The Winning Poker Network is the second-largest, and one of the most long-lived, poker networks servicing the US market. They are especially renowned for their tournament schedule, which is among the best in the industry.
ProfessionalRakeback works only with the largest, safest, and fastest-paying operators, which in this case is represented by ACR Poker, formerly known as Americas Cardroom. We'll aim to show throughout this ACR Poker review how this site has gained an edge over its sister operators as it's the flagship room of the Winning Poker Network, and it also grants additional perks that are absent at the other network sites.
This network has a surprising amount of No Limit Hold'em traffic given its size, including high-stakes games up to $200/$400. There is plenty of PLO action for all players as well, and the limit cash games section has also captured some traffic away from competitors although it's still a bit sparse.
The bespoke Jackpot SNG format attracts plenty of participation up through the $40 buy-in level. The major Sunday tournament is the Sunday Special, which hands out $250,000+ in prizes every week, and it is the largest weekly guaranteed tournament offered by any of the US-friendly sites. They also have a $30k guaranteed Pot Limit Omaha tournament that is gaining a bit of a following, and it's also the largest regular PLO tournament available to US players.
You'll find an in-depth evaluation of ACR Poker throughout this review. But a good place to start is always going to be with some real player analysis, and as poker players with extensive experience, we're well placed to compile a starting list of positives and negatives. We'll follow this further on with some detail around key performance indicators, but here are the high-level pros and cons as we found them while playing at the site:
We believe, based upon our own experience, that ACR Poker has more strengths than weaknesses, but we decided to do some research on the internet to find out what other players think. We've found that player reports on this poker room are largely positive although there are a few minor complaints from time to time. Check out the posts below for further info on how real customers feel about ACR:
ACR Poker is unable to accept US gamblers from the states of Delaware, Louisiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, or Washington State. However, players from Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands are accepted. If you reside in a state that is not allowed by the WPN, please know that there are other US poker sites that accept poker players from these states and offer real money games.
ACR also cannot accept players from the countries of France, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Israel, Italy, Martinique, Mayotte, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, North Korea, Reunion, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey.
We're at a good point for an overview of how ACR performs on measurements of several key performance indicators. You can use these indicators to get a broad feeling for how it will perform in meeting your needs as a hands-on poker player.
KPI | Our View | Performance Summary |
---|---|---|
Site traffic | Great | Although not as big as the global internet poker leaders, ACR Poker is at the top or second place for U.S.-friendly poker sites. This is true for both cash game and tournament traffic, so it's easy to find a game that interests you here. |
Game softness | OK | The high traffic, flat rakeback, weekly rake races, and other promotions present at ACR Poker attract a fairly tough field of players. This is less true in the microstakes cash games and in tournaments where games still tend to be soft. |
Country availability | Good | Residents of most countries can register an account and play at ACR. Notable exceptions include France, Spain, Italy, and Sweden. |
Game variety | Great | Boasting NL Hold'em, Limit Hold'em, PLO, PLO/8, 5 Card PLO (both Hi-only and Hi-Lo), LO8, 7 Card Stud, lottery-style Jackpot Poker, fast-fold Blitz Poker, and several unique tourney formats, ACR is a fine destination for multiple types of poker at stakes both low and high. |
Speed of website & user experience | Average | The ACR Poker web pages perform adequately although there are certainly faster websites out there. Still, the pages are laid out appropriately and are contained within a menu structure that makes it easy to find whatever information you seek. |
Licensing | Poor | ACR Poker is a properly organized company in Costa Rica, but it does not possess a specific license to operate real money online gaming services. ACR used to be licensed by Kahnawake, but this licensing jurisdiction opted to stop licensing firms that accept U.S. customers in 2016. |
Trustworthiness | Excellent | Because it does not have a gaming license, ACR Poker must instead rely upon its reputation and history. Fortunately, it has been running fair games and paying out wins faithfully for more than a decade, so it has established itself as a trustworthy organization. |
Payout speed | Good | Crypto-currency withdrawal requests very often result in a same-day payout, which is pretty fast in our book, though old-school methods of payment, like checks and money transfer services, take much longer to arrive, but this is only to be expected. |
Banking/cashier | Good | ACR Poker was one of the leaders in crypto-currency support, with dozens of cryptos supported at one point, but it now only transacts in four crypto coins. There's widespread international support for ewallets, like Neteller, too. |
Bonuses/promos | Great | ACR Poker has a $2,000 first deposit bonus (double the size of most competitors), recurring rakeback or Elite Benefits rewards, occasional reload bonuses, and a few other perks to keep its customers happy and coming back for more. |
Standard ACR Poker rakeback is offered at a rate of 27%, and this is the maximum amount allowed by the network. If you ever see a rakeback deal for more than 27% at ACR, then it is likely a scam or at least a shady, under-the-table deal. Through the use of bonus code PROFRB27, our visitors can get hooked up with a legitimate flat 27% rakeback deal.
The calculations that ACR Poker uses to determine cash game rakeback adhere to the weighted contributed model. This means that those who play a lot of pots and actually put money into the middle are rewarded more than nits who just fold, fold, fold. In tournaments, however, these considerations do not apply because your rakeback is equal to 27% of the house fee for each tourney or SNG you join regardless of your style of play.
There's no set schedule for the payment of rakeback at ACR Poker. Instead, you can issue your own RB payouts to your real money balance from within the poker software. Select “My Account” in the top-right of the poker software; then click on “Rewards” in the tabs that appear. Then click on “Rakeback.” You'll see a few stats related to your accumulated rakeback and can press the “Click Here to Redeem” button to transfer the available cash to your balance.
One of the cool things about ACR rakeback is the way that it interacts with bonuses and other promos. All bonus payments will be deducted from your overall rake totals, but then you will still get rakeback on the remaining amount. For instance, if you generate rake of $150 while clearing $30 of bonus, then the $30 will be subtracted from $150, leaving $120, and you will get (27% x $120) = $32.40 in rakeback. This is a total of $62.40 back on total rake of $150: a 41.6% rate of return.
Other types of promotional payments, like rake race winnings, simply add on top of rakeback without any deductions taking place. It's clear that rakeback in concert with bonuses and other special deals provides a distinct advantage over what your earn rate would be absent RB.
Rakeback is what we recommend for most of our readers because RB is the best value for the majority of players. However, high rollers and those who can put in serious volume at the tables might do better with the Elite Benefits program (described later on in this review).
Most websites you will visit offer only one type of account when signing up to ACR Poker. Professional Rakeback offers two different types of accounts for you to choose from when creating a new account at ACR. We offer 27% flat rakeback accounts (details above) as well as Elite Benefits VIP accounts complete with a free $10 no-deposit bankroll offer for those who wish to “try before they buy.”
