The Party’s Over: Tournament Rake Returns at PartyPoker

PartyPoker made headlines last month when they began offering rake free tournaments in the wake of competitor Full Tilt Poker’s abrupt shutdown.  New customer acquisition percentages were in the double digits as a result of this promotion.  But you heard the saying, “all good things must come to an end”, and they have. 

The rake has now returned, and at 17 to 20 percent, effective August 1.

PartyPoker alluded to an August 7 return of the tournament rake, however, the party seems to have ended early. 

That promotion and the FTP shutdown helped PartyPoker to gain the second largest online poker market share despite it not accepting US customers.  After the company was forced to leave the US market in late 2006, Party saw more than half its customer base evaporate.  As of Monday August 7, Party was in a dead heat tie with iPoker to hold on to the number 2 spot after moving up an impressive 500 average weekly real cash players ahead of its nearest competitor last month.  Party was averaging around 200 more real cash players than iPoker during the early morning hours of Monday, we should note. 

Additionally, the Summer Million promo at PartyPoker that featured a rake-free $640+0 since July 4 has now been changed to $600+40.

- Ace King, Gambling911.com