In my previous post I had talked about the various changes in the SNGs. The main changes are the changes in rake and the structure. After putting in some decent volume, I am able to give a more valid response to how it has effected the games.
Please note I am talking specifically more so about how these games effect the Pokerstars 180 man SNG tournaments.
Generally speaking I welcomed some changes, and others having more of a neutral view on it by just explaining what they were,but because I'm a MTT SNG grinder they simply don't effect me as much as they do to others. I am aware however, that these rake changes are higher for lower staked players, making them less beatable. But on the flipside I discussed how it would allow them to rake up those VPPs to get Supernova or even SNE a lot quicker.
Now there are a large percentage of players who are not happy with the changes. I understand and accept their positions. I'm not saying that they're amazing, fantastic changes, but the reasoning for saying that they were good... is because there *are* changes implemented. Not the fact that they got it right first time. What I mean is that I believe that PokerStars is showing the potential for changing something, and then modifying it til they get it right.
There have been many software improvements throughout the 2 years I've been playing on PokerStars, but a good example is the fact that they have changed the $3 rebuy 180 man non turbo to turbo, only 1 day after implementing it. I had complained about it on twitter, and they changed it soon after! Maybe it was a mistake? Maybe there was a lot of demand for it? But what's important to know is that if there is a demand for something, then they will change it for their customers! And I think that's good. Comparing to back when I was playing Full Tilt, it would absolutely take ages for anything to change or seem to get through to them!
I'm gonna go through all the categories again and give my 2 cents on each change now and talk about how successful each one is, now that I've put in some games to get a first hand feel of how they effect the games.
New Blind Levels - 3 minute turbos, 6 minute non turbos.
Cutting the turbos from 5 mins to 3 seemed to be something that was introduced to balance out the fact that they added more levels to flatten the structure. Whilst I agree with the flatter structure, I think taking off 2 mins from turbos is too much. Seeing that the old turbo was 5 mins, the new non turbo is 6 mins, which is close to the old turbo then the new one! What's funny is that I think there is a general satisfaction with having turbos at 5 mins, but probably the 10 mins for non turbos is too slow.
My choice - After playing a few, it became apparent to me that 3 mins is too fast. Of the 2 games which I won, 1 ended at blinds 7/14k blinds (which is the cap), and the other at 6/12k. With 300k chips in play, for that to happen almost every time you win it means that it is too fast. I would say, try putting turbos to 4 mins, or give us 2k starting stacks instead of 1500.
Non turbos can still be 6 mins, or 7-8 mins instead.
Change Rating = 2/5 Even no change would have been better.
New Additions - Super turbos, Turbo KO 9 mans.
I haven't played any Turbo 9 man KO STTs, but from my one game of hyper turbo that seems really fun. 500 chips, 2 min blinds... and level 1 has an ante! I used to start out on Full Tilt playing Super Turbos, and I can really see this hitting it off. At the moment there is only a $5 stake but I wouldn't be surprised to see more coming, and for this to become a permanent game. The KO turbo does seem like a good idea tho, and its new (meaning that Full Tilt doesn't have it). The KO's money would seem to be a good addition to their bankrolls.
Change Rating = 5/5 Add more stakes in hyper turbos! Full Tilt Super Turbos have shown that these games are popular and will be very profitable for them.
Standardized Structure - Flatter Structure, Ante is 10% of Big Blind
I have to say, in playing quite a few (about 100) of these since my last post I honestly didn't notice a big change in having a flatter structure. The speed of the blinds basically vetos the smoothness of the blinds going up. I worked out it took me on average 90-100 mins to win a 180 man tournament, compared to the old tournaments when it would take around 100-110 mins. 10 minutes is huge! It would take 23 levels to get to 6k/12k where as now it takes 30 levels. But its hard to tell if it makes a huge difference because of the change in speed of the blinds.
However, I am not a non turbo player. I can totally see this structure benefit non turbo tournaments. But for turbos, I don't think it makes such a big difference because the blinds go up so quickly. The fact that it takes less time to complete a 180m makes it more of a "crapshoot" (I would argue that there is still skill involved) according to some players. Maybe a different structure is needed to turbos, instead of making them the same as non turbos.
