Keeping the SM as a 1 million guarantee is essential for Stars. Any drop in the guarantee will be highly visible to everyone and be interpreted to the casual player, who doesn't follow seasonal trends, as Pokerstars being desperate.

Despite the new "Spin n Go" satellites generating a lot of seats I'm a little surprised that Pokerstars feels that a 1 million guarantee isn't still feasible. It shows to me that all the changes around the edges which Pokerstars banked people wouldn't really notice or care about have had a serious effect.
All leakage from the company that couldn't be instantly quantified as a necessary and profitable expenditure were scrapped since Amaya took over. And this is the result.

This is pure gold.

Hi all,

I'll make a separate post early next week to address some specific questions and concerns. This one is just to provide a general update.

Pay Tables

Beginning Monday June 6th, we'll test a new pay table in the following tournaments:

• 08:00 Big $27
• 11:00 Big $7.50
• 14:00 Big $11
• 15:00 Big $55
• 20:15 Hot $4.40
• 22:15 Hot $27

All times are in ET.

This pay table will ensure the minimum prize is ~1.75x the buy-in, pay 1 out of every 6 players, increase first place prizes, and create more significant pay jumps. The consequence of this is that certain positions at the final table will receive less money on average. The tournaments above were chosen to have a spread of average entrants, time zones, and buy-ins. They're in the lobby now so feel free to compare them to the current pay table.

Please note that this pay table is not complete for entrants below 216. It uses the "beginning" of the current pay table. This will be fixed in a later version.

Sunday Million

On June 12th, the Sunday Million will become re-entry on a trial basis. We've done analysis regarding traffic during Euros 2012 and if this summer follows a similar trend, the outcome is bleak. For that reason, we're also doing the following:

• Running Sunday Million Spin & Gos.
• Testing "extreme" satellites. This is the equivalent of a mega satellite, but with 10 seats added instead of a guarantee. Players will be locked into the target. The first ran yesterday and generated 46 seats. We will analyse the success of this test in consideration of adding more in the coming weeks.
• Exploring other options specifically for July 10th.

Guarantees

Euros will impact the entire schedule. Many guarantees will be reduced during this period. Due to the size of the schedule, some will be reduced proactively. I am hopeful that some guarantees can be increased to "normal" summer levels after Euros have passed. Needless to say, managing guarantees is the utmost priority during these next three months.

MicroMillions

MicroMillions will tentatively run from July 17-31. It will look different than it used to, but the Main Event will still be a $22 with $1 million guaranteed.

Minimum Entrants

Numerous tournaments with a minimum entrants of 14 have been altered to start if three or more players register. These include ante up tournaments and some early morning Bigs. Please let me know if you find any other tournaments that cancel with a minimum entrants of 14.

New Tournaments

The following have been added to the schedule recently:

• 10:14 and 18:44: $2.20 PL 5-Card Omaha
• 14:24: $5.50 PL 5-Card Omaha Deep Stacks Progressive Knockout
• 01:00 Sundays: $16.50 Mini Pacific Rim Special
• 04:25: $44 Deep Stacks Progressive Knockout
• 04:40: $3.30 Freezeout
• 22:25: $2.20 Freezeout
• 05:40: $1.10 Progressive Knockout Turbo
• 19:10: $11 Turbo
• 17:15: $11 3-Stack converted to Freezeout

Unlimited re-entries will kill that tournament in long term. I guess people would have understood if they had made it 1 re-entry just to make it certain that guaranteed is reached, but they had to go all the way.

I guess Luke's post means there will be no weekend NLO8 / PLO8:s coming At least before Winter is Coming.

Why do some bigs have different payouts already? I see some bigs with a mincash over 2 times the buyin, paying only 12% of the players, and others paying 15% or more with a much lower mincash. What am I not getting here?

Here's a comparison of today's big $55 with the old (current) payouts vs Luke's new proposed one. It's a small improvement I guess?

