PokerStars is screwing grinders in the ass harder every day.

I like it when freerolls are hyper because my expected gross hourly there is bigger then. They're freerolls, after all. If they were MTTs with no overlay, I wouldn't buy into them at all; but as they require no or a relatively small investment, I'm facing no risk of ruin from them, so I don't have to have a 'positive ROI' (win more than an average tourney equity per player) and would rather maximise the gross hourly to have more time left to play other games (e.g. Spins) instead or do real-life things.

E.g. in tonight's iPoker depositors freeroll, I logged in 35 minutes after the tourney start, skipping the warm-up routine, got a 10 bb starting stack, made a couple of marginal pushes, didn't lose too much EV on them but was free after 5 or so minutes Had I doubled up a couple of times, I would have warmed up properly in the break and started my normal grind on the side.

I don't know how it is at Stars, but in the said iPoker freerolls, the ITM zone is entered about 1.5 hours in, iirc (i.e. after an hour of play if registering late), so I can get €2 pretty fast, which I'd be quite satisfied with as a payout for such lazy play.

I'm now more likely to log into Stars on Saturday or whenever that freeroll is. (Oh wait, I'm a BronzeStar now, lol. See you when I decide to make SilverStar / PS-gy Gold next time.)

That may be your preference, but it looks like 3K+ players don't share that opinion. Plus it's just one table one time a week, so it really doesn't require that much time. I'd rather maximize my EV than my hourly in a once a week tournament.

I mean, think about the extra cash table of your normal stakes that you'd be able to open instead if you didn't have to click buttons in the freeroll to get the well-deserved 'rakeback' (e.g. if it was an all-in shootout instead).

Of course this 'alternative cost' depends on how big the stakes of one's normal grind are.

There is just no way you should prioritize time to bitch about a freerolls blind structure if you're trying to get supernova

@tonypmm that's a valid point. My hourly per table is clearly better at cash games.

@ihufa I still have a life. It's not that hard to get Supernova. This is not just about the freeroll, it's about all of the anti-winning players changes that PokerStars are implementing. It's about the overall trend. Last year they tried increasing the rake by a lot at certain games. Then they rolled back all of the changes when they realized people stopped playing those games.

Who knows what they will implement in the future? Nerf rakeback by 50% for winning players like iPoker? Limit the number of maximum tables to 4 like Bodog? For this reason I don't know if it's worth the effort of achieving a high rakeback status on their room anymore.

One more point that I forgot to mention is that the decrease in the number of players is good for you so far as long as you play, because the tourney share per player increases

It's not clear whether Stars are going to lower the prize pool when they see a lower turnout, but I think they aren't, at least iPoker is keeping the freeroll prize pools the same despite the fall of participation. The reason is simple - the most part of whatever they give away in freerolls is usually absorbed back through rake, as long as the customers are drawn in and keep playing.

Originally posted by tonypmm
One more point that I forgot to mention is that the decrease in the number of players is good for you so far as long as you play, because the tourney share per player increases

I'm totally aware of that. Again, this is not regarding my own profitability in a freeroll, it's about the trend that PokerStars is displaying after they have been bought by Amaya.

It's almost a standard turbo format, not hyper turbo, I like it. Major edge for turbo SNG and MTTers. They should do the same with the Chrome VIP, it's obnoxious to play for hours for a small payout with "normal" speed format.

I agree with OP. Although I am a cash game player, when I play in a tournament I hate it when the blinds go up after I was dealt roughly 3-4 hands. It's more of a crapshoot.

To me, this just sounds a bit first-worldish. Sure, it sucks to no longer be able to destroy people in tournaments, but has that honestly ever been the case, though? Especially when higher prizes are concerned? I'm just asking out of curiosity, I'm no expert. Also, have you considered that Pokerstars could be making changes to respond to the increase in good players the last few years (which can affect how popular Pokerstars is to bad players)? They're running a business, after all.

Anyways, my 2 cents. May not be relevant. Either way, we'll always have Paris (i.e. Cash Games lol)

Cash players are not better than mtt regs in mtts. and vice versa. However less variance in non turbos. So it is a Yes from me. We have 3 Yesses gL for semi finals. ♦

Life is tough, that's a given
The more you grow the harder it is
PS: Something else i dont like are the everyday updates for software on pokerstars...

Originally posted by alenstrat
It's almost a standard turbo format, not hyper turbo.

No. A turbo format is the hot 16.50 and all other "hots". The levels still increase every 5 minutes, but you start at 10/20 and you don't have antes until the 7th blind level.

Originally posted by alenstrat
Major edge for turbo SNG and MTTers.

The faster a tournament is, the smaller the possible achievable ROI. I've beaten multiple turbo formats in my poker career and I can guarantee you I don't feel I have a bigger edge in a turbo than in a regular speed.

Originally posted by Madolite
Sure, it sucks to no longer be able to destroy people in tournaments, but has that honestly ever been the case, though? Especially when higher prizes are concerned? I'm just asking out of curiosity, I'm no expert.

Well, this year alone I had several deep runs in this and the $100K monthly tournament. They add up to about $2.5K. This is a small sample size and I don't consider myself to be an MTT pro, but I do believe the edges are much higher when post-flop play is involved.

Be happy you have even that. It would not come as a big surprise to me, if they change all their normal speed tournament structures to something like this:

1500 starting stack
10/20 blinds
1500 ante from level 1

*****stars obviously could not care less about breakeven players who have the brain capacity to become winning players and could move up the levels. All they care about is that the Vulgaris Stupidus gets to play the lottery.

..."number of participants dropped from 9K+ last week to 6K this week."

It's bingo anyway mate with that many players. May as well make it a super-duper-turbo IMO

Originally posted by DecMate
..."number of participants dropped from 9K+ last week to 6K this week."

It's bingo anyway mate with that many players. May as well make it a super-duper-turbo IMO

In that case every MTT is a Bingo.

ITS TRUE, IVE BEEN KNOCKED DOWN ONE TO MANY TIMES. I WILL GET BACK UP!!!

So this is a VIP-freeroll? It's perfectly fine that it's a fast game, not everyone wants to grind 8h it on Saturday night to get decent result.