It’s been a funny few weeks for iPoker in the wake of the 2 billionth hand mystery. Europe’s premier poker network has again hit the headlines for the wrong reasons, as this story plucked from the twoplustwo gossip mill reveals.
Twoplustwo user ‘0bullmarket0’ has reportedly been banned from playing NL50 and above, receiving a ‘We are sorry, your account is limited to play at lower stakes only’ message when he tries to join the tables. His participation in games is effectively confined to the micro-stakes.
The problem stems from his allegiance with iPoker skin Victor Chandler, and iPoker’s new year resolutions. Concerned by the high proportion of winning players in relation to losing players, Victor Chandler wants to deter sharks from playing, to avoid being penalised by iPoker.
Because of its extensive cashback program, high volume regulars can receive up to 60% rakeback on VC Poker. This means all the sharks gravitate to the skin, which goes against iPoker’s policy of welcoming a fair share of beginners into the game. iPoker wants to avoid having parasitic skins, which bring only winning players and rakeback grinders.
The back end of 2009 has been a shady time for iPoker, with twoplustwo user ‘luckyjimm’ reporting withdrawal problems at William Hill Poker. You can follow the thread here.