Old:
1) $8988
2) $6626
3) $4885
4) $3602
5) $2655
6) $1958
7) $1443
8) $1064
9) $784
...
144-188) $74

New:
1) $9376
2) $6772
3) $4891
4) $3533
5) $2551
6) $1843
7) $1331
8) $961
9) $694
...
144-188) $100

how about actually guaranteeing the million in times in which its clear its not gonna hit the guarantee?

its your flagship tourney, its always been a freezeout, always been an easy field throughout. making it a re-entry would kill it.

decent change about the payouts, but we need more. stop being capitalist *******s and maybe you`ll get out of this ****hole.

cheers

Would be more interested in how the new payouts compare to the old good ones if anyone has the stats

It was about two steps back one forward from the beginning

Sounds like a step in the right direction, thanks Luke Minus making the SM re-entry, that's just suicide.

I think MAX ONE Reentry for the SM is ok, but unlimited is just stupid come on!
You just started spin sats for SM, do something else, like make challenges where you can win SM tickets etc. This is the tournament what everybody wants to play, create opportunities for rec. players or micro-low grinders(i mean you guys said that you do everything for the fun players)

create more million satellites and make first ticket must play. Unlimited re-entries is a horrible idea. Maybe a lower buyin like $.50-$1 3x/4x'r sats to milly

Is it possible to have mini-Weekender? I would prefer 40-50$bi tournament...or a bigger phase tournament? These tournaments make sundays better!

plz make the omania payouts reflect that it is a 6max MTT!

plz make it:
1-6 place different $$
7-9 place same $$
10-12 place same $$
etc

great so now new trial payouts will take gobs of money off the final table and spread it around more so that u can payout a ridiculous 1/6 of the field

Im against any payout structure that pays 1/6 of the field. and especially at 1.75x it's just a way of spreading the money so fish can rake more. It's a worse payout structure than the horrible one we have now. As pleased as I am that 1st will be higher, I understand roughly 8/9 times I will get screwed under trial payouts since you're taking tons of money off the final table to make this work.

new payouts are a clever way of creating the illusion that pay structure is more top heavy, while in actuality spreading the money around even more serving stars' interests

They changed it from unlimited to max 3 re-entries.

Can you supply your preferred numbers?
1/6 = approx 16.67% so what % of the field should be paid in your opinion? 15%? 12%?
What xBI should be smallest payout in your opinion?
What xBI should be first place
What % of total prize should be for the FT for 6-max, 9-max etc?

It's been hammered in this thread that players implore a mincash be larger. If you have a larger mincash and pay more players, that money has to come from somewhere unfortunately.

I'm happy with the changes. 1.75x BI is great compared to what the current payouts are like. Thanks Luke.

+1 or maybe just bring back the 1.50s 3x ( fix the rake in them )

Or just revert back to paying fewer places.

Scenario: You're in charge of MTTs on the world's biggest online poker site. Traffic is dropping, and there's a huge football tournament starting this weekend that, coupled with the hot weather around Europe and historical seasonal trends, suggests things are about to get a whole lot worse. All signs suggest the flagship tournament, the Sunday Million, will overlay significantly for the next few weekends.

Option 1: Label it the "Sunday Million Football Special", offer free satelite tickets as a deposit bonus, run a series of huge value sats with tickets earned through sports betting and other challenges to attract fun players, run a series of rake-free sats (awarding must-play tickets) to attract and reward regular players, offer discounted SM tickets in the VIP store, launch a PR offensive promoting the OG of poker tournaments. If it still overlays, tell the world about the free money Stars is giving away, and do the same again next weekend. Take comfort in the knowledge that the tens of thousands you're losing in overlay is a drop in the bucket compared to the millions you'd lose if you devalued the brand of the Sunday Million. Defend the brand at all costs. Show some heart, and reassure the poker community that you're fighting to preserve the game we all love.

Option 2: Make it re-entry.

gjge

Dear Pokerstars Customer Support,

You will not see me in the Sunday Million anymore. Once again you have managed to take a step in the wrong direction. The snowball effect of the business decisions you make will hurt so much, it's beyond any sane mind why and how any of this makes sense to the people in charge.
I am still playing on your site, it's just the volume that is lower. Much lower than 3 months ago and much much much lower than 6 months ago. By the end of the year I wouldn't be surprised if I play only a handful of tournaments on your site.
I am not the only one and we all have alternatives, believe it or not. Very attractive alternatives. With every negative change on your site, there are two or more positive changes the smart company makes on another site.

Kind regards,
Adrian

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I will post the response I get, just for the fun of it 😂😂😂