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The first legal online poker room was launched in the US in Nevada on 30 April. Ultimate Poker is the first of its kind. The room will soon roll out its VIP program, and they outright shocked the poker community with a brand new concept. Most poker rooms apply the Weighted Contributed rake calculation method, where rake is calculated according to the player's contribution to the pot, but Ultimate Poker will utilize the Winner Takes All system.
The winner takes all system is rather self-explanatory; only the player that takes down the pot will have to pay rake, therefore, only the winning player is entitled to rakeback. According to Ultimate Poker, this will result in very dynamic and exciting poker, and will affect nit players badly.
"If you are a multitabler with an 8% VPIP, you’re not going to get rewarded as much simply because you won’t win very many pots. When you ask people what makes a game good, they generally say a loose-passive game with people calling off stacks. The plan is to reward the weak players who go to showdown often and keep them in action," says a Ultimate Poker spokesperson.
The Winner Takes All (WTA) system was only used in one room so far, at High Pulse Poker. PokerStars planned to introduce the system to their tables, but eventually decided against it.
Ultimate Poker also revealed that the VIP system will feature 10 levels out of which 8 levels will be monthly. Players will be awarded with 10 VIP points for every $1 rake paid. The VIP system will roll out with the 2.0 version of the software.