Pokerstars Changes 2016 Announced... (Hold onto Your Hats!)

Back From Hibernation

Wow. Its almost been a year since my last post. Admittedly this has been due to laziness and motivation, but I'm back! I tend to write stupidly long posts which take ages which also had added to the excuses to not post. However I do miss it, because it is in some ways quite therapeutic to get things off my chest.

Its kinda sad to see this being a trend amongst my fellow poker players that also did some blogging. Circumstances in the poker world has really hit everyone hard and its easy to understand the lack of motivation for continuing blogs when so much negativity and struggle is apparent within the community. And as much as I hate that I start again with something like that, I feel its important so here we go...

The Fumblings of Announced Changes

It has been a long time coming that Pokerstars was going to announce some changes for 2016. An announcement of an announcement was posted in August, saying it would happen mid October.



October came and went, and only rolling tumbleweeds from Pokerstars. Every Supernova Elite or player who was thinking about potentially going for it waited nervously.

Then October 31st, someone noticed that a post was announced on the Russian site;



No response from Pokerstars. So whilst the community was wondering whether this was a fake or not, the announcements did not look pretty. In fact they seemed so drastic that it didn't seem out of the question that it was a fake. But shortly after I linked it to someone I know in Pokerstars, the official announcement came Nov 1st.

Now who knows what on earth happened there. The announcement was 1/2 a month late, and whatever the hell that was, it was messy, and seemed like some kind of mistake. Who even knows if Pokerstars was going to even do these announcements at all at this time, they could have been wanting to stall til Dec 31st? Who knows. Either way it was a complete disaster, lacked professionalism and just wasn't what a pre-Amaya bought Pokerstars was known for.


The Changes

This is a lot of information overload, the official posts are linked below, but here's a summary;

Sources - 2p2 Post, Statement of Intent Stars Post, Stars Official VIP Changes

• All rewards will be given in a new currency, StarsCoin, each of which will have a fixed value of $0.01
• All current rewards – FPPs, Stellar Rebates, and Milestone Rebates – will be consolidated into a single form of reward called StarsCoin earned via VIP Steps

2016 Average Rewards by Status
BronzeStar - No change
ChromeStar - Up to 10% increase
SilverStar - No change
GoldStar - No change
PlatinumStar - Up to 10% decrease
Supernova - 0%-27% decrease
200k+ - 44%-60% decrease (30% rakeback cap)

• VPPs will not be earned in high-stakes cash games. High-stakes cash games include pot-limit and no-limit games with blinds of $5-$10 or higher, 8-game $10-$20 or higher, and other limit games with blinds of $10-$15 or higher (limit hold’em of stakes $15-$30 and higher).

• VIP Store
Cash Rewards will be offered as follows, and there will be no restrictions by VIP status:
- $25 – 2,500 StarsCoin
- $100 – 10,000 StarsCoin
- $1,000 – 100,000 StarsCoin

• VIP Freerolls
The Supernova Quarterly Million freeroll will be discontinued

• Supernova Elite VIP Status will be discontinued on January 1, 2017
The benefits cap for players who earn Supernova Elite in 2015 will be 45% in 2016.

• There will no longer be monthly maintenance requirements for Supernova and Supernova Elite statuses

• Concierge service for Supernova and Supernova Elite status to be discontinued

Mass Cutbacks, Maximize those Margins

This damning announcement of changes is the harshest that Pokerstars has done so far. It can be split into two categories, cutting back and getting rid of High Stakes Players.

The List of Cutbacks - Pokerstars seem to be furiously cutting back on the rewards system in order to maximise their profits.

• SNE discontinued in 2017.
• Concierge service, Supernova Quarterly Freeroll, Stellar Awards, Milestone Credits all abolished.
• Starcoins to replace FPPs. All FPPs will be converted automatically in 2017 with a decreased value of 25%.
• Supernova capped at 30% rakeback.
• Supernova Elites capped at 45% rakeback.
• PlatinumStar reduced by 10%

Other removals in the past year;

• If a Step is not reached by the end of the month, half of that step's FPPs is lost.
• Monthly TLB promotion for MTT players removed.
• Battle of the Planets promotion for SNG players removed.

