Global Poker Missteps Leave Users Dismayed

It's fairly uncommon for a new USA-friendly online poker site to open its doors, and so lovers of card games within the States were excited by the February 2017 appearance of Global Poker. Its creative sweepstakes model lets customers purchase Gold Coins, which can never be redeemed, and also obtain at the same time complimentary $weeps Cash, which can be exchanged later on for U.S. dollars. This business plan was widely regarded as a way of bypassing U.S. anti-gambling statutes, and many observers foresaw Global carving out a nice slice of the offshore poker market for itself.

However, it soon became apparent that this room was running into problems, which we discussed in detail in September 2018. Since that time, the situation has only gotten worse.

Declining Traffic

Player liquidity is the lifeblood of any internet poker venue, and Global used to be impressive in this regard with multiple tables filling up as high as $10/$20 in No Limit Texas Hold'em and Pot Limit Omaha variants.

Unfortunately, Global Poker appears to be slipping in this department. Multiple posts on prominent poker forums attest to the fact that there are fewer users at the tables nowadays than there were even as recently as the beginning of 2019. While it's still possible to select from several running tables at micro-stakes, those who prefer higher action often have to wait awhile or start tables themselves.

Unfortunately for would-be table starters, Global's shorthanded rake is among the worst in the industry. Whereas most other sites cap the rake at $0.50 or $1.00 when playing heads-up, Global extracts much more than this in all but the smallest games. As low as $0.05/$0.10, the HU rake cap is $1.50, and this increases as you work your way up in stakes to a dismal $4 cap in the $5/$10 games while heads-up.

The lack of bonuses, rakeback, and other perks contributes to the unattractiveness of starting tables here. Few people wish to sit first or second in a Global Poker ring game given the rake structure and lack of incentives for opening up new tables.

Game Formats Removed

Perhaps related to the decrease in player traffic is the fact that Global has ended support for several types of games. The $10/$20 blind level is now totally gone from the lobby since mid-January 2019, and $5/$10 is currently the highest stake present for both NLHE and PLO cash games. Furthermore, 9-max hyper turbo sit n' gos have been eliminated.

It could be the case that the removal of these games was an attempt to consolidate a scattered user base into fewer types of games in order to boost overall player counts. If so, it hasn't worked out as planned.

Even the addition of Jackpot SNGs in February 2019, heralded as a way to entice recreational customers into the poker scene, has had a very limited impact at best. It may even have been counterproductive by cannibalizing users from the preexisting sit-and-go varieties.

Mediocre Software Platform

As a poker app that launches in players' web browsers, the Global Poker software is able to achieve compatibility with virtually every modern computing platform in existence from traditional desktops and laptops to tablets, smartphones, and other mobile devices. Unfortunately, this cross-platform functionality comes at a price.

The menu of audio and graphical settings is somewhat sparse and doesn't permit users to customize their gameplay experience to the extent possible at other sites. There are no auto-rebuy or default buyin settings, and it's impossible to download hand histories for later review because you can only examine them within your browser.

This no-frills approach was understandable when Global first opened for business, but now more than two years later, many are frustrated by the lack of improvement in the platform. Global may be hampered in this area because it's using a third-party solution provided by Cubeia rather than an in-house program over which it has complete control.

Whatever the reasons for the slow software development cycle, plenty of glitches reported by players over the months have not yet been corrected. They include errors in assigning the button and blinds when shorthanded, tables closing for no apparent reason, and limited note taking space.

Beyond failures that qualify as actual bugs, Global has also been slow to respond to requests for new features. Synchronized tournament breaks and the ability to upload avatars are a couple of the enhancements that customers have been clamoring for, all to no avail.

Cashier Woes

When Global discontinued working with PayPal in June 2018 and designated Worldpay as its sole payment processor, there were many reports of cashouts taking longer than a month and confusion about the documentation that customers had to send in before receiving their money. We would have expected these annoyances to have been resolved by now, but many users are still experiencing hassles related to their withdrawals.

Not only do players have to confirm their identities, but they must also submit details relating to their bank accounts because bank transfer is the only channel through which Worldpay issues Global Poker withdrawals.

It's sometimes unclear exactly what information users must send in, and there have been frustrating miscommunications between customers, their banks, Worldpay, and Global as to cashout status. Even when the proper paperwork is sent to Global, the company sometimes rejects it for obscure reasons, wasting time as people scramble to resubmit the documents in accordance with the instructions given to them by support personnel.

Global has recently added the ewallet Skrill to its cashier probably in an attempt to alleviate these issues. It's too early to tell whether or not this move will yield any solid results. Global states that “Skrill recognises Gold Coin purchases as a non-gambling transaction,” but we have no way of verifying this statement, and it's not unthinkable that Skrill will revisit, and maybe reverse, its decision to transact with Global at some point in the future.

Competitors Beckon

It should be clear by now that there are serious arguments in favor of steering clear of Global Poker. Suffice it to say that there are other offshore providers for real money online poker that cater to Americans, and most of them run a much tighter ship than Global does.