Pokerstars quietly changed their currency conversion policy, without notifying costumers through a proper email. There is a topic in internet poker, but since NVG get's the most traffic I think its important to inform you here too.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/28...1/index10.html

ok, simple question which seem to be answered already but just to be clear:

That only effects players who withdrawl to another currency than they play, right? So, I should just convert my $ in Eur and the "normal" client-conversion does not have such a fee?

So, the bottom line is that this just effects players which currency is not supported by stars, right?

I actually can see the reasoning behind that, if they dont hold money in the different currency and they have to pay that conversionrate when players withdrawl. I really think though, they should have a close look, what the customer paid, so someone can free his fee for XXX amount of VPP. Would be fair

*edit*
That said, for every person who withdrawl to EUR/CAD/GBP/$ and doesn´t get an information about how he can safe the fee, this is really scummy. Pure robbing of people who just trust stars...

Yah, that seems right.
But there are pretty low limits on daily/weekly conversions between your wallets. It also can't be easily avoided in deposits. Finally all recs won't go through the trouble of finding a good conversion strategy and just deposit/cash out the normal way, paying 2,5% each time.
All money deposited by recs will either go to PS or to winning players. Pokerstars taking an upfront 2,5% fee on these deposits and also fees on cashouts, will be a pretty big blow to the already worsening rec/reg ratio.

Maybe I'm not understanding this right, but stars play is in US$. Nobody from the US is allowed to play to everyone is paying this fee?

gotta puff dat long pink mushroom

It's possible to avoid it by exchanging currency on the account, but there are small limits for that (3k day, 5k week, 10k month I think).

The biggest issue is it cuts another % from recreationals deposits, which reduces liquidity and games will deteriorate

PS is basically declaring open war against winning players even at the cost of killing the games, instead of cooperating and maintaining a healthy ecosystem

Amaya ftw it will get a lot worse down the road PS as we knew it is dead

Wow. Their exchange rates were the best by far. I guess they saw how 888 was getting away with screwing players for near 6% and wanted some of that action.

The beginning of the downfall of Stars. Now owed by a PLC, it's all about profit and not about the game and the players anymore!

Amaya gonna Amaya

over/under for how long it takes for Sundays to have below 50,000 players online with the current way they calculate it?

This is horrible. The beginning of the end. The Amaya purchase might end up being remembered as what killed online poker.

This is fuelled by greed which concerns me. I do not trust pokerstars with my money anymore. I can see what happened on fulltilt happening all over again. They are greedy and do not care about the players. They want our money.

Edit: just withdrew 90% of my roll.

Thanks, Amaya

View - We should start an Online Poker Players Union

Amaya being great as usual !

Last time I checked with stars they said I wasn't able to withdraw in USD (or any of the other currencies in the client), is there any way I can get my money out without getting killed by the new rates?

Wait, are they seriously imposing a surcharge for converting to USD when US players aren't even allowed to play on the site?

Sent a quick email and got my limits increased.

We have approved your request to update your purchase limit.

Currency Conversion
USD 10,000.00 - new limit per day
USD 20,000.00 - new limit per 7 days
USD 50,000.00 - new limit per 30 days

Please note that for future purchase limit increases we may require further information or verification documents from you

If you have any questions, please let us know.

Yes sir...

I got

Currency Conversion
USD 7,500.00 - new limit per day
USD 10,000.00 - new limit per 7 days
USD 20,000.00 - new limit per 30 days

Anyone know the original standard allowed amount?

Agree PS has gone from being a company that cared at least a bit for their customers (despite the rake in some areas which has always been pretty bad imo). Now they seem to have turned into a dirty money grabbing scumbag organisation that will try and fleece their customers for everything they can while trying to keep it hidden. Won't be playing there as much now thats for sure, FU Amaya you bunch of pricks

Do you guys realise that is probably costs PokerStars about 2.5% to actually change your money into another currency?
I used to work in financial services, and 2.5% is actually a pretty good rate for currency conversion. I've seen banks charge in excess of 4% in the past for this service. Yes it should have been announced better (as with a lot of PokerStars changes recently) but the actual charge is reasonable, and while PokerStars has been eating this cost up to now, I can totally see why they are moving away from doing so now they are in a tougher financial market, with player pools shrinking rather than growing.

For me, this is an issue with PokerStars' Public Relations and communication with the players, rather than an issue with the decision. The charge isn't great for some players, but it makes business and financial sense across the total business.
I think the new ownership/senior management hasn't got into gear with the PR team yet, and we are seeing the fallout with the poor communication of these decisions.

TLDR: The charge is fair, but the communication left a lot to be desired.

^How much do Pokerstars pay you?

Absolutely nothing. I have never been paid or employed by PokerStars (apart from the money I've won on the site). I work in the industry as a freelance writer, and all the opinions written here are my own and based on my experience in the industry and from my previous business experience.

I understand your points, and agree that it's a negative impact to players requiring transfers to funds not supported by the client. However, charging a small fee is completely normal in banking circles, and PokerStars are only transferring the costs onto the players rather than continuing to eat it themselves. This money is not going into PokerStars coffers, it is the cost of making your transfer.
I also agree that PokerStars communication with players has been pretty awful recently, and needs to be worked on rapidly.

Just because I don't agree with you, doesn't make me a shill for PokerStars.