Ah ok cool man, good to know. Ya I've done spins to try to clear points quicker. I guess it helps in that you pay the rake, and then the time commitment is low, so you can turn those over quicker. 15+ games would definitely be hectic for me. When I get in the 9-12+ range, I start making mistakes and not putting in time to think things over. I miss things like short stacks for bounties, etc. Also, the software starts slowing down, lagging, freezing, so I'm not sure if that is a Stars issue or issue with my computer.

One thing I have tried doing recently is sports betting. You get 3x more points when you do parlays, so I have tried to do combinations of two on some highly probably bets. Problem with that, is that even those aren't guaranteed and you can still lose. It is kind of a dangerous way to try to get points, so it's probably not recommended.

I think overall, I'm best at just sticking with diamond, and not chasing any further. It's easy to get to and sustainable as well. Even if I was to ever get to black, I'd still need to get around 3.6K points per day to stay there, which is probably amount I couldn't sustain long term. I need more life balance than just poker.

Multitabling is an art. OTOH, you need to have studied most of the spots so they are automatic and you don't have to waste time thinking about them. OTOH, you need to have an efficient setup, so as to respond to the action as fast as possible. Right now, Stars software is an impediment. I can definitely do 20 tables+ but the software keeps crashing on me when I go past 18. I get 5-6 crashes a session now.

Sports betting is -EV IMO. It's not unbeatable, but it's very hard to beat.

Black isn't hard to keep. You just need to clear $1000 a month. It's hard to get there, because you need to clear $3750 in a month.

Sports betting is tough. Alot of it is entertainment, which is why I can tolerate losses more so than with poker. I am up over the past 3 years though since I started back up, but it is alot of ups and downs. I'm strongest at it when betting MMA, using picks from certain guys I follow. On my own, ya I would not give myself enough credit to say I can beat the rake.

Good luck in getting to black. The only time I would ever attempt it is if I was full time with poker. The rake back increase from diamond to black is 20% to 25%, which is substantial over the long run. Only way I'd ever attempt going full time is if I was to move to a more affordable country, which I have thought about and am contemplating.

welp, managed to clear a black chest and rolled a 1. promising start, everything to play for here!

Wow that is unreal lol. I hope it doesn't take you too long to clear another black. At least you have until Dec 10 for this promo.

Ok, steps and ladders promo, officially useless. You not only have to complete all the steps. You also need to hit a step with a chest when you roll the dice in order to win the money. As is obvious, this is going to happen a fraction of the time. With reasonable volume, one can hit one or two chests at most.

Ya the game is basically set up to keep chasing until you complete it. Rewards are sparsley spread spread out through the first 42 steps, where you are grinding and getting very little in return. Its not until steps 43-49 where you are guaranteed a return no matter where you land.

I think Pokerstars is just banking on the novelty of providing an extra game to get players chasing points and rewards, and then providing a very minimal return unless you complete the challenge. Moving up in stakes or taking on extra volume for the sake of this challenge is likely to hurt anyone's bottom line. Its best to either commit to completing it, or just ignoring it. I'm going with the latter here.

Just chatted with support chatbot. They are temporarily removing downgrade feature for silver and higher also. So you are forced to chase at the higher level even if you cant complete it within a reasonable amount of time.

I agree the chests and ladders seems rigged to just keep you playing and chasing.

I've rolled 3 dice so far. Each one has landed me at the bottom of ladder which I then obv go up and bypass all of the chests behind me lmfao. I'm now at square 36/49 without landing on a single chest.

It's just another gamified novelty feature.

How can you reach the 36th step with only 3 rolls of the dice?

I opened my first chest yesterday. The dice roll was a 4 and put me at the bottom of a ladder that moved me up to step 19.

For the guy at step 39, that is definitely a good one to be at since there are only 2 empty squares after that. You definitely have a shot to complete the promo.

Doh! I just realized the ladders can hasten up your progress. Obviously then this challenge is achievable.

First roll: 4
Second roll: 2
Third roll: 2


I've marked red boxes where each roll got me.




Definitely seems rigged though. I play very low volume and am currently at the micros. - So the dice rolls have got me moving up quickly via ladders (but missing out on a ton of the lower chests). I'm guessing that someone who plays higher volume will go up more slowly. Essentially everyone will probably finish just in time based on their volume and stakes.

Just 1 questionb about the ladders: can we move down too on them?

No, only up. It's loosely based on the board game "snakes and ladders" - You go up ladders and slide down snakes. But in this case, there are no snakes. ^^

Tyvm!!

At last! After the latest update, I was able to play 18+ tables without a single crash.

4th roll of dice: 6 which takes me to "square 42" - yet another without a chest.

So I'm at 42/49 and haven't had a single chest.

Pokerstars is trolling me.

Xmas Cash Drop worth it? $50 bet on casino games for a lucky draw... the EV better be good

I only got one until I reached the bunch at the end. Frankly you've just been a little unlucky... Think about it. When you're near a chest, most of the time you are only 1 out of 6 to get that chest. Sometimes 2 out of 6 where the chests are closer together. I think getting 2 or more before the end bunch would be very lucky. At least you're sure to reach the last chest. Imagine if someone didnt get any ladders and got maybe 3 chests along the way. They would need to clear a lot more of the progress bars just to reach the last big chest.

Square 42 is a nice one to be at. At least you know you will be guaranteed at least a few rewards going forward.

are u guys getting the 10% rb "punnishment" after you cash out?

Yes...

Yeah, at least now I'm guaranteed 1 chest.

I didn't cashout but mine got reduced to 10% after a really low volume month where I won a bit. Mines a full month of pretty hard grinding for $160 now instead of $640 which is a bit pathetic.