$10 No Deposit Offer
With our exclusive ACR Poker bonus code PRB10FREE, you can obtain a free, $10 no deposit deal if you reside in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, or New Zealand. The funds will be placed into your balance within three business days.
You must play at least one game/hand of real money poker within 60 days; otherwise, the complimentary $10 will be retracted. There's a rake requirement of $15 before withdrawing the $10 instant bankroll funds. You can take advantage of the PRB10FREE offer and then obtain the 100% up to $2,000 welcome bonus like normal later on.
For all of the details regarding the aforementioned special bonus, read this full length article with all the details about this – exclusive to Professional Rakeback customers – ACR Poker promo code.
The Initial Deposit Bonus, or First Deposit Bonus as it is called here at the Winning Poker Network, is a 100% matching bonus up to $2,000. The bonus will be automatically applied upon your first deposit when you follow the sign up instructions below and use PROFRB's signup links.
The poker deposit bonus clears at a rate of $1 per 27.5 award points earned. Award points are earned at a rate of 5.5 points per dollar in cash game rake or tournament fees. Thus, the bonus clears at an effective ACR Poker rakeback rate of 20%.
If you opt for a rakeback account, then your ability to collect bonuses will not be compromised in any way. There will be a slight reduction in the amount of your rakeback, because any bonuses you earn will be subtracted from your total rake figures, but the combination of rakeback + bonus will still be superior to just RB alone. We advise all players to take full advantage of the ACR Poker first deposit bonus because there are no drawbacks to doing so.
Keep reading below for sign-up instructions in text form.
Australian players have a completely different set of instructions to follow as they are allowed by invitation only.
For the true grinder, the Elite Benefits promotion allows high-volume players to maximize their potential with generous rates - the more you play, the higher the rate! Similar to how PokerStars used to work in the good old days, WPN offers these types of players maximum value for their raked dollar. The Elite Benefits VIP link in conjunction with the PRB10FREE bonus code will set you up with a $10 no deposit bonus. The following banner is for Elite Benefits program players.
All skins on the Winning Poker Network (WPN) offer a 27% flat rakeback program for all players - and thus, the following banner and the ACR bonus code PROFRB27 is for Rakeback program players only. Flat rakeback is the best deal out there for casual players who won't play consistently, raking less than $1,500 a month.
Above are the links to sign up via Rakeback or Elite Benefits programs. It's recommended that you disable any cookie-blocking programs that you have installed before clicking on the link of your choice. ACR uses cookies to track users to affiliates, like ProfRB, and to make sure they're set up with the right kind of account. Therefore, anything that interferes with the proper placement of the tracking cookie may lead to issues further on down the line.
If you aren't sure which program is best for you, please check out this detailed page on Rakeback vs Elite Benefits to see which program is right for you and your playing habits.
Create an account and log in / username. When doing so, input one of the following bonus codes to make sure you receive the maximum deposit bonus. Which code you use depends on whether you have chosen a $10 free no deposit VIP account or flat rakeback account: PRB10FREE (Elite Benefits + $10 free) or PROFRB27 (rakeback).
Right now, we've got a good understanding of how ACR performs in many key areas, and some good feeling for the pros and cons of the card room overall. We can strengthen our perceptions with a more detailed review of the website performance and structure followed by an in-depth analysis of other critical aspects such as game variants, promotions, player support capabilities, and the overriding quality in general.
The ACR website offers a modern-looking interface to their services. The black, white, purple, and green theme might sound like it would be a bit too busy, but in actuality, it's pretty slick and easy on the eyes. The area above the fold is taken up with marketing sliders promoting the various strengths of the room along with pictures of ACR Pros, like Chris Moneymaker. Everything you'll need to reach within the site is linked to from the home page and easily accessible.
You'll be choosing download (for poker) or instant play (for casino and sports) options via two buttons at top right with the other menu items to the left of those. Clicking on a menu entry brings up a list of links to various pages contained within that menu.
Scrolling down presents further info, like promotions, security and privacy info, a list of ACR Pros, and other general ACR Poker background information. The concluding section of the home page is devoted to banking, responsible gaming, and means of contacting support.
We did not discern any notable issues around slowness or jitter of any kind while navigating the website in our tests. Besides just watching and looking for inefficiencies, there are a few other tests we ran that should highlight any potential concerns.
First, we headed over to WebPageTest.org and ran an advanced test on acrpoker.eu. On this test, the main issues noted were high largest contentful paint and cumulative shift measurements. This indicates that there are elements on the page that prevents it from fully loading quickly even though other parts of the page load up speedily. This is probably caused by the large sliders that contains huge images, and actually, this is nothing to be concerned about unless perhaps you're using an older mobile phone or a very poor-quality broadband service to connect.
Our next test was using Google PageSpeed Insights. Google rated this page a fairly poor 8 for mobile users and a mediocre 47 on desktop. We wouldn't read too much into that mobile speed score since the slider mentioned previously is probably the main contributor. Again, you shouldn't notice any major speed issues except if using an old mobile or a poor internet connection.
It's always sensible to be cautious when using any website for financial transactions of any nature. In the gambling industry, there are a number of rogues although thankfully, those are heavily outweighed by the number of poker rooms you can trust. ACR Poker falls squarely into the latter category and this is backed up by the absence of any historic major customer complaints around safety or security issues.
We ran some checks with software that's good at highlighting any potentially hidden issues. Google Safe Browsing checker showed clearly there was no unsafe content on a test.
ACR Poker doesn't hold any license to conduct online gaming services. It's a duly registered corporation of Costa Rica and complies fully with the laws of this country, but it's not licensed by Costa Rica specifically for internet poker.
ACR Poker used to hold licensure from the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. However, in 2016, Kahnawake took the decision to stop licensing companies that accept players from the United States. Thus, ACR lost its license, and it has not yet bothered to secure a new one.
For an organization like ACR Poker that lacks a valid gambling license, it's doubly important that it maintains an excellent reputation. This is just what it has done for more than a decade. The random number generator has been certified as fair by iTech Labs, so you needn't have any concerns on that front. As far as the security of your money is concerned, you can rest easy in the knowledge that ACR pays wins fairly and has found ways of getting cash into customers' hands while dealing with a sometimes-challenging legal and regulatory environment.
ACR also takes seriously its responsibility to protect you from malfeasance by other players. Its security team is always on the alert for cheaters and colluders especially those using bots. The Winning Poker Network used to have a regularly updated list on its website of users banned for cheating.
Whenever this happens, the network confiscates funds from the cheaters and redistributes them back to affected individuals. As of April 2023, the total amount thus refunded to customers exceeds $4 million.
