PokerStars increased the rake: what has changed. PokerStars increased the rake: what has changed “PokerStars announces a revision of its pricing policy”

At PokerStars you play against real people who have registered on the site just like you, and not against the house. PokerStars receives compensation by charging the pot of each cash game a small amount - the "house cut". This amount cannot be more than $5. At low limits, PokerStars takes a smaller share.

In Pokerstars tournaments, rake is charged not per hand, but per participation. There are also tournaments where there is no entry fee or rake in Poker Stars.

On this page you can find information about rake charges for games at PokerStars.

If the hand ends in the first round (before the flop in Omaha or Hold'em, before the draw in a draw game, before fifth street in stud), then PokerStars does not charge a rake.

In HORSE, rake is charged according to the “fixed limit games” table.

There are mixed games that include variations of no-limit, fixed-limit and/or pot-limit poker.

For example, 8 game mix, mixed hold'em, mixed Omaha hold'em, mixed Omaha hi-low. Hands played at such a table will be raked according to the type of limit that is used in that particular hand.

Below are tables containing data on the number of players who are dealt cards in a given hand, rather than the number of players who participate in the game. They indicate the rake for Zoom cash games and regular ones.

In cash games, rake is calculated as a percentage and is rounded to the nearest whole number.

Rake in other currencies (not $)

The max rake in other currencies is revised quarterly and may change depending on the exchange rate.

Games for $

Rake table on pokerstars

Exception:

No-limit and high-stakes pot-limit poker

Fixed limit

Games for €

No-limit and pot-limit poker

Exception: Omaha and Omaha Hi-Lo (pot limit, no limit) with high and micro stakes.

No-limit and pot-limit poker with micro stakes

Games on?

No-limit and pot-limit poker

After a detailed analysis of the current state of the business and the pricing policies of competitors in the field online games, PokerStars has decided to change its own pricing policy for some game formats in the market for its services. The changes will take effect on March 28, 2016.

The rake changes will only affect certain game formats, while others will remain unchanged. In cash games and Sit & Go tournaments, PokerStars will still have lower rake than competitive poker rooms.

The key changes to the rake will be:

Spin & Go – the rake will be increased for buy-ins from $1 to $30 (by 1% for $1, by 2% for $3, and so on); tournaments with buy-ins of $0.25, $60 and $100 will remain unchanged.
For MTT tournaments, PokerStars will use the common practice of rebuys and add-ons taking the same rake as the original buy-in; Now MTT tournaments make up about 12% of the poker room's activity.
MTT hyper-turbo – rake will be increased to 5%.
The amount and percentage of rake will be increased in some no limit and pot limit formats, mainly in heads-up games; Limit games will not be changed.

As a result of these changes, PokerStars expects rake rates to increase by 4% overall. PokerStars will continue to monitor the games and make additional changes as necessary.

Comparison with competitors

PokerStars took data from one million hands played at its poker room between January 8, 2016 and March 7, 2016, and then compiled a comparative graph based on rake at other major poker rooms.

The graph above shows how much rake PokerStars would take if we used the cash game rake structure that other poker rooms use (instead of our own).

According to PokerStars' calculations, the limits where players benefit from lower rake (compared to competitors) are also the limits where players play the most hands on PokerStars. When compared with other poker rooms, the current rake at PartyPoker is 7% more than the new rake at Stars. The rake at 888Poker is 16% higher than the new rake at Stars, and the rake at iPoker is a whopping 19% higher.

The changes, which amount to a total rake increase of 4%, will take effect starting Starting next week. What disciplines will they affect and how the Stars management argues for such a decision - read below.

Yesterday, the poker room’s corporate blog announced that starting March 28, the rake for some game formats on . This decision followed after a more thorough analysis of current affairs in the company and an analysis of the pricing policy of its main competitors. Let us note that even despite the upcoming changes, the “red peaks” remain lowest rake compared to other major online operators on poker. On average, the increase will be 4% and the main changes will apply to the next games.

The rake for buy-ins from $1 to $30 will increase by 1%. For a limit of $3, the increase will be 2%. Tournaments with $0.25, $60 and $100 buy-ins will remain unchanged. Actually, this is what the updated Spin & Go rake will soon look like:

Multi-table tournaments

In MTT, rebuys and addons will be charged similar rake, as from the initial buy-in. According to event statistics of this format make up 12% of the entire online battle schedule on PokerStars. For a better idea, below we will give you a clear example:

In the illustration you can see a comparison of the rake between other major operators for a conditional rebuy tournament with a buy-in of $20-24, where the player made 1 entry + 4 rebuys/addons. In addition, let us inform you that we have not forgotten about hyper-turbo tournaments - soon the rake here will increase by another 5%.

Cash games

Also, the cache was subject to a small distribution. Thus, in certain No-Limit and Pot-Limit games, both the rake and its cap will be increased. From NL50 and above, the rake will increase by 0.5%. To a greater extent, such changes will affect heads-ups from NL25, but regulars at limits from NL100 and higher will feel it most. So for NL200 the rake limit was increased more than 2 times (from $0.50 to $1.25), and for NL5000 more than 4 times - from $0.50 to $2.25! In general, we strongly recommend that all regulars of heads-up tables familiarize themselves with the old + new rake tables and feel the difference:

Was...

Will...

To consolidate, you can look at the comparative table of rake caps at the limits NL200, NL600 and NL5000:

Still no higher than others

At the end of the press release, PokerStars said that even with the new structure, the title of poker room with the lowest rake remains with them. To do this, they analyzed the data per million hands played from January 8 to March 7, 2016, and later took rake statistics for comparison other popular rooms. That's what came out of it.

The fact remains: even after this rake increase, PokerStars will have the most player-friendly pricing policy. The tightening will not affect all games, but only certain limits and certain formats.

Here are the changes we can expect:

• Spin & Go tournaments with entry fees ranging from $1 to $30 will have an increased rake. In $1 tournaments it is 1%, in $3 tournaments it is 2% and so on in ascending order. In $0.25, $60 and $100 tournaments, the rake will remain the same;
• The rake in MTT tournaments will remain the same, but rebuys and add-ons will be charged the same rake as buy-ins, which will make re-buying significantly more expensive;
• Rake will increase significantly in MTT hyper-turbo tournaments - up to 5%;

The changes will not affect limit games. The rake will be increased in some no-limit and pot-limit disciplines. First of all, in heads-up games.

According to the PokerStars report, overall rake on the site will increase by 4%. PokerStars also published statistics according to which the rake on PartyPoker is 7% higher, on 888poker by 12%, and on iPoker by as much as 19%.

It remains to be seen how negatively the poker community will take the news. But it seems that the Stars began to justify themselves in advance by posting comparative statistics.