Good article from Cardplayer about WPX and rake free poker
- From: "Studley" <Studley>
- Date: Fri, 15 Sep 2006 08:46:01 -0500
http://www.cardplayer.com/magazine/article/15446
Online Gaming Pioneer Introduces First Rake-Free Poker
Room: World Poker Exchange Allows Players to Become
Shareholders
Haden Ware and the rest of the gang at the World Sports Exchange
were never afraid of being industry pioneers. From the time they first
took a wager through their online sportsbook 10 years ago, they
were determined to make it the best available to their customers.
Through word of mouth - few dollars were spent on advertising -
the sportsbook became one of the leaders in the new industry.
Its simple, straightforward website appealed to serious bettors,
and still does, Ware said. Its World Poker Exchange room was
founded in 2001 because its sports bettors requested one. Now,
World Poker Exchange is making a push to revolutionize the online
poker industry by introducing its no-rake policy. By going rake-free,
it maintains the spirit that helped bring the poker room online in the
first place.
"It was really all designed around being a community," Ware said.
"We figured, why not just give it to the players."
This move follows the site's sponsorship of last year's London
Open, of which the second installment will take place this autumn.
Qualifying events will take place at World Poker Exchange. This
year's London Open has a projected $3 million prize pool. Last year's
event had a $2 million guarantee (something WorldPX believed was
needed as a first-time event), but fell 60 players short of the number
needed to generate the $2 million prize pool. Ware did something
that would make other men wince; he pulled out his checkbook
and covered the $600,000 gap, just like that.
But then again, Ware and the rest of the men responsible for the
World Sports Exchange and the World Poker Exchange have a
history of going to bat for their customers and the industry they
support. They have been indicted by the U.S. government and
are still in the middle of a dogfight that will either allow residents
of this country to legally make wagers online or make criminals
out of many Americans. Ware hasn't been back in the United
States for eight years. Another colleague spent 21 months in jail,
and yet they still keep moving like a bunch of sharks that surely
swim in the waters of Antigua, where the business is located,
where Ware makes his home, and where no-rake poker begins.
No Rake for the Weary
On April 4, the World Poker Exchange (WorldPX.com) changed
its policy and announced that its tables could now be considered
rake-free. This is not a gimmick. World Sports Exchange will not
make any money from its poker site. Players will not be charged
to play at WorldPX.com. The site's able to do this because it doesn't
depend on poker as its sole revenue stream.
"It's completely free, there's no strings attached," said Ware, who is
the World Poker Exchange's managing director. "We're in a unique
position to do this. Our hope in this, and the business logic behind
it, is that our poker players who enjoy other wagering products will
enjoy our other gaming products, as well."
Under WorldPX.com's "no-rake" program, the rake for both cash games
and tournament play will still be collected as players play, but at the
end of each week, 100 percent will be refunded to players' accounts.
"Really, in essence, every WorldPX.com player becomes a shareholder
in the poker room," Ware stated. "We consider ourselves pioneers and
trendsetters, so we're hoping this will take off."
As many poker players know, rake is the hidden goblin that is always
nibbling at one's bankroll. It takes a bite out of each and every pot a
player manages to win. It's how online and brick-and-mortar cardrooms
continue to operate. Curious players can find a link to the calculator
at WorldPX.com that estimates just how much money is raked weekly.
The calculator gives estimates for players at all stakes. It's worth
visiting the site just for this feature.
Although the new no-rake policy may be the biggest change that the
folks at WorldPX.com are making to attract more players to the site,
it's hardly the only reason players might want to check it out. Single-table
and multitable tournaments are spread 24 hours a day, no-limit hold'em
games start at $25 buy-ins and go up to $400, and limit games start
as low as 10¢-20¢ and go all the way up to $30-$60.
WorldPX.com is the only place on the net to qualify for a $10,000 London
Open entry. This year, officials are expecting 300 players for the event
that will be held at the Whitehall Palace, and if that happens, a prize
pool of $3 million will be generated. Qualifiers for the open are scheduled
to begin at WorldPX.com in June.
Not everything has been easy for Ware and the founders of World Sports
Exchange. While the owners of other online sites choose to sit on the
sidelines as the fight to make sure online gambling remains accessible
to the residents of the United States, World Sports Exchange officials
have risked their personal safety in order to fight for their industry.
