MicroGaming Poker Lobby Receives a Face Lift

Author: Neha Agrawal

Online poker appears to be fighting tooth and nail for its life, and while there are one or two really successful sites, the rest seem to be sadly flagging. Assailed by the recession, the fact that US-facing sites dare no long risk taking members from this country, attrition, top-heavy regulatory structures in Europe, and the fact that PokerStars simply seems to be able to do no wrong.

All the big online poker brands have been affected by these and various other external factors, the iPoker network for example recently spilt all their skins into two separate liquidity sectors, leaving the small guys out in the cold in some instances. In the meantime Microgaming have recently launched a new lobby for their poker network, and this is simply known as the MicroGaming Poker Network.

Microgaming have a novel approach to the way their poker network is managed, this is done by means of a “Change Management Board” , basically known as the Network Management Board – formed in response to failing poker traffic, approximately a year or two ago. Last year this online poker network took the eGaming Review, B2B Award for Best Poker Network.

The management board is made up of qualifying representatives from Microgaming powered skins, Microgaming itself and independent industry experts. The chief objective being to serve the network and breathe new life into a new and improved user experience – this board is a first of a kind. But then this software developer is used to claiming “first of a kind” accolades.

The changes to this online poker software lobby include removal of the left-hand sidebar which indicated game types and stake. This has been successfully replaced instead by a tiered tab system which makes it simpler to use. Players may switch between Poker tournaments and cash games, and filter by game types. The bad-beat jackpot (BBJ) ticker features more prominently, and these are one of only a few poker providers to still feature a Bad Beat Jackpot.

These changes were made together with the MPN management board and one of their larger clients. Whether or not it will make much difference to the performance of online poker websites powered by this brand…still remains to be seen. But 888Poker turned around the success of their brand by simply changing the software, perhaps Microgaming can do the same.

Currently the new software has been rolled out to one major client, and is in the process of being rolled out to various others.