PokerStars VIP Changes 2016 and onwards

[rfgqqabc]

A Russian mirror website hosted by Pokerstars leaked this today. It has since been deleted. The text comes from a Russian 2+2 user and has been translated by him/google translate. Credit to Coon74; from 2+2 Internet Poker (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showpost.php?p=48536508&postcount=326 =Post)
(http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/28/internet-poker/supernova-elite-pursuit-thread-2015-related-chat-1500299/index22.html#post48536867)

Changes in the VIP-club in 2016

In 2016, VIP-club offers significant changes. The first serious change - is the introduction of simple and comprehensible system VIP-steps that will demonstrate how close you are to the next VIP-status. Learn more about VIP-levels, see here.

VIP-level - is undoubtedly a step towards ensuring that our VIP-club more understandable and accessible to more players. Especially the new system will appeal to those who play for fun from time to time, because with its help they can easily set goals and reach them in a single game session.

Awards received by the players, will also undergo some changes. Although they affect mainly the players of the highest VIP-level, they practically [almost] do not affect the majority of our players.

Most of the players with the status of BronzeStar to GoldStar will on average receive the same rewards that now. However, it is worth noting that some of them will get smaller, and others - more. The average percentage of winning status [rewards for those statuses] will remain the same or increase. For example, players will ChromeStar average observed increase in awards in the amount of 10%.

Awards for players with higher status will be reduced, and further reduced for those who annually earns more than 200,000 points VPP. We have always believed that poker - [is] a game that is played for fun and competition.

However, in the past few years, VIP-Club awards have become so seductive that we unintentionally started to influence why and how people play.

As a result, at the moment we are seeing a large number of players with high status, many of which play mainly for decoration [rewards], not for the sake of competition and fun that poker should bring. This group of players is growing faster than all other groups. So for the last 3 years the number of players with the status of Supernova and Supernova Elite has grown by 27%.

The objective of VIP-club has never been a fundamental change in the motivation to play poker. After analyzing the situation, we came to the conclusion that this situation has to change, despite the fact that it may disappoint some high-level players. Given this, we make a number of changes to our VIP-club, which could have a significant impact in the financial plan for the players who get our highest award.

In making this decision, we carefully weigh the "pros" and "cons". Within a few months, we have conducted a deep analysis and research to find the best model for the long-term viability of our poker "ecosystem." Read more about why this is important, as well as other changes, please visit our blog.

So, what will change for high-level players? On 1 January 2016 we will review the system of rewards, to limit the motivation to play just for the sake of winning. VIP-prizes for the players, who first achieved the status of Supernova, will still be 28% invested rail. However, for those who earn more than 200,000 points VPP, it will set the maximum award of 30%. Awards VIP-players PlatinumStar status will be reduced by about 5%.

Finally, to recoup significant costs (including the high cost of transactions for deposits and withdrawals) on offer cash games with high stakes, players will no longer get points VPP in Pot Limit and No Limit with blinds of $ 5- $ 10 and up, the gaming mix 8 games - with blinds of $ 10- $ 20 and above, and in other fixed limit games - with blinds of $ 10- $ 15 and above.

Below you will find a brief description of all the changes that will take effect January 1, 2016

All awards will be given in the form of a new currency - coins Star Coins.

Each coin has a fixed equivalent of $ 0.01.

All FPP points will be converted into coins Star Coins 1 January rate of 1.2 Coins Star Coins for 1 point FPP.

Before midnight on December 31, players can use their FPP points to buy cash bonuses, tournament tickets and a variety of goods at current prices in points FPP.

All prices quoted in the VIP-shop, including prices for tournament tickets and cash prizes will be updated on January 1 in accordance with the fact that the Star Coin 1 coin equivalent to $ 0.01.

Tournament buy-ins will also be transferred to the coin Star Coins.

All current awards, including points FPP, special VIP-bonuses and bonuses landmark, will be transformed into a unified system of awards - Coins Star Coins.