New Structure, 180 Man Turbos.
Ante Introduced at Level 10, 30 mins
30 Levels to get to 6k/12k, 90 mins
Old Structure, 180 Man Turbos
Ante Introduced at Level 7, 35 mins
23 Levels to get to 6k/12k, 115 mins
I am a big fan of making ante 10% tho, totally standardizing that makes sense.
Change Rating = 3/5 For turbos the blinds seem to go up too quick for it to seem to make a difference. Maybe we need even more levels, or introducing antes later on would improve it. Either way, the structure must make it so that the new turbos take the same time to complete as the old ones for us to see any notable change effected by the new structure.
Multi Registrating MTTs - This seemed to have been taken off.
Change Rating = n/a Would love this, but I guess it does make the lobby messy. Maybe a mistake accidently put up?
Time Additions - More time per 5 levels, and 60 seconds more on Final Tables.
I really welcome this addition, although there are a lot of people who are saying that time hoggers will use this to prolong the bubble as long as possible. This is a valid argument, but so far in all my games I have yet to see it happening.
However on the flip side, it will allow you to play more tables and not worry about timing out. If I had to choose between not having bubble hoggers and more tables for me, I'd say more tables is way better then worrying about those bubble hoggers.
Change Rating 4/5 - Maybe some kinda protection vs bubble hoggers can be introduced... like they cant use their timebank 3 times in a row on the bubble, or have admins control it a bit.
Standardized Buy Ins - It is a much better system now that they standardize all the buy ins. All the buy ins are going to be 1,3,5,10,20 etc going up in a logical manner. However, I do agree with Epitomized that making the lobby add up the raked numbers does make for some very strange numbers on the lobby. A $3.38 or $5.43 buy in might seem a rather odd arbitrary number to a random fish who simply wants to play a $3 or $5 game! Its a very good point. Maybe making them add up to nice numbers of ten is better then adding rake on the whole numbers.
Change Rating 4/5 - Funny numbers, but a much smaller jump between stakes allows for easier and less risky bankroll building.
Rake - The rake has been standardized throughout the stakes. It isn't just a bunch of random numbers anymore. The most important thing is that the higher stake games rake has been reduced, allowing them to be slightly more beatable then before. However, whether fish will see the difference is debatable?
Unfortunately, the lower stakes has been hit hard. The $16s, now being the $10s+0.85 is now even less beatable then before, despite its regged filled games. However, on the flip side it is arguable that it is easier to get Supernova or SNE by risking less money.
One has to wonder what PokerStars are thinking as well. With their traffic being cut from Black Friday, do they make things cheaper for everyone, or do they try and make more money to balance out the loss of the Americans? It seems they've gone the for latter. Was this wise? Only time will tell...
Change Rating 3/5 - I personally think they should have lowered everything to adjust to Black Friday. Get more new players in by offering better value. It is good that they have introduced a lower, more standardized rake especially in the mid to higher level stakes, but I would have thought that incentifying new players at the lower stakes is a better strategy for the long run. Making the rake higher in low stake STTs for example, is quite a risky proposition considering that there are so many breakeven regulars anyway that make those game very hard to beat.
Change Rating 3/5 - Good that its standardized, but bad that the lower stakes have to pay for the reduction in the higher stakes.
Overal, it is a good change. I said that in the last post. But no better then a lukewarm "good". Others might disagree. There are a lot of holes in it, but I think people don't understand that its almost impossible to get it right first time. The fact that they're willing to change it up, and show that they will is a good thing. If the majority of their customers cry out about something, then they will change it. It will be interesting to see if the traffic slows down on STTs. But as far as the changes to my 180 mans, again, its not really that hugely different so I'm not complaining.
Sunday, 8 May 2011
Friday, 6 May 2011
New PokerStars Rake and Structure Changes
http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/tournaments/sitandgo/
During my session today whilst playing, Pokerstars introduced the new raked games and totally confused my poor Table Ninja lol. Not only did it confuse him, it totally confused me as well, as $3.38 games started loading up too. I was like "What the hell is that?? Looks like a $2 and $3r 180m combined!" Geez.
