BetZip - Cool Poker Concept

The online gambling (as opposed to gaming) market is obviously a very attractive one, as seen by the huge success of PartyPoker and similar companies, but it's always been difficult for American entrepreneurs & investors to directly participate in that sector due to the aggressive anti-gambling stance of the US government.  And yes, we have seen skill-based gaming (betting to a certain extent, but outcome based on skill, not luck) sites such as WorldWinner and Skill Jam appear in the market, but they didn't really move the needle since the games were not classic "gambling" style games - e.g. World Winner was just sold for $23M - nothing to sneeze at, but certainly not a billion dollar market outcome like Party Poker.

So I recently stumbled across Betzip, a gaming/gambling company started by former Looksmart (where my wife used to work) CEO Jason Kellerman.  What is really clever about this approach is that it brings you the classic poker-style gameplay and lure of cash prize tournaments, but with what appears to be a clear end-around the US gambling regulations since there is no actual money wagering - you have to pay $20 to be a member of the club, but you can't lose any money in it.

I have only played a bit, but the concept seems strong.  You have the opportunity to win good-sized prizes ($5,000 first prize) in the weekly or monthly tournaments, so it probably keeps you from really doing dumb wagering like you would if no money was at stake, but the lack of actual money pots keeps the event from being a gambling enterprise, so it's probably legal in the US.  At $20 a month, it's a decent amount of money, but it's not so large that you're going to gamble away your house and your first born child - however, it's a step above the $.50 wagers one often sees in true skill-based gaming sites, which is good since those low wagers don't keep stupid bets from happening since the price is too low to limit moronic behavior.

The downside?  It feels like a traditional online gambling site without having the upside to the company of taking large amounts of money from each user - I have received 3 emails since registering 12 hours ago, which feels a little aggressive.   And the the $20/month fee may not keep the really stupid gamblers (AIWCC - All In with Crap Cards) from still screwing up games since it's a free play site, but I'm not sure that's as big an issue as it is with free sites.

I'm not an online gambling expert, but BetZip feels like a really clever mix of poker-style gaming with a subscription style economic method which appears legal in the US - give it a shot

Comments

[brenda haley]

i joined betzip a month agao, i have tried other sites (tigergaming, pokerstars...)and i have to say they (the other sites, were just eating my money away, even for nickles and dimes, just wasnt worth it)

Betzip i have to say i enjoy, no hole burning in this pocket, i can play and not spend a dime and win some cash, not bad for a poker site)

wtg betzip.

[Michael Diatalevi]

I tried betzip but their software caused my computer to constantly lock up, requiring a hard reboot to set things straight. I love the concept but with this software myself (and others I know) are unable to play. Their customer service in response to my problems was also lacking. I'm confident that with an Athlon 64 3200 with 768 ram my system has enough to handle their program.

[clay woods alias "TOWINSURFER'"]

BET ZIP GREAT CONCEPT!! UNFORTUNATELY THE SOFTWARE NEEDS WORK! BUT I REALLY ENJOY THE SITE AND RECOMMEND IT TO ALL THAT DONT WANT TO RISK LOSING ALOT OF MONEY.ENJOY AND GOOD LUCK!

[aaron mcdaniel]

i signed up for the 15 day free trial and have been playing there for 1 month. so far my poker skill have improved at an inpressive rate, i have won in the following tourns... or placed very high in the standings....i won 3000 poker points in a 1500 player qualifier, have placed 2nd ,3rd,7th,15th,etc..... i won 2 of the 150 player tourns. the first week of playing. last weekend in played in my frist $5000 sattilite and placed 72nd which gained me access to the $5000 final that day where i finished 56th ahd won 410 cash and 250 p. points. i also played the $600 members tourn and took 5th which payed 2 months free membership worth $40 so todate i have spent 0 dollars for the service and am paid up tru the end of jan 07 ... i.v also placed very well in over %60 of all the tourns. i'v entered winning thousands of poker points . needed to get into the big money games...i'v only been playing poker for the last 2 months and am amazed at the progress i'v made in developing my skills..i give most of the credit to the real gaming platform offered by betzip with out the risk of large amounts of potential cash losses the one would expect at a regular gambling site....i also play alot of freerolls at the other sites.and have done very well there to..have to gut this short i'm up in the $5000 qualifyer right now.....

