My take on the stock crash of Amaya: http://pokerfraudalert.com/forum/sho...rong-US-dollar
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My take on the stock crash of Amaya: http://pokerfraudalert.com/forum/sho...rong-US-dollar
David Tuckman interviewed Daniel Negreanu for his Under The Gun podcast:
http://www.twitch.tv/tuckonsports/v/26508058
At the 1:28:15 mark Daniel talks about the Pokerstars changes and gives his opinion. Daniel discusses that he is trying to do changes behind the scenes but also talks about why these changes need to be made, which I think were very well said.
Before this Daniel was on for 10 to 15 minutes discussing the tanking at the final table and ways to potentially change it to make poker more watchable.
I will check this out. BNP, you should start your own podcast thread. Recommendations are always good.
I am sure it was you who recommended JoeIngram1 & Haralabos Voulgaris. I will post this here cause I can't find your post to bump.
I am always reluctant to listen to Chicago Joey. The first few minutes of any of his podcasts I spend visualizing myself punching the kid in the side of the head to wipe that dopey look off his face. I am not usually a violent guy but he tilts me huge.
But the kid binks guests and the shows are always great. Why? I spend more time divining this question than listening to the show.
The answer: He's like a golden retriever (apologies to golden retrievers). He is open (nothing but first level thinking), enthusiastic, happy & dumb as shit (intellectually non threatening to the guest).
A guest knows he isn't gonna be challenged to think or hastled with any tricky lines.
Voulgaris was fantastic. Lots of stories.
Viffer. Multiple Dan Cates stories - seems to regard Cates as his dumb little brother. JRB @ the Aria. Folding KK to Greenstein. Many more.
Recurring theme was, "how sad it is to see the old guard still playing poker".
Of course, sports betting.
Voulgaris is whip smart, a little smug, self satisfied and cocky. I was getting aroused and felt like I needed a cigarette at the end of the show.
http://youtu.be/OoJuBltS0Eo
Terrence Chan's take on the situation: http://www.terrencechanpoker.com/201...poker-pro.html
Terrence believes that this is the beginning of the end for the online poker pro, aside from the elite few.
A lot of folks will leave such as the rakeback pros but people will always win in poker so you will see a new breed taking over for the departed ones imo.
When you consider the online pro their are lots of ways to look at them.
For the people who can win say $50k+ a year without much rakeback and no ability to go into another field of work they will get pissed but in the end what else are they going to do? Some will have to just suck it up and play for less benefits just like a lot of USA pros had to do when Pokerstars/FTP left the market on Black Friday.
Listened to JoeIngram1 & Lex Veldhuis. One impression I took away was Lex's claim that he could not win at $2/5 rush PLO. He didn't approach this casually and stated that he studied quite a bit. At some point both Joe & Lex somewhat agreed that the play at these stakes were as tough as $25/50 a while ago. Wow. Who has a shot?
This jived with Voulgaris' claim that he couldn't win today at poker and wouldn't bother.
I don't really follow poker anymore and the nostalgia in this forum doesn't expose me to what is going on today. Both Voulgaris, Veldhuis & Ingram quickly run through online players names that are acknowledged to be great today. I have never heard of these guys.
Honestly, I kind of tune out Joe Ingram and didn't listen carefully to his GTO muscle shirt hustle. Loved the old Pontiac Judges. GTO kept popping up and while I certainly understand the notion of game theory & the whole beautiful mind thing I did not realize this was a strategy that is "on the streets" daily.
Anyway, I will add a little PStars to make the post relevant.
Did you see the latest Spin and Go millionaire story? 40 minute game where first was a $1M, second & third was $100k.
Loved this quote
Haley Hintze: If a poker player is going to lose, he ought to be able to lose in the manner which he finds most enjoyable.”
Seems the level of play is at such a state that Hintze's quote can withstand any raise. Spin and go's become defensible and your sympathy for pros diminishes.
There is a planned boycott of Stars on Dec 1-3; doubt it will move any needles:Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan Druff
2p2 thread: https://t.co/RIt7I4ahlZ
Quote:
Originally Posted by ShizzmoneyThere is a planned boycott of Stars on Dec 1-3; doubt it will move any needles:Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan Druff
2p2 thread: https://t.co/RIt7I4ahlZ
Notice they don't want to miss the Sunday tourney grind. These guys need to get over themselves.