Blame The Regs, Blame HUDs, But Whatever You Do Don't Touch Dat Rake!

An awesome podcast with Ansky talking about these changes pretty much summarises why these changes are terrible and how Amaya has destroyed the reputation and direction of Pokerstars.



The way that things are presented through their statements are unfounded and just complete typical annoying corporate talk. What is shocking is how stupid they think the poker community is. Don't they know that this community has probably one of the highest concentration of smart people within one space?

Quotes taken are from the sources above, and the 2p2 thread.

Against Volume - The stance that Stars has taken is that there are too many players playing for the rewards system that they created. This rewards system was created in order to balance out the high rake that they have in the games. The higher the rake, the harder the games are to beat. Without one, there cannot be the other.

If that was true the most logical step would be to reduce the rake, make the games more profitable to play, and less of a reward system would be needed.

The "We have always believed..." stuff is so funny, making out that they never wanted high volume players to give them a lot of rake. Oh! What an accident you created!

What an unskillful easy thing it is playing a huge volume! Those regs didn't study hard, put dedication in to their games at all! Thank god!


The Two Percent - This absolutely must have been something that was included in some meeting telling everyone to promote the randomly arbitrary two percent "statistic" that they've been throwing around. Poker players wont tell the difference will they?

Don't worry guys its only two percent of players! Does that include all the dormant accounts? Are you only counting Supernova Elites and Supernovas that have 200 vpps+? Are you saying 2% of all existing accounts since the beginning?

The fact is that this is so far from the truth that it makes them look silly. Please stop saying 2%. Seriously. What will happen is that high stakes players wont play high stakes, so they will move down to the lower stakes and play there, therefore making the lower stakes harder and more reg filled. Cash games will be much harder at 3/6 since any higher then that will receive no VPPs or StarCoins at all.

Simplifying the FPPs into StarCoins is fine. But saying that its pretty much the same, making statements that "its very much in the same ballpark" is another outrageous claim. Lets be clear; PlatinumStar is reduced by 10%, Supernova is reduced up to 27%, Supernova Elite is reduced by 44%-60%  and the "receiving more" that they are referring to is ChromeStar getting 10% more, which is 30 cents a month.

Could it be two percent? Honestly this will effect everyone.

Lets Merge Two Announcements For Confusion! - It was also announced in their blog that third party softwares such a HUDs (Heads Up Displays) would be removed from next year. This being a different topic entirely, seemed to be thrown into the mix. In fact poor Mr Negreanu who is for this got a ton of stick for referring to this as a good change, without realising that everyone else is talking about the VIP changes. He has said that he will make a statement in the next few days after assessing the whole situation, if anything he is in a very tough position, as the "People's Champ" and Poker Ambassador.

RIP High Stakes Cash - The death of railbirding those nosebleed stakes is upon is for the new year. Dispite the huge rake that it gives to Stars, they don't want it. So what amazing excuse did they make up for it? Well apparently its too expensive to run?

Riiiight. Wow those transaction costs must be awful... wonder what % they have to pay... possibly 2%? xD. Come the new year, 3/6 cash games will undoubtedly be the toughest level and any higher then that will be abandoned.


Another Dark Day for Poker

Pokerstars had spent years gaining the reputation of being the best online poker site out there. It was great at communicating and listening to the community, open minded, and had impeccable support. But since it has sold its soul to get back into the US market to Amaya for 3x worth its value, this has all gone. And what is worse is that it own Full Tilt, and all other rivals are inadequate and just not stepping up to the plate. It has the feel of an unfair monopoly, that can do what it wants because it is the only competitor out there.

Every announcement they make takes away, and treats us like idiots. Two great posts by "MeleaB" here explains what is really going on.

The PokerStars Model
Rewards Models

Amaya's direction towards making Poker feel more like casino games, getting that short term profit to show to their shareholders, and new "policies" is looking like it will be end of Pokerstars demise. However, they have a few years yet to see if things will change, but most likely it wont. It could be that the banning of Stars getting them to desperately want back in by selling their soul could be the most slow round about way of killing off this company lol.