ACR is superior to most other organizations in the American online gambling marketplace because of the breadth of its poker products. Over time, the firm has expanded the types and stakes of the games available, sometimes introducing formats that can't be found anywhere else.
Stakes in the ACR cash games section exist as low as $0.01/$0.02 and run up to $5,000/$10,000 in NLHE. PLO and PLO8 games meanwhile exist as high as $200/$400. In December 2022, ACR Poker added 5 Card PLO and 5 Card PLO Hi-Lo for blind levels between $0.01/$0.02 and $25/$50. Unlike with most new games, these variants saw action start up right away, and there are sometimes more than a dozen cash games of 5 Card poker simultaneously running.
The $1,000-plus buyin tables aren't just for show; they sometimes fill up with high rollers eager to battle for substantial sums of cash. These are the biggest online ring games available to poker fans in the United States. Games are divided into nine-seat and six-player sizes. Heads-up cash once proliferated here, but these games were removed for game integrity reasons. Unlike at most competing cardrooms, the big games aren't confined to just NLHE. For instance, check out the screenshot we captured of high-buyin PLO action:
There's a fairly respectable lineup of fixed-limit games too: LO8, LHE, Seven Card Stud, and Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo. For each of these formats, you can find tables up to $40/$80, and some of them have even larger games spread. There aren't ever more than a handful of active tables in these less-popular variants, but this is still more than you will find at most other internet poker sites especially those that serve the United States.
In April 2021, ACR Poker made a software update that altered the way tables and players are displayed to observers. Called “Player Protection,” this feature hides the screennames and stack sizes of all players at a cash table until you actually join the game and pay the big blind. After you pay your first big blind of the session, you will then be able to see the screennames of your opponents and how many chips they have in front of them. This move is intended to combat bum-hunting and other predatory tactics.
If you wish to view a cash game in progress, for instance if you're following a buddy's poker session, then you have three rail tickets that you can use. They let you view the players and stacks at a given table for a period of five hours although you still cannot sit at that table for a subsequent seven hours. Each rail ticket that you use will be replenished in 24 hours up to the maximum amount of three.
In July 2023, ACR changed the way waitlists work. You can still join any particular cash table that you wish as long as there are open seats. However, if the table is full, then you will need to join the waitlist, which is a single list for all games of the same type with the same stakes. When a seat opens at any of the matching tables, the players on the waitlist are given dibs on that chair in the order that they joined the list.
This update to the way waitlists function is another attempt to reduce the edge that skilled players have. By preventing them from easily selecting the table they'll be placed at, the room hopes to curb bum-hunting.
ACR Poker offers 7-day No Rathole tables. In these special tables, your initial buyin is for just 10bbs and exactly 10bbs. Then if you walk away with a larger stack of chips, the value of your stack is preserved. Should you wish to re-enter the same table again within seven days, you must buy in with exactly the amount you had previously left with.
7 Day No Rathole is offered for No Limit Texas Hold'em between $0.05/$0.10 and $200/$400 blind levels. There's also Pot Limit Omaha and PLO/8 No Rathole for the same stakes.
No Rathole games used to be offered across the entire Winning Poker Network, but in April 2020, this was changed. 7-Day No Rathole is now an ACR Poker exclusive. The reason for this change is because people with multiple accounts on the WPN were using different skins to access the same No Rathole table in order to circumvent the seven-day rule.
In May 2022, the Winning Poker Network debuted All-in or Fold games. As the name implies, you have only two options when the action gets to you preflop: go all-in or fold. These tables seat four players and have a stated buyin amount, which you must adhere to exactly when joining a game. Unusually for a ring game, you're allowed to remove the money you've won in between hands as long as you maintain a minimum 10bb stack.
All-in or Fold is available in Hold'em from $0.05/$0.10 to $50/$100. In addition, there are tables from $0.10/$0.20 to $100/$200 for NL Omaha and $5/10 to $100/$200 for NL Omaha/8. For two-card poker, the buyins are either 8bb or 10bb depending on the blind level while for four-card games, they are set at 5bb.
ACR Poker promised to shake up the U.S.A. internet poker scene with its debut of fast-fold Blitz Poker in February 2019. Among competing offshore cardrooms, only the PaiWangLuo Network really had a strong fast-fold product, so the Winning Poker Network really stood to capture some market share with this move.
Fast-fold games quicken the pace of the action substantially because they bring players to new tables with new hole cards immediately after they fold. Participants therefore don't need to wait around after they exit a hand; they can instead jump right back into the game without delay.
ACR experimented a bit with the available stakes and formats for Blitz when it first debuted. However, the situation has now stabalized, and you can play Blitz from either a desktop or mobile device for stakes between $0.05/$0.10 and $5/$10 for Hold'em and $0.05/$0.10 and $0.50/$1 for PLO. All Blitz tables seat six.
NL Hold'em SNGs at ACR Poker start at the $0.55 level and extend upward to above $200. The majority of the games that actually run are comprised of buyins of $33 and below. You'll see a variety of table sizes and speeds designed to cater to all tastes, including a few formats of multi-table SNGs. As for Omaha Hi sit n' goes, they're listed from around $11 to $22, but Omaha/8 is actually present from $1.50 + $0.11 to $50 + $4.75.
Whenever there's a major poker event coming up, whether the World Series of Poker or one of the WPN's frequent tourney series, it's not uncommon to find satellite sit-n-goes in the lobby. They're typically held in step format whereby the winners of a given step advance to the next level until they reach the final one and compete for a prize package.
ACR Poker has a rather interesting type of SNG called On Demand. In an On Demand tournament, the game starts when a predetermined number of entrants join, but there's then a late registration period allowing others to jump in. It's thus a kind of combination of sit-and-go and multi-table tournament.
Jackpot Poker, upon its introduction, was the first lottery-style poker offering open to U.S. residents. It's a three-handed competition that uses a randomized multiplier to determine the size of the prize pool. Hitting the highest multiplier leads to a prize pool of 2,500 times the buyin while the lowest is worth only 2 times the amount paid to enter.
Jackpot Poker is a winner-takes-all affair except if one of the three highest multipliers (2,500, 200, and 100) appears. In that case, the default distribution is 75%/15%/10% for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd respectively. However, all three players can agree to a deal that adjusts this payout structure to 40%/30%/30%.
Jackpot Poker is present at buyins of $2, $10, $25, and $40 for NLHE and $2 and $10 for PLO. The frequencies of the prize possibilities are as follows:
ACR Poker is the premier venue for online poker tournaments in the United States. The excitement is anchored by Sunday Special, a $200 + $15 tournament that convenes every Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET and guarantees a prize pool of $250,000. This is the largest Sunday Major tournament among all U.S.-facing online poker rooms.