[mysticking]

I beleive the free poker at prizewagon.com is much better in that it is Flash. Seems to work great and they are growing by leaps and bounds. Everyday I get on the site traffic is up and many new names showing up. Due to the process to get into the money, players seem to play much better then normal free sites.

[bricklayher]

i`ve been a member of betzip since the beginning..i`m a foundiong member and only pay 10 bucks a month ..i have won a lil bit of money..enough to play for free for a few years but i`m still convinced it`s fixed..just a lot of dumb players playing dumb hands and winning..almost like betzip helps them out..there`s just something not right with it.

[Rodney Mastin]

I have been a player at Betzip since they started. I can't become a member because I live in Oklahoma. I was getting to play for free in their non paying games until the past week. Now all I get when I try to log on is a message that All Rooms Are Full, try again later. I have tried for a week several times with no luck. I emailed them and all they have to say is that they can only allow so many to play.

[Zorba]

I played at BETZIP for quite some time. $20 a month is too high. On other Web sites it may be lower or free. Only few are winning and it takes several hours (sometime days) to win $10. Software crashes almost every evening. People who are honoring this mess are just BETZIP puppets

[BUD GRAVES]

i joined betzip about 6 months ago. in january i could no longer log on to the site. they keep telling me the rooms are all busy, but not night & day for the past 3 or 4 months. I live in missouri so cant join the players club, it appears you have kicked out all of the basic players. if so i would appreciate you telling me so i can delete your program & go to poker stars. I dont appreciate the story that the rooms are all full. bud graves

[cybertiger on bz "pure play"]

The site sucks... you can play for free anywhere!!!

After playing a while you WILL notice ...hands that wouldn't normally win...2,4 offsuit...go all in , chances are you'll win with a full house on the river...happens soo much. Not in the beginning, when your free or first sign up....after about the first year, then you'll start to loos to the "new members" VERY often and usually to horrible hands...i've seen more flushes, 4 of a kinds and full houses on the river...WAYYY more than any normal oddsa would allow. i still play, but just choose to not pay the 20 a month until something is done. oh also, thay use to have "hot seats" if you got the opportunioty to sit in one of these...you would win almost every hand if not 80% or better...and those that have played betzip "pure play" long enough have seen this for themselves....they have so called tried to change this by allowing you to choose your own seat...but it still hasn't changed, ...just sit in the seat they give you..don't change and watch which guy starts to win a ton of hands, and seems to get the best cards....just pay attention, thats all i ask...and let me know if i'm wrong?

as for the person above that won soooo much...well not that it's not possible, but he may also be...

Working for betzip/pureplay...(owner, friend....etc)

Just starting out and and has been give the "special seats/hands" for being the newguy like i was...but i wasn't a very good player then...lol I do pay attention however and notice patterns...like these.

just my thoughts...thanks.

cybertiger

[Piscator]

Final Thoughts: After ending my free trial 2 days early to make sure my CC was not charged, there is only one way to summarize the playing experience I had at PurePlay; BAD BEAT FACTORY! There are so many idiots playing at this site that you will see some of the sickest beats ever. People routinely call huge bets for most or all of their chips with no pair no draw on the flop, just to hit runner runner str8 or flush against what WAS a huge hand. If you have ever played funny money, then you know what to prepare yourself for. Somebody is almost always all in preflop on the first hand of every tournament. You can never protect your cards, even when the blinds are low, because everyone has to see every flop. Even if you go all in preflop with AA you will probably get 2 callers and somebody will suck out on you. I have played at FTP and Stars for 3-4 years and do not subscribed to the conspiracy theory that online poker is "rigged." But, something is just NOT right at PurePlay. I agree with all but a few of the previous people who have posted, that, PurePlay is a great concept that unfortunately just doesn't work. Save your time and continue to play at regular sites.

[Kerry]

I agree with piscator and cybertiger...there is something that is just NOT right with Pure Play...i've been sucked out soooo many times and i fold hands after the flop only to see runner runner and i woulda won had i stayed in....it happens too often...its rediculous. Its not a skill game at this site...in fact its better if you have no skill...probably will do better in the end.

[bigbill]

Mr. Mcdaniel:
Who gives a crap? Why would you come on here and brag about yourself? You are an idiot. Obvious fish if you ask me.

