Achieving the PokerStars Supernova Elite VIP level is an impressive feat, players need endurance, humility and dedication to gather 1 million VPPs in a year on the site.
The SNE status provides the players with very high returns of up to 58%-74% rakeback.
At least it will be until January 2016.
PokerStars has announced that starting next year, the highest VIP return will be 30% and according to them, this is great for the players...
On the first day of November Eric Hollreiser, VP of Corporate Communications for PokerStars wrote the following in the PokerStars blog.
''PokerStars today unveiled a comprehensive plan to enhance the playing experience and to re-emphasize the fun and social aspects of online poker while attracting and retaining more players to the game. Poker is a fun game that we love and our responsibility is to make sure that every player at PokerStars -- advanced, recreational or new - can enjoy this game as much as we do.
We believe that the combination of a new VIP club program, the release of innovative new games and broad-based consumer marketing campaigns - including new campaigns featuring Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar Jr - will put the poker ecosystem on the right tracks to deliver growth for the years to come.
Investments in research and development will bring new innovations to the game beginning in the first half of 2016 and continuing throughout the year to increase play from existing customers and attract new players.
PokerStars also plans to roll out new policies that will reinforce the fundamental elements of human competition by limiting certain software programs that may provide an unfair advantage to some players.
For more than 95% of our players, the most obvious change will be the introduction of the VIP Steps program and changing our variable FPP currency into a constant value which will be called StarsCoin. This will simplify the reward system and enhance its visibility during play, so that players can follow their progress in real time. VIP status players from BronzeStar to GoldStar will continue to be able to receive up to a similar level of rewards to what they receive now. In some cases, players will receive less; in some cases, players will receive more, but it's very much in the same ballpark.
PokerStars will also revamp the loyalty program to effectively incentivize and reward more players and to encourage competitive play over high volume play. The changes will result in improved rewards for the vast majority of players. Approximately two percent of players - including our highest volume and high stakes players - will have significantly reduced rewards.
The reason we are focused on the highest status levels is because these rewards have become so enticing that we have inadvertently altered why some people play and how they play. We are introducing these changes to move towards a more balanced long-term poker economy and to return the game back to one that rewards skill via winning at the tables rather than playing primarily for volume.''
A Summary of 2016 Changes
Introduction of VIP Steps
• Simplified rewards mechanism replaces FPPs, Stellar Rebates, and Milestone Rewards with StarsCoin.
• StarsCoin value will be one cent each for all statuses.
Reducing Rewards for High-Volume and High-Stakes Players
• VIP Club rewards will be capped at 30%, impacting mainly high-volume Supernova and SupernovaElite status players.
• PlatinumStar status will have up to a 10% reduction in their overall rewards.
• In recognition of the players who have already-earned SupernovaElite status or will by the end of the year, the benefits cap for players who earn Supernova Elite in 2015 will be 45% in 2016.
• No VPPs for pot-limit and no-limit games with blinds of $5-$10+, 8-game $10-$20+, and other limit games with blinds of $10-$15+. This change is implemented due to high transaction costs and operation costs of monitoring these games.
Hollreiser also talked about third-party softwares, they recently restricted the use of several programs like advanced HUDs and seating scripts, but in 2016 they are going to go even further.
The details are going to be released later on but the total elimination of third-party softwares and HUDs is entirely possible.
Many players believe that this could kill the site, since multitabling is such a huge source of profits for the company. If grinders can only play 4-5 tables instead of 12-14 at the same time, the player pools and the guarantees will shrink in every poker format.
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