Best Merge Gaming Network for May 2013
The Merge Gaming Network (also known as the Merge Poker Network) is a medium-sized poker network that hosts poker sites such as Carbon Poker, Lock Poker and several dozen others. Merge Gaming was established in 2007 and grew quickly thanks to its USA-friendly status, high quality software and willingness to implement customer feedback.
Merge Gaming temporarily stopped accepting USA players in 2011, but it returned to the market soon after. The Merge Gaming Network currently acts as one of the most reliable poker networks for USA players. Read on for Merge Poker download recommendations and more info.
Best Merge Gaming Poker Sites
There are more than 60 poker sites on the Merge Gaming network, but not all of them are very well known. The following poker sites can be considered the “flagships” of the Merge Gaming network. If you want to play at Merge, we recommend the following poker rooms:
Carbon Poker
Carbon Poker is the flagship poker site on the Merge Gaming Network. Carbon has been in operation since 2007 and has always taken care of its players. The traffic here is healthy, promotions are generous and the deposit bonus is easy to clear. This is one of our top-ranked poker sites and we strongly recommend it to both casual and serious poker players.
Special Offer:
- 100% up to $600 Free Cash
- Use Carbon Poker Bonus Code: PWNETBONUS when registering.
Lock Poker
Lock Poker is a high quality Merge Gaming site that opened in 2010. Although the site is relatively new, it has grown quickly thanks to a big signup bonus and high quality website. The software looks great and is easy to download.
Special Offer:
- 150% up to $750 Free Cash
- Use Lock Poker Bonus Code: LOCK150 when registering.
PlayersOnly Poker
PlayersOnly Poker is another trusted Merge Gaming poker room. This poker room is a part of a bigger gaming site that also offers sports betting and casino gambling. PlayersOnly Poker is partially responsible for keeping the games soft at Merge Gaming because it attracts so many casual players who originally visited the PlayersOnly website to gamble or bet on sports.
Special Offer:
- 100% up to $1000 Free Cash
- Use Players Only Promo Code: PWNET100 when registering.
These poker downloads are available in both Windows and Mac formats. Merge Gaming is one of a few poker sites that offer a fully compatible Mac software download. The front page of each poker site automatically gives you the correct download for your operating system. You can also visit the “download” page to manually choose between the PC and Mac versions.
Merge Poker Features
One of the defining characteristics of the Merge Gaming Network is how many features its poker sites offer. The poker sites on the Merge network all use similar software that is packed full of features that most poker rooms don’t offer.
For example, one unique feature on the Merge Gaming Network is the ability to “run it twice.” Running it twice is something that you see at live poker rooms, but rarely online. If two players get all-in on the flop or turn, they can agree to deal the final cards two separate times. Players might agree to do this if both hands are roughly 50/50 and they want to take a chance to win two pots in a row. Live players do this all the time.
Some of the other features on the Merge Gaming Network include the following:
- Rabbit Hunting
- Expose One Card
- Player Accolades
- Resizable Tables Without Loss of Quality
- Players Tags and Notes
- Multi-tabling
- Four Color Decks
- Bad Beat Jackpot
- Animated Smilies
Merge Gaming Traffic
The Merge Gaming Network has experienced steady growth since the beginning. Today, you can find anywhere from 4,000 to 8,000 players online at a time depending on the time of day. Ring games are hosted at all stakes and in multiple variations. The Texas Holdem tables get the most traffic, but Merge poker sites also offer games such as Omaha, Stud, Badugi, Draw and more.
Tournaments at Merge Gaming have also picked up nicely over the years. The biggest regular tournament at Merge Gaming is a weekly $100,000 guaranteed tournament. In addition to that, Merge poker sites offer smaller guarantees every day of the week. Live tournament players can also win their way to major live events through a variety of satellite tournaments that are hosted at Merge.
