PokerStars will not implement the cash game rake changes it proposed on Wednesday. The plan to changed to weighted-contributed calculation for VIP points will proceed on January 1 as planned.
The planned changes would switch to a simpler rake method based on a percentage of the pot, and rake percentages and rake caps were to be tweaked. It would have resulted in a reduced rake in some games – notably micro-stakes games and some full-ring conditions – but raised others – most contentious was increases in rake-caps when short-handed.
“We still believe that the proposed rake system taken as a whole would result in a more balanced and fair rake system for players,” wrote PokerStars representative Steve Day in the announcement posted on poker forum 2+2. “However, given that players have responded so negatively to this change, which also has a cost to PokerStars due to the reduced rake, we felt that the best course of action is to cancel the change.”
The change to weighted-contributed – unpopular among high volume players and criticized by some as a “money grab” by the site – will still go ahead in the New Year.
