Another One Bites the Dust: Optimus Poker Closes Shop

Merge Gaming Network kicks Optimus Poker off the poker network - PROFRB isn't surprised to see Optimus Poker close its doors...

Professional Rakeback has long been warning players that Optimus poker was in Merge Gaming's cross hairs.  It has been quite apparent to us that they would be closed / bought out / forced out in the not too distant future.  Optimus was one of the last major offenders on the Merge Gaming Network.  What were their "offenses" you ask?  Well the most egregious offense was that they were offering illegal, underground deals and operating on razor thin margins.  Underground deals, under the table rakeback, same thing.  The managers and owners of Optimus were conspiring with affiliates and offering huge deals to the players that were clear violations of their contracts with Merge.  Sure this is great for business, short-term, but what happens is that one ends up with a skin full of winning players and very few recreational players.  This sort of thing is easily noticed when a brand new skin miraculously corners the market on high volume winning players.  Affiliate managers, Merge's executives, and pretty much anyone in the industry could see it for what it was, even without direct evidence.  Once a site is identified as a rule breaker, all it takes is getting caught one time to initiate the $20,000 fine from the network (per instance of cheating!).  For a business operating on 5% margins when it should be opering on 15%, that's a tough bill to pay, often wiping out a month or more's profits for a small skin.

Merge has made a habit of attacking sites like this for some time now (FeltStars, Overbet, Iron Duke, Poker Nordica, etc) and it was inevitable that Optimus was going down.  It appears that the same, now standard, closure procedures are in place.  As of today, here is the text that players will see when attempting to log into the Optimus Poker client or website:

Valued Optimus player,

Optimus Poker has been purchased by a third party. Your funds
are safe and you will be playing poker shortly. Please choose a
merge preferred partner and follow the steps outlined in the link below:

mergegaming[dot]com/preferred-partners.html

See you at the tables

Regards
Merge Gaming

As seen on the optimuspoker.eu website

If you are an Optimus Poker refugee, we recommend you swap to Carbon or Aced poker, both are on the "preferred partners" list, as both are owned and operated by the same company who has very strong ties to the network.  Please contact us for help moving to Aced, which is Carbon's sister skin.  Setting up a new account on Carbon Poker or Aced to transfer your funds to, as opposed to an existing account on either, is beneficial in that you will be eligible for a new 200% up to $5,000 USD initial deposit bonus as well as getting your Optimus funds transferred over much more rapidly that you could otherwise achieve by yourself (we expedite the process through our internal contacts at Merge Network).  Alternatively, you could simply cash out your funds from an existing Carbon, Aced, SportsBook, or Players Only account after they were transferred and create an account with us at PokerHost for fast WU, MG, and/or P2P cash-outs on the Merge Gaming Network.