F5 F5 F5 F5 F5 F5 F5 F5 F5

...can't wait : P

By PS Steve:

For complete clarity, I have asked that the reps keep their comments to representing their own positions. I will post from the perspective of PokerStars. This may mean that the representatives want to wait until after I post before they post much of substance, because much of what they say may be in response to or in relation to what I post.

I have 120 pages of typed notes to go through. It will take some time to get a full report ready for 2+2 as I have other work to do as well. Your patience is appreciated. To the extent that you are impatient, I suggest that it is appropriate to direct the impatience at me, not the representatives.

so they have nothing good to tell us?

I hope I am wrong but I assume if they were going to reduce rake in any way shape or form for PLO the reps would be so damn excited they would have leaked it or at least the rumor mill would be going full on. I also doubt PS would leave us hanging if they had made anything that represents actual progress.

Any updates on meeting?

ok I guess we do some of this...






And then some of this...

any updates on the meetings ? its almost 2 weeks now?

if it is from interest I could post my last 440k hands of PLO 100 which I played in the last 8 month (have a larger database at home, but can only provide these hands) on stars

Not sure which regular I am from the provided list

make it a graph with 100% rakeback just for giggles

Tommi Angelo actually recommends sometimes looking at your pre-rake winrate. This is important for estimating your actual improvement, and how well does skill improvement translate into winrate improvement.

For example, a player improving from 4bb/100 to 8bb/100 thinks he got 2 times better. But in fact his pre-rake winnings may have climbed from 16bb/100 to 20bb/100, so he only got 1.25 times better.

today i did 3 flips at plo5. i won all flips, 3 each. my profit $13.84.

thats brutal, super sick. i didn't know rake at micros was so brutal. got shocked.

stars doing a great job with their report from the meeting -.-

Rake is 29970 Dollars

[x]in before calling me luckbox

can u put it on the graph, just give yourself 100% rb on the settings and it will be shown in the graph

i have no idea how anyone can say that it's ok to take so much money FROM ONE PERSON for organizing a game online. i dont care which game it is either, nlhe or plo, both are just pure rape.

30.000 USD over 440.000 hands. it's ludicrious.

we desperately need a "discount" poker site, much like there are discount brokers in the trading world.

Jesus ****, why was there a shark in that swimming pool?

yeah this just shows we need more competition on the online poker market.

Might be a good sign because maybe they are still not sure about what to do with this 'the rake is too high' situation . I mean if they're not gonna change anything we would have known by now right?

obviously shark is a fan of the olympic games

I can't stop laughing at this ^ for some reason

I don't mind paying several hundred in net rake to a decent site that has to pay license, marketing and processing fees and salaries to a lot of employees in support, security, programming, payment processing, chat moderation etc. departments, a bit more to the top management... but not $2K/month in net rake

Thought I would make a quick post here to help put some people at ease while they wait for PokerStars’ post about the meetings and the reps trip reports that will follow.

Four of the five of the reps were on the same flight to the Isle of Man from Gatwick. After getting to the hotel we all went out for dinner together. We all discussed our issues and what we wanted to achieve from these meetings. We were very fortunate to have a returning rep from a previous set of meetings. He gave us great insight on what to expect and how best to approach these meetings in order for them to be successful.
Just to give you guys a look at what we spent time talking about and what got the most focus; here is an agenda of our meetings. We followed it quite closely. The time at the end of the days was where us as players would try and stress what we thought were the most pressing issues and stuff that should move up the priority list.

April 24th
9:30 Welcome and NDA signing
9:45 Office tour
10:15 Introductions
10:45 Purpose of Meetings: Discussion
11:15 Sit and Go Tournaments (not satellites or HU)
12:00 Lunch and informal discussion
12:30 HU SNG
1:30 PLO rake session 1
3:30 Break
3:45 Player Communications
5:00 Players present top suggestions; PokerStars responds
6:15 Players return to hotel
7:00 Dinner and informal discussions

April 25th
9:15 Ring Game Ratholing
10:45 Discussion/Review of PokerStars 7 Client
12:00 Lunch
12:45 Software: Upcoming planned improvements
2:00 Ring Game Seating Issues
3:30 Break
3:45 Ring Games Promotions: Discussions and Suggestions
5:00 Players present top suggestions; PokerStars responds
6:15 Players return to hotel
7:00 Dinner and informal discussions

April 26th
9:15 Sit and Go Promotions: Discussion and Suggestions
10:45 PLO Rake session 2
11:45 Lunch and players’ group time
2:00 New Jersey discussions
3:00 Break
3:15 Scheduled MTT and Satellites: Discussion and Suggestions
4:45 Players present top suggestions; PokerStars responds
6:15 Players return to hotel


I know everyone is anxiously awaiting the post from Steve but please realize it takes time. There was another employee taking notes of all the meetings and this ended up being over 100 pages. It will take time to go through all of this and come up with official stances. They also had to put their regular duties on hold for the week (they also spent their evenings entertaining us!). I’ve been to the headquarters and understand how busy they are and how this always can be their main priority. Once Stars’ post is up you can expect the reps to get their trip reports up ASAP. I’ve made good progress in mine, just waiting for the Stars post to see where I should focus/elaborate more. Hope you can all keep waiting patiently.