Anyways welcome back Puyan, shame it has to start on such a downer. I will try and write more renditions of War and Peace in the future. I need an iced latte... for $2 cheaper! (Oh wait, its Nov in UK)

My Extensive iPhone 6 Review

I've been using iPhones for 6 years now, if the math is correct, as I seem to be snapping up the "whole" numbered ones, like not the S's! I've had the 4, the 5 and now the 6. I have had this phone for a few weeks now and wanna do an honest review on the phone....

If you don't have time to read my War and Peace recital, just scroll down to the conclusion.

Apple post Steve Jobs

Apple has done a pretty poor job of innovating and staying ahead of the tech market since Steve Jobs died. Since he passed there hasn't really been that many new products that has wow'd everyone like the iPod or iPad, or taking Macbook Air out of an envelope. They have released new models of course, but pretty much everything is lighter, faster, and smaller... but that shouldn't be the main feature of these products, they are the standard.



Unfortunately the iPhone 6 falls into this category of "uninnovative".  Nothing really stands out about this phone in comparison to the 5. It is faster, lighter, flatter and has a bigger screen. But the design is the same, and there are only 3 colours. It has surprised me that they haven't even tried to release different designs or the rumoured more "affordable" design option.

The Look

• Bigger Size, Taller and Thinner - I'm not a huge fan of the bigger size actually, it doesn't seem as pocket friendly, but on the flipside it is great for watching YouTube or playing games. I personally like the size of from the original iPhone 4, but its understandable that Apple has decided to go this direction with the sizing being similar as HTC and Samsung phones.
• Lighter - The weight of the 6 is very good. It seemed that they compromised with the metalic material of the iPhone 4/5 and went with a more plasticy aluminum(?). It does still feel metallic, just a different type of the 5.
• Lock Button Moved to the Side - This seems to be the biggest change of the 6 to the 5! It is a good move though, so that everything can be done with one hand. The problem with the lock button on the top was that as these phones got bigger, it made it harder for people's fingers to reach it. However, its gonna take some getting used to, I've tried to press the lock at the top of the phone on multiple occasions.
• Bigger Volume Buttons - Volume buttons are bigger, and a rounded rectangular shape now. This move I don't really understand. The main problem with the shape of the new volume buttons is that they actually feel very similar to the lock button now. In fact after looking closely I actually think they are the same button! I've accidently pressed them a few times thinking that its the lock button. I think they should have left the 5's round buttons, I thought they were quite slick, and was sad to see them go.
• Camera Sticking Out a Bit - Some people might have issue with the fact that the camera at the back is sticking out slightly, meaning that when you put the phone down on a table it doesn't sit flush to it when facing upwards. I don't think this is a big thing for me though, as I would put it in my pocket a lot of the time, and I don't really see how that would effect anything really. The camera has more improvements so its understandable that the lens is bigger.
• Rounded Edges - One of the biggest gripes of the 6's design is the fact that they have gone back to the rounded edges which reminds everyone of the original iPhone 1 and 2! I do agree that the flatter edges of the 4 and 5 do look much better, however I don't think its a big thing for me. My theory is that Apple decided that the flatter edges were a lot more easily damaged and chipped, so it was better to go with the rounded ones? Or it could also have something to do with the technology working better with the rounded edges possibly, as I remember they had problems with it when they first released the 4. Who knows? 

The Software

• Touch ID -  Is it me or is this something that was added to the 5S that didn't really seem to be advertised as much? Anyways, Touch ID is where Apple has made the home button a fingerprint scanner (kinda). Basically uses your fingerprint as an way to ID you and unlocks the phone. When I first heard about this idea I thought that it was a pretty useless idea, trying to gimmick its way into adding another perk to the phone. However, after using it for a few months I'm genuinely impressed, and I have changed my mind about this and think its a useful feature. Swiping to unlock isn't practical sometimes and it isn't secure, but your thumb naturally is on the home button when you get the phone out, so unlocking the phone much better then before. On top of that, using it to buy apps instead of putting in the password every time is great. I actually cant wait to use ApplePay when that comes out in UK (most likely next year), as using your phone to pay for things using Touch ID sounds like a great idea. The question is whether there will be enough stores to have this implemented for this to actually be useful.