Not only are these entitled cunts not giving up their Sunday tourney grind...90 percent of them will more than likely be in Prague playing the EPT owned by which company again? Too much time on these dolts hands. Other than the changes to SNE elite for next year not getting the benefits these guys played for this year they need to STFU and try to win at poker and stop banking on rake back
I haven't watched this yet but Negreanu was on ChicagoJoey podcast earlier today discussing the Pokerstars changes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHRLy-aCbLE
Made it to about 18 min. It's pretty bad.
Talking about rake, the "old days", the poker economy. Not one mention of the fact that PokerStars lives in a (lightly) regulated world and taxes are a real thing.
Many countries calculate the company's taxes based on raked action. They take a piece where they didn't before. Joey trying to construct an argument for rake reduction. Click.
The subject of taxes and playing on a regulated site in the US is always ignored. If a pro is break even and playing for rakeback, imagine his plight when PStars reports his earnings to California's Revenue Service, for instance.
As hard as it is to believe, these are the good old days for online.
I'm skimming through it right now and I agree it starts off very slow but I will say it gets much better when Dani Stern comes on around half way through it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sanlmar
Melissa Burr is GOING OFF on Twitter about this.
As a disclaimer, I want to say that I played with Melissa during the 2014 WSOP Main Event, and found her to be very nice. She also took part in calling out that "Poker Approved" scam which I covered on here. So I am pro-Melissa Burr, but I think she is demanding a bit too much. She does raise some good points though, primarily regarding Pokerstars going back on their promises to current Supernova Elite members.
https://twitter.com/burrrrrberry
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CVHScHYU8AAhK33.png
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CVHSc5rVEAADxhk.png
She also smacked down Daniel when he accused her of not watching his video "addressing the issues":
:boom
Whether someone likes Negreanu or doesn't I believe he is trying his best here for the players. Daniel don't have to do any podcasts, spend time on twitter replying to all of these people,etc...
I do believe he was told by the company that they have an alternative vision to put back certain money into the poker economy that would normally go towards other benefits but even he might not know the full details.
Pokerstars might not have decided the specifics on this either but just has ideas that they aren't releasing and it's not doing them any favors because the longer they keep it quiet the longer it takes to do damage control.
Some of these ideas could be great ones for the health of the games even though your rakeback pro is most likely not going to be happy with anything you take away from them.
The times have changed since Pokerstars was more of a private company back in the day compared to now with Amaya owning it. They have to find a proper balance to look out for their investors while keeping their players happy and it's a difficult thing to do. I think they are doing it wrong in so many ways and even Negreanu says there communication isn't very good with the players but legally they can do what they want so it's a waste of time for some of these people talking about class action lawsuits,etc...
these geeks complaining about their rakeback are giant losers who contribute nothing to society. If you cant beat the rake, u were never good enough in the first place to choose this as a profession, do something else with ur life.
Hysterical that PokerStars traffic is actually up overall during the strike, even if at the higher levels it might be down slightly. I hope PokerStars shuts down Dani Sterns and some of these other whiners accounts and says GG thanks for playing but you can take your business elsewhere.Quote:
Originally Posted by BeerAndPoker
I have no idea why these so called pros think that PokerStars owes them a god damn thing when it comes to rake back. That money is stars money and they can choose what to do with it how ever the fuck they please. If I ate Burger King every day for a month then went to them at the end and said I would like a portion of the money I spent here back they would tell me to GTFO. I do think that stars SHOULD honor the SNE stuff for next year but if they don't meh. To claim that Stars is STEALING its OWN money by taking away rake back at the higher levels is laughable. If you don't fucking like it go play somewhere else, PokerStars isn't going to crumble if even the top 5000 players leave, more will sign up and games will continue and they will continue to pull in rake the same as they always have.
Players found a way to grind these obscene number of tables to game the system of rake back and are pissed that they lose that now, plain and simple. The system was NEVER meant to be used in the manner it was. The goal of playing poker is to win money AT the tables not by the number of hands you play to get money back.
Also until PokerStars (or any site for that matter) fixes THIS problem then the new players will continue to lose at an alarming rate. The average player has ZERO concept that this stuff is going on when they decided to deposit their money on a site
lvprk1009 is 100% correct.
These grinders have no clue about real life. As you can see from the picture he posted, most only know this in life, and don't understand how business or the real world works.
