After a partnership that lasted for slightly more than a year, the online poker site PokerHost and its partner in the Equity Poker Network have announced that they will part ways.
The severance of the deal between the two organizations took effect on December 9, slightly more than a year after the Equity Poker Network took the leap into real-money online poker in November 2013. In what was said to be a mutual agreement, a spokesperson for the Equity Poker Network said, “We thank PokerHost for their contribution during their time at EPN and we wish them well, as well as their players. (We also wish them) much continued success for the future.” For its part, PokerHost did not make an announcement on the ending of the partnership but instead concentrated on where they would move next.
As soon as the ink was dry on the paperwork releasing PokerHost from the Equity Poker Network, PokerHost quietly announced that they would join the Winning Poker Network. PokerHost joins a growing online network that is looking to increase its viability in the online poker industry. The changeover from Equity to Winning will also allow PokerHost to remove certain player restrictions (some winning players were banned, by Equity, from preying on lesser players or even the site itself) from their purgatory.
The changes by PokerHost are probably not going to have a huge effect on their players, but some of their Mac users might not be happy about the change. At this time the Winning Poker Network does not have a Mac-platform for operating its client, but that may be changing in the near future. For those that aren’t on a Mac, PokerHost will be able to jump into many of the big promotions provided by the Winning Poker Network, such as “The Beast” (a progressive rake race for those who enjoy cash games).
The actual move should have little effect on the overall online poker industry but will change the numbers for the two networks. The Equity Poker Network is ranked #34 in PokerScout.com’s online poker rankings, with a seven-day average of 170 players for their cash game tables (PokerScout’s rankings look at cash game play as the bellwether for a room’s action). Other rooms on the Equity Poker Network include such spots as FullFlushPoker.com and SportBet.com.
For the Winning Poker Network, the addition of PokerHost should see their numbers rise a bit. The Winning Poker Network is currently ranked #28 on PokerScout’s charts, drawing in 300 cash game players over a seven-day period. They are the fourth largest poker network that accepts U. S. players (ranking behind Bodog/Bovada, the Merge Gaming Network and the Chico Poker Network) and feature such rooms as America’s Cardroom, BetcoinPoker.com, BlackChipPoker.com and TruePoker.
PokerHost has been one of the vagabonds of the online poker industry, having put their feet down with several other poker networks in their history. Only five years ago PokerHost was one of the rooms associated with the Cake Poker Network. Following the move by the Cake Poker Network to become Revolution Gaming (and separate their U. S. action with JuicyPoker), PokerHost made a move to the Merge Gaming Network. After two years with that group, PokerHost parted ways with Merge to join up last fall with Equity. Prior to this five-year period, PokerHost operated as a stand-alone site and was somewhat popular with U. S. players.
The changes will probably have little to no effect on the upper echelons of the online poker industry. PokerStars unsurprisingly continues to rule the online poker industry, bringing a seven-day average of 19,500 players to its cash game tables (in fact, you could add together the next 14 rooms on the PokerScout charts and they wouldn’t reach 19,500 players). Their closest rival, 888Poker, enjoys the second place slot behind PokerStars but, with an average of only 2400 players, is a very distant second. The iPoker Network (2000 players), PartyPoker (1450 players) and Bodog (1450 players) round out the Top Five on PokerScout’s rankings.
