Rake Increase at Ignition has Some Hot under the Collar
On December 13th, Ignition Poker, the largest U.S. friendly poker site in the world raised the rake on poker games; some of the games saw an increase of up to 30 percent but some will be affected less than others. The rate of the rake will not be increased at any of the tables, but some games will see an increase in how often the rake is taken from the pot and the rake cap on some hands. Ignition insists that this is necessary as their costs are continuing to increase, and the company points out that the rake schedule is actually now closer to the industry standard than it was before the increase.
Ignition's Costs have Increased as Players have Decreased
Even the most popular online poker sites have been seeing a decrease in the number of players in recent months as the ebb and flow of poker's popularity has been on a down swing. At the same time, many of the costs associated with running the large poker site remain stable or have increased. As a poker room available to U.S. players, Ignition has costs that other poker sites without players from the United States do not incur; the biggest being the higher overall processing costs for banking by American players. It can get very expensive for gambling sites to offer players a variety of options for banking, the best security and encryption software, and this rings truer for those who reside in the United States.
Many Poker Tables will See Increases
As mentioned earlier in this article, some games will see the frequency of the rake collection rise, other tables will see an increase in cap or maximum rake taken and a small group of tables will see both. The biggest changes that Ignition players should be aware of include:
- Fixed-Limit tables with $0.25/$0.50 to $1/$2 stakes will see an increase in the number of rakes taken but the maximum amount of rake removed from the pot will not change.
- Fixed-Limit tables with the higher stakes of $2/$4 to $30/$60 will see an increase in frequency but there will be no raise on the cap for these tables.
- Pot-Limit and No-Limit games with a stake of $0.25/$0.50 and larger will see the rake in those games rise to the frequency of $0.01 for every $0.20 in the table's pot.
- No-Limit and Pot Limit will see rake maximums double to $2 at three handed tables, four and five handed tables will move up to $3 and for six handed, the rake cap will be $4 regardless of the number of people at the table and the stakes being played.
How this will Affect Ignition Poker
In face of criticism Ignition Poker has stated that the increases at the site bring the rakes at Ignition in line with rakes at other online poker sites; Ignition also believes who and how many players that leave for other sites will be minimal. With double the hands played versus the nearest competition, even a small decrease will still leave Ignition competitive. The fact that the poker site boasts the best players overall and intriguing games with large pot potential has Ignition confident that the changes will have little impact. Only time will tell how the exact impact of the new rates will affect Ignition and the online poker community as a whole.