We all agree that Stars should keep their obligations regarding earlier promises/promotions about Supernova Elite. So grandfather all of that shit through January 1, 2017, and then go ahead and implement all of the planned changes. That is fair and totally reasonable.
These kids are used to undeserved special treatment and various other unfair advantages, and it's time they understand those days are over.
sidedish also has a good point. LOL @ rakeback pros. Look, I don't begrudge anyone for getting maximum rakeback, but you can't whine when that rakeback is reduced and you can no longer make a living from poker. If you can't beat the games themselves, it's time to GTFO of poker as a profession.
I really take exception to people who say this and the whole "lol rakeback pros" You do understand that these people are beating the games it's just the rake is so absorbent to their winrate. I understand games can't be rake free, but say for instance that the rake was half of the current rate and there was no form of any rakeback. These current system break even or slight losing players would be crushing and making $100-300k a year. Think about how differently these players would be viewed and envied by ppl who say "lol rakeback pros" by there being a change that they wouldn't even notice. Personally I think this is a lose lose for everyone as it is currently set up to change, but people are clueless who don't understand that these players are beating the games. Also partially the reason they are losing is because the previous system allowed to sign up for -ev games pre benefits. So bascially anyone who says "lol rakeback pros" is with a few exceptions just clueless.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan Druff
In case you were wondering where your cut VIP money is going
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM6uhhRkpSk
Amaya is coughing up a lung.
52 week low. About to drill $18? CA:AYA I only trade/follow in Canadian $. U.S. market is too thinly traded.
These guys have a fucking problem. I don't see any news except for recent analysts downgrades. You'd think all long term investors/holders would have bailed by now.
Something's up. Something bad. Good luck grinders.
I sold for a quick short scalp when it drilled $18.75 the second time today. When your stuck for ideas there are always the casino stocks.
So I ask myself is it a buy on another move below $18? It's so putrid with no good news. I wouldn't touch it.
But wait, this often is the best time to take a look. When you have to fight that gag reflex. That's a good sign.
Yup $18.37 CAD, which is $13.47 USD.
:lol
I'm still waiting on that blog from Negreanu about the changes.
Since nothing has came out yet perhaps Stars is still debating holding off some of the changes until 2017.
PokerStars just lost 1/5 it's value in a few days.Quote:
Originally Posted by BeerAndPoker
Rolling out casino, sports & poker in Netherlands. This is do or die for them. If this rollout doesn't go well the whole premise of cross selling & synergy and the future earnings that the stock price is based on - well, well.... the whole thing collapses - HUGE.
The SNE player points thing has been decided and little energy is probably being devoted to revisit this relatively minor issue considering everything else going on.
Frankly, now is not a good time to push if you're Negraneau. He's also sharp enough to know it. He risks pushing them to make an annoyed snap decision.
The push was put into play well before the past few days events occurred of the stock collapsing. If anything some of the recent decisions along with ones over the past year have been what has hurt Pokerstars at least in the short term having the public outcry opinion that they are either greedy or in trouble.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sanlmar
Pokerstars still has a stranglehold in the online poker market world wide with the next one in line not even close to them. They have rolled out casino games in various worldwide markets for a while now. I'm just curious to see what choices they make and was prior to the stock collapse but now I'm even more so interested.
It's all just more reasons why Isai deserves to be in the poker hall of fame.
For a poker site it's unrealistic to do everything perfect and cater to every poker player's wishes/beliefs but the crew under Isai did a damn good job prior to selling the company off.
Obviously I can nit pick about a few things like my $15 to $20 in FPPs I couldn't cash in when Black Friday hit or the rate people got for them in the fpp store. Those things could have been handled differently but it was an extreme situation where they handled a lot of things right such as proving to players that funds were really segregated cashing people out 1 to 2 weeks later after Black Friday which makes a lot of things on the surface look minor since they did so much right.
I'm sure these high stake grinders will try to tell everybody that it is because of this issue & their 3 day strike that the stock has plummeted.
Already been doneQuote:
Originally Posted by Hockey Guy
https://twitter.com/burrrrrberry/sta...83730111221762
I wasn't trying to tie Amaya's troubles to the grinder issue. Amaya's troubles are just gonna diminish the grinders hope. That money has already moved around the accounting ledger. Amaya needs it badly and has already told investors their intent.Quote:
Originally Posted by BeerAndPokerThe push was put into play well before the past few days events occurred of the stock collapsing. If anything some of the recent decisions along with ones over the past year have been what has hurt Pokerstars at least in the short term having the public outcry opinion that they are either greedy or in trouble.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sanlmar
Pokerstars still has a stranglehold in the online poker market world wide with the next one in line not even close to them. They have rolled out casino games in various worldwide markets for a while now. I'm just curious to see what choices they make and was prior to the stock collapse but now I'm even more so interested.