Overall I think its a good change, because it standardizes all the buy ins and isn't random numbers of rake now. So here's the lowdown;
Blind Level Times
The blind levels have changed too now, where Turbos are now 3 mins long compared to 5 mins, and non turbos are 6 mins compared to 10 mins. However, I have also seen and even slower 15 minute game, unfortunately also at the same price and name as a non turbo. Seems kinda confusing I'm sure, hopefully they will change it so its more easily distinguishable.
New Additions
They've also added hyper turbo one man STTs, at an "experimental" $5 stake, which are 2 min blinds and you start with 500 chips. Super turbo mayhem!! I'm pretty confident they will catch on easily.
Another great addition is the KO Turbo 9 mans, which has upgraded from the non turbo speed, which means you will get paid for knocking out players, which I'm sure is great to encourage those big stack bubble owning situations!
The $3 rebuy turbo tournament has been downgraded from a turbo to a non turbo. So before it was 5 min blinds and now its 6 mins. Even though its only 1 minute extra, with the flatter structure it means that it will take substantially longer to finish.
Standardized Structure
They've also introduced a flatter structure to the games. In 9 mans it used to be t200, t200 with 25 ante, t400+25 ante, t600+50 ante etc. Now its t200+20, t250+25, t300+30, where the ante is always 10% of the big blind. This structure seems to be throughout all games, whether you play 9 mans or 180 mans its the same. This is good especially for multi tabling... not so confusing!
Multi-Registering 45 Mans and Below
It seems that you can now multi register in some MTT SNGs now. For a while you could do it in the 180 mans too but it seems they've taken it off.
Added Time
I'm not sure if this is a new addition of if I've only just noticed it now. But Pokerstars has decided to give us more time as tournaments progress, which is great for us multi tabling freaks! You will get an extra 5 seconds in turbos, and 10 seconds in non turbos per 5 blind levels. On MTT SNGs, you will also get an extra 60 seconds for reaching the final table.
Speed vs More Blind Levels
The introduction of the 3 minute and 6 minute blinds to everything makes everything faster, compared to the old 5 minutes and 10 minute blinds. But with the flatter structure, it might mean that they even each other out, and not actually be shorter/longer at all? I'm not sure, but I'm looking forward to my session tonight to find out.
Either way, I'm happily adaptable, so I don't mind. However, it has to be said that their steeper structure before would allow for fish to make bigger mistakes, because they don't realize how quickly the blinds get better. Only time will tell. But one thing is for sure... the more simple you make things, i.e standardizing all these structures, the better and [probably] more players will come.
Rake Changes Conclusion
MTT-wise, the rake changes hasn't really effected us. A [turbo 180m] $2+0.20, $7+0.70, and $11+1 becomes $3+0.38, $5+0.43, and $10+0.85. We get a cheaper "discount" but with MTT SNGs, the rake doesn't effect us as much because of the number of players playing means our ROI is gonna be higher then the 45 mans and lower. I'm sure at higher stakes this is going to be better for them, but for me I cant say for them.
STT-wise, the rake has increased. The STT's favourite $15+1 is now a $10+0.85. This is a huge drop in buy in prizepool and a much higher percentage of rake. The STTs are gonna be less beatable then before, but in saying that it is going to be substantially easier to get Supernova and take advantage of the Pokerstars VIP program by risking less money. Now a $1k roll is all you need to be able to get this status! Now more then ever are we gonna be seeing more breakeven regs who are living off rakeback.
Overall, I think these changes are good. The $1, $3, $5, $10 buy in levels make it a lot easier to climb stakes, not a huge jump like the $2s to $7s to $12s. The whole standardization of the blind structures, times, and buy ins all lead to everything being a lot more simple for the average Joe, which is great. It will be interesting to see how these changes effect everything... but Pokerstars is very good at making quick changes if things are right.
