Industry conditions be damned. A new U.S.-friendly online poker network, the Poker Pros Network, launched last week, hoping that its player-friendly atmosphere will attract casual and serious players alike.
The Poker Pros Network, owned by Costa Rica-based CMK Interactive, is currently comprised of seven online poker rooms and is new enough that cash game tracking site PokerScout.com does not yet have data on the activity at its tables. One interesting trait of the network is unlike most other networks whose member rooms are all basically the same save for color schemes, the Poker Pros Network seems to allow its rooms to have some autonomy. They all use the same software and participate in most of the same promotions, but each has its own personality.
For example, ManiacalPoker.com prides itself on adding a bit of crazy, a bit of whimsy, to its poker games. It hosts “all-in only” tournaments with million chip starting stacks, one minute blind levels, and chances to win fun prizes like a year’s worth of pizza deliveries. The site is also home to “Maniacs” who occasionally grace the tables with their presence, play erratically, and give away money and prizes.
CheapSeatsPoker.com, on the other hand, wants to foster a calmer atmosphere, specializing in micro-stakes games. Its cash game tables range in stakes from $0.01/$0.02 to just $0.25/$0.50 and tournaments have buy-ins of only $0.05 up to $4. There are also freerolls with tiny prize pools of $1 and $5.
NoTiltPoker.eu seems to have a lean towards the older player, promoting qualifiers for the $1,000 Seniors World Championship event at the 2012 World Series of Poker (WSOP) on its front page, something the other rooms are not advertising. The network as a whole appears to have qualifiers for the $10,000 WSOP Main Event.
The other sites on the network are PPNPoker.eu, LoungeLizardPoker.com, PPNLiveDealers.com, and PokerRoomUSA.com. PPNLiveDealers will launch this summer and will be unique in that, as the name implies, it will feature live and celebrity dealers. PokerRoomUSA is a subscription and free points-based poker room and does not share the same tables as the other six rooms on the network.
In a press release, Poker Pros Network CEO Chuck Kidd boasted one aspect of the network of which he is extremely proud, saying, “The most unique and exciting feature, of which only Poker Pros Network employs, is its one convenient cashier with several depositing options, including credit cards.”
The network offers round-the-clock live support and has game managers that monitor the tables. “Today’s online poker players have higher expectations,” said Kidd. “In anticipation, our developers went well beyond simply improving standards.”
The Poker Pros Network was in beta-testing mode starting in August but then went down for several months in order to iron out all the kinks. While the traffic still leaves something to be desired, player reviews have generally been positive, touting the network’s reliable cashouts, something that is strongly desired in this day and age of uncertainty surrounding player funds.