Meanwhile, a $30,000 PLO event, which costs $600 + $30 to enter, is similarly the largest weekly MTT for PLO enthusiasts in the U.S.A. online poker space. The other days of the week contain plenty of guaranteed tournaments at price points both high and low although Sunday is the most jam-packed day for MTT fun at ACR Poker.
Management has elected to run a couple of $5+ million guaranteed Venom tournaments per year as the recurring “prestige” tournament.
Partisans of big-money tournament series will feel at home at ACR Poker because they're regular occurrences several times a year here. The Online Super Series is the main example of this, and it has grown quite a bit since its beginnings in 2012 to now distribute more than $15 million with each running. During these series, it's not uncommon for there to be several events that award $1 million in guaranteed prizes
One thing that may put some people off is the extended period of late registration for the major MTTs that ACR hosts. It's not uncommon for registration to remain open for three hours after events start, and cases of five-hour late registration are not unknown. This has the effect of making tourneys take longer than they otherwise would although it's understandable that ACR wishes to give tournaments as much opportunity as possible to hit their generous guaranteed amounts.
ACR Poker is one of the leaders in terms of game liquidity in the U.S. market. During peak hours, you'll see more than a dozen tables active in each of the micro-stakes NLHE blind levels. Even up through mid-stakes, it's not uncommon to see six or seven full tables running at once.
The PLO lobbies are not quite as busy, but there are still generally between one and three games going at every blind level. The niche formats PLO/8, NLO/8, Seven Card Stud, and Stud/8 typically have just a handful of games going across all stakes. Limit Hold'em and Limit Omaha-8 are virtually deserted and sometimes have not a single game running.
You will generally see around 50 sit-n-goes running during peak hours. They're pretty evenly split amongst games with buyins of $60 or less with the occasional higher-buyin game running. On Demand games tend to be popular as well with perhaps two dozen of them being played at any given time.
Tournaments are perhaps the most well-populated section of ACR. The regular daily tournaments generally draw in hundreds of participants apiece. Major weekly majors, series MTTs, and recurring special events sometimes attract thousands of players.
ACR Poker has designed many of its promotions, like The Beast and Sit & Crush, to reward players based upon their volume of play. This is also true of the Elite Benefits program. Therefore, this room holds a lot of appeal for RB grinders and mass multi-tablers.
These categories of individuals tend to be more solid and competent than your average casual user, which definitely impacts game quality. At mid and high stakes, you might encounter some really tough tables. The presence of savvy ACR pros in the games contributes to this effect too.
Still, the multi-table tournaments are pretty soft. Many of the prestige events, like the Venom and various OSS tournaments, support countless satellites that pepper the fields with more novice and recreational players than you might expect given the high buyin amounts.
Micro-stakes cash games are also eminently beatable. $10NL and lower ring games don't provide much in the way of rakeback or Beast payouts, so the heavy grinders and pros who inhabit higher blind levels have little incentive to slum it in these smaller games. If you're just starting out in online poker, you'll therefore have a few stake levels at which to enjoy substandard competition before moving up to where the game becomes serious.
ACR Poker has a full roster of promotional deals running more or less constantly. You are eligible for most of these promos whether you opt for rakeback or an Elite Benefits account. They include:
The ACR Poker Elite Benefits VIP program is the poker room's rewards plan. As you play at the tables, you'll collect Rank Points that will allow you to progress through the ranks from Lieutenant at the bottom all the way up to 5 Star General at the top. Your position in the system will depend on your monthly totals of Rank Points although the top two tiers (General and 5 Star General) are instead based on your annual points.
As your total annual Rank Points pass specified milestones, you'll pick up cash prizes. Furthermore, every Rank Point you earn also awards you Combat Points at a rate that gets better the further you advance in the program. These Combat Points can be traded for cash bonuses in the Points Exchange section of the poker client or redeemed for merchandise in the ACR Store.
If you can play poker consistently enough and at meaningful stakes, then you may be able to achieve General or 5 Star General status. If this is the case, then Elite Benefits VIP is likely better than rakeback for you. The $10 no deposit promo code PRB10FREE described above enrolls you into Elite Benefits automatically. For further insight into the merits of rakeback and Elite Benefits, head over to our WPN Elite Benefits vs. rakeback comparison page.
If you do decide that an Elite Benefits + $10 free account is the right choice for you, then please follow the instructions contained in the account creation section above. If you click on any other signup link on this page, then you will receive a 27% rakeback account instead by default. **Note: Players on a rakeback plan are not eligible for Elite Benefits rewards.
To illustrate how it works further, here's a summary of the Elite Benefits tiers and the benefits associated with them:
Every raked cash game pot you contribute to, except at heads-up tables, will give you points toward The Beast leaderboard. At the end of every Saturday through Friday period, around 1,000 players receive free cash prizes as well as satellite tournament entries, which are paid out by the end of the following Monday. The top grinders each take home $500 and a free tournament ticket. The Beast is funded by a portion of the regular ring game rake, and the number of leaderboard points you'll collect is based on how much of this rake you pay.
If you want for information about The Beast, click over to our thorough Beast breakdown, which explains the prizes available and your prospects for earning them depending on the stakes and volume you play.
Sit & Crush is the SNG counterpart to The Beast. A portion of the SNG fees is diverted over to the prize pool, and players receive points with every contest they enter. Jackpot Poker is included in Sit & Crush; however, heads-up sit-and-goes don't contribute either money or points toward the leaderboard standings.
Each race runs from Saturday to Friday, and the winners get cash prizes of up to $500 and satellite tickets by end of day the next Saturday. Typically, somewhere about 300 individuals receive a prize from Sit & Crush each week.
In 2020, ACR Poker reintroduced an old feature that had been gone for years: a store where you can exchange Combat Points for a variety of merchandise:
There are a bit more than a dozen items for you to choose from, ranging in price from 199 CPs for stickers to 10,500 points for a customizable ACR jersey. Other possibilities include face masks, hoodies, and baseball caps. At an exchange rate of $1 = 100 Combat Points (which is the rate used for the smallest cash exchanges supported in the poker client), this works out to pricing of between $1.99 and $105 per item.
Delivery is free to the continental United States, but there are small shipping charges for customers in other parts of the world. Fortunately, RoW users can pay these small costs directly using their points. Order processing takes between two and six weeks, depending on the type of merchandise ordered, and shipping takes anywhere from 3 to 10 days according to the part of the world that you reside in.
ACR has a returns policy whereby you can exchange damaged or incorrectly sized items for replacements within 14 days of delivery. In either of these cases, you must contact support first before returning your merchandise, and they will give you further instructions.
ACR runs several $50 freerolls every day, allowing you to score some actual cash even if your account balance stands at $0. Each day of the week features a different style of poker, like PLO 6-Max on Tuesdays and NLHE 8-Max on Sundays.