Click here to learn more about coins Star Coins for each VIP-level.

Players who have earned special VIP-bonuses and bonuses landmark in 2015, will be able to buy them in the VIP-shop in 2016.

On average, we plan to achieve the following awards percent compared with the current system:

Title   Average awards in 2016

BronzeStar   Without changes
ChromeStar   Increase to 10%
SilverStar   Without changes
GoldStar   Without changes
PlatinumStar   The decrease of 5%
Supernova   Decrease by 0-27%
200 000+ points VPP   The decrease of 44-60%

Multipliers VPP points for all licenses will be as follows:

5,5 VPP per $ 1,00 USD or CAD commissions [rake] paid, 6,5 VPP for € 1,00 EUR paid commissions and 8,25 VPP for £ 1,00 GBP paid commissions for any table, regardless of the number of players at the table.

Game mikrostavkami [microstakes]:

Points VPP per $ 1.00 of rake   Points VPP for € 1,00 in rake

$ 0.01 / $ 0.02   10   € 0,01 / € 0,02   12
$ 0.02 / $ 0.05   8.5   € 0,02 / € 0,05   10
$ 0.05 / $ 0.10   7   € 0,05 / € 0,10   9

These changes will increase the VPP multiplier for the UK, , BG, and SH.

These changes will reduce the VPP multiplier for tables with 8 or more players.

Players will not get points VPP in games Pot Limit and No Limit with blinds of $ 5- $ 10 and up, the games on the mix 8 games with blinds of $ 10- $ 20 and above, and in other fixed limit games with blinds of $ 10- $ 15 and above.

Earning points VPP, you move up the VIP-steps. Read more about the glasses [points] VPP read here.

VIP-Shop

Will be offered the following cash prizes with any VIP-status:

$ 25 - 2500 Star Coins
$ 100 - 10 000 Star Coins
$ 1 000 - 100 000 Star Coins

A few examples for tickets for multi-table tournaments, Sit & Go and spin-and-go:

Ticket for Sit & Go's with buy-ins $ 0.10 - 10 Star Coins
Tickets for the tournament spin-and-go or sit-and-gos with buy-in $ 0.25 - 25 Star Coins
Tickets for the tournament spin-and-go or sit-and-gos with buy-in $ 1 - 100 Star Coins
Ticket for Sit & Go's with buy-ins $ 1.50 - 150 Star Coins
A ticket for multi-table tournaments with buy-ins $ 3.30 - 330 Star Coins
A ticket for multi-table tournaments with buy-ins of $ 11 - 1100 Star Coins
A ticket for multi-table tournaments with buy-in $ 215 - 21 500 Star Coins

VIP-freerolls

Quarterly Freeroll $ 1 000 00 to Supernova will be no longer.

On the last Saturday of each month, will be held the following tournaments:

Tournament for BronzeStar + buy-in 25 FPP and prize money of $ 5000
ChromeStar + Freeroll with a prize pool of $ 20,000
SilverStar + Freeroll with a prize pool of $ 30,000
The freeroll for GoldStar + with a prize fund of $ 50,000

Every Saturday will be held the following tournaments:

Tournament for BronzeStar + buy-in 25 FPP and prize money of $ 2500
ChromeStar + Freeroll with a prize pool of $ 10,000

From 1 January 2017 VIP-Supernova Elite status will be abolished

Players who receive Supernova Elite status in 2015, to keep it in 2016

Awards for VIP-players Supernova Elite in 2016 will be reduced to a maximum of 28-30%.

To maintain status Supernova and Supernova Elite will no longer be required to be performed monthly on the conditions set points VPP.