It's all just more reasons why Isai deserves to be in the poker hall of fame.
For a poker site it's unrealistic to do everything perfect and cater to every poker player's wishes/beliefs but the crew under Isai did a damn good job prior to selling the company off.
Obviously I can nit pick about a few things like my $15 to $20 in FPPs I couldn't cash in when Black Friday hit or the rate people got for them in the fpp store. Those things could have been handled differently but it was an extreme situation where they handled a lot of things right such as proving to players that funds were really segregated cashing people out 1 to 2 weeks later after Black Friday which makes a lot of things on the surface look minor since they did so much right.
The BetStars rollout in Denmark is the first, I believe. Yeah casino has been around obv. But this will soon be the first example of all PStars offerings at one time. This is what they want to look like.
Regarding Isai. Rational Group was working on Spin 'n Go before Amaya bought them. Isai knew which way the wind was blowing. PStars issue is a lack of growth with Poker. Isai could not have saved them.
Stars counters with a PR-middle finger
https://www.pokerstars.com/en/blog/c...1-159457.shtmlQuote:
In hindsight, we could have communicated to players more often that significant changes were coming in 2016. We could have been more explicit that these changes would be significant and would take effect in 2016. And we could have noted this on our VIP web pages that gave details of the program. There was no intention to deceive and certainly not to profit from this, as an increase in the number of Supernova Elites, who are on average net withdrawing players, does not provide a financial benefit to us. It was simply a function of a long internal process and an honest belief that we had given players sufficient notice.
We sincerely apologise to players who did not expect cuts as significant in 2016 as we announced on November 1st and recognize that some players may have chosen not to participate in the rewards program in 2015 had they known. Although we did not publicize it at the time, we did recognize that players might not be expecting as severe a decrease in awards, so we provided a higher level of reward in 2016 than originally planned and delayed implementing the full decrease in rewards until 2017. This was explicitly in recognition that players were grinding in 2015 in order to reap the maximum benefit for 2016.
We believe that these freerolls are further affirmation of our commitment to bring more excitement and recreational players to PokerStars, which is good for ALL players.
Most importantly, these changes are a critical component of our broad-based initiative to improve our online poker ecosystem by attracting more new players, improving the environment for recreational players and instituting loyalty programs that serve the majority of players.
A tremendous amount of analysis goes into making these decisions by PokerStars. Our poker room management team is staffed with many former poker pros. And we have examined all possible scenarios. We are making these changes for the long term health of the poker ecosystem and to put in place a system that is sustainable.
We will not alter those plans. The current VIP program is no longer fit for its purpose. When combined with the increasing skill gap in the online poker market, the result is an increasingly poor experience for recreational and new players.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ytCEuuW2_A
Daniel's blog, which is basically trying to save face for Pokerstars. He said last week that he had in his head "the excellent blog, the good blog, and the bad blog", depending upon the results of his attempts to overturn the changes. This is clearly the bad blog.
LOL @ the $4 million in freerolls "open to all players". That's not at all compensation to pro players, and to suggest that it is ("because pros will win this") is laughable.Quote:
I know many of you have been waiting for me to post a blog about the controversial changes to the VIP program. Before I share my thoughts on all of it, I'd like to start from the very beginning and explain how this all took place and then how it was messaged from there on out.
In October of 2014 PokerStars released a newsletter that said something to the effect of, "PokerStars is considering substantial changes to the VIP program in 2016." I'm going to share some facts with you that have likely never been made public, but they are facts and can be backed up by several people. Prior to that newsletter, significant VIP changes were scheduled to take place January 1, 2015! These had been agreed to by the previous owners and management. The reason that didn't happen was because of CEO David Baazov. Those inside the company were adamant that these changes needed to happen years ago and that it was imperative that they were made immediately. David was presented with plenty of internal data that showed quite clearly how the ecosystem was broken and that changes were inevitable considering both the escalated rate in which depositers were losing and the effect it had on the retention of these players.
