New CoinPoker Software: First Reviews & the Poker Site's Plans

The launch of the new CoinPoker software was undoubtedly the most talked-about event of the past week.

On social media, the room's ambassadors promised a near-revolutionary platform, a huge number of innovations, and fueled hype with an incredible 100% rakeback offer.

In reality, there were many changes (and a lot of positive ones), but with the updated design and new functionality came a host of technical issues. Also, players had to learn about the most significant changes through Discord and short announcements on the website.

Rake Increase & Frozen Bonuses

Players' main outrage wasn't caused by the new client, but by the accompanying rake increase, which hadn't been announced in advance. The commission percentage remained the same, and cash game pots still take 5%, but due to the increased cap, the effective rake increased significantly, almost doubling at some limits.

A Russian high-stakes player, Avr0ra, was one of the first to react:

Okay, so the client is very crude, with some pretty critical bugs (for example, after an action, the bet size isn't subtracted from the stack, so you don't actually know how many chips you have). The inability to wait for the big blind is also pretty bad.

But it's still a step forward; with this client, at least there's a chance that it'll gradually improve and become good; with the old client, there was no such chance.

Now, about the main downsides:
1) They raised the rake in cash games significantly (the effective rake will still be much lower than in GG, due to the fair rakeback system, but an increase is an increase)
2) 3% for insurance in an all-in is very greedy (an amateur at my table cash out and it was really painful to watch -3%)
3) You can't download your hands for analysis (I really hope they will do this)

There are tons of cosmetic bugs (the wheel doesn't even work), but I think they'll fix it quickly.

Another player, Nikolai dyrdom1, expressed a similar opinion:

This has never happened before, and here we go again.

The rake has been raised almost 50%, and it's absurd that it's the same for 5-10k players, and as far as I understand, it's even higher there than it was at GG back in the day. The software is still crude, of course. I've been asking for proper filters for games and limits for a long time, but they've only made it worse.

Well, let's skip for now.

Well, if money is being invested, the software can be tweaked and improved. As for rake, it's crucial to see, how they attract traffic. If they do well and promote the room, there's still a chance.

Comparing the old and new rake.

6-max

The situation is similar at heads-up tables.

At micro-stakes, the cap has been reduced from 0.25/0.5, but has increased at almost all stakes.

Heads-up

100% rakeback in March postpones the problem for a month, but what about April and the future?

Ambassadors came out almost immediately to clarify the situation.

Patrick Leonard wrote on Twitter: "I agree if you increase the rake, it’s not a good look, but the thing people don’t see yet is the new rewards system. EFFECTIVE rake (rake minus rakeback) is the only thing to consider. As an ambassador, I won’t support unbeatable effective rake, I promise."

Bencb wrote on Twitter: "I do understand the frustration around the rake cap increase (which was not communicated to us), and rest assured, we are talking to the CP team nonstop to secure a very good rake/rakeback structure from April onwards.

BUT, this software is a massive upgrade. Really cool features and upgrades. Clean and simple. I do not understand people wanting the old software back.

YES, there are some bugs, which is normal when you introduce a new software, but the team is relentlessly working on fixing them.

What is happening on CP in March and moving forward is something we really needed in Online Poker.

The more competition on the market, the better for all of us.

And Mario can confirm what a pain in the ass I am when it comes to this. I am probably his least favorite ambassador in the team."

A lack of communication also manifested itself in regards to bonuses on player accounts.

For example, in the old software, a fixed 33% rakeback was paid to players with CHP tokens in their accounts. After the update, these tokens were no longer needed, and the tokens themselves remained frozen and unavailable for exchange.

It was revealed that on April 1st, tokens will be converted into a redeemable Poker Locked Bonus (in April, as all rake is already returned to players in March). However, detailed terms for redeeming it are not yet available.

The fate of the 150% Welcome Bonus, which disappeared from the cashier after the new client's launch, wasn't immediately clear.

The answer was revealed on the room's Discord and website: active bonuses will be fully available on April 1, after the 100% rakeback promotion ends. Those who create an account in the new client will also be able to receive the bonus in April, even if they made their first deposit in March.

There were also complaints that daily payouts didn't match the amount of rake paid, but the solution turned out to be simple. The discrepancy arose due to the reporting period: the gaming day ends at midnight UTC time, and rakeback is credited at 7:00 AM onwards the next day. Therefore, those who stayed late at the tables might feel like some of their money hasn't arrived.

The room addressed some of the complaints as quickly as possible: for example, in addition to TRON and Ethereum cashouts with a fixed commission of 5 USDT, they added the Polygon network, where withdrawals are available without a commission.

They also made a statement on X/Twitter about the rake increase:

Lobby: Few Filters & Mixed Tables

The rake increase didn't affect MTTs, so tournament players' feedback was much more positive. Rakeback is also 100% for all of March, with no quirks or strange reward systems.

Grigory "GregGT " Rodin noted that the new design includes a convenient feature for multi-tabling—you can choose different table backgrounds.

This was followed by a long list of bugs in GG's software—a clear example that everyone has problems, including very old and unsolvable ones, and that demanding perfection from a newly released product is unreasonable. He also defended the design, which more and more rooms are adopting.

