PokerStars New MTT Schedule

7 years ago
New MTT Schedule on PokerStars
09:07
27 Apr

A new multi-table tournament schedule is up and running on PokerStars starting from Monday, April 25, 2016. It is an updated and enhanced schedule that benefits everybody or at least that’s what the worldwide leading online poker operator is saying. But is it really? Are all the players satisfied with the changes? Or are the MTT grinders already lining up in the ever-growing queue of unhappy PokerStars customers? The answer is actually somewhere in the middle but before talking about the state of the MTT community, let’s first discuss about the changes PS has made in the tournament schedule AND structure.


Better Timing, Faster Structure

First of all, the MTT offering has been completely revamped to better fit the players’ needs. Many tournaments became extinct as the worldwide online poker operator decided to focus on the daily majors and on the popular guaranteed MTTs. From now on, a major tournament will take place at 5:00 AM ET (12 PM GMT), 2:00 PM ET (9 PM GMT) and 7 PM ET (2 AM GMT) every day so that all the player no matter their location - America, Europe or Asia - can enjoy the thrill of a big win.

At least one Big, Hot, Bounty Builder or Omania will run at every hour of the day and to spice things up for the bankroll builders, the majors will also have a ’mini’ - 1/10th of the buy-in - and a ’micro’ - 1/100th of the buy-in - version of themselves running daily (the micros will run on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays).

On weekends, the Sunday Million will be re-scheduled from 2:30 PM ET (9:30 PM GMT) to 2 PM ET (9 PM GMT) while the Sunday Storm will be set half an hour earlier to 1 PM ET (8 PM GMT).

PokerStars said in a press release:

These changes are part of an enhanced weekend offering, with more big events on Saturdays and Sundays to build upon the popular Sunday Million, Kickoff, Warm-up and Storm tournaments."

Besides the timing, PS also changed the structure of its MTTs. The smaller full ring No Limit Holdem guaranteed tournaments that did survive were turned into six-max hypers with three-minute blind levels and 100-big-blind starting stacks. The structure of the popular turbos like Hot was also changed from five-minute blind levels to four-minute levels to start things off and five-minute levels when the tournament reaches its final stages.The Bigs have now seven-minute levels in the early stages and eight-minute blind levels in the late stages. Before the overhaul, the blind levels were set at ten minutes.

The Bounty Builders suffered the same fate from ten-minute levels to seven-, eight- and nine-minute blind levels. All the players who play these tournaments however will have an increased starting stack from 3,000 to 5,000 chips.


Community’s Take: Low Stakes and Non-NLHE MTT Grinders Enraged

As expected, the players who prefer a slower format weren’t happy at all about the overhaul. And indeed they have the right to be as PS now offers very few good options for them focusing more on the semi-turbo, turbo and hyper MTTs. PokerStars Luke - a company’s representatives on 2+2 forums - argued that the faster structure is actually what the average, amateur poker player prefers. He said on the forums:

I do think tournaments need to be shortened some amount. I've made the conversion from professional to recreational player and my single biggest consideration of if I play a tournament or not is its length. If I am going to play 4-5 hours, not make the money, and be exhausted for work, I'm not interested. I acknowledge that this doesn't apply to our biggest weekly tournaments, but I think we need to draw a fine line in the daily schedule."

He also mentioned that the change from full ring to six-max in the new schedule ‘represents a new strategy.’

The low-stakes MTT grinders - probably the ones most affected in a negative way by the new schedule - were (and still are) the most vocal protesters arguing that the new schedule is just another Amaya scheme to grab even more money from its customers. By making most of the MTTs turbos and hypers, the effective rake will increase, the ROI and edge of the regular will significantly decrease so that only Amaya wins in the long run. In other words, just another attempt to force the regulars to rethink their options. User ‘cneuy3’ said on the forums:

PokerStar's attempt to segregate the player pool! A lot of the professionals at those levels will either have to move up or quit poker because moving down and becoming a professional at the microstakes is a much less appealing option for many players at these levels."


But the low-stakes MTT regulars weren’t the only one enraged with the updated schedule. The non-NLHE players were also less than pleased when they looked under the Tournaments tab. Most of the mixed-games, 2-7 Triple Draw, Pot Limit Omaha 8, Stud and other non-NLHE tournaments are gone with no real hope of getting them back. Many of these MTTs didn’t have much traffic so PokerStars decided to ditch them and leave only the popular Omaha MTTs and very few Weeklies. The decision left the non-NLHE MTT players with no real options to grind online.

The opinions though when it comes to the high stakes players are much more supportive. Since PS didn’t change much at the high stakes , they are overall pleased with the improving timing of the revamped schedule and have only few objections regarding the structures of some major MTTs.

Of course, as PokerStars Luke pointed out, the new schedule is still a work in progress so new changes will be made in the near future from the guaranteed prize pool, to adding new MTTs and who knows maybe changing the structure once more.


Editor’s Take: Dear Casino… I mean PokerStars

I would like to start with what I consider to be a useful advice for the future, pointed out by many 2+2 users:

Please DO NOT treat the micro- and low-stakes guys as brainless monkeys."

While I understand the need for increasing your profits and have an edge over your competition (in this case, the regular), I believe it’s time to stop deceiving him - the regular. Yes, you did increase the starting stack size to 5,000 chips but what you fail to mention is that you also increase the starting blind level from 10/20 to 15/30. And if we also add the fact the the blind levels have been decreased, then it’s clear enough for me that you turned what used to be regular speed MTTs into turbos in disguise.

Why do you say all players want a tourney to finish faster? Isn’t there a market for the regular and slow speed MTTs? Why do you want to turn those regulars away? Isn’t poker a skill game first and foremost? With the latest changes, you only make it worse for the hard-working regular who wants to the beat the games in the long run. You decrease his ROI and you turn some of the bankroll builder MTTs into nothing more than donkaments. Is that what you want? Maybe you are fed up with all the regulars trying to take a piece of the pie and you just want to stop the micro and low stakes player to ever move up and hope for a poker career. If that’s your intention, then you’re clearly on the right path.

And why did you eliminate most of the non-NLHE MTT from your schedule? We all know that the poker market is more or less NLHE-saturated and I strongly believe non-NLHE games definitely have a future as the Cadillac of Poker will become more and more solvable in the years to come. To attract new players, eliminating games and formats isn’t quite the answer. Creating new games and formats - including new exciting non-NLHE promotions and MTTs - is a more viable solution.

I’m actually sad to see that your new strategy is shortsighted for the overall health of the game and that is actually missing the big picture, that poker is indeed a sport and involves a great deal of skill in order to truly master it.

And I can’t finish my take without taking a stab at the MTT grinders, those who thought they are untouchable. Those who were reluctant to participate in any boycotts organized by the high-volume players in the past months. What you saw yesterday may only be the beginning and who knows what ideas PS has about the SNGs you are probably grinding as of now. Nobody is untouchable in this new environment and be prepared MTT grinder because Casino… I mean PokerStars is coming for you too. Can you sense it?


What side are you on? How do you feel about the new PokerStars MTT schedule? Will it affect your grind? Please share your thoughts with the rest of us in the comment section below.


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Florian is a freelance journalist and avid poker player with a strong passion to create unique and appealing stories.He is an experienced researcher on various topics, from business and the financial markets to psychology and the gambling industry.He blogs at Florianghe.com.Read more

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