Nevada’s online poker industry is over six months old. It still only has two participants; Ultimate Poker and WSOP. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses.
Ultimate Poker
Ultimate Poker launched without any previous announcement on April 30, 2013. Considering the circumstances of it being the first of its kind in a regulated market, the grand opening went quite well, especially looking back more than six months later.
Ultimate Poker only spread No Limit and Fixed Limit Texas Hold’em at its launch. It has since added Pot Limit Omaha, Pot Limit Omaha High/Low and Fixed Limit Omaha High/Low. Online Pot Limit Omaha High/Low is exclusive to Ultimate Poker in Nevada.
Ultimate Poker’s biggest strength is its support. Whether it is through email or its sponsored forum at Two Plus Two players receive quick and correct responses to questions. The other major advantage Ultimate Poker has over its only current competitor is that players may deposit and withdraw cash at any Station Casinos cage. Other deposit options include Mastercard, check, bank wire and electronic check. In addition to cash withdrawals, players may request a check.
Ultimate Poker’s major downfall is its software. Some players still complain about crashes after multi-tabling for a few hours. There is also the issue of a cluttered cash game lobby. Now that Omaha has been added it is hard to find games easily as there is no way to filter Texas Hold’em from Omaha. The only cash game filter is low/medium/high stakes.
The sit and go and multi table tournament lobbies allow players to filter between no limit/pot limit/fixed limit so this helps in removing unwanted games from the available choices.
WSOP
WSOP has one major advantage over Ultimate Poker. Its software is far superior. It offers many features not available on its competitor’s platform. It also offers Seven Card Stud and Seven Card Stud High/Low; both are exclusive to WSOP in Nevada’s online poker industry.
The software is virtually free of crashes, although its geolocation is still experiences some bugs. A player that falls out of range for a short time is instantly booted from the tables.
The lack of a casino cage deposit option has been a subject of player complaints. WSOP only offers electronic checks, Mastercard and Visa deposits. Visa has a low rate of acceptance. These options have made it difficult for players to deposit large amounts of money. This has potentially hurt the site’s ability to spread higher limit games as it is difficult for some players to deposit large sums of money. WSOP players may withdraw by electronic and paper check.
WSOP is currently offering a VIP match in two ways. A player that holds a Platinum, Diamond or Seven Stars Total Rewards Card may transfer that status to WSOP. Likewise, a player that achieves that status during four straight months at WSOP.com may receive a Total Rewards Card for the same tier at brick and mortar Caesars Entertainment properties.
WSOP Claims Number One Spot
WSOP was able to overtake the number one spot in terms of cash game traffic, using stats provided by Pokerscout.com data. This took about seven weeks to accomplish. The competition is still close. WSOP averages 120 players, while Ultimate Poker averages 100 players at any given time.
Future Nevada Online Poker Sites
The next three sites on the Nevada online poker radar are the All American Poker Network, South Point Poker and Z4. The All American Poker Network will be powered by 888. It partnered with Golden Gaming, Treasure Island and Wynn. South Point Poker will be branded as Real Gaming. Z4 is closely related to the Siena Hotel Spa Casino in Reno. It is unknown which of these brands will be the next to enter the Nevada online poker market. There is also a question about how much a new entrant will dilute the current Nevada online poker industry.
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