I've noticed first euro tables on Stars today, so it's no more opened just for private beta testing (it's still only public beta though).
Here're some info I got (mostly) from 2+2:
- you have to have account in Euro to play them (so not like on iPoker), which is possible to open (atm) only by taking free seat on euro table
- max rake is capped at 2€ (other € sites have it ussualy at 3€)
- you get 7 VPP per 1€ rake so it's more or less equivalent to playing in USD
- there is 1% transfer fee, so it's better to keep both account with enough money to not exchange every day
this is part of post by PokerStars' representative:
Originally posted by Alex Scott
1. There will be games in both Euro and US Dollars (Besides the significant demand for such games, Euro games are mandatory anyway due to licences we are acquiring in Europe).2. Players will be able to hold balances in both Euro and US Dollars simultaneously, and convert money between those balances whenever they want.
3. When a player joins a table or tournament which is in Euro, and they don't have a Euro balance, the software will offer to open a Euro balance automatically, and move funds into it for you.
4. PokerStars will always use the mid-market rate for exchanges, provided by Reuters. We apply a margin (currently set to 0.1%) to this rate. Since this is a controversial point, I should state that this margin is to cover costs and prevent currency speculation, and is not a source of profit. We've chosen this method as we feel it's more transparent than recovering costs through additional rake or unfair exchange rates.
It's not appropriate for me to comment on other sites' activities, but I would encourage players to compare the cost of our system to those of our competitors in real-life situations before coming to a conclusion.
5. Rake and VPP schemes for Euro games have yet to be finalised, but will be maintained at a comparable level to USD games. We do NOT intend to charge more rake for players who play in Euro.
6. Players in Euro games will have the same benefits as those in USD games, including tournament leaderboards, deposit bonuses, etc.
In other words:
It's nice improvement if your home currency is €, because you can keep the most of your BR in euros and only part, which you regularly play with (let's say 20%), in USD. This way you save a lot on conversions, because you make one only if you run bad and you need more USD to play USD table. You're no more affected by currency fluctuations as much as before and that 1% fee is nothing!
There's a lot of discussion how/why this 1% fee is so bad, but the fact is:
- if you withdraw money from Stars to € bank account, you never get mid-rate because bank has to profit somehow too - according to what I noticed, usuall "bank fee" is about 1.9%!
^^ this is something you don't notice but it's still better to pay 1% than 1.9.... Sure, there'll be situations when you have to make conversion even though you're not withdrawing, but it's still better way for winning player.
Just my two cents on this topic...
(as long as € won't fall down and $ rise up :f_biggrin:)
Thanks for the help!