Personally, I have said for many years changes were necessary. I said so during the previous management, and I knew that the current system was unsustainable long term and changes were inevitable. I think most people who had access to the internal data agreed unanimously that if no changes were made, the player pool would continue to shrink. I'm not going to spend time debating or explaining this, but what I do want share is why these changes were delayed a full year until January 1st, 2016: David Baazov.
It was David Baazov's decision to delay the changes a full year, because he felt it was the right thing to do. He felt as though it hadn't been communicated to players early enough, so despite understanding the necessity of the changes, he chose to give players an additional year of full benefits before making the cuts.
Fast forward to November of 2015. It was decided that the highest tier of the VIP program, SuperNova Elite, be cut from 63% rakeback down to 30%. The SNE players are obviously the highest volume customers that contribute a substantial amount of rake to the company. It was discussed internally, and PRM (Poker Room Managment) stood firm that SNE players should get a bump from 30% to 45% for 2016.
************************************************** **********
I've spent the last month having internal discussions in the hopes of delaying the changes until January 1st, 2017. We also discussed several other possibilities and I did my absolute best to find the best compromise possible for the players.
The company has acknowledged that the communication of the changes was too vague, and we should have done a far better job being clear in the messaging. In the end, the result of my discussions with the company is that I can announce that PokerStars has agreed to put $4 million into the ecosystem in 2016 by holding quarterly $1 million free roll tournaments open to all players. Obviously the professional players will benefit most from these free rolls as they are most likely to cash, but it also offers the entire player base some value.
I realize many of you will be disappointed that we couldn't delay the changes a full year. I'm also disappointed, but I promise you I did the absolute best I could to make sure the players voices were heard, and they were.
On that note, I want to take full responsibility for my role in the communications breakdown between PokerStars and the players. I didn't write the messaging, but there was more I could have done to help avoid this that I failed to do. I had the opportunity to ask the right questions in October 2014 about when these changes would take effect, but I failed to do that. Had I been more involved at the time, I could have addressed this issue prior to January 1st, 2015 and make sure that the messaging to the players was crystal clear that cuts to the VIP program were going to be implemented in 2016. I could have also made sure that the website didn't have any language referencing specifics as to what players should expect in 2016 if they reached SNE in 2015.
The fixes were quite simple, and I apologize for not being more up on this. I would have encouraged the messaging to be more clear, and for the website to have "to be determined" on the page that covers what benefits SNE players should expect rather than specific numbers.
What we knew as a company on January 1, 2015 is that there would be cuts to the VIP program in 2016. However, they were still collecting data and weren't sure what exactly the changes would look like until the second half of 2015. It did say in the October 2014 newsletter that the details of the changes would be released in the second half of 2015. Despite that, I'm not at all OK with the way in which this information was relayed to the players.
I was also able to ensure that players would have the opportunity to meet with the higher ups from here on out to discuss important issues in regards to the relationship between the company and the players. That has always been something PokerStars has done effectively, and it will continue to happen. I spoke with Dani Stern and Isaac Haxton as well as many other top online pros about joining me and the upper management in regularly scheduled meetings. I think this is extremely important. Communication the last 12-18 months between the players and the company has not been good enough and I think this will go a long way towards improving it.
As far as my role with the company, what I'm committed to is making sure that nothing like this ever happens again. I'm extremely embarrassed by this communications blunder and I'm committed to making sure that from now on I am fully up to date and briefed on any and all new promotions and potential changes to any policies.
As for the future, while this rightfully upset many players and was handled poorly, I am genuinely excited about the future. I do think there will be more players on PokerStars in 2016 than there was in 2015. I do believe that PokerStars is still the best place to to play online poker and will be going forward. I still believe they offer the best promotions, and I believe some of what's in store for 2016 and beyond will excite both professional and recreational players alike.
:fail
Ryan Laplante posted this screen shot of DMs with Negreanu on November 2:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan DruffRyan Laplante posted this screen shot of DMs with Negreanu on November 2:
He's another one that shouldn't bet talking about ethics and integrity. I called him out for looking for a HUD to use on Bovada the other day and he plays stupid like he didn't know it was against the TOS. I call bullshit that he didn't know, it's pretty common knowledge
I looks like the three day player boycott has backfired big-time.
Pokerstars has released a statement that says the planned changes will go ahead as planned. The 'strike' period has given them even more confidence that their future strategy is correct.
