PokerStars Introduces New Rules To Attract Recreational Players

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Wednesday, November 4th, 2015 | Written by Charles Washington

The online poker industry has long suffered from declining traffic since the UIGEA helped bring the “poker boom” to an end back in 2006. As the market has matured and contracted, so too has the number of recreational players willing to enter the shark infested waters of the online game. Keenly aware that this group of players represents the lifeblood of the industry, poker operators in recent times have been forced to change their business model to entice this vital, but diminishing group of players back to their sites.

As a result, sites such as Bodog, PartyPoker and Full Tilt have revamped their offerings by reducing the rewards and advantages offered to its professional grinders, so as to create a more level and fun gaming environment for its amateur players. PokerStars, too, has gradually been making its policies more recreational friendly, and has now announced a tranche of changes designed to “put the poker ecosystem on the right tracks to deliver growth for the years to come.” The changes are to be introduced throughout 2016, and will include redesigning its VIP Rewards Program to reward “competitive play over high volume play”, and making further restrictions to its third-party software.

VIP Rewards Program

Under the present VIP program, high stakes players and high-volume grinders earn an accelerated rate of rewards and VIP Player Points (VPPs) compared to recreational players. Under the revamped scheme, however, all players regardless of their status will receive “StarsCoins” valued at one cent apiece. This will naturally negatively impact the Supernova Elite, Supernova, and Platinum Star players the most. Furthermore, Supernova and Supernova Elite players will have their rewards capped at 30%, while for Platinum Star players the reduction will be 10%. In addition, VPPs will be eliminated completely from middle and high-stakes cash games, “due to high transaction costs and operation costs of monitoring these games.”

These changes are meant to address the growing chasm between winning and amateur players, which is seen as the main reason behind the unsustainable attrition rate currently eroding online poker’s player base. Naturally, these changes haven’t been received at all well by professional players, but the implication is that by taking a “pay cut” now, greater rewards lay further down the road as online games become softer and more populated.

Third-party Software

The use of third-party software has long been seen as one of the major reasons for recreational players being turned off the game. After all, the prospect of playing not only against superior opponents, but ones armed with the latest state-of-the art poker software is hardly likely to appeal to those people looking to have fun online, and enjoy some bang for their bucks. In fact, head-up displays (HUDs) have largely transformed online poker from a game of psychology to a number crunching exercise, with even top pro Patrik Antonius saying he now prefers to play live poker, instead. As he explained recently:

“They are basing their play on what the software tells them to do so it feels like you’re playing against a computer these days. Software has changed the high-stakes game. If you don’t use poker software it’s not a fair game anymore.”

Consequently, PokerStars has now announced further restrictions to its third-party software policy, and although details of these changes are sketchy at the moment, they do appear to include their restricted use, as well as new seating policies, and enhanced detection methods. Elaborating further, a PokerStars statement explains; “Today, we want to make clear that the line will be drawn to preserve poker as a battle of wits and a test of heart.”

Initial Backlash Short-Sighted

Unsurprisingly, many online grinders have reacted negatively to the announced changes, including such respected pros as Phil Galfond, Ben Wilinofsky, Dan Smith, and Justin Bonomo, who tweeted:

“Nov 1st, 2015 – The day PokerStars formally announced they no longer care about their customers.. There will be riots”

Nevertheless, many initial reactions seem to be of a short-sighted nature, and fail to take account of the demands made upon operators to attract recreational players and create a healthy, sustainable poker ecology going forward. Of course, it may become harder for many of these pros to make the same level of profits that they have become accustomed to, but the games will still remain beatable, while also creating a fun, more even playing field for amateur players, and enthusiasts alike. Commenting on the latest development, PokerStars’ main sponsored pro, Daniel Negreanu had these words to say:

“These changes will cater to the 98 percent rather than the 2 percent. Benefits the vast majority. I would have done it years ago.”