poker stars raised their rake .. again

[SyGambler]

so was just checking youtube and found that video from Joeingram talking about the recent move by pokerstars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1s4rJ9SvXk

their rake now is officially ridiculous , can't find why they aren't satisfied with what they are already making
what do you guys think on this ?? will pokerstars market dominance be ended with this move ??
I mean personally I can't see a single reason to stick with them when the other networks are offering lower rake and higher rakeback

[BoXXoB]

PokerStars has been going towards to being a more traditional online casino for a while now. Not only have they added a bunch of casino games like slots, blackjack and so on they have a sportsbook now too. They have also added a lot of poker games that seem more like luck games than skill games. This makes me think poker has become less profitable and thus they are starting to tax it. I don't know any numbers so this is just a hunch.

I don't like this direction they are going to but then again I gave up with online poker a while ago.

[tokeweed]

^  Raising the rake has been a constant theme ever since the Scheinbergs sold the site to Amaya.  Their sacrificing customer loyalty in exchange for more profitablity(?)...  But it's mostly the regs that are complaining.  The casual players couldn't care less.

[leea-1334]

I felt like their new offerings are gearing more and more towards pure luck instead of skill, which is supposed to be what poker is all about. I sink a lot of money into poker and other card games (my personal black hole is black jack, just lost $600 today after playing less than 30 hands haha) but I am beginning to feel that these sites penalize players who play the tables the way they are supposed to. Maybe they make more money from those pure luck gamblers who just keep buying in? Desperate for a good poker site, poker stars actually is attractive but,,, not happy with the lowering values of our bets.

[eternalgloom]

PokerStars has been going towards to being a more traditional online casino for a while now. Not only have they added a bunch of casino games like slots, blackjack and so on they have a sportsbook now too. They have also added a lot of poker games that seem more like luck games than skill games. This makes me think poker has become less profitable and thus they are starting to tax it. I don't know any numbers so this is just a hunch.

I don't like this direction they are going to but then again I gave up with online poker a while ago.

They are adjusting to the market it would seem. Poker isn't nearly as popular as it was a few years ago, people don't want to spend hours at the poker table anymore.
I think it probably has to do with the fact that they want to keep some retention on the newbie players.

Newbies would get tired of playing long games, so it's more profitable to invest in trying to combine poker with more fast-paced casino games.
You see it with the addition of those spin & go tournaments for example.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

They should change their name to Casino Stars, or something, because they are switching to casino games and casino-like types of poker, as it has been pointed out. They are pushing rake to a limit, I recall three times the rake being raised and/or rakeback cut in the past 18 months or so.

^  Raising the rake has been a constant theme ever since the Scheinbergs sold the site to Amaya.

They have a lot of debt and need money that’s why they have taken those measures but I think they are going to lose market share significantly at some point.

They are adjusting to the market it would seem. Poker isn't nearly as popular as it was a few years ago, people don't want to spend hours at the poker

No, they aren’t. They are making the market to change. Their changes have made the market to worsen. Poker isn’t so popular due to them, mainly. They have taken away liquidity and poker with much less liquidity isn’t funny. Some years ago, it was easy for someone starting in micro-limits to reach mid-stakes in a short period of time and to make a lot of money. That doesn’t happen anymore. It takes much, much, longer. And fish lose money faster, much faster.

They are adjusting to the market it would seem. Poker isn't nearly as popular as it was a few years ago, people don't want to spend hours at the poker

That’s their excuse but no regular player believes them. They had hyper-turbo Sit and Goes before, also cash 6-handed and heads up, where they could leave the game when they wanted.

[SyGambler]

yeah I agree with all the comments above , but somehow I feel it's the end of stars
I mean they were in the lead for over 10 years or so and now with this rake there is no single reason to keep playing with them
if all the players stood together and decide to take the decision and stop playing there they will be out of the business
IDK maybe it's time for the WPN to benefit from stars move , since ACR accept almost all the countries and they have payment options that suit everyone on this planet

even good players are complaining about stars , which means even good players are finding the game way harder to beat with the current situaiton
time to make the switch

[Don Pedro Dinero]

even good players are complaining about stars , which means even good players are finding the game way harder to beat with the current situaiton
time to make the switch

That’s not surprising because they have to fight not only versus other players but also against the rake.

I’m in the .fres (France and Spain)market, and all the regulars here are waiting for Winamax to get a license. It is a little bit better than Pokerstars, not a lot, but we are fed up with their policy of making our lives impossible.

[babygun]

A couple of years ago, I used to play a lot of online poker and always on pokerstars as it was then the biggest and best pokersite online.
Sad to see the decline of such a site. I don't think it was a good idea to add casino games; sometimes you need to stick to your core business and try to keep on innovating.

[SyGambler]

A couple of years ago, I used to play a lot of online poker and always on pokerstars as it was then the biggest and best pokersite online.
Sad to see the decline of such a site. I don't think it was a good idea to add casino games; sometimes you need to stick to your core business and try to keep on innovating.

their main income is still coming from poker but yeah they have more options now
the thing is that they are harming the game with their acts , now some recreationals may use their site mainly for casino and even if they played their poker the rake is not good for both bad and good players

they are claiming that they are protecting the recreational players with this move ( as Daniel Negreanu said ) but we all know that this is BS