Any plans for not raking split pots ? I think it's great idea because advertising effect is much bigger than real rake cut. Also it would reduce rake much more for omaha games compared to holdem with keeping same rake percentage for both. And even more for PLO8 when low pot is often shared with more players.

(I mean no rake or symbolic 1c for splitting main pot, HI part or LO part.)

Hurry up and come back to America

Hey Lee,

Nice to see you back with PS. Can you clarify this part of your post? I was wondering if it means the bonus changes won't be available to US players not physically located in the US who are playing on your site?

Thanks,

Corey

Easy fix.

Combine all players from a given limit, ie NL200. Players are than able to check an option box of the type of Zoom tables that they wish to sit in. (FR, 6max).

reply sent

this would be great, i always feel robbed when i have to call a split pot and fish are so dumb to always go all-in when split is so obvious

What on earth? You actually had looked specifically at that and the end-result was the IMPROVED version that you decided on using?

I can't imagine what could have been worse than saying "we are reducing the size of the bonuses" unless it was something like, "we are taking away your FPP value and will be coming to your house to murder your family."

I really really really hope this is the case for your guys' sake. But this has been stated by Stars before after similar actions. I think Scottyy may have actually said this exact phrase almost verbatim maybe 3-4 years ago.

Lee is listening. And would likely be very concerned about the situation if brought to his attention but overall probably isn't aware of the problem (and long history).

But you are likely talking to a person who is perhaps unfamiliar with the internet-poker slang "grimming." (maybe I'm wrong on that but he didn't even know what tableninja is for crying out loud). You need to explain in greater detail what the situation is and not assume that Lee is intimately familiar with it.

The best way I can think of to prevent players from "running around and taking advantage of heads-up blinds by playing one hand and then leaving" is to force them to play two hands....and to be more pro-active in banning players that abuse this nonsense.

Hey MB, Lee did infact pm me and ask me to mail him in more detail my thoughts on this (where i hope i explained what grimming was in its basic form). I think Stars are taking a more pro-active approach to dealing with grimmers in general though, for example i reported some 6m reg the other week... stars' initial response was "after an investigation we see nothing to suggest etc etc etc"... Asked them to look again, specifically at the number of btns and BB's played by x villain when hu at ring games and they replied to say that "on further review he has been abusing the etc etc etc". After which i didn't see him again at the tables for approximately 2 weeks.

1 issue i think there is about this is that previously stars had a policy of not dealing with grimmers, In fact there were responses from members of support saying there was nothing wrong with it, though i have a feeling that has certainly changed. What is needed now, is for players to realise that reporting grimmers now will actually result in some action being taken unlike previously.

Setting "ask to post blinds" as on (by default) will stop a lot of the ignorant regs from posting a blind inadvertently and then sitting out after their btn when they notice they are playing another reg.... beyond that I think some mechanism to reduce grimming needs to be implented but the "play 2 hands" argument won't really work.. the guy will just play 3 hands (2 btns) and leave after that instead.

Hi Corey -
No, that's not what it means. US players are still able to cash out FPPs (though of course they're not able to play on PokerStars). Their cashout structure will not change; they'll have the older cashout structure.

Best regards,
Lee Jones

I'm pretty sure the reason there is no change for "US players' is to avoid reopening the books for players who had unused FPPs, less than the 2500(?) needed for a bonus and were therefore unable to "cash" them out after BF. If they changed it to the new structure, there would be thousands of "US Players" that would be owed $10 or $20.

Ponty did indeed email me and was kind enough to give a concise definition of grimming, [1] though I was already aware of both the term and the problem.

We know this is an issue and are looking at various solutions (including Pontylad's suggested one). As with most of these things, the problem is that if you fix one bit, you may break another; we have to consider ramifications of whatever we do.

But again, we know this is a problem and are looking for solutions to it.

Best regards,
Lee Jones

[1] Seriously, is that a term of art now? Or is it only used among the truly l33t kidz?

I spoke to our promotion-meister about this. It's on his radar (and has been). Nothing imminent is planned but he hears your suggestions and is listening.

Best regards,
Lee Jones

This would be really great.. I'm sure that it would motivate me to keep grinding longer each day