Backlash Over PokerStars Rake Increase as Pros Speak Out: ‘Will Hurt Bottom Line’
A handful of poker pros offered their opinion of the recent rake increase at the world’s largest online poker site PokerStars.
Speaking to PokerNews.com, the likes of Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, Shannon “basebal1b” Shorr and la “Odd_Oddsen” Amundsgard spoke publicly about the changes now taking place at Stars, all of which seem to be embracing a more “recreational” model similar to that found at Bodog Poker.
Galfond had this to say: "I would love for PokerStars to charge 90-percent less rake, but demanding that serves no purpose. We need to make sure we make waves only when necessary, and with a well-thought-out effort. It’s important that we aren’t a thousand individual complaints every time a change is made (we complained often before any of this even happened). They raised prices — they already knew we wouldn’t like it. We have nowhere else to go play, so we can’t cry wolf and claim that we’re going to.
"If you want change, you need to put together a strong organized argument as to why some of these changes could hurt both us and them. I haven’t run any numbers, but the main argument that comes to mind is: If it gets to the point that a gifted college kid depositing $100 has no chance to grind cash all the way up to $50/$100, we all have a problem. If the dream of becoming a high-stakes poker pro dies, business will eventually follow.”
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Amundsgard offered: "Every cut in a poker players win rate — in this case higher rake — will obviously affect me and the whole poker community. I feel like a lot of players will now be struggling to maintain positive win rates. There will be even more table selection, bumhunting and less table starting. I will probably avoid playing heads-up games where I think my edge is very thin, since heads-up play is, by my understanding, raked a lot harder.
"The thing with today’s online poker market is that PokerStars/FTP does not have any competition. They have basically monopoly and can do whatever they want. So I can totally understand why Pokerstars is doing this both with exchange fees, casino games, and now adding more rake. They are interested in earning as much money as possible. Let's hope they know what they are doing and not pushing things to far.”
Poker pro Shorr summed it up like this: “I think some of these recent changes do diminish the PokerStars brand. The changes are being made with the idea of increasing profits, but the reality to us insiders is that they are so obviously going to kill the games and actually hurt Amaya's bottom line."
- Ace King, Gambling911.com
