I love boss media. It’s soft, the software is okay, fields are small, and I don’t pay tax on winnings.

The site has some pretty ridiculous game-killer bugs. I just re-discovered one that has been in their software for years:

Boss Media Rebuy Killer Bug:If you lose your stack during rebuy period in a MTT AND if the server decides to move you to a new table (table balancing) – the software moves you to another table before letting you rebuy – so it kicks you out.

I had to request a refund tonight because of this issue.

Please oh please – fix your servers Boss Media. Oh and while you are at it, can you fix the following too? :

Other Boss Media tournament bugs

- Allow instant rebuy in a rebuy tournament (HELLO??!!)
- Allow Double Rebuys
- Allow auto add-on (I mean players currently 5 seconds for an addon.. WTF. Make it last as long as the break period – 5 minutes.)
- Get your hand history viewer to work with CHROME (13% market share)- not just Firefox (which is losing market share). .

I’m sure I left out a load of bugs. I know the cashgame players would love an instant topup option too.

I started playing some cashgames on Meteor poker (a poker site on the Everleaf network). The software is pretty horrendous (notes features are bad, in-game hand-history is  poor) – but the games are easy to beat, and different player types are easy to identify (with players tending to be one of three types: either regulars, rocks (tight, nitty players) or spewmonkeys (fish!) – all of which are easy to spot). the site has very little traffic/game selection. I soon realised why…

The network has a FUNDAMENTAL FLAW which is counter-productive and actually costing the skins and network money. The Problem? Player retention is nearly impossible – whether you are a pro or an amateur – you will probably want to leave the site. Yes.. Really…

Everleaf Gaming (ELG) Traffic Stats

According to PokerScout.com, everleaf is ranked #27 in terms of traffic, with an average of a measly 400 players online.

Everleaf is Stupid – Why they have no Traffic:

Why is there no game selection or meaningful traffic levels on Everleaf network? WELL… the Eveleaf network people seemingly ignorant of how the poker eco-system works, and oblivious of the fact that people do not want to knowingly play against good players / sharks/ pro’s – whatever you like to call them. To the recreational player, it very quickly seems like the tables are full of sharks, and that they try to avoid each other and concentrate on milking the fish dry…

So how do players know you’re a good player on Everleaf ? Well, sigh. players rate you (right click on avatar-> click rate player-> good/bad/excellent) and then EVERYONE can see your rating, and you cannot remove it!!!!

I found this out to my horror, because after 2 days of winning, I ended up with 5 stars (and a healthy bankroll), but I found it nearly impossible to get much action in heads-up cash-games from players with lesser ratings… Big sigh!

Multi-accounting (playing on multiple accounts on different skins/sites on the network) is not really an option either, as the network payment processor stores your card/bank details, in order to minimise skin-hopping I guess….

Way to ruin your own network everleaf. This feature is very silly and should at least have an OPT-OUT. So what do the fish (bad players) do? they leave – because they are surrounded by sharks and 5 star dudes.

How Everleaf can FIX the problem, and retain players

Everleaf have a number of options:

1. Anonymous Tables – Players could play on special tables which don’t display screennames – this is possible on some Microgaming Skins
2. User could have the option to toggle the visibility of their own star rating – Instant panacea.
3. Remove Star Ratings altogether – another quick fix, requires some coding and a poker client update
4. Allow Screenname Changing after a week / month (just as you can do on Cake poker Network)

My sources tell me that Everleaf has a tactical business reason for these ratings – so I doubt they will change the way things are for at least a little while….

What are your thoughts on this, as a player, affiliate or poker site/skin owner?

If you are a decent player, you will be happy to know that full ring, 4 max and 6max is awash with easy cash and tilty fish. just avoid the d00dz w/ the five stars unless you are competent, and enjoy the free cash IMO, and the 40% weekly rakeback.

This week Betfair has announced that they are moving from their own crappy software to onGame’s crappy software. OnGame has this week announced a new rake distribution scheme which will screw winning players in the ass and reward the fish who generate that ever important rake.

Seems like all of the small networks / independent sites are getting raped and that ftp/stars/party/og/cereus and ipoker are getting all of the significant traffic. PokerScout.com.

London, England. 25/05/06

For online poker players, trust and security are primary concerns. Knowing that someone cannot easily learn your poker-room password and take your money is important – and let’s face it – it helps us sleep at night.

Also of paramount concern is the knowledge that the poker rooms which you play on take steps to prevent your data from being intercepted by third parties (their software developers should maintain professional standards and consider ethics and security in their work as a matter of routine )

Poker companies are happy to tout their SSL and RSA encryption, but how secure is your data REALLY?

Security experts have long acknowledged that you are only as secure as the weakest point in your defenses. You might have bulletproof glass on windows, and walls of steel six inches thick… If you leave the back-door unlocked you are in a vulnerable position nevertheless. That is the case for many of the poker clients in use today.
Case Study:
Recently we installed and studied several popular poker clients on a personal computer running the Windows XP Operating System. To our amazement, Many poker-room software vendors software packages insert unencrypted username and password into your PC’s system registry (puzzling.. given that they also store an encrypted version of the password also!)
The Proof:

CD POKER

Noble Poker, Titan Poker and ALL other skins on the iPoker Network are affected
Food for Thought – Poker viruses

Recently viruses have emerged which steal your poker passwords and it is surely the duty of the companies we wager with to make sure our data is secure on our end and on their end – both from `poker viruses’, trojans, and anyone who happens to be browsing your computer registry!
What can I do?
1. Email your poker provider today and tell them to make your data secure TODAY!.
2. It may be possible to remove the offending registry key for some clients. Do this only if you know what you are doing (and take a backup!) if you choose to do so!