The starting times of these freerolls are staggered throughout the day, enabling those from virtually anywhere in the world to find a time that's convenient for them. Although the maximum number of entries is a gargantuan 2,000, we've observed that in practice, these free poker tourneys generally only fill to around the 1,500 mark.
ACR Poker provides a Windows download version of its software, which is par for the course and just what we would expect of any modern interactive poker provider. In 2019, the company finally officially released its Mac client, which had been in beta testing for years. There is a mobile poker interface too, but it's strictly limited (see below) although it has been improved a bit since its release.
In 2019, Americas Cardroom switched software providers from IGSoft to SJH Studio, which redid everything in HTML5 form. This should aid in the process of making speedy upgrades across multiple platforms easier in the future although the initial rollout of the new poker clients left much to be desired.
The ACR Poker download executable follows the tried-and-true formula refined over the years by the industry as a whole. Tabs at the top let you specify the format of poker you're interested in while the main display shows you the games. A powerful system of filters enables you to include or exclude whichever tables and tournaments you wish.
The cash game lobby separates the tables by blind level, and there are buttons you can press to indicate whether you wish to see full tables and new tables with zero players seated. In the MTT lobby, you can not only filter the games but also sort them according to up to three user-defined criteria.
In July 2023, ACR released a software update that replaces the traditional square-ish lobby for individual tournaments with a rectangular window, much taller than it is wide. The various pieces of tourney info can be expanded and collapsed by opening and closing menus within this lobby.
While seated at a table, you can customize the display with different card faces, background images, and the like. Textual and graphical hand history viewers are available at the click of a button.
The Winning Poker Network has pioneered a few luck-based elements in their poker software. They include a “Spin to Get In” slot-like feature that enables you to pay a small fee for a chance to match three symbols and gain a tournament ticket. Poker purists will probably denigrate such gambling, but these elements may appeal to the more impulsive and risk-taking portions of the room's user base.
With years of continuous improvement behind it, ACR Poker has crafted a well-polished poker client. Over time, various intriguing features have appeared that help give ACR a distinct feel and provide it with a leg up against competitors.
ACR Poker allows you to select an avatar to represent yourself at the tables. Each avatar has five different emotions, and you can switch among them quickly by clicking on the avatar in your player nameplate. The poker room claims that the characters depicted in these avatars are purely fictional and not based upon any real-life individuals, but we think this might not be strictly accurate. Take a look below and see what you think.
In June 2020, ACR Poker implemented bomb pots. In a bomb pot, there's no pre-flop action, and instead each player puts a designated number of blinds into the pot. Then, the action begins post-flop.
Bomb pots are active at clearly marked NL Hold'em, PLO, and PLO/8 tables. Four times every hour, a normal hand is replaced by a bomb pot. When this happens, each participant must contribute between two and five big blinds to the pot. You will see how many blinds are required for each bomb pot when you take a seat at a table.
Prior to a bomb pot occurring, there will be a short animation to let you know that one is about to happen. Furthermore, the table felt during the hand will display an indication that a bomb pot is taking place. Thus, you won't ever be caught by surprise or have to play a bomb pot unawares.
Staking, whereby one or more individuals purchase part of the action of another player, is a commonplace occurrence in poker both live and online. ACR Poker recognizes this fact and has built support for staking into its software platform.
By integrating staking within the tournament lobby, ACR provides a secure way to engage in this behavior while protecting both stakers and stakees. All calculations and payouts are performed automatically, so there's no chance of any party running off with someone else's money.
The “Staking” tab grants you access to this interface. By selecting it, you will be able to see upcoming tournaments and the shares available for purchase.
If you want to accept staking yourself, then you will have to open the tournament lobby for the event in question and click the “Sell Action” button. Then you will get to choose what percent of your action you're selling, the markup, and the number of entries you are prepared to make in the tournament.
Anyone who intends to charge markup (higher than the default 1.0) must become a verified player and be willing to have their real name displayed rather than being known solely by a screenname. This is so that potential investors can look up the player's past performance not just at ACR Poker but also elsewhere.
Most of the time that ACR adds new features to its poker client, the process goes smoothly and without interrupting gameplay. This is not always the case however.
In May 2019, following a short public beta period, the Winning Poker Network retired its old poker software and introduced a much-publicized Version 2 client. To the dismay of players, this release was anything but smooth. Issues included accounts missing Combat Points, transactions missing from cashier histories, broken Sit & Crush and The Beast leaderboards, and the loss of notes taken by players on opponents.
These problems have long since been corrected, and you can now enjoy the solid and functional ACR poker client. The more recent major upgrade in July 2023 went much better, and there was no significant period of downtime or deal-breaking bugs.
Most individuals don't experience any delays or errors when attempting to deposit at ACR, but in the event that you do, the deposit and withdrawal team is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, via email. Below, you will find the deposit methods for both USA and ROW poker players:
METHOD | MIN DEPOSIT | MAX DEPOSIT | DEPOSIT SPEED | DEPOSIT |
---|---|---|---|---|
Bitcoin | $10 | $25,000 | Up to 10 minutes | DEPOSIT NOW! |
Crypto-Currency | $10 | $25,000 | Varies, but usually a few minutes | DEPOSIT NOW! |
Visa | Varies (around $25) | Varies (around $2,000) | Instant | DEPOSIT NOW! |
Mastercard | Varies (around $25) | Varies (around $2,000) | Instant | DEPOSIT NOW! |
Amex | Varies (around $25) | Varies (around $2,000) | Instant | DEPOSIT NOW! |
Discover | Varies (around $25) | Varies (around $2,000) | Instant | DEPOSIT NOW! |
Money Transfer | $50 - $60 | $500 | Up to an hour | DEPOSIT NOW! |
Neteller | $10 | $25,000 | Instant | DEPOSIT NOW! |
Skrill | $10 | $25,000 | Instant | DEPOSIT NOW! |
EcoPayz | $10 | $25,000 | Instant | DEPOSIT NOW! |
E-Transfer (Canada) | $25 | $2,400 | Up to 30 minutes | DEPOSIT NOW! |
Luxon Pay (non-US) | $10 | $10,000 | Up to 5 minutes | DEPOSIT NOW! |
Pay 4 Fun (Brazil) | $10 | $2,500 | Instant | DEPOSIT NOW! |
Player Transfer | $1 | $30,000 | Up to 24 hours | DEPOSIT NOW! |
Most of the information above is self-explanatory; yet, several notes are in order.
Bitcoin is our recommended deposit method because of its speed and convenience. It is the most popular crypto-currency, so it's the natural choice for those looking to benefit from this innovative fintech solution.