Awards Hall of Fame

Prizes for achieving a mark of 5 million and 10 million points VPP will be available until December 31, 2016

Upon reaching the mark of 5 million points a player can choose one of two prizes: a Tag Heuer watch or a gift certificate to Apple's $ 2500

Concierge service will no longer be offered to players Supernova and Supernova Elite

Read more about the changes VIP-club and other changes, the purpose of which is to maintain the competitive spirit of such remarkable games like poker, read our blog.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BronzeStar   Without changes
ChromeStar   Increase to 10%
SilverStar   Without changes
GoldStar   Without changes
PlatinumStar   The decrease of 5%
Supernova   Decrease by 0-27%
200 000+ points VPP   The decrease of 44-60%

Pretty brutal stuff really, fringe benefits removed and a general hammering over everyone apart from the very highest stake cash players I guess. The corporate spiel about "Finally, to recoup significant costs (including the high cost of transactions for deposits and withdrawals) " is particularly cringe worthy, as a lot of these costs are paid out in  comission to Skrill/agents etc. Wasn't charging on currency changes enough?

[The Camel]

Time for Isai and Mark to launch their new poker site I reckon.

[teddybloat]

No rewards or  fpps for high-stakes cash games is effectively a whopping rake increase. Will kill reg v reg action - likely fewer table starters + therefore fewer high stakes games to rail.

Will likely kill most 6max sng action above low-mid stakes where the average recreational player per table can be less than one.

Will force many players to focus on winrate, or move down stakes( not a bad thing in itself, but fewer games will run and games will be tougher overall).

Husng regs may take their reg battles off site again

Recs will find fewer games running to play, fewer big reg v reg games to rail and will find the games they do play to be much tougher as people increase focus on fewer tables and skilled players move down to their buy in levels.

I say this as someone who will likely benefit from the new system - I play part time from.the uk, so will see an increase in fpp conversion.I don't hit platinum and have a high winrate pre rake-back. Having mass volume grinders leave my games or reduce volume will be good for me - a lot of 6max sng regs will likely flock to my games (spin and go) as their games die -  but that's actually a good thing as they suck HU.

But for any 6max SNG players - be they reg or rec -@ midstakes + this isn't going to be pleasant.

I can't see it being + ev for stars either the way things are. A tonne of games will stop running, recs will have less choice and lose their money at a higher clip in the games that do run.

The fact that they have quickly pulled the page down is telling.

[Doobs]

It might just have been an early draft that appeared on the site in error? 

I think the death of SNE has been well forecasted all year though.  Can't say I am too upset about it.  I hate it when you had somebody mass tabling the nlo8 Hypers.  It literally slows down every game you play.  The biggest culprit has moved to heads up, so the games are better now anyway. 

I personally dropped out of supernova in June.  Playing part time, I felt chasing supernova each month was probably bad all round.  I am pretty sure it was very detrimental to any possible profit at least.  I did also make the decision assuming supernova rewards were likely to fall in the new year.  I would personally be happier if they took the temptation away.  Looking back now, it was a really good decision, I am sure I am playing better now, and ironically I think I could still make money if I played at supernova rates now. 

[AlunB]

Amazing this thread has just four posts.

[buffyslayer1]

There is a ton of changes to digest, something I missed first go around is FPPs changing to stars coins.

Someone did some digging into Amya balance sheets and seems Stars has around $100m of FPP out there amongst the player base

The value of these coins is around 25% less than the FPP were. So if you have any in your account make sure you use them by the 1st of Jan.

Most of these changes boarder on outright theft to be frank, it would not be so bad if their was a redistribution going on to rec players but they are also getting pretty screwed over.

[Longy]

Amazing this thread has just four posts.

I mean it is clearly awful news for regs if true, but I will hold my outrage until an official stars announcement.

[George2Loose]

Cba to read it all which is why this thread probably doesn't have too many replies. Cliffs would be good

[AlunB]

Amazing this thread has just four posts.

I mean it is clearly awful news for regs if true, but I will hold my outrage until an official stars announcement.

Was confirmed yesterday afternoon.

https://www.pokerstars.com/en/blog/corporate_blog/2015/comprehensive-plan-for-enhanced-pokerstars-experience-158887.shtml

Decent summary here http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showpost.php?p=48548309&postcount=233

[teddybloat]

Amazing this thread has just four posts.

