PokerStars Getting Rid of More Micro-Stakes

Romania has become the latest country to see €$2NL micro-stakes games disappearing from their PokerStars client, after a trial month of removing the lowest stakes saw Belgium also suffer from the changes.

Although Romanian players use different software as part of the regulatory set-up in their country, they are still part of the main PokerStars liquidity pool, and many have seen this move as a precursor to the Amaya-owned site rolling out the changes market-wide.

The changes, which will also affect Limit poker variants, mean that players at the lowest stakes will forced to move up to €$5NL (0.02/0.05) where the rake is also increased – the rake cap being three times more per hand seeing a flop.

As I reported a few months ago, PokerStars explained their Belgian change by saying:

"We frequently review the selection of ring games and tournaments within our lobby and monitor how that affects the overall playing experience, whether playing on smartphone, tablet or desktop.”

Some in the poker community have expressed a desire for table-caps at the lower levels instead of their removal, feeling this would prevent the multi-tablers from ruining the experience for new and recreational players – but this doesn’t seem to fit in with PokerStars apparent aims.

OnlinePokerReport stated back in June that:

"PokerStars’ intent has been evident in the structure of its latest Cardhunt promotion where the benefits only [...] $0.05/$0.10 and above. The Belgian market is both small and separately regulated, so it makes a good location for experiments. If player reaction is acceptable and the expected impact on revenues is seen, then PokerStars is likely to expand the number of markets where the lowest stakes are unavailable.”

Romania it seems is only the latest in a probable long line.

One of the perceived problems, as Flying Player posted on 2+2, is that:

"The new player signs on to the site, deposits and every time they sit at a table they start to notice that within the first 20-30 mins of sitting down they see the same few players show up at their table. Then they start to notice that every time they are in a hand against these same players they get shown the nuts and loose every time. Plus these players they are losing to all the time also slow down the game because they take forever to act.”

Higher buy-ins means more deposits and subsequently more rake for PokerStars, the trial and now implementation evidently being to see if this extra income more than offsets any players leaving the site because of the removal of the lowest micro-stake.

Many players –perhaps most, your writer included – learned their trade at the $0.01/0/02 stakes, where a good grounding in poker principles and strategy could be gained without damaging your bank balance too much. A 150% increase in buy-in however, is a big increase, even if it still ‘micro-stakes,’ although there are other sites that no longer run $2NL either.