Revolution Gaming brings competition to US online poker

On Thursday Lock Poker launched the new Revolution Gaming Network (formerly known as the Cake Poker Network, which Lock Poker recently purchased) a day ahead of schedule, and so far the feedback has been mixed.

The migration of Lock Poker’s player base along with the slew of new updates and upgrades to the Revolution Network software, caused the inevitable technical issues, and with customer support already swamped with questions about “what happened to my VIP Points?” and “where is this and that feature?” some players were unable to log into the network or get in touch with customer service reps.

For the most part the transition was relatively seamless, but some of those that did log-in had mixed feelings about the new software, some complaining that the old Cake Poker Network software (which is being upgraded by Lock Poker) was inferior to the software of the Merge Gaming Network, the network Lock Poker left to purchase and join the Cake Poker Network.

However, despite the expected hiccups on Day 1 of the Revolution Gaming Network’s launch, there was plenty of traffic at the site, with Revolution Gaming traffic surpassing Merge Gaming traffic for cash game players at many points throughout the day –After just a single day the Revolution Gaming Network is already moving up the pokerscout.com traffic rankings and should eventually settle in somewhere around the #10 spot.

Players are still waiting on the full unveil of the Revolution Gaming Network, including promotions, a new tournament and Sit & Go schedule, a revamped VIP Program, and a flat 36% rakeback deal with cash-back potential of up to 55%.

With Lock Poker leaving the Merge Gaming Network and creating the Revolution Gaming Network there is for the first time since Black Friday some legitimate competition in the US online poker industry. Instead of taking rewards away from players, and Merge skins engaging in in-fighting, the two networks are now battling each other as they fight to be the top network in the US. Merge has already brought back its flat-rakeback deal (35%) in the wake of Revolution Gaming offering 36%, and it’s very likely that Merge will begin to lower its rake and tournament fees in order to be on the same level as the Revolution Gaming Network.

Despite the splintering of the US player base, the competition between the two networks could wind up being a godsend for US players, who have had very few options since Black Friday. US players might not have to simply “deal with it” anymore, as they now have two viable alternatives to choose from.