PokerStars, one of the online poker platforms, popular all over the world, has been exposed to many changes recently. It was acquired by Amaya Gaming and the representatives announced that they will work towards making the platform even more successful than it used to be.
However, they have succeeded in making the diehard fans angry because along with expanding the business and releasing new games, the management of the Canadian gaming giant announced that the rakes for ring games will be increased. Players were not too happy to hear the news for the increase but that was not the worst. Those who are keen on playing sit-and-go games and taking part in the tournaments will also experience the negative impact of the benefits reduction.
However, players didn’t just stay in front of the monitors complaining about the unpleasant changes. They went further and organized strikes with the aim of making the Amaya Gaming managers change their minds and stop implementing new, fruitless amenities that keep the players away from the poker rooms.
One of the protests, that took place a week ago, was intended to show the PokerStars management that the players are discontent with the new rules and they had no hesitations in announcing that by joining tables where ring games were going on but instead of playing they were simply sitting out. They also informed those who might have missed the rake increase news and explained via the chat box why they disrupted the game.
However, the protest did not achieve the desired result. On the contrary – the latest reports show that the traffic to the platform increased with 7%. Those, who are familiar with the protests, consider the disorganization to be the main reason for the failure.
The strike, organized by Russia-based players, was a bit more successful though. Yet, the PokerStars management didn’t just sit and anticipated the next howl of protests. They took draconian measures and banned every player, suspected in deliberately disrupting the games. Even the activity of those who were on waiting lists were carefully reviewed.
As far as the last organized protest is concerned, it might not be noticed by most players as it affects only those who take part in the most expensive games. In brief, the protest was focused on lessening the traffic to these games. In order to achieve that, the regulars rejected playing other regulars.
Understandably, there were people who disapproved of the protests and questioned their effectiveness. The poker pro Sofia Lövgren said that the approach was not going to lead to anything positive and a better method has to be found. Lövgren also added that it is too difficult to properly organize such a massive protest. In addition, there is a great difference between complaining in a forum and taking actions. Lövgren believes that those who went on strike form a very small part of the players who discuss the changes in PokerStars on the Internet and basically, the chances for a poker room to remain unaffected by the protests were pretty high.
