Slightly more than a year after the ownership change that rocked the online poker industry in particular and the gaming world in general, the two entities owned by Amaya Gaming – PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker – continue to make changes that, while good for the companies, might not be particularly friendly to the customers.
Last week, PokerStars sent an e-mail to its players that they would no longer add to the VIP Player’s Points (VPPs) for players who take part in their sponsored live events. Taking effect yesterday, this could have a significant effect on players and the rewards that they receive from PokerStars. The change will not have an effect on what players do online, just what VPPs they previously received for playing in any of the multitude of PokerStars-sponsored events (European Poker Tour, Latin American Poker Tour, etc.) around the world.
On top of this, Full Tilt Poker announced some online changes that will have a huge impact on the high stakes and heads up poker communities. Through an update that all players were required to download prior to this weekend, Full Tilt eliminated their Heads Up segment of the website. In addition to this action, cash game tables became a grouping rather than individually listed, removing the ability of players to pick and choose their cash game table.
Perhaps the biggest change comes in what was once a “badge of honor” for Full Tilt Poker, their high stakes play. Starting on Friday, Full Tilt Poker shut down every stake above $10/$20, what was known in the online poker community as the “nosebleed” stakes and the popular battleground for such online players as Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom, Dan Cates, Tom ‘durrrr’ Dwan, Phil Ivey and others. Add in the removal of non-Hold’em variants of poker from Full Tilt and a cap on the number of tables a player can take part in at a time (16) and the changes are quite huge.
There are several reasons given for these moves by Amaya Gaming officials. The removal of the ability for players to select their seat – the new method of seating basically mimics a live poker room in that you are sat wherever a seat is open, according to the criteria you’ve set (stakes, number of players, etc.) – helps to prohibit the action of “bumhunting,” where skilled players will electronically stalk certain “fish” and immediately flock to their table to relieve their poker bankroll of some money when they show up online. According to Shyam Markus, the manager of Full Tilt’s poker room, the removal of the Heads Up options were due to “their overall negative effect” financially on the site.
The removal of the variants is something that online poker has consistently faced. While the Hold’em games – Texas and Omaha – remain popular for online players, the more technical games such as the draw variants and mixed game formats have always had a very difficult time garnering a solid (and profitable) fan base. “Simply put, we didn’t have enough players still interested in these games to continue to offer them as ring games,” Markus stated. “We’ll still spread them as occasional tournaments, and I hope to be able to bring more fun non-Hold’em games back in the future, but for now it’s more important that we have a clean and simple offering of the games that actually run.”
The changes come as many in the live poker community are noticing cutbacks on the regional tours. Players who have taken part in both LAPT and the United Kingdom/Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) have noted that the normal SWAG that was handed out to participants in the past had virtually disappeared. It was also noted that the changes that have been implemented by Amaya since their purchase of the PokerStars/Full Tilt Poker in July of last year have pretty much all gone against the players. “Changes are fine but when they keep coming (but when) they’re all in one direction…they become counter-productive because the effects in destroying goodwill and annoying or deterring their customers just outweigh the value of the pennies they pinch,” Two Plus Two poster ‘raidalot’ reminded the online and live poker communities.
Because of their status in the online poker industry, it is unlikely that the changes will have much effect on the twin Amaya Gaming hammers. PokerStars is far and away the leader in the online poker world, averaging 14,500 players over a seven-day span (according to PokerScout.com), while Full Tilt Poker lodges itself in the eighth slot in the Top Ten with a 950 player average (down, but a Top Five player when nation-specific rooms are removed). Where it will have an effect is in whether players continue to attempt to grind out a living as an online poker professional or whether the game continues its moves toward the more “recreational” side of play.
