Lock introduces segregated tables
US-facing site "partitions" tables at higher stakes, keeping Lock games separate from the remainder of the Revolution Gaming Network.
Revolution Gaming Network owner and largest skin Lock Poker has moved to segregate liquidity at its higher-stakes cash tables.
According to Lock representative Shane Bridges, posting on the Two Plus Two poker forums, the move – which took place earlier this month – is “based on our current size and our soft poker ecology to better care for our players.
“A healthy poker ecology is a combination of grinder type players who always ensure there is action as well as casual type players who always bring fresh deposits in.” Bridges continued, adding that “So far the effect for our players has been overwhelmingly positive from the KPI’s we have been monitoring.
Revolution is by no means the first network to introduce such segregation, which Lock describes as “partitioning” and has been put in place for all cash tables at stakes of $2/$4 and up. A second skin, Goldbet, is also believed to have segregated tables at certain stakes.
Ongame recently opted to “pause” its ring-fencing of liquidity following bwin’s move away from the network, with director of marketing and operations Martin Lerby saying the system had “Reduced drain between operators, without hurting the liquidity and the player experience.”
Meanwhile last year Playtech – which had experimented with liquidity management for some time beforehand – split its network into two separate tiers with those on the upper tier joined by Betclic Everest’s two main rooms in November.
Bridges explained that: “If you read any articles about the operator/network level of online poker in the last 3-5 years you will see constant talk about a stable poker ecology. One room went so far as to make all their tables anonymous [sic] because they felt grinders hurt their ecology.
“We on the other hand believe in balance, we see the need for a good balance between both grinders and casual players. Now if our room has good balance and another room doesn’t then that affects our overall ecology. This new change was put in place with this in mind,” he added.
Revolution Gaming was launched last May following Lock’s acquisition of various assets of the Cake Poker network, and ranks 12th worldwide for cash game traffic according to Pokerscout. Lock had previously sat on the Merge Gaming network alongside skins such as Aced, Carbon Poker and YouWin.