This is the future for Pokerstars?

I'm afraid that a pure table limit won't have much effect in terms of player experience because grinders will add tables from other sites and keep timing out at all the sites. The only thing it will do is that the winning players will take a bit of money out of each of the many sites' ecosystems instead of taking big money out of only Stars' ecosystem. I.e. such a limitation will be just another hit in the 'reg-pong' game played by poker sites lately (they're trying to dump regs on each other because the regs aren't going to vanish from the poker economy as a whole, as long as the games somewhat resemble poker), just like the current VIP Club change, it seems.

Some bigger punishment for specifically timing out is in order, plus there must be a reasonable limit on how often the time bank can be used.

Not really. Its ****ing hard to multisite and its not like u played 20 on stars and now play 6 on stars on 14 on other sites. Definitely would speed up games (not that i think speed is a major issue currently...)

Reason for that drop at FTP?

Dying pokerecology ldo

I've been reading this whole thread these days and it makes me sad to see how this is going

A lot of us are at the bargaining stage and a few have already reached acceptance.

1 Denial and isolation
2 Anger
3 Bargaining
4 Depression
5 Acceptance

I don't think Amaya will listen to anything we have said. Looks like I'm at the depression stage. I should start looking for interviews tomorrow

... and if all the players who left are 'withdrawing reg's', full tilt will be popping the champagne.

fyp

If the industry is going to expand rather than contract, advertising methods need to improve dramatically.
In the UK we have yet to witness an appealing advert that would convince a non poker player to say, "wow, I must try that game." Adverts are directed at existing players who probably constitute less than 1% (and even that figure is probably too high) of the population. Adverts designed to entice customers from other sites do not produce new poker players. We are not advertising experts and that is not our area of expertise. We do however recognise a problem when we see it and this subject is of great relevance for any site considering (1) in post 1015.

A number of members have expressed concerns about Eastern European countries being responsible for large numbers of bots and cheats. Unfortunately because of money being involved poker has attracted some unsavoury characters. In countries where poker is not widely played, it is these types of character who are likely to be the first to sign up. Knowing where to find money to steal is their business and they are usually quick off the mark. This distorts the profit margins from new markets but it also emphasises the point that any advertising must be designed to attract genuine new players.

It's not hard to master multisiting (spend at most a couple hundred on helping software or write an AHK script on your own) if the situation calls for it.

I agree that the timing of this is abysmal, and very dishonest. I think they should uphold the original deal for SNE until Jan 2017, outside of that there is nothing that can be done.

Amaya is run in a business, and whether you agree or not with there opinion of what is best for their site and poker is irrelevant. Many businesses need to adapt to current conditions and that is what PS is doing- in their opinion. There have been many instances in my career where I am faced with a decision to carry on with what I am doing or look for another option based on the current climate. That's essentially what the SNE's are faced with, and you can either sulk about it, or put your foot forward and accept that you need to make a change. The choice is an individual one, and not everyone will survive these conditions, but all you can do face that reality and move forward in whatever you decide.

Businesses make tough decisions all the time that effect customers/employers everyday. That's all this is, is a business decision.

It could be a minor but useful addition to any lawsuit filed against PokerStars to refund rake and losses to bots.

As I have previously explained T&C's are not a license to act improperly or break the law. I will seek additional legal advice (and relay via posts as before) but believe it will hinge on what decisions did PokerStars make and at what point did they make them public. Deliberately misleading customers to believe they would receive substantial benefits in order to gain huge profits from the rake generated, could conceivably be illegal. This would be true if information was withheld in order to boost profits by deliberate deceit.

You´re both right

While we're at it then:

Problem is the poker community to often ended up at point 5.
They introduced hypers. Players found a way to make a living.
They introduced zoom. People adjusted.
They introduced Spin'n'Go's. People started to grind them.

You will always find somebody who will take advantage. Even if 99% of the community agreed to boycott something you will always find one who will jump at the opportunity to make a quick dollar. Stars knows that and so they will continue to shape online poker as they think it should look like so they can make money for years to come. If the game of poker(esp. online) gets destroyed on the way they won't care. I just think that at some point you can't sell that as a skill game to governments anymore and it will hurt your process of legalizing and regulating it. Most of the introductions of new formats somewhat diminished the influence of skill on the outcome and it probably won't stop.

I think I read years ago from a well-known pro that at the end only MTT's survive or should be offered to keep online poker around in the future.

Pokerstars why? You where a company that wanted to your best for the customers and be the best in your branch! No rakeback in high stake games is outrageous. And The conversion rate is ****. You seem like a shady company now, not worrying about giving a Nice service to ALL youre customers. I hope a new site can rise up as a trusting and genereous site. Cutting out hud though i like.

I wonder if Scheinberg is watching all of this - not just the current stuff but all that's happened since the sale - and is regretting selling off what he built to a company that turned out to just be in it for short term profit?

Pretty sure they are watching but i dont think they´re regreting anything, i think is the oposite, they build a monster and new the system was unsustainable and hard changes were meant to be made that wasnt gonna have the aproval of the vast majority of the players, they knew where the market was heading and just decide it it was the time to sell.

My prediction is that Scheinberg will eventually end up buying stars back for less then 1/10th what he sold it for.

This unsustainable myth that Stars started spreading grows a little more every time someone repeats it.

Rakeback dropping by 50% overnight may have had something to do with it...