After only two months in operation, online poker site PokerShare.com has reportedly been forced to close out its North American accounts. Just a little bit of background: PokerShare is a 'white label' version of Ultimate Bet, and both sites operate on the Excapsa network. Excapsa also happens to be the holding company for Ultimate Bet, and according to speculations, it was Excapsa, under duress from Ultimate Bet, that ordered the close-out.

PokerShare.com offered an innovative concept, championed an aggressive marketing campaign, and proffered ample opportunities for players to profit from the site. Initially, all this paid off for PokerShare, which experienced considerable success in its first months in operation. So, why spoil a good thing? Why would Excapsa see it in its best interest to shut out a promising venture's majority player base?

Although most evidence surrounding the closure is purely speculative, the word on the street is that Excapsa and its flagship site, Ultimate Bet, weren't prepared for quite this much “healthy" competition. According to the allegations, PokerShare was taking players away from Ultimate Bet, and, as its holding company, Excapsa jumped in to “fix" the situation.

PokerShare launched a new concept in online poker, setting it apart from other, more run-of-the-mill poker sites. PokerShare made shareholders out of ordinary users, promising to divide a 40 percent stake in the site among all of its users. This meant that players would receive potentially hefty dividends every quarter. In addition to “stockholder" options, PokerShare also boasted attractive rakeback policies.

Before pressing PokerShare to close out North American accounts, Excapsa allegedly first tried limiting Pokershare's performance by forbidding it to continue offering public rakebacks. Apparently, however, Excapsa felt that the situation warranted more than just rakeback restrictions.

Source:  Poker777 Staff

Tuesday, 08 November 2005