PokerStars Announces Rake Increases Effective March 28

Earlier today, PokerStars, the world's largest real money online poker site, announced that it will be increasing the rake in many of its games.  Eric Hollreiser, Vice President of Corporate Communications for Amaya and PokerStars, announced in a PokerStars Blog entry entitled "PokerStars Announces Revised Pricing" that the changes will take place next Monday, March 28, 2016.

The "revised pricing," or as many players refer to it, rake increases, will affect a number of its players in its worldwide shared liquidity market.
 
The first change rake increase applies to what has grown into one of the most popular formats PokerStars currently offers: its lottery-style Spin & Gos.  Players will be contributing 1% more in rake for $1, $7, $15, and $30 buy-in games, while $3 buy-in games will have their rake increased by 2%.  Not all Spin & Gos will be affected, as $0.25, $60, and $100 buy-in games will remain the same.
 
Multi-table tournament players will also notice two different types of rake increases beginning next week.  First, hyper-turbo tournaments will be increased to a 5% rake.  Additionally, PokerStars will, for the first time on its worldwide client, include rake on rebuys and add-ons similar to the fees on the original entries.  Hollreiser mentioned that the latter increase affects 12% of the total tournaments offered on PokerStars.
 
Rake on rebuys and add-ons is nothing new for PokerStars in general, as its sites in France, Italy, and Spain have experienced rake in these tournaments for many years.
 
Ring game players didn't get off easier.  Hollreiser mentioned that increases on the cap and percentage will take place in some of its pot-limit and no-limit games.  However, there will also be some decreases in rake in some of these games, while others will not have any changes at all.  Limit games will not be raked any differently starting next week than they are now.
 
There is no mention of any increases in rake for sit-and-go players.  So, if you primarily grind these games, things should be the same for you in a week as they are right now.
 
PokerStars expects that the price changes will result in an additional 4% in rake for the company.  Hollreiser also mentioned that, in general, rake will still be less than what players are paying on other major networks including PartyPoker, 888 Poker, and iPoker.
 
As expected, players are already taking to social media and poker forums speaking out against the changes.  Daragh Davey already commented to his Twitter followers, "Another rake increase, awesome, thanks @PokerStars #WeKillPoker."

Meanwhile Martin Mulsow implied he will be playing fewer tournaments on PokerStars, stating on Twitter, "I really enjoyed playing the $22 cubed, but I'm not paying $6 in rake for it. Plus it barely gets $2,000 for first place #RIP."
 
The timing of the announcement is also rather curious to many, as today is the day PokerStars should be celebrating its official hard launch in New Jersey.  This represents the first time players are legally allowed to play on PokerStars from the United States since Black Friday took place on April 15, 2011.

More articles