During my session today whilst playing, Pokerstars introduced the new raked games and totally confused my poor Table Ninja lol. Not only did it confuse him, it totally confused me as well, as $3.38 games started loading up too. I was like "What the hell is that?? Looks like a $2 and $3r 180m combined!" Geez.
Overall I think its a good change, because it standardizes all the buy ins and isn't random numbers of rake now. So here's the lowdown;
Blind Level Times
The blind levels have changed too now, where Turbos are now 3 mins long compared to 5 mins, and non turbos are 6 mins compared to 10 mins. However, I have also seen and even slower 15 minute game, unfortunately also at the same price and name as a non turbo. Seems kinda confusing I'm sure, hopefully they will change it so its more easily distinguishable.
New Additions
They've also added hyper turbo one man STTs, at an "experimental" $5 stake, which are 2 min blinds and you start with 500 chips. Super turbo mayhem!! I'm pretty confident they will catch on easily.
Another great addition is the KO Turbo 9 mans, which has upgraded from the non turbo speed, which means you will get paid for knocking out players, which I'm sure is great to encourage those big stack bubble owning situations!
The $3 rebuy turbo tournament has been downgraded from a turbo to a non turbo. So before it was 5 min blinds and now its 6 mins. Even though its only 1 minute extra, with the flatter structure it means that it will take substantially longer to finish.
Standardized Structure
They've also introduced a flatter structure to the games. In 9 mans it used to be t200, t200 with 25 ante, t400+25 ante, t600+50 ante etc. Now its t200+20, t250+25, t300+30, where the ante is always 10% of the big blind. This structure seems to be throughout all games, whether you play 9 mans or 180 mans its the same. This is good especially for multi tabling... not so confusing!
Multi-Registering 45 Mans and Below
It seems that you can now multi register in some MTT SNGs now. For a while you could do it in the 180 mans too but it seems they've taken it off.
Added Time
I'm not sure if this is a new addition of if I've only just noticed it now. But Pokerstars has decided to give us more time as tournaments progress, which is great for us multi tabling freaks! You will get an extra 5 seconds in turbos, and 10 seconds in non turbos per 5 blind levels. On MTT SNGs, you will also get an extra 60 seconds for reaching the final table.
Speed vs More Blind Levels
The introduction of the 3 minute and 6 minute blinds to everything makes everything faster, compared to the old 5 minutes and 10 minute blinds. But with the flatter structure, it might mean that they even each other out, and not actually be shorter/longer at all? I'm not sure, but I'm looking forward to my session tonight to find out.
Either way, I'm happily adaptable, so I don't mind. However, it has to be said that their steeper structure before would allow for fish to make bigger mistakes, because they don't realize how quickly the blinds get better. Only time will tell. But one thing is for sure... the more simple you make things, i.e standardizing all these structures, the better and [probably] more players will come.
Rake Changes Conclusion
MTT-wise, the rake changes hasn't really effected us. A [turbo 180m] $2+0.20, $7+0.70, and $11+1 becomes $3+0.38, $5+0.43, and $10+0.85. We get a cheaper "discount" but with MTT SNGs, the rake doesn't effect us as much because of the number of players playing means our ROI is gonna be higher then the 45 mans and lower. I'm sure at higher stakes this is going to be better for them, but for me I cant say for them.
STT-wise, the rake has increased. The STT's favourite $15+1 is now a $10+0.85. This is a huge drop in buy in prizepool and a much higher percentage of rake. The STTs are gonna be less beatable then before, but in saying that it is going to be substantially easier to get Supernova and take advantage of the Pokerstars VIP program by risking less money. Now a $1k roll is all you need to be able to get this status! Now more then ever are we gonna be seeing more breakeven regs who are living off rakeback.
Overall, I think these changes are good. The $1, $3, $5, $10 buy in levels make it a lot easier to climb stakes, not a huge jump like the $2s to $7s to $12s. The whole standardization of the blind structures, times, and buy ins all lead to everything being a lot more simple for the average Joe, which is great. It will be interesting to see how these changes effect everything... but Pokerstars is very good at making quick changes if things are right.
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