Unfamiliar with Bitcoin? No problem, we have created a step-by-step Bitcoin guide to teach you how to quickly and easily deposit and withdraw to online poker sites using this exciting, new digital currency. Are you a poker player and a Bitcoin user putting in professional amounts of volume and rake? Contact us directly and ask us about our Bitcoin incentive plan.
Although represented solely by the Ether icon in our chart above, the crypto-currency option at ACR actually consists of two other digital coins: Litecoin and Tether. The list used to be much more extensive, consisting of dozens of digital coins to choose from, but the WPN has since removed most of them. These cryptos have the same $10 - $25,000 transaction limits that BTC does.
Credit cards basically work as you would expect, but the permitted transaction amounts depend heavily on the type of card and the geographic location where it was issued. You ought to consider using a card other than Visa because Visa cards incur a 10% fee, which other types of credit cards don't. Prepaid and gift cards are not compatible with ACR, but business cards are supported as long as you first complete account certification.
Many of the same options you can use to deposit at ACR are also listed for withdrawals with the exception that credit cards are not valid instruments for getting a payout. Look below for details on the limits that apply and processing speeds:
Bitcoin (Highly Recommended), Litecoin, Ethereum, Tether: Min $50, Max $25,000
Withdrawals take 24 - 48 hours when selecting the Bitcoin option, and best of all, these payouts are free of charge. This combination of speed and no surcharges are why BTC is the preferred cashout method at ACR Poker. Tether, Litecoin, and Ethereum also boast a high $25,000 withdrawal maximum.
Check: Min $100, Max $3,000
Bank drafts, or checks, are a time-honored way of receiving payments from internet poker firms. Unfortunately, like many legacy payment channels, they come with some annoyances. The first check in a month is free, but any additional checks from ACR Poker during the same month incur a fee of $65. Checks generally take about two weeks to arrive.
Money Transfer: Min $100, Max $350
Money transfer services are certainly convenient, with your money ready to be picked up in one to three days, but they come with a hefty drawback. The fees run from $60 - $70, depending on the amount of your cashout, and this, in combination with the very low maximum withdrawal amount, is a deal-breaker for many people.
e-Wallets (non-USA): Min $10, Max $5,000 - $10,000
ROW customers have recourse to e-wallets. They permit speedy payouts with no fees, and some international players might prefer this method to others.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The specific options listed above are the ones that are generally available to the majority of ACR’s users. However, the methods presented to you in the poker cashier may vary a bit from the info shown above. This is because the particular payment channels and limits available to you will depend on your account history and geographic region.
For additional insight into how successfully ACR meets its withdrawal timeframe commitments, head over to our USA offshore poker payout report.
Because ACR Poker wishes to make sure that you aren't engaging in fraud or money laundering, it requires that you certify your account before making your first cash out. You'll have to submit a copy of your driver's license and a recent utility bill sent to your name at the address listed under your ACR account. Furthermore, if you made a deposit via credit card, you must send in a signed authorization form and a copy of the card.
Once you complete this procedure, you won't have to do it again for future withdrawals because the poker site will keep your information on file.
At the end of June 2021, ACR Poker introduced a new feature called “Bankroll Beneficiaries.” This allows you to set up crypto addresses to which your account balance will be sent, in the percentages you specify, should you fail to log in to your account within a timeframe that you select.
One month before the end of the period of inactivity that you have set, the poker room will attempt to contact you. Assuming you fail to respond, you will get one last chance to do so on the exact date that the period of inactivity is over. Then if the site cannot get in touch with you, ACR Poker will distribute your balance according to the arrangements that you have made.
Bankroll Beneficiaries is kind of like a poker will, which aims to return your assets to your loved ones in case something happens to you. It is completely voluntary though; you needn't take advantage of the program if you don't want to.
Bankroll Beneficiaries is located in the “My Account” section of the poker lobby. Once you click over to this part of the software, you will see “Bankroll Beneficiaries” in its own tab.
ACR Poker has traditionally been a download-only software suite, but this changed in late 2017 with the deployment of a mobile app. You can log into it by clicking on a button on the ACR homepage while using an iOS-compatible device. This button will only appear if you're browsing from a tablet or phone rather than a regular PC.
The original mobile poker solution supported solely Jackpot Poker games at just the lowest $2 buyin level. However, it has since been expanded to include Jackpot Poker contests of every available buyin along with Blitz Poker and Cyclone satellite tournaments. It's possible to play as many as four tables at a time on your mobile system.
The Android client used to be the same website-driven entity as the iOS version, but a separate download app for Android has since been developed. It's a lot better than the previous client because it contains almost the entire lineup of games as the desktop software.
With the debut of the version 2 software client in May 2019, we were led to expect that most, if not all, of the poker features and games would be ported over from the desktop app to mobile. This has happened for Android, but it has unfortunately not yet occurred for users of iPhones and iPads, so iOS users still have to put up with an inferior selection of formats.
Many poker players enjoy filling in the time between games with other gambling activities, so the good news here is that ACR does offer casino gaming and sports betting options all from within the same interface:
If you click on the “Casino” tab of the poker client, the ACR casino webpage will open in a browser window. Here, you'll encounter several casino side games that may be entertaining as a break from poker. Clicking on “Slots” brings up a distinct selection of slot games, and “Live Dealer” opens up the Live Dealer casino. “Classic” refers to the time-tested (and some would say outdated) ACR casino that has been around for more than a decade.
Apart from the Live Dealer casino, which uses popular Visionary iGaming software, the other two casino divisions employ software from more obscure vendors, DGS for the Classic casino and Lucky Games and GameArt for the Slots area.
If you intend to devote much time at all to casino gambling and wish to play titles from well-known slot and table game developers, then we advise you to instead choose a site from our list of the best online casinos for U.S.A. residents.
Choosing “Sports” from the poker software will cause the ACR sportsbook to appear in your default web browser. Here you'll see a reasonable roster of matches to bet on, like football, baseball, soccer, and other popular athletic sports. This is fine if you're looking to put some money down on a game or two every once in a while, but dedicated bettors may wish to go elsewhere.
There's no rewards program or bonus at the ACR sportsbook, and the betting menu isn't as extensive as you might see at other bookies. In particular, there are very few prop bets available. For a more well-rounded sportsbetting experience, check out our recommended best online sportsbooks for U.S.A. citizens.
Every company talks about how great its customer service is, but they can't all be the best – that would be logically impossible. Therefore, we decided to test out the ACR support personnel and see how competent and helpful they are.
Account verification is a step that every user needs to complete if he or she wishes to receive winnings from the poker room, so this is the procedure we elected to try out several years ago. We first got in touch with Live Chat to get some basic info, like where to send our personal documents.
