Home / Poker News May 2011 / The Poker Grapevine - RISE Poker Eyeing US Market
The Poker Grapevine - RISE Poker Eyeing US Market
Posted by: Randy Williams - Fri, 2011-05-27 14:47
Black Friday was sure to leave a huge void in the online poker industry, one concerning the US market. Given the stakes involved, some of the more suspicious minds out there went even as far as to say that the whole purpose of Black Friday was to clear some room for US based operations to take over on their own turf. Whatever the case, a gaping hole was left, one that was one way or another quite certain to be exploited by a newly launched operation. The moment of truth has apparently arrived. It’s only been about a month since the
online poker greats of old got locked out of the US market, and a new contender has already surfaced: RISE Poker.
RISE Poker was established on Monday, by three partners: RISE clothing, the ZEN Entertainment network and Poker Royalty. The site will circumvent US law, by offering US players rake free poker. How will the room make money then? By charging players $19.99 for additional benefits at the site. The base membership will be free, and players will be offered the possibility to enter any membership level for free.
For starters, players will compete for around $100k in prizes every month. The site will also offer its players
WSOP seats. Whether the business model is workable or not remains to be seen, although the founders of the operation have probably gone through the numbers several times before they ever gave the green light.
RISE Poker’s executive vice president of business development is Steve Preiss. According to Preiss, the timing for the launching of a rake-free website is ideal with the departure of
PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker from the US market.
If this approach becomes common practice, it raises another huge question: how will it affect online poker affiliates? Is the demise of the poker rake something the online poker industry could possibly survive?