In the Ring
The U.S. government has repeatedly tried to stop online gambling
by indicting online bookmakers, threatening media outlets for running
advertisements, and passing new laws to end online wagering in the
United States. As it stands, billions of dollars are still wagered by
U.S. residents every year.
Ware is invested heavily in this case, and it goes well beyond simple
finances. He and fellow World Sports Exchange founders Steve Schillinger
and Jay Cohen were indicted by the Department of Justice in 1998 for
violating the Wire Act, a law that was created in the '60s to target interstate
horse-race wagering among organized crime. It's this law that Rep. Bob
Goodlatte is trying to revise to curb online gambling. One of the reasons
Goodlatte has said online gambling needs to stop is the lack of regulation
within the industry, but, in fact, WSEX is licensed in Antigua, which
accepts and supports the online gambling industry wholeheartedly.
"If politicians knew that a large majority of the public was against this
bill, I think it would make a difference," Ware said.
While Schillinger and Ware remained in Antigua, Cohen returned to the
United States to fight the charges. But the courts agreed with the DOJ in
2000, and Cohen was sentenced to 18 months in prison. He lost his
appeals and began his sentence in 2002. Ware and Schillinger haven't
been back to the United States since they were indicted, and they still
believe they are innocent of violating any current law. Every five years,
the DOJ reiterates its stance and renews the indictment.
"None of us would have embarked on this project if we thought it would
be illegal," Ware said. When the indictments came down, Ware,
Schillinger, and Cohen had to make a choice about how public their
fight would become. It was an easy one to make. The men decided to
fight the government not only through the courts, but through interviews
and articles explaining why they believed they're not violating any laws.
"It's a choice we chose to take; otherwise, we felt this industry would
continue to always be on the defensive."
David Versus Goliath
A new chapter in the fight to support online gambling continues to be
written, and World Sports Exchange, as a member of the Antigua
Offshore Gaming Association, is immersed as deeply in it as anyone
else. In 2003, Antigua, which has been a member of the World Trade
Organization since 1995, filed a complaint that the United States had
violated WTO rules by trying to prohibit people in the United States
from gambling on Antigua-based sites.
Antigua also claimed that the U.S. government was discriminating
against Antigua-based companies by threatening lawsuits against
magazines and media outlets if they accepted advertising dollars
from them. Despite the complaint, the DOJ continued to pass out
"informational" subpoenas that told media outlets that they may be
subject to court action if they continued to run ads for offshore gaming
companies. To top it off, DOJ officials said that placing an online
wager isn't prohibited at a federal level.
In April 2005, the WTO agreed with Antigua and told the United States
that these preventive actions violate WTO agreements. It also rejected
the U.S. claim that it is allowed to prohibit its residents from accessing
offshore gaming operations because it's a moral issue. The WTO court
pointed out that residents in states like New York can use their telephones
to place bets at the state's off-track betting sites, negating the claim.
A WTO appellate court upheld Antigua's victory later in the year, and
gave the United States until April 3, 2006, to comply with the ruling.
As the date came and went, the United States had done nothing, and
has only said that it disagrees with the ruling. Antigua now has the option
of imposing trade sanctions against the United States, but as the smallest
country in the WTO, the sanctions would do more damage to the island
nation than good, and would come off as merely symbolic.
"If larger countries are able to ignore rulings against smaller countries,
the system is flawed and needs to be changed," Ware said.
If the United States wholeheartedly accepted the WTO's ruling, it would
essentially stop politicians from trying to pass anti-gambling laws and
the DOJ from handing out subpoenas, but that's not going to happen.
The government remains silent about the ruling now, but politicians and
the DOJ continue to pursue avenues to stop online wagering from
continuing in the United States.
Ware and World Sports Exchange are determined to fight for the
legitimacy of their industry. Lawsuits against media outlets that, in
Ware's words, are forced by the DOJ to "discriminate" against the
online companies based in Antigua may be filed in order to force
the government and the courts to explore this issue.
And every month, Antigua will go to the WTO and "cry bloody murder"
about the United States' silence. Ware and those who enjoy playing
online are counting on that voice to be heard.
Maybe the government should buy a clue from Ware and the rest of the
gang at WorldPX.com who are willing to bend, adapt, and try new
things to make their business better. No-rake poker is one venture
they believe will strengthen their company. It's never been done, but
that has never stopped them before. They know it's something online
players want, so they gave it to them, and that's a good thing.
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