It took only a few minutes for us to receive an accurate, valid response to our query. We then sent our dox to the email address indicated and waited for the site to approve our account for cashouts. We were floored by the speed with which this was completed. Take a look at the timestamps below of the email we sent and the one we received. The turnaround time was less than four hours!
Unfortunately, we have been advised that Live Chat service has been suspended and will probably not return. Instead, users will be able to interact with an AI virtual assistant. It is still possible to send an email to support[at]winningpokernetwork.com, and you can alternately fill out a webform to have a member of support contact you.
Most gambling operators nowadays pay some attention to protecting their players from the harms that gambling can cause. ACR Poker has a page on the site dedicated to the subject and offers a number of ways that account holders can help protect themselves:
ACR Poker has carved out a sizable niche for itself as one of the leading U.S.-facing offshore poker rooms, but this doesn't mean that it's the only one. Indeed, it faces stiff competition from several organizations. Among them are its two largest competitors: Ignition Casino and BetOnline.
We'll compare these three poker sites across several categories so that you can gain a better understanding of how ACR fares versus its major rivals.
If you're interested in learning more about how ACR stacks up when compared to other top competitors, then please feel free to peruse this detail-oriented comparison of ACR Poker vs Carbon Gaming or this comparison of ACR Poker vs Black Chip Poker or this evaluation of ACR vs Bovada.
When we look at the evolution of ACR, we really also need to consider its place in the Winning Poker Network as a whole. As a matter of fact, the Americas Cardroom brand (what ACR Poker used to be known as) predates the existence of the WPN entirely. It began life in 2001 as a skin on the Dobrosoft Network, a smaller operator at that time.
After a few years, it moved over to OnGame, which is now defunct but was once one of the largest internet poker networks around. However, the passage of the UIGEA led OnGame to abandon the U.S. market.
At this point, the decision was made to retire the Americas Cardroom name and transfer all player accounts to True Poker. True Poker had been going strong since 2001 as a room with innovative, 3D software that aimed to immerse users more fully in the graphical environment than other sites did. By this time, True Poker had become the leading skin on a network called Yatahay.
It's hard to find player traffic figures for the period preceding 2007, but from that point onward, we have a pretty good idea of cash game volumes, thanks to the efforts of GameIntel, an industry resource that tracks player counts at various sites.
For the entire time that the Yatahay Network was active, it remained a niche option with a max of just a couple hundred players logged on during most times of day. No doubt this was a consequence of its independence from major gaming enterprises and its funky and resource-intensive 3-D software platform.
After Black Friday forced many of the leading internet poker providers to abandon the U.S. market in April 2011, the powers behind Americas Cardroom sensed an opportunity. The site relaunched as part of the Yatahay Network, incidentally bailing out players of the bankrupt Doyles Room skin at around the same time.
In early 2012, Yatahay rebranded to Winning Poker Network with Americas Cardroom as the flagship site. The clunky, bespoke 3D poker client was retired and a new software solution from IGSoft was deployed. Although the unique visual style of the old True Poker did have its adherents, it was too slow and difficult to use for the majority of players.
After the switch over to the Winning Poker Network and a streamlined, modern poker client, we witnessed an immediate jump in player participation. The growth of the network continued through the subsequent years until the WPN became the second-largest online poker destination for Americans.
Beginning in 2017, the Winning Poker Network even briefly eclipsed front-runner PaiWangLuo Network in ring game player population. Each time this happened, PWL regained the lead, but this demonstrates that the WPN is not resting on its laurels and continues to challenge even its largest rivals.
Though it stepped back slightly from its 2017 peak traffic figures during the next couple of years, the Winning Network reached new heights during 2020. This was probably a consequence of new functionality enabled by a massive software update from SJH Studio in 2019, which caused a lot of headaches before all the bugs were worked out but ultimately redounded to the advantage of the site.
A more successful upgrade was deployed in July 2023, and it didn't suffer from the mishaps of the earlier one. At the same time, Americas Cardroom changed its name to ACR Poker. Player volumes were not able to sustain their previous lofty heights, but WPN is still firmly in second place, ahead of the Chico Poker Network and smaller rivals for USA poker liquidity.
Actually, for tournaments, ACR is probably in first place although data on the number of tournament players is hard to come by. The WPN is one of the few U.S.A.-facing internet poker rooms that has the wherewithal to host seven-figure prize pools, which it does with its recurring Venom and Online Super Series events. Its weekly Sunday Special has the biggest weekly guarantee ($250,000) open to U.S. residents.
Perhaps the reason for the recent decline in cash game traffic lies in the very focus of the room on tournaments. By pursuing a strategy of hosting more than $10 million in guaranteed MTT prizes every week, in addition to special events awarding more than $5 million at a time, the Winning Poker Network may be purposefully skewing its player pool more toward tourneys than ring games, and this is understandably reflected in the average cash game participant numbers.
Our evaluations so far have covered most of what any poker player will need to know about ACR, and this will be a good point to summarize the pros and cons that we've gleaned from the exercise. First, the positives:
There are always going to be some drawbacks, and we believe in being forthright about them, so let's bullet point the areas where ACR doesn't quite hit the right notes:
After examining all the relevant info, we conclude that ACR Poker is a well-rounded online poker site that has something for almost everyone. Micro-stakes grinders will appreciate the ultra-low blind levels spread here, as low as $0.01/$0.02, while high-rollers can dabble in games up to $200/$400. Devotees of big-bet poker can get their fill of NL Hold'em, PLO, PLO/8, and 5PLO action, but limit players are supported too with LHE, Stud, and LO8 games. The tournament selection here is especially impressive with some of the largest guaranteed MTTs available to Americans online.
There are a few negative points about ACR to be aware of though. The iOS client is limited to just a few game formats, and in general, the software development has historically been spotty with new “upgrades” often leading to broken games and suspended tournaments.
Player traffic is high, but some of the individuals at these tables are the best pros in the game. Thus, the cash games here tend not to be as soft as they are elsewhere. If you're a newcomer to poker, there are easier fishing grounds to be had.
Overall, we find that the positives outweigh the negatives. ACR Poker is an honest and upstanding internet poker destination that has enough going for it to interest almost every player.
After reading our in-depth review, you may still have unanswered questions. Or perhaps you wish to look for answers to your pressing queries first before devouring our content above. Whatever the case, we have addressed some of the most frequent concerns about ACR Poker below.
Absolutely. There are no Federal laws that make online poker illegal. Furthermore, only one US state has any language that specifically addresses online poker (Washington State). As such, it is perfectly legal to play on ACR, Black Chip Poker, True Poker, or any other online poker site while residing in the United States.
