Poker Room Cashout Report | Review (January 2014)

The ultimate resource regarding online poker payouts | withdrawals for US-facing rooms and networks; information, grades, reported payouts from actual players, analysis, and more.

This report is from January 2014 - click below
for our most CURRENT US Poker Payouts Report

We utilize a unique grading system to rank poker rooms on our cashout reports. Please click here for more information on our grading system method.

Each month here on ProfRB.com, we will be updating you on cashout reports specific to player experiences and comparing that to skin/network stated timeframes, with accompanying analysis. We currently track information from Bovada, the Merge Network (primarily Carbon/Aced Poker and Pokerhost), the Revolution Network (primarily Intertops and Juicy Stakes), Lock Poker (currently an independent online poker room), Seals With Clubs (the leading Bitcoin poker room), and the Winning Poker Network (primarily ACR Poker, Black Chip, and True Poker).

New for January and moving forward, we're adding a speculative "Outlook" portion to each room or network's section. Utilizing our exhaustive research and data, along with our experience in the industry, we give you a glimpse into how strong we feel the future will be for each room or network in terms of paying players in a timely manner. More white stars means a stronger outlook (five white stars being the brightest outlook), while more black stars mean a weaker outlook (five black stars being the worst possible outlook).

PLEASE NOTE: All of our samples are cataloged from online forum player reported experiences - we do not accept private experiences when cataloging our data. In addition, though the samples recorded are a relatively small glimpse into overall cashouts, we are confident in their reflection of the general timeframes most players experience based on our contacts within the online industry.

JANUARY 2014 CASHOUT REPORT | REVIEW

While the holiday season generally caused some rooms to endure slight delays in processing payouts, Bovada kept chugging along like the well-oiled machine they are and have seized the #1 position in our payout report this month. Bovada is already the clear #1 US-facing online poker room in terms of cash games and tournaments - but the area they have continued to primarily excel is paying their customers in a very timely fashion. No US-facing room handles the payout volume that Bovada does, and few rooms turns around those payouts faster. A 7-day average for check payouts over the past four months - especially impressive when you add the 37 player-reported instances on average in those four months - puts Bovada ahead of the rest.

For more details, please visit our Bovada Review, information and instructions page.
 

Pokerhost slides down to #2 for the first time since we began this report back in August of 2013, but this is more to do with Bovada excelling with their high volume of requests than anything against the Merge Network poker room. Pokerhost continues to be a top-end poker room, utilizing their impressive independent cashier and as such, sports one of the best cashout timeframes for US players. Pokerhost also remains the premier poker room for payouts on the Merge Gaming Network, as flagship rooms Carbon and Aced Poker have endured slightly increasing payout wait times over the past few months.

For a more detailed breakdown, check out our Pokerhost Review, information page and consider signing up with Professional Rakeback.

While Intertops continues to be a strong option for players looking for speedy payouts, we can confirm slightly increased waiting periods over the past month thanks largely due to the holiday season. This has resulted in the 0.1 point deduction in their score for January - and though player reported data is historically low for Intertops, we can also confirm that they still remain committed to paying their players promptly. ProfRB.com still highly recommends Intertops (invite-only for US players) and continue to stand by them as a reputable company - you don't operate for 30+ years in this industry by accident.

For more information on Intertops Poker, be sure to check out this page, our Intertops Poker Review.
 

The Winning Poker Network's check waiting times increased a bit in the small amount of player reported examples we cataloged in December. It should be noted, however, that the average is still within their stated timeframe of 21 days. The same goes for cash transfer and debit card payouts, which saw small increases in similarly limited player data. Averages for check payout times have been steadily increasing over the past four months, and as such, their score for January fell accordingly and has halted their upward trajectory - for now. We expect WPN to get averages back to waiting times seen in the fall months of 2013, as evidenced by our positive outlook score. Overall, this remains a network on the rise and we strongly recommend WPN-partner rooms ACR Poker, Black Chip Poker, and True Poker to our players, and to the online poker community in general.

If you want to know more about WPN, check out our informational page Black Chip Poker Rakeback, ACR Poker Review, True Poker Review or YaPoker Review and consider Professional Rakeback as your affiliate and advocate.
 

Making their debut on our first cashout report of 2014 is Seals With Clubs, the popular bitcoin poker room that has put themselves in front of all of their bitcoin competitors with their uncanny ability to pay players at lightning-fast speeds. Boasting waiting periods of 24 hours or less (we can confirm that most cases are less than 12 hours), SWC is unmatched as the leading provider of online poker for those dealing in the increasingly popular bitcoin currency. Some in-game problems (they have endured a few untimely blackout periods due to server issues in parts of 2013) and the volatile nature of bitcoins in general have kept SWC from competing against traditional currency gaming operators on a larger scale. But make no mistake - Seals With Clubs is in the game for the long haul, and their commitment to quick payouts has created a loyalty with their players that many online poker rooms would do well to emulate.

Learn all about Bitcoins and Seals With Clubs with our in-depth informational Seals With Clubs Rakeback Review page and consider signing up through Professional Rakeback.
 

Cash X's = Western Union/Moneygram

Carbon and Aced Poker, the primary poker rooms on the Merge Gaming Network, have seen waiting times increasing for payouts after a huge rebound in the summer of 2013. You can see the results for yourself - in May last year, average waits for check cashouts were over 75 days. This came down all the way to an average of just over 7 days in September, and players were rightly excited. Add to that a highly successful Poker Maximus tournament series, which ran in September, and things looked primed to explode for Merge. But the fall and winter months have seen payout averages creep up again, and a reduced tournament schedule and lower cash game traffic hasn't helped the online poker public's perception. Payout waiting periods on the whole are still well within Merge's stated timeframes, though, and we here at ProfRB.com believe that these poker rooms (both identical except for poker client color schemes) still offer US players a safe and reliable place to play.

Be sure to check out our Carbon Poker Review and Aced Poker instructional page for more information.

Juicy Stakes climbs into the eight-point range on our cashout report as the resurgent poker room heads into 2014 looking to make up for lost time. As you see in our statistical analysis, Juicy was a room to avoid before new management took over in October and immediately began paying players well within their newly stated timeframes. While player reported data has tapered off in the past month, we can confirm through our industry contacts that Juicy Stakes continues to pay its players within its stated guidelines. And to further illustrate Juicy's renewed commitments to its players, we've started offering players the option to sign up with them through Professional Rakeback. We wouldn't partner with anyone we didn't feel was above board, and with the recent announcement that Juicy was re-opening player to player transfer ability, we feel that Juicy Stakes is a reliable destination for US players.

Sign up for Juicy Stakes Rakeback via Professional Rakeback at this link, and get 36% "dealt methodology" rakeback AND up to a $2,000 signup bonus.
 

Lock Poker is easily one of the worst online poker rooms in the industry - and you don't need to take our word for it to see why. ProfRB.com catalogs tons of data in several areas regarding online poker rooms, and you can see Lock's "stellar" 2013 by looking at the following:

Lock's player to player trading values (known as "vig")
Lock's tournament overlays and results (August through October 2013)

You can also check out our exclusive "Revolution(ary) War" article from late September, which details the account of a high-raking player on Lock who was promised an expedited payout based on his rake production. The bottom line is that obviously this poker room should be avoided at all costs.