GregGT:

In the field of software development, there is an optimum, a GTO, to put it simply, which the industry is gradually arriving at.

Just as the field of regulars is slowly but surely catching up, watching the game of the top players who "solved poker" before others, and copying and adopting certain concepts from them, so too are the rooms evolving and improving their software (as well as marketing and other) strategies, learning from the examples set by the flagships.

Therefore, there is nothing surprising, strange or bad in the fact that all the rooms are gradually becoming a little similar to each other.

For players of many disciplines, one of the first inconveniences was the lack of settings in the lobby. To select cards, felt, and set betting slider templates, you first need to open any table and then click the small button in the upper-right corner. Obviously, this should be accessible from the main lobby.

Complaints about the lobby are mainly related to the inconvenient display of information and the weak filter system:

• tables of different disciplines are in one list
• no filters or sorting by number of players
• You cannot hide full or empty tables
• The game and stake filters are limited: for example, it's impossible to filter out only PLO5 tables with blinds of $0.10/$0.25.
• Switching between tabs is also slow – it takes 3-5 seconds to load.

The least-liked new feature in the game menu was bomb pots. They were added to both Hold'em and Omaha, and even with double boards.

The PokerIntel built-in tracker also has some issues at launch. For example, you might play a losing session and see a winning graph. Or you might be unable to find information about your All-In or Fold play.

One of the things that isn't a bug, but is often mentioned as a downside to the new software is the lack of downloadable hand histories. Apparently, this is coming in the future as the Coin team works on it.

Gameplay: Tricky Seating & Lack of Buttons

A noticeable inconvenience for regulars was the process of boarding and exiting the table:

• There's no "Sitout on BB" button. You have to find the right moment manually.
• When you sit down, the Play Next Game button appears, and it's already pressed. If you don't press it, a blind will be posted out of turn from an open position in the next hand.
• If you've been added to the waiting list, it's best to keep your table open—there's no guarantee you won't be kicked out of the queue when it closes.
• When it's time to sit down, there's no notification: the customer is automatically seated at the table and presses the "Play Next Game" button. Therefore, players only learn about their participation after receiving their hole cards.

A small but very annoying issue was discovered in focusing on the active table. Tables don't "line up" according to the action, but simply pop up on top of each other. For example, you make a decision on a pop-up table without clicking anything, and it's immediately obscured by another table.

Another detail that's important to many grinders is the lack of hotkeys. However, they'll likely be added quickly (and by March 7th, Jurojin had already launched support for them).

The built-in HUD received the most positive reviews—it outperforms the similar one on the GG network in terms of the number of metrics. However, some drawbacks were also noted:

• the number of hands in the sample is not displayed
• statistics from different disciplines and formats are mixed
• Absurd values ​​pop up: for example, 100% VPIP for a tight opponent or zero values ​​in your own HUD

However, the developers release updates almost every day, so problems are becoming fewer and fewer.

Optimization: Freezes, Vulnerabilities, & 100% Load

The overall technical condition of the new client was disappointing upon launch. In the first few hours, it suffered under critical load. Problems arose unpredictably, like mushrooms after a rain:

• windows would go into infinite loading or freeze with a black background
• The lobby displayed the message "Connection problems"
• Some players were charged for their buy-ins, but the tournaments themselves did not open
• someone could view the tables, but without the opportunity to sit at them
• The action buttons at the tables did not respond to pressing on the first try

Many players reported software sluggishness: the client reacted slowly to actions, animations played slowly, and tabs took a couple of seconds to open. The peak load during the first few hours—when everyone went to check out the new game—made matters worse.

After the traffic drain, connection issues persisted, though not as pronounced as at the beginning. For some, everything worked with a blocking bypass service, for others, with a regular internet connection, and for others, it required going into the system settings to create exceptions, etc.

Some players encountered incorrect detection of banned software. One user saw a request to close TeamViewer, but couldn't find the program in Task Manager. Another was asked to disable vmware-usbarbitrator64.

There were also suspicions in the opposite direction. For example, antivirus software didn't like the client, and X even published a hypothetical list of critical vulnerabilities that could threaten user security.

Full RCE stands for Full Remote Code Execution—a type of vulnerability that allows remote execution of commands on a user's computer. Access to Live Game Data allows third-party programs to read game information. Plaintext auth tokens allow unencrypted storage of user data. A screenshot purporting to be a security report claims that the app has disabled the built-in security mechanisms of the Electron framework (the software is written in it) and uses the Chromium 114 engine, which contains unpatched vulnerabilities.

The style is more reminiscent of a report from an AI than a security expert.

Room quickly addressed the accusations both on its Discord and Twitter.

However, there are also legitimate technical issues. Some players experienced extreme system load. Running multiple tables could load the CPU or GPU to 70-100% (NVIDIA card owners were particularly unlucky).

It turned out that the client wasn't selecting and using system resources optimally. A solution was sought collectively: we simplified animation settings, disabled throwables, reduced table sizes, updated drivers, and adjusted graphics card performance.