It has also announced 4x $1,000,000 Freerolls.
http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/en/blo...1-159457.shtml
We are happy to announce plans to hold four $1 million freeroll tournaments in 2016 on PokerStars. These tournaments will surely create buzz and generate excitement among players at all skill and experience levels and the injection of $4 million into the economy will help many players' bankrolls. These tournaments will be on top of an already exciting - though not-yet-announced - series of promotions, events and new products that are planned for 2016.
We're doing everything we can to make 2016 an exciting year for poker, but recognize that 2015 has been tough for many of our players. This year has been difficult for our depositing customers who have seen a reduction in their purchasing power of close to 20% due to the strengthening of the US dollar, the primary currency of poker gameplay, vs their local currencies, most notably the Euro and other European currencies. This has reduced the value of their deposits meaning they are unable to play as long as before with the same amount of money, exacerbating issues of retention of new and casual players we have already seen over the past few years due to an increasing imbalance in the ecosystem. While we cannot influence where currency exchange rates will go, we can make changes that we believe will improve retention of such players by lengthening the time they will be able to play, allowing them to have more fun at poker and hopefully becoming a lifetime player.
We have been taking steps - across the whole business - to address these changes. The recent three-day boycott by some players that disagree with our announced VIP changes did not have a significant impact on PokerStars, as traffic actually spiked through the period as a result of the start of our long-planned holiday promotion.
Of course that doesn't mean it went unnoticed by us. We care very deeply about what players say and what they expect of us. And we strive to live up to their expectations.
Some of our players feel we have not met their expectations in the recently announced changes to the PokerStars VIP program. Indeed, some players who support the VIP changes feel we should have done a better job communicating the changes. We first announced that there would be significant changes to the 2016 VIP program in October 2014, following a comprehensive review we had undertaken earlier that year, and repeated this several times throughout 2015, including telling players that details would be provided in October. In fact, we had considered making significant VIP changes to take effect in January 2015, but our new ownership at Amaya chose to delay the changes for another year.
In hindsight, we could have communicated to players more often that significant changes were coming in 2016. We could have been more explicit that these changes would be significant and would take effect in 2016. And we could have noted this on our VIP web pages that gave details of the program. There was no intention to deceive and certainly not to profit from this, as an increase in the number of Supernova Elites, who are on average net withdrawing players, does not provide a financial benefit to us. It was simply a function of a long internal process and an honest belief that we had given players sufficient notice.
We sincerely apologise to players who did not expect cuts as significant in 2016 as we announced on November 1st and recognize that some players may have chosen not to participate in the rewards program in 2015 had they known. Although we did not publicize it at the time, we did recognize that players might not be expecting as severe a decrease in awards, so we provided a higher level of reward in 2016 than originally planned and delayed implementing the full decrease in rewards until 2017. This was explicitly in recognition that players were grinding in 2015 in order to reap the maximum benefit for 2016.
We believe that these freerolls are further affirmation of our commitment to bring more excitement and recreational players to PokerStars, which is good for ALL players.
Most importantly, these changes are a critical component of our broad-based initiative to improve our online poker ecosystem by attracting more new players, improving the environment for recreational players and instituting loyalty programs that serve the majority of players.
A tremendous amount of analysis goes into making these decisions by PokerStars. Our poker room management team is staffed with many former poker pros. And we have examined all possible scenarios. We are making these changes for the long term health of the poker ecosystem and to put in place a system that is sustainable.
We will not alter those plans. The current VIP program is no longer fit for its purpose. When combined with the increasing skill gap in the online poker market, the result is an increasingly poor experience for recreational and new players.
Changes are needed and we are making them. The funds that previously went to these rewards will be placed in more and bigger online promotions, more consumer marketing campaigns to attract new players and research and development of innovative new products and features. We have mass consumer marketing campaigns featuring Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar Jr; we're launching innovative new poker variants that take advantage of mobile platforms, social gaming and the popularity of other card-based strategy games and e-Sports; and levelling the playing field for recreational and new players by restricting the use of third party software and data mining that give an unfair edge to professionals.
As we have in the past, we will continue to make changes to ensure our ecosystem is healthy and vibrant. We know and understand that players won't always agree with these changes. We'll do our best to communicate them early and with as much transparency and frequency as possible.