No way. Although there is some uncertainty in the way online gambling is handled by U.S. courts, both at the federal and state levels, we believe that ACR is doing its best to comply with all relevant provisions of American law and international law especially as it relates to trade organizations that the United States is a member of.
Evidence of this comes in the form of certain legal filings that the company has made within the country, like the paperwork that it submitted to the authorities to protect its logo as a trademark. If ACR Poker were a disreputable or illegal operation, then it would hardly retain the services of a licensed American attorney or go to the trouble of making sure that its intellectual property was properly covered under U.S. law.
Yes, ACR rakeback at 27% does exist, and we offer it directly upon creating an account with us. To create such an account, simply click on the appropriate link in our signup instructions above.
Yes. The WPN caps rakeback at 27% and does not allow any higher rates. Professional Rakeback offers this maximum rakeback amount to all of our players. You may have heard of a 30 or 35% rakeback rate, but those deals are no longer available.
They were special deals that were present on other networks. When the WPN acquired those networks years ago, it allowed existing rakeback players to keep their deals. However, those deals are not available to new customers. 27% is the max allowed.
As of 2014, WPN rakeback is now available to be redeemed once per day, any and all days of the week, in full.
Log into the appropriate poker software, find “My Account” in the top menu and click it. Then, click on “Rewards” and “Rakeback” and redeem with the button on the bottom-right of the screen.
Unfortunately, there’s no phone support at ACR. At least, we couldn’t find any phone number listed on the site’s web pages. Furthermore, the old number that used to work now appears to be disconnected.
Live Chat exists, but it is merely a virtual assistant, which is basically a chatbot that can assist you with formulaic answers to common queries. The ability to chat live with a real human support agent was discontinued a while ago.
You can get in touch with a support representative through a webform on the ACRPoker.eu website or by sending an email to support[at]winningpokernetwork.com.
Another option is to reach out to ACR on social media. The company is active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
They are reward points rewarded to players for playing poker. Our players familiar with the old Pokerstars VIP program will simply equate Combat Points to FPPs and understand completely.
Yes. The WPN random number generator is independently tested by iTech Labs. They concluded that the card sequences produced through the Random Number Generator are unpredictable and non-repeatable. Basically, that means the card distribution is correct, honest, and fair. If you want to see for yourself, you can review the actual certificate here.
Of course, this has not deterred certain individuals who have developed pet theories that ACR Poker is rigged. However, such tales abound regarding every online poker site, and we find no more credence in these allegations against ACR than we do any similar stories about other poker rooms.
There is a Mac version of the ACR poker software. However, some users have found that it doesn’t run as smoothly as the Windows executable.
You can try it out to see if it works well on your system. If not, you can always attempt to run the normal Windows poker client via emulation software, like Parallels.
ACR Poker has released a poker app for Android tablets and phones, and it contains almost the entire gaming roster that you can access from a PC. However, the iOS client is much less robust, featuring only Jackpot Poker, Blitz cash games, and Cyclone satellites at present. Thus, if you have an iOS system and wish to join any other type of poker games, you'll have to play through the regular desktop software on your computer instead.
ACR recognizes that sometimes people make mistakes, and sometimes a player's profile of play changes dramatically. If you signed up for either Elite Benefits or rakeback and now want to move over to the other, this is allowed.
Be warned, however, that you can only swap between Elite Benefits and rakeback once over the lifetime of your account. Make sure that this is really what you wish to do, and then contact live chat from the ACR website or send an email to support[at]winningpokernetwork.com explaining your request. They will make the necessary adjustments to your account.
To import your mobile hand histories into your poker tracking software, wait until you get back to your home PC. Then open the desktop version of the poker client. Click on the gear icon near the top-right corner of the lobby and select “Hand Histories.” You will see a button marked “Sync Mobile Hands.” Pressing it will grab all hands you've played on mobile and output them to the hand history file. Then all you need to do is open up your tracking program and import the file according to the usual procedure for doing so.
Since its relaunch on the Winning Poker Network in 2011, ACR Poker has established itself as a trusted and fair place to play. Nevertheless, there have been a few instances over the years when untoward events took place albeit without ACR often being directly at fault.
For the past few years, many online poker organizations have come under threat of DDoS attacks, and, for whatever reason, ACR has been one of the hardest-hit operators. When such incidents occur, games freeze, timeouts during hands become common, and some users can't even log in. Whether the WPN being a favored target of cyber-criminals reflects on the quality of its IT security, the fact that it's the most popular U.S.A. tournament site, or some kind of personal grudge between the network and the attackers is unknown. The site takes active measures to combat DDoS events although its efforts have met with only variable success.
In February 2017, high-rollers Bill Perkins and Dan Bilzerian were streaming on Twitch while taking turns playing from Perkins' “gastrader” account on ACR Poker. This is multi-accounting and a clear violation of the rules. The Winning Poker Network disabled Perkins' account and instructed Bilzerian that he had to open up his own account if he wished to play on the site.
In the first few months of 2018, there was growing concern about botting and collusion at the WPN. Many users blasted the network for seeming to do nothing about these problems. However, quite a few ACR Poker customers eventually received refunds. These real money credits came from cash that the site had confiscated from cheating accounts.
In May 2019, the Winning Poker Network rolled out its new poker software on all skins. Unfortunately, this product seems not to have been well-tested as users reported lots of bugs and inconsistencies.
Moreover, players’ bottom line results were affected because the weekly rake races were disabled for some time along with rakeback payments and Combat Point accrual. In some cases, customers were able to have their totals adjusted manually by support, but this was an annoying inconvenience.
Rather than fixing everything within a few days or even weeks, developers took many months, in fact almost a year, before the poker client returned to the level of stability and functionality that the old software possessed. Many observers were incredulous that such a problem-filled release could have been performed without red flags having been raised earlier in private internal testing.
Affiliates were impacted negatively too. While conducting a major overhaul of its cardroom platform, the network also opted to, at the same time, rework the existing affiliate portal. The resulting chaos meant that affiliate stats and payouts were not updated for at least seven months.
Thus, the poker sites’ affiliate partners were unable to track the number of customers who signed up, view their rake totals, or even receive and verify the amount of their hard-earned commissions. Even worse, they were unable to follow up adequately on customers’ inquiries regarding their RB payments and rewards because these stats were simply unavailable during this time period.
It was only in early 2020 that these issues were finally resolved. This was far too long for players and affiliates to essentially have served as unpaid beta testers.
Here at Professional Rakeback, we endeavor to present a comprehensive treatment of every site we cover (just look at the length of some of our reviews if you doubt this). Still, there's a wealth of additional information on the internet that even we cannot realistically include on our site. If you seek additional comments, answers, and general reports of what playing on ACR Poker is like, then we direct you to consult these outside resources:
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