Each of these measures helps to some extent, but there is no single method guaranteed to make the client's job easier.

What's Next For CoinPoker?

Just a few days later, CoinPoker commented on the hottest topic of rake increases. Here are the main points:

• We knew the rake change would provoke a negative reaction, and we understand that. Our mistake was not providing context or explaining the big picture.
• CoinPoker remains a site for players, and we strive to show this through our actions.
• Details of the new reward system will be announced in the coming weeks. A significant portion of the rake will be returned to players.
• Our goal is to maintain the lowest effective rake in the market. We believe the poker dream is alive and well, and the game should remain profitable over the long term.
• We understand that our decisions impact the lives of our players, and we recognize this responsibility and take it seriously. We have also received feedback from our partners and ambassadors and greatly appreciate their input.
• We share our partners' commitment to creating the most reliable poker site, but technical and operational decisions remain with CoinPoker, and we are directly responsible for them.

Mario Mosbeck gave the most detailed answer among the ambassadors. He shared his perspective on the industry, explained the decision to raise the cap in more detail, and also emphasized that low effective rake remains CoinPoker's priority.

Mario Mosbeck wrote:

Hey guys, its Danie...ahh Mario Mosböck here 😄

CoinPoker increased rake caps to more competitive levels and shared detailed context around their decision-making in the post below.

I’m very aware this is an extremely sensitive topic, and honestly not something you’re going to “win” an argument about on Twitter. But I care deeply about this community and almost all of my friends are poker players, so here we go 😆

Let’s get one obvious point out of the way first. Charging zero rake would clearly be better for players in theory. But that simply isn’t a realistic option given the costs of running a poker platform.

That said, the idea that the best model for an online poker site is simply having the lowest possible gross rake has unfortunately proven outdated. We’ve already seen how this played out with Run It Once Poker. It was a platform the entire poker community supported and loved, yet it ultimately shut down because the games never had enough recreational traffic.

At the same time, club-based apps, private games, and GG have taken over large parts of the global market. People might criticize GG, but we all share one reality. We all play there.

And that mainly comes down to two things:

1. Their product is excellent

2. They have enough liquidity to keep games running consistently

The first point is crucial. The second is essential. If recreational players aren’t playing on your platform, the games simply won’t survive. That’s the reality.

To build a strong product, you also need to invest heavily into rewards and promotions for players across the ecosystem, both regulars and recreational players. Over the past few years, the model that has proven most effective is higher gross rake combined with strong rewards and redistribution.

At the end of the day, what really matters to all of us as players is the effective net rake we actually pay. If a platform cannot compete with the broader market, or even with smaller app-based games, it simply won’t survive. I’m not expecting everyone to think about or even care about the bigger picture, but that’s the environment these sites operate in.

Every club app and private game already works like this. Players pay rake and then receive a significant portion back through deals, rakeback, and rewards. Those models keep games running by providing liquidity, which is ultimately the core thing that matters. To compete in that environment, you need comparable rewards alongside a better product.

Ultimately, we all want the same thing: a poker site that listens to players and genuinely cares about the health of the ecosystem.

In my view, CoinPoker is currently the best overall chance we have at that. Their commitment to building a site for players and aiming to run at the lowest rake possible is huge for the poker community. We simply haven’t had that for years.

Their team is outstanding, the software is very strong, and they consistently listen to community feedback while trying to build a long-term future for online poker. Otherwise I wouldn’t work with them. And neither would Pads, who got involved long before most people had even heard of CoinPoker.

Props also to ACR and WPN, who are clearly trying to push things forward as well, while GG shows to not care much about the community. That’s just the reality of the current landscape.

What I see from the CoinPoker team is a genuine effort to build a transparent poker site that actually cares about players.

And in the middle of all this discussion, the numbers speak for themselves. More players than ever are currently playing on CoinPoker. The player base multiplied over the last 24 hours, with peaks around 3,700 concurrent cash game players and 600+ tables running.

The software itself is excellent. On desktop it’s already among the best experiences out there, and on mobile it’s hands down the best poker experience currently on the market.

I’m always happy to be involved in discussions around this. My sole goal is to help CoinPoker grow into the biggest poker site in the world.

If you have frustrations or criticism, please tag me and bring me into the conversation. I’m happy to be the main punching bag and will laugh with you when you are a funny troller.
Just please leave the other ambassadors out of it & pick on me. They’re simply doing their best job and are involved with CoinPoker because they genuinely believe in the product and want to see online poker succeed.

Anyway, back to the Twitter trenches...🫡

On the evening of March 6, Patrick Leonard posted on X that most of the discovered bugs would be fixed within 48 hours:

Hey, they are going to be fixed within 48 hours. My group had the same feedback. With new software there's always a lot of glitches, this is why we didn't run a series in this first week when everybody begged for it, but it was because we expected this issues, so we preferred slighlty smaller, loyal player base like yourself, where we will get insanely valuable feedback, and we can fix each problem one by one. The team is working so agile and fixing everything really quickly, keep spamming us, we love it and it helps us make the absolute best product.

Mario is a great link between player->tech, either tag him or me in anything.

We appreciate your rake!