• Reachability - Apple has spent some time in thinking about how the phone acts ergonomically and one of the main complaints is the fact that its ever increasing size is leading it towards it not being a one handed gadget anymore. They have tried to solve this problem by adding the Reachability feature, which is where you double tap the home button, and it moves the screen downwards so that you can reach the buttons at the top. It does seem pretty cool at how much extra tech they've added to the home button, but this feature seems kind of redundant. Firstly, it seems to have no mention of it in any of its websites, so when this happened I was totally confused as to what was going on with my screen. Next, it takes a lot of getting used to and remembering that it is actually there, I think most people (including myself) just use the other hand to reach. I've always thought that the iPhone 4 was the perfect size, and with folders never really understood why Apple kept making the phone longer and longer.
• 4G - I finally gave up on Vodafone after 2 phones and decided to go with EE. In fact, Vodafone called me up near the end of my contract to try to convince me to stay, but that call cut off due to the lack of signal... in my home! I've gone with EE and so far things are pretty good. 4G is literally everything you wanted mobile phone internet to be. Websites load fast, YouTube works great, even watching on iPlayer... on a train was seamless! Word to the wise though, be careful with watching streams on HD, it eats up your data usage quick! Oh, and 2 for 1 Orange Wednesdays and Pizza Express deal with EE is really nice!
• Memory - So as expected, everything is jacked up. The chip is faster and I haven't had any problems. iOS8 works great on the phone (not so great on older iPads though), and I have a whopping 16 GB storage. Actually that isn't a lot. However, with streaming movies, and not really having all my music on the phone, I really don't need that much memory so its ok for me. But the decision that they would only have 16 GB, 64 GB, and 128 GB storage models baffles me. Skipping the 32 GB which seems like the perfect size (had it for my 5) seems like a mistake to me. 16 GB is fine for me, but way to small for others most likely, considering that iOS8 takes up 5GB. 64/128 GB seems way too much unless your planning on uploading all seasons of Friends onto your phone (I think I did House MD). It does seem that Apple has really lost the mark by not selling a 32 GB model and/or not including some possible add on for expanding memory.
• Battery Life - When travelling with my iPhone, I am using it almost all the time. I'll be listening to music, playing games, taking pictures/movies, checking Facebook, watching movies and looking at the map. With this much demand on it didn't surprise me that the iPhone 5 would run out of battery on a full day's work. So I'd carry my charger wire and MU plug with me which is fine.The battery life has improve significantly with the 6. Its quite impressive. I've watched like 2 hours worth of shows, plus playing Fruit Ninja, Tiny Tower Vegas, and Big 2 for another 2 hours, whilst listening to music and it still had plenty to spare!

The MU Plug which can fit in your coat pocket!

***Skip to here if don't have time to read all that up there!***

Conclusions

The Good

1. Its lighter, faster, bigger screen, better resolution, Apple still has the most responsive touch screen in my opinion.
2. Touch ID is a good useful feature, can see it working with Apply Pay when that comes out.
3. Lock button is moved to the side.
4. Higher pixel camera.
5. iOS8 works seamlessly and I still think the Apple interface is the simplest to use.
6. Longer battery life!

The Bad

1. Not a big fan of making the phones taller and taller, not that pocket friendly.
2. Volume buttons and Lock button are literally the same, leads to some confusion when feeling for the buttons.
3. Not a big fan of the rounded edges or the plastic metallic material, I think the 4/5 models look cooler.
4. No implementation of expanding memory still.

Its really disappointing that Apple hasn't implemented a super cheap model of the iPhone, or even release more different models. It kind of feels like that they're satisfied with just going for one model and making it as good as they can. I upgraded my iPhone from the 5 to the 6, because I could, but in reality I wasn't super hyped about it that much, and continuing to use the 5 would have been fine.

The best advice I can give comes from NXIS a tech channel I follow who did a review for it. If you like iPhone, then get it, if you don't, then don't get it. Because this iPhone isn't gonna change your mind if you like Samsung or HTC. I like iPhones so I'm happy with this model. Battery life and Touch ID are the biggest things for me. Anyways, hope that helps if your deciding!