PokerStars Updates Rake and Bonus Structure

In a recent post on the PocketFives poker forums, PokerStars Home Games Manager Lee Jones informed members of the community that PokerStars had implemented a number of changes to its rake and bonus structure as a result of player meetings the site held with various high-profile members.

Effective June 1, the following alterations were made to the rake caps. For $1/$2 Limit Hold'em stakes with three or four players seated at a table, the old cap of $0.80 maximum rake per hand has been reduced by 12.5% to $0.70. What this means is that regardless of how big a $1/$2 Limit Hold'em pot becomes when three to four players are competing, the most PokerStars will take out of it for rake purposes is $0.70.

For $1/$2 Limit Hold'em games with five or more players seated at the table, the maximum amount of rake taken from a hand has been dropped by 20% from $1 to $0.80. There are additional changes for $2/$4 Limit Hold'em games with three to four players dealt into the hand. The rake cap per hand has been reduced by 12.5% from $0.80 to $0.70. For $2/$4 Limit Hold'em games with five or more players dealt into the hand, the maximum amount of rake that can be taken from each pot has gone from $2 to $1.25.

Another change, effective June 1, which has been made on PokerStars is the overall size of bonuses that are available in the VIP Store. As of now, the bonuses have all been reduced in order to make these prizes more accessible to more players.

For a Bronze level VIP on PokerStars, a $10 bonus can now be bought for 1,000 Frequent Player Points (FPPs). The previous bonus was worth $25, but took 2,500 FPPs to purchase, so with this example, you can see how PokerStars has lowered both bonus amounts and FPP requirements to give players access to bonuses more quickly.

For Silver VIP members, the new bonus amount will be $25 for 2,250 FPPs ($50 for 4,500 FPPs previously). For the Gold VIP level, a $75 bonus can be had for 6,250 FPPs (previously a $300 bonus for 25,000 FPPs).

Moving onto Platinum VIP bonuses, the new amount is $200 for 15,400 FPPs. For the first SuperNova bonus, a $600 bonus can be obtained for 40,000 FPPs while further $1,600 bonuses will cost 100,000 FPPs.

As always, players incrementally receive greater value for their FPPs as they move up the PokerStars VIP level ladder. Note that the old bonuses are already a thing of the past and not available for purchase. Also, bonus levels will not change for U.S. players who still have FPPs accumulated in their accounts.

In other news, PokerStars is working on an "Un-Register From All Tournaments" button that would allow players to perform a simple series of tasks in order un-register from all events that have pre-registered for. Although this feature is not yet available, it was a major point in the player meetings and should be implemented during the next few months.

Recent additions to PokerStars include $1/$2 Pot Limit Omaha Zoom Poker and six-max $60 and $200 Hyper-Turbo sit and gos. The PokerStars Software now waits four orbits instead of three to pick up a "Sitting Out" player when he is competing at six-max tables.

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