Major Rake Changes on PokerStars: Players Baffled and Infuriated

9 years ago
Major Rake Changes on PokerStars: Players Baffled and Infuriated
15:15
30 Oct

We’ve seen several major changes take place on PokerStars during the recent months and most of them did not make the players happy, but the latest decision tops all of it together. PokerStars management has decided, without any previous notice or much of an explanation, to raise the rake across the room – by a lot!

Hit & run?

The forum announcement on 2 + 2 earlier today by PokerStars Steve explains the details in the rake structure changes and this is easily the biggest shift to date when it comes to rake and players' reward program on Stars.

A long lasting promotion known to any semi-serious sit-and-go grinder, namely Battle of Planets, will be no more. PokerStars will be stopping the promotion with the week ending Saturday, November 1st, meaning that sit-and-go players will lose a lot of value. Thinking a year or so back, there were actually talks about introducing a leaderboard for 180-man players and now even the Battle of Planets is gone. The things have taken a big turn for the worse.

Rake will be increased for all the cash games, scheduled hyper turbo tournaments, hyper turbo sit & gos and KO tournaments. The rake for Spin & Gos will also go up but the ‘good’ news is that the prize multiplier will go from 1000x to 3000x.

Enough is enough?

The changes so far were not to the taste of many, but there was always some sort of explanation – good for the game, bringing new players to the game, increasing poker appeal etc. The latest one, however, can only be justified by wanting to make more money faster. There is no way any player can benefit from it, no way it will make the game more appealing for the new players – this one is just about the company’s bottom line.

This is exactly the reason why players are expressing their outrage in the forum thread. The extreme rake changes and effectively decreasing the amount given back, PokerStars is going to make the games even harder to beat, if not impossible. Yet, the only thing that seems to be of any importance is Spin & Gos, where the multiplier is going way up.

If the forum posts are to be believed, and they do seem very serious, many players are ready to simply quit PokerStars and look for their share of luck and profit elsewhere. While PokerStars has been a home to many longtime grinders, most of the latest changes have been pushing them further away and this could be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

The company that once was?

It may seem somewhat silly to have any ‘romantic’ notions when it comes to poker players, but it is simply the truth that over the years, there has been a special bond created between PokerStars and their players. Guys like PokerStars Steve have helped a lot in building this relationship and a lot of posters on 2 + 2 are actually of the opinion that having to come to the players with these decisions must be hard on them as well.

I wonder how Steve feels posting this... "Yes, I have zero integrity at this point". *submits post*

Gotta feel bad for Steve, Josem and all the other long time Stars employees, no way they approve of all these changes.

And +1 to feeling sorry for Steve, Josem, et al. I know a small piece of what it is to spread a corporate message to people who are going to, and are correct to, **** all over it. It isn't pretty.


PokerStars used to be one company that players always held in the high regard as they’ve always felt that players were their number one priority. There were disputes and not everyone was happy all the time, but at the end of the day, there was always room for a compromise.

The latest happenings suggest that period is now behind us. The decisions are made without much, if any regard for the community, and on top of that they seem very abrupt and radical. Have we really reached the point where PokerStars as we once knew (and arguably loved) no longer exists?


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Ivan Potocki is the editor in chief and one of the lead news writers for PokerTube. His natural flair and enthusiasm for journalism combined with a deep poker knowledge make him an exciting contributor for PokerTube.The experience garnered playing poker professionally for several years and the knowl...Read more

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