I mean it is clearly awful news for regs if true, but I will hold my outrage until an official stars announcement.

It's not going to be fun for recreationals either.

It's not like money is being channelled to them, indeed.any rec playing more than a few 100 hands of midstakes cash or 100 or so midstakes sngs a week will see a cut in rewards

There will be much less choice on offer as games.dry up - regs drive action in many formats.

Those on offer will now be much tougher as regs reduce volume and focus on winrate. Also regs will.move down stakes it will.make games.much tougher for recs and aspiring improving hobbyists.

High-stakes action will drop. Cash games above 5/10 have been hit by a 40- 70% rake increase. High stakes reg wars in sngs, husngs, hu-cash and most cash games above mistakes will.be hit. No incentive to table start for regs or to keep tables running when a rec busts.

Fewer game to rail, fewer games to play, fewer reg wars to follow, fewer sick grind / high stakes $$ blogs / graphs to drool over and be inspired by, lose at a much faster rate in the games that do run, a cut in rewards, much tougher to move up - fewer high stakes games to aspire to.

Recs are not doing well.

Hey at least stars has a nice casino they are encouraged to use.

We all love poker here, our passion / hobby has  lost a world leader. A gold-standard market leader that matched any company in any field for innovation, service and not just understanding their customer but actually appearing as though their interests were aligned with their customers. and they made billions from us. What an achievement. Almost certainly worthy.of being documented by the buisiness press. A dedicated poker-room for poker people.

It's gone now.

The sky isn't falling, games will still run - I'll actually benefit from the changes - but poker has lost summat worth missing.

[DaveShoelace]

Decent summary here http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showpost.php?p=48548309&postcount=233

Generally speaking I am for getting rid of a lot of games that run purely for volume's sake and the current state of the games are awful for recreational players, but some of the points made by Ansky in that post are undeniable and well thought out. Probably best to ignore the rest of the 2+2 thread and read that one.

In particular the part about SuperNova Elite being a two year contract, which it totally is, nobody gets to SNE in year one and stops playing, it really is a two-year commitement.

[AlunB]

I don't subscribe to this being an horrendous move or the death of poker or any of that nonsense. It's a simple business decision that they no longer want to incentivise certain types of players and games.

But one thing I would add is anyone who thinks Stars is unassailable and is too big to fail simply hasn't been paying attention to history.

[DaveShoelace]

My biggest problem with Stars in this regard has been the manner in which all these announcements have come, rather than the changes themselves. Not sold on all the changes but do agree with the ethos, but had this not been leaked on the Russian site god knows when it would have been announced, December 31?

[arbboy]

Decent summary here http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showpost.php?p=48548309&postcount=233

Generally speaking I am for getting rid of a lot of games that run purely for volume's sake and the current state of the games are awful for recreational players, but some of the points made by Ansky in that post are undeniable and well thought out. Probably best to ignore the rest of the 2+2 thread and read that one.

In particular the part about SuperNova Elite being a two year contract, which it totally is, nobody gets to SNE in year one and stops playing, it really is a two-year commitement.

Very good post by Ansky imo.  Very similar to all the backhanded/underground price increases betfair exchange have put on their 'regs'.  Just reads exactly the same tbh.  What do you expect when these monopoly style businesses who have huge chunks of a certain niche market are taken over at a huge price by corporations?   They are always going to do this to get back the huge price they paid to acquire their future cash cow.

What they have done tweaking T&C's though does border on theft esp the 25% devaluation of the fpp's.

[The Camel]

I don't subscribe to this being an horrendous move or the death of poker or any of that nonsense. It's a simple business decision that they no longer want to incentivise certain types of players and games.

But one thing I would add is anyone who thinks Stars is unassailable and is too big to fail simply hasn't been paying attention to history.

This.

Remember Paradise Poker?