[Charles]

I wouldn't recommend playing at this site. I finished 2nd in their $500 weekly tournament on 12/1/07. I sent in my prize claim for $100 on 12/3/07. It is currently 1/7/08 and I have still not received a check. I have tried to contact customer support via email numerous times and have not received any replies. I cannot find a phone number.

Also, I have qualified for 2 additional $500 weekly finals tournaments since the 1st, and both tournaments were canceled due to software/server issues. All those hours qualifying and then finishing 2nd were a waste of my time. Don't play here unless you want to waste your time too. And especially don't give these people your money, even if it is only $20/month. The site is so incredibly slow and it is not uncommon to get disconnected 5 or 6 times in the course of one tournament. It is almost as though their site is an unstable beta version. They need to get their act together before they start charging people money. You have been warned.

[Mike]

Aaron Mcdaniel, You are a liar. Placing 56th in the $5000 weekly final pays $10, not $410. That's a $400 difference! Let me guess, just an honest typo? LOL

Here are the real Payouts:
1st $1,000
2nd $750
3rd $500
4th $250
5th-10th $100
11th-30th $50
31st-50th $25
51st-90th $10

1500 players enter the final. To qualify for the final you have to play a 500 table tournament and place in the top 5. Do the math. Betzip/Pureplay is ridiculous.

[Geoff]

Interesting comments. I have been a member at BetZip/PurePlay almost since the beginning, 2 yrs ago. The software has always been pretty wonky. PurePlay has made some half-hearted attempts to "fix" the problems, but they continue to have their own issues. Lately it has been pretty bad with many tournaments crashing or being cancelled in the middle or near the end. Most notably, the weekly $5,000 tournaments seem very suspect. They keep apologizing and rescheduling tournaments. Yes, you get your entry points back and yes, you get reseated at a replacement tournament, but if you happened to be a big stack near the end of the tourney when it crashes, tough tarts.
So ... ALL of that being said, I continue to play there. I play because I have won over $1000 that has more than covered my membership fees. And I have won several free month's membership. I can play as little or as much as I want. I can play in $100, $200, $500, $1000 "freerolls" every day along with lots and lots of 10 and 20 buck tournaments. All of these tournaments help you build up your point total to qualify for the weekly $5K and monthly $20K tournaments. Overall I'm satisfied. I am continually sending them emails with suggestions to improve. Maybe one day soon they will get the software right and things will smooth out. In the meantime it is a cheap and painless fix to feed a poker habit without risking a lot of money.
See you at the tables!
Ragz2riches

[Mike]

Geoff,
There are no monthly 20k tournaments. There IS a 10k "classic" coming up in February, but that is a one time thing. Also, there are no $1000 daily freerolls either. They have one $100 freeroll per week, on the wknd. There is ONE daily $500 freeroll M-F. The bulk of the daily freerolls for PAYING members consists of $100 payouts with 1 or 2 $200 freerolls daily. Your post is 90% inaccurate. Do you work for betzip or was it an honest mistake? I advise anyone considering playing at pureplay/betzip to look at the tournaments after downloading the software BEFORE paying them any money. I maintain this site is a ridiculous waste of time.

[Charlene]

WHO THE HE,, R U AND WHY DID YOU TAKE FUNDS FROM MY CREDIT CARD????????

[axmickl]

I have been playing at Pure Play for a couple weeks now and am wondering about the agendas of the whiners I have run across here. I have actually seen one tournament qualifier cancelled and don't consider that a huge problem. The number of idiots though, is a huge problem. If you can be patient they are useally gone by the first round or two and things settle down to half way intelligent playing. I suspect from the play and from the chatter that many of the idiots are kids. Since it is only $20 a month I don't feel the need to bolt right now because they are promising a cure for what they call the all-in lotto players. We shall see. If they fix it I'll stay. I will not return to Full Tilt or Poker Stars though because they have as many idiots and there you are playing with real money. As far as the daily instant cash tournaments go, They are a good sourse of points and fun to play after the idiots are gone. I seldom check in and have to wait more than a few minutes to play.

[paintinc17]

I tried the two week free trial at Pureplay, it SUCKS!!! I had the winning hand FIVE times in qualifying tournaments & the pots were awarded to the LOSER, TRUE STORY. I thought it was just a one time mistake until it happened FOUR more times!! I just sent their customer support an email about it, I am sure they will really concerned, NOT!!! Don't waste your time!!