In that spirit of transparency, we can tell you that we did see effects from the recent boycott that give us even greater confidence that our strategy is on the right track to improve the health of the ecosystem. During the three-day boycott we recorded the healthiest consecutive three-day ecosystem results of the year with steady net gaming revenue, even though our net-depositing players lost at a much lower rate than they have all year. As we have seen with Spin & Go's, which have higher retention levels than cash games due to the increased winning experiences provided to all players, we believe this decreased loss rate will result in those players' deposits lasting longer and retention rates improving, resulting in more deposits and more money in the system because players are enjoying their time at the tables more. This is the right foundation for us to build upon.
Our commitment to poker is as strong as ever. We believe that our actions will demonstrate this in the months and years ahead.
Let's see these SNE regs boycott Pokerstars permanently. Only the rakeback grinder who can't win / barely wins without the perks might go away but some of these others like the $5/10 + guys who get no VPPs aren't leaving.
The harsh reality is many of these players aren't qualified for jobs that would make them even close to what they make in poker.
Is anybody saying this stock drop is reasons for announced changes or caused by the changes? I'm thinking the FORMER...just sayin'Quote:
Originally Posted by SanlmarAmaya is coughing up a lung.
52 week low. About to drill $18? CA:AYA I only trade/follow in Canadian $. U.S. market is too thinly traded.
These guys have a fucking problem. I don't see any news except for recent analysts downgrades. You'd think all long term investors/holders would have bailed by now.
Something's up. Something bad. Good luck grinders.
I sold for a quick short scalp when it drilled $18.75 the second time today. When your stuck for ideas there are always the casino stocks.
So I ask myself is it a buy on another move below $18? It's so putrid with no good news. I wouldn't touch it.
But wait, this often is the best time to take a look. When you have to fight that gag reflex. That's a good sign.
The drop happened after they announced their quarterly earnings and discussed their prospects for their future.Quote:
Originally Posted by DicepopsIs anybody saying this stock drop is reasons for announced changes or caused by the changes? I'm thinking the FORMER...just sayin'Quote:
Originally Posted by SanlmarAmaya is coughing up a lung.
52 week low. About to drill $18? CA:AYA I only trade/follow in Canadian $. U.S. market is too thinly traded.
These guys have a fucking problem. I don't see any news except for recent analysts downgrades. You'd think all long term investors/holders would have bailed by now.
Something's up. Something bad. Good luck grinders.
I sold for a quick short scalp when it drilled $18.75 the second time today. When your stuck for ideas there are always the casino stocks.
So I ask myself is it a buy on another move below $18? It's so putrid with no good news. I wouldn't touch it.
But wait, this often is the best time to take a look. When you have to fight that gag reflex. That's a good sign.
The earnings were not as good as they had promised previously. Worse, the bad news was a surprise. Nobody likes that.
The picture management painted for the future does not look as bright as most stockholders had dreamed. You're either growing or shrinking. They are shrinking. The stockholders said, "fuck that" and sold.
PokerStars/Amaya was all about adding stuff and getting bigger. They are a little smaller going forward. Not good when you are deeply in debt with borrowed money.
The grinder thing was more a symptom of some of the financial trouble PokerStars is having. In the end, poker is shrinking. They need fresh faces. Lots of them.
The stock drop was not because they fucked over the players.
There is a piece of me that thinks Amaya believes shoving a stick up the pro grinders ass will make them loveable to the amateurs. So they save money and get a greater number of housewives and kids. Win win.
So now Daniel Negranu is claiming it was all a huge miscommunication and these changes where scheduled all along. So much for quitting he back on pokerstars miss information wagon.
As of an hour ago Alex Millar announced he has left his position as an online pro for PS as he feels what happened was wrong and takes a swipe at Daniel N as a parting shot.Quote:
Originally Posted by FRANKRIZZO
https://twitter.com/kanupoker/status/676878243971100672
https://twitter.com/kanupoker/status/676878299151339521
ChicagoJoey had Mason Malmuth back on his podcast a few days ago. About 3 minutes or so into the video he starts giving his thoughts on Pokerstars and obviously he brings up Negreanu failing in this approach to helping the players.
Mason agrees Pokerstars shit the bed with the timing of announcing the SNE cuts but he confirms even more how he's a bitter old man.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfiWJ1B6srg
ChicagoJoey & Mason Malmuth together for 1:30. You can't make this shit up. The premise is so funny I hate to spoil it by watching.