Full Flush Poker, a member of the Equity Poker Network (EPN), has acquired fellow network member Integer Poker. The change was set in motion quickly, as the announcement and the transition were both made this morning. Integer Poker is no more; its players have already been moved over to Full Flush Poker.
Though it just withdrew from the regulated U.S. markets of Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware (the entire network followed shortly thereafter), Full Flush Poker still primarily focuses on attracting American players. This acquisition benefits the poker room because Integer Poker aimed squarely at the European market, so Full Flush has instantly broadened its customer base. Because they were already on the same network, players from both poker rooms won’t see any increase in activity at the tables, but Full Flush did have more promotions and tournaments than did Integer Poker, so former Integer players will most definitely be positively affected by the switch.
“The obvious synergy between our two brands has made the decision to take Integer Poker’s players on board a ‘no-brainer,’” a Full Flush spokesperson said in a press release. “It fits perfectly with our quest to further establish FFP as a global online poker room, with viable and healthy markets outside of the U.S. We’re excited to offer Integer Poker’s players the complete Full Flush Poker experience, and we’re happy to welcome them to the family.”
The Equity Poker Network launched in November of last year as what it calls a poker “cooperative,” in that the network exists to aid the poker rooms, rather than the poker rooms existing to enrich the network. The network implemented a policy in which the poker room that initially acquires a player is the one to profit from that player to perpetuity. Even if the player moves to another room on the network, the original room is still the one to benefit. Thus, there is no incentive to poach. At the same time, though, rooms are given the freedom to set their own promotion and run their own tournaments in order to make their sites more attractive. When it comes to loyalty programs, member rooms can still do whatever they want provided the rewards don’t add up to more than 50 percent equivalent rakeback.
Another policy of the Equity Poker Network recently came under fire in the poker community. The network encourages its member rooms to recruit recreational players, as those are the players that typically lose money and reload; they inject money into the system, as opposed to winning players, who take money out. EPN has a “Shark/Winners Tax,” presumably imposed on poker rooms who have more winning players than losing players. This became an issue in April when EPN room Poker Host closed the accounts of some players for what it called “aggressive play within the network.”
“…since we are in a small but growing poker network we cannot afford your aggressive behavior,” an e-mail to an affected player stated, “we are now in a network the [sic] focuses on having recreational poker players and you do not meet this criteria, we thank you for your business at Poker Host, but at this time we will restricted [sic] your account…”
A representative from Integer Poker responded in a thread on Two Plus Two that Integer has never banned anybody for winning.
