A sweeps coin-based poker site that has stirred the pot numerous times in the past year has created some additional controversy following a new feature that permits players to reveal folded hole cards.
The controversial feature, which poker pro Matt Berkey referred to as an “idiot tax,” is available exclusively on ClubWPT Gold. Players can pay three big blinds after the hand concludes, and some poker pros find it to be bad for the game, but others disagree.
Poker Site Implements Controversial Feature
Most poker sites permit players to reveal a losing player’s hole cards at showdown, especially when it comes to an all in and call pot. But no site has ever given players an option to pay to see all folded hands at the table. Well, until now.
The new feature on the sweeps coin poker site, a World Poker Tour (WPT) brand operation, launched Thursday. Poker pro Rob Kuhn, shared a video on X that he was sent showing how the hand reveal option works.
After the hand concludes, a button pops up in the top left corner of the screen offering a three big blind fee, paid to the poker site, to have the table’s hole cards exposed. So, if the big blind is $5 (SC 5 on a sweepstakes site), the player will pay a $15 fee.
“This is actually sic, A Stupid tax is fine if it gives to the player, this happens all the time live. But the SITE whoring out players’ data, in game, for an additional idiot tax beyond the already questionably high rake…please do better,” Berkey wrote.
The fee is only two big blinds at the highest stakes games available on the site. Not everyone opposes the feature. Some find it to be beneficial to the game.
“One could argue that this actually prevents sharing and collusion. If you can see what everyone had after the hand, you could determine if someone was playing a hand weird/possibly colluding. I think it’s actually a nice safety feature,” Hayley Hanna argued.
Bradley Martin (@Bradley88995765) argued that he doesn’t think “the backlash will outweigh the profits” the site rakes in, and predicts many players will willingly pay the fee.
ClubWPT Gold’s X account posted a video explaining the new feature through Garrett Adelstein, while cracking a joke about the infamous “jack-four” scandal.
ClubWPT Gold has drawn attention from previous controversies, including a $1 million bonus promotion during the World Series of Poker (WSOP) that led to two players being banned from the WSOP. The poker site received equal attention last winter in a less controversial way with its historic $5 million invitational freeroll during the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas.
No Bracelet Awarded to Milly Maker Winner Following Alleged Chip Dumping Scandal
