sites/networks: that's the largest factor in the profitability of a room. Additionally, some of Merge's tournaments have overlays (they pay out more than the sum of the buyins). The Merge Gaming Network also offers good software, decent customer service, and fairly good payment processing. Merge's software has several fun special features:
- It shows the probability of winning when players go all-in, like on TV.
- It has a lot of unique emoticons (try typing "shark" in the chat box).
- You can rabbit hunt (see the cards that would have come out if it's folded to you).
- You can run hands twice.
- You can show your opponent a single card.

The commonest deposit methods are debit, credit, and prepaid cards (All Access is recommended). Checks are the standard cashout method, but they charge a relatively-steep $25 fee and are very slow lately, taking about a month.

Carbon Poker offers a 100% bonus on deposits up to $600 and entry into new depositor freerolls.

Serious players may find Merge's traffic to be too limited: it's the smallest of the US-friendly sites/networks I recommend, with limited traffic above about $100 NL Hold 'em ($0.50/1.00 blinds with a $100 maximum buyin), and little traffic at games other than no-limit hold 'em. Traffic peaks at European hours (earlier than the US). You may want to consider playing Merge and another room at the same time, however, for it's profitability. It's also weak for people who play a lot of tables, e.g. tables don't pop up correctly for stackers (a method of multitabling). Multitablers may want to try the mini mode tables, as their text readability is much better than the regular tables at reduced sizes. A converter is required to use Merge Gaming hand histories with a hand history database like Holdem Manager.

Click the images below for larger versions:







* A network is a group of poker rooms (often called skins) that pool players and use the same software.

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Posted by Self Made at Wednesday, November 05, 2008
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6 comments:

  1. They don't accept players from Kentucky.
    ReplyDelete
  2. The review was substantially rewritten. Major changes include:
    - A hand converter is available now.
    - The check-withdrawal fee increased to $25.
    ReplyDelete
  3. Added that check cashouts are slower than average (two weeks or so).
    ReplyDelete
  4. Check payouts are very slow now, taking perhaps a month.
    ReplyDelete
  5. eWallet payouts are slow lately. That's a possible warning sign, since it wouldn't be related to the semi-regular problems with US-based payment processors. I consider the Merge Gaming Network to be moderately risky now, which puts it below all the other significant US-friendly sites/networks. I wouldn't stop playing there (it's too profitable to play there), but I wouldn't keep my entire bankroll on the network either.
    ReplyDelete
  6. Check payouts for US customers are very slow now, so I recommend you avoid them. Use an ewallet for cashouts instead as they're much faster. Jazette, the Cake Network's largest customer, will be moving to Merge soon. This means that Merge will have much more traffic and I no longer have any worries about Merge's solvency. Jazette's sites includes Sportsbook.com and PlayersOnly.com.
    ReplyDelete

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