Carbon Poker Network Merge Gaming
Carbon Poker is the flagship site of the Merge Poker Network. This network was established in 2007, but the parent company, which happens to also own Carbon Poker, has been offering real money online poker since early 2005. The network first came about when the company then operating under the name poker.com found that their domain was great for search engine and type in traffic, but was not so good for branding at live poker events. This is because most televised poker shows do not allow the website of gambling sites to be advertised during their broadcast. For example, Carbon Poker is acceptable, where carbonpoker.com is not. With the domain at the time being Poker.com, the name Poker on a logo was generic and meant nothing. Therefore the need to create a brand existed, and this was accomplished when poker.com launched a second site called Carbon Poker.
$600 Carbon Poker Bonus Click Here
Carbon Poker and Poker.com operated together on what was then named the Merge Poker Network. The sites shared the same player base and ultimately used the same software, though each had its own unique branding and color scheme. With the technology in place to run more than one website on the same network, the parent company began offering skins to third parties. A skin is best described as a self branded affiliate account. Players get the sense they are playing at one site, when in fact they are simply part of a network. The owner of the skin does their own marketing and gets paid commission, but the network handles all the payments, player funds, and provides the software and the ability for members of that skin to play against players on the network regardless of which skin they are using.
In the early days of the Merge Gaming Network, the first partners brought on were Poker Nordica and Iron Duke. The Poker Nordica brand did well as it was available in multiple languages, and Iron Duke got some press when they signed actress and poker enthusiast Jennifer Leigh better know in poker as Jennicide. She gained mass popularity with the poker community after she appeared nude in playboy magazine in the May 2008 issue.
The details of the exact situation with the poker.com domain are known only by upper management in Carbon Poker and never were made public. A common theory is that the company had previously leased the domain and was notified it would not be granted the option to renew and was bought out of the lease early. This is not confirmed, but whatever the case might have been, eventually the Merge Gaming network no longer controlled the poker.com domain and Carbon Poker became their flagship site, while former poker.com players were moved to a new site called PDC Poker.
The loss of the poker.com domain didn’t hurt the Merge Network much. Today they operate as one of the largest US friendly poker networks. A full list of sites operating on the Merge Poker network includes Carbon Poker, PDC Poker, Poker Nordica, Iron Duke, Texas Holdem, Golden Arch Poker, Rumble Poker, Poker City, Jam Poker, Walker Poker, G2G poker, Spin 32, 365 Bonitas, Reefer Poker, Wass Poker, PMP Poker, Aced, Optimus Poker, Kings Clib, ItsReal, The Ultimate Game Room, BlackChipPoker, MVP Poer, 1Bet2Bet, VIP.com, Big Bet Poker, Easy Play Poker, Bluff Room, GR88.com, BetEd, YBet Poker, Oddsmaker, Poker Geezers, BetOnUSA, Big Daddys, Felt Stars, StinkyFish Poker and Poker DNA.
To learn more about the Carbon Poker Network, visit their official website at http://www.mergegaming.com/.
