iPoker to Start Implementing Source Based Rake on February 1st

Some two months ago, we released the news about the new rake system being introduced across iPoker network. The system, known as the 'Source Based Rake' will be fully coming into with the start of February and the majority of players playing on iPoker rooms will be effected in some ways.

Breakdown

As explained in the earlier article, the concept of Source Based Rake (SBR) revolves around the idea that the recreational (i.e. depositing) players are being undervalued in some sense. These new deposits bring value to the poker economy by pumping ‘fresh blood’ into it and, as such, need to be valued more.

The changes primarily relate to cash games, as tournaments and Sit&Go’s will not be affected. While the rake amounts will not change, amounts of contributed rake will be assigned differently, with depositing players being assigned a bigger percentage of every raked pot.

Going deeper

A recent thread on PokerVIP brings a quite detailed breakdown of the new system and answers room specific questions, so if you have any special queries, this is a place to post them. In this article, we will try to outline some of the general guidelines that will come into play with February 1st.

Thus far, iPoker calculated the rake (and with it, the rakeback and rewards) based on the Weighted Contributed system. This means that every player’s rake is being calculated according to their contribution to the pot. SBR will significantly change this system.

While 50% of the total rake will still be calculated according to the Weighted Contributed system, it is the other 50% where things start to take a different path. This second half will go back to the ‘source’ (hence the name), the source being a depositing player. These two together (SBR and WC) create what is referred to as Real Player Value rake (RPV).

The good and the bad

At the first glance this may seem quite bad for the winning players as they do not have a need to deposit frequently. Their rake will effectively be cut down by 50% in favor of the depositing (losing) players, and this will directly influence their bottom line.

However, the less known fact about the SBR is that you could be receiving rakeback from the money you’ve lost even long after you stop playing. The concept is, admittedly, bit complicated, but the general idea goes like this.

If you lose $1,000 to another regular player at the tables, even though you have not deposited in a while, this other player is now effectively playing with ‘your’ money. SBR concept accounts for this fact and has a system in place to keep track of how the money moves around.

So even if a player was to bust the roll completely, they could still be receiving payments for weeks (or months) to come, as this money is being played with on the other tables and moves around between other rake-generating players.

A lot about this new system is not crystal clear at this point in time and things will get clearer as the time goes by and the actual changes take effect. The basic premise as it stands now is that winning players will see a reduction in the amount of rake attributed to them, while the amount attributed to losing players should skyrocket in a way.

The reality of the situation and countermeasures

For many players, facing the possibility of their rake possibly being halved is very disturbing. It is worth nothing that the absolutely smallest amount of rake attributed to a player is still 50% that is calculated using the old method and this will only probably be the case for the big winners.

The everlasting discussion about sustainability of poker economy always boils down to how many losing players (or ‘fish’, if you like) there are bringing new money. With this system in place, the network plans to have these players stick around longer and perhaps add further value to the economy.

One assumption that can be developed from this information that winning players will probably need to move around more, effectively becoming depositing players on different rooms and thus increasing their bottom line. It goes without saying that this is a nuisance, but it could be a kind of nuisance that many players will simply have to deal with to keep up the pace.

Several years ago, there’s been a lot of players who believed that HUDs are a huge nuisance as well, but in today’s climate most winning players are using them and have gotten used to the idea of having those extra numbers on their screens and trying to interpret them in order to maximize their bottom line.

Poker economy, like everything else, is ever changing. I will not try to go deeper into the motivations behind the decisions by the network as it is a discussion of its own. The reality of the situation is that some things will change and players will have to find the best ways to adapt to these new circumstances.

Once again, for any questions and more in-detail explanations you may require, visit the PokerVIP thread and feel free to express your thoughts, concerns and ideas.