ur right the market is never wrong, businesses never make mistakes/go bankrupt. Are you even hearing yourself?

Honestly **** them. This is downright absurd. I have been a loyal player, never once had under 200k vpps in a year, played tons of their live tourneys, done promotional videos for their site, etc. And now there is this. No rhyme or reason for any of this besides padding their pockets. And even that is okay, I was disappointed with the conversions, but it was sorta w/e. But this? Sure the game might still be beatable in 2015 since they are keeping the SNE program (without the 5k entry) but in 2016 when they do a way with the VIP program.. lol

Its funny,

Amaya bought pokerstars with the idea in mind that it had potential for more profits, so instead of doing things to amplify the player base (which is basically what makes pokerstars the number one site), theyare settling for squishing the current existing one doing nothing to expand it.

SO basically you are trying to up the price to see when ppl will start dropping out, well hopefully you get a wake up call and stop being stupid, everyone playing in ps is doing his business and if you are not willing to make it a business for both you are gonna be left alone.

You are making decisions based on cold hard numbers and you are forgetting why you have those cold hard numbers in the first place.

oh dear

I'm guessing in 2015 all SNE benefits will be dropped, in favor of a "I made Super Nova Elite in 2015 and all I got was this lousy t-shirt" award.

Deal me out Steven.

no

You don't understand. You are the market.

I didn't invent the phrase but it applies 100%

Amaya=jerks.

thats not how you said it and how all you comments about Amaya have been. Just becasuse they have more data doesn't necessarily mean they will always make the most +EV decision.

network effects are real, and they play a part why pokerstars went from big to by far the biggest at one point. They are crushing this right now, it could still be more +EV in the long run, time will tell.

Every week is something new, it is quite ridiculous. I currently still dont have better sites to play on so thats the main reason, but if this keeps up, this is soon not the case and i imagine for other gametypes/stakes it is allready better to play somewhere else.

tbh HU cash games were and still are a terrible idea for websites. The rest of these changes are just awful for every player on the site.

rake trap

That's not what Im saying. Pokerstars isn't the market. Pokerstars will learn what the market thinks when it takes a look at its bottom line.

It's the same as the stock market or the real estate industry. The market is always right whether you like it or not.

Should make a protest on several hours/1 day that they lost a few million..

I'm a professional player, but I'm also on the industry side. In a recent meeting with several different sites/people (from several of the largest poker brands) they have flat out stated that the days of the online poker pro are over, and it is flat out hurting their bottom line. Some of you think that they will be sad to see you go, but the fact is, they are literally trying to find a way to get some of you winning players off of the site. They know that there are some players who will always beat or try to beat the games, but they are doing everything in their power without flat out kicking off pros to make it more of an even playing field. Doing things like having faster blind structures, smaller starting stacks etc. give the average player a shot to beat pros more frequently. The fact that they are now increasing the rake isn't going to effect or even be noticed by the random person looking to have fun, but it will deter some pros, and in the end, that's their true goal. Not a brag, but last year I made over $200k in profit on ipoker, ftp, and stars combined, and after this year I honestly am probably going to move on with my life. "You're welcome PokerStars"

Is it fair to say the only game left on Stars that is truly beatable would be MTTs?

Curious, wouldn't it be profitable for Stars to increase rewards for regs? I started playing in '07, and until ~'09/'10 there were plenty of ring tables running of all regs. Obv coaching sites and black friday decreased edges, but regs have shown willingness to mass table if the incentives are good enough. Get massively more volume from regs and the same rake from fish.

How about a friendly bet that Amaya converts the Sunday Million to a KO type tourney before 2015?

I just realized this...

They are so clueless that they announced this at the end of the year, if they have done this next year halfway a lot of people would have been stuck, but thanks for being stupid and giving people the opportunity to not go for sne next year.

how much?

Im not SNE but Ive held 6 figures+ on stars for 4 years now, and have been SN 2x more than once - come 2015 unless major changes are made I will be taking my business elsewhere and phasing out all participation in pokerstars sponsored events.

I understand they want to get the FUN PLAYER money and not the pros but in doing so they are going to destroy the brand loyalty they had from pros that helped them grow into what they are.

If that is so, this is very sad to hear. The only part i don't understand from Amaya is why they took a model of a site that pushed for poker being a game of skill 'find the player in you' to 'gamble gamble **** the pros'.

The other major part i don't get is why didn't their rake increases effect the people who raked less?

Why did they not target mtt regs. Those guys pay the least amount of rake in a game where there are far more casuals who just don't argue about the rake being too high. No instead they targeted the games that have the highest reg % then proceeded to **** the games up horribly when regs are 90% of the players. They also then put on the regular tax for the withdrawls and exchanges. Then drove traffic away from regulars games.

Amaya what do you think is going to happen to your company value when you diminish your image so badly with this corporate douchebaggery?

Do you think people will buy your company for infinite? Its brand value is going to drop loads. In a way it is good because the monopoly may eventually come to an end. I hope stars goes bankrupt and you guys lose everything but i know that won't happen.

Dear Mr. Baazov, could you be so kind to enlighten me how the above post lines up with your actions over last weeks?

hmm, may be its time to call Maydan from Kyiv to Isle of Man?

Friendly as I don't expect to have any money on Stars by 2015.