PokerStars added new options to its client
Upgrading gaming clients is a trending topic in 2019. Winning, 888, Microgaming, among others have rolled out software upgrades to add new options, improving the gambling experience, etc. PokerStars hast not lagged, and a few months ago it announced a new gaming platform: Aurora. The implementation will be gradual, and some new items are slowly being added before the transition. A few days ago, some PS customers received a survey to express their opinion about these three innovations:
- Displaying stacks in BB;
- Option to throw various "objects" at opponents (for those familiar with Asian apps, they'll know what this is about);
- All-In Cashout.
The first two are already common on other sites, but the last one is a novelty for hands that went to showdown. The details of this feature are still not public, but the fact is that never a similar option has been added to other clients.
New spin multipliers
PokerStars already added new multipliers to its Spin&Go offer. In the beginning, the new structure was only available to the $3 tournaments, but now it spread to all spins. In short, instead of having X4-X6 multipliers, now those are X3-X5, which of course change the odds of the game.
$7:
| Old Х | Probability | New Х | Probability |
| х2 | 719,388 | х2 | 464,882 |
| х4 | 199,506 | х3 | 444,012 |
| х6 | 75,000 | х5 | 85,000 |
$15 and $30:
| Old Х | Probability | New Х | Probability |
| х2 | 704,388 | х2 | 434,882 |
| х4 | 214,506 | х3 | 474,012 |
| х6 | 75,000 | х5 | 85,000 |
$60 and $100:
| Old Х | Probability | New Х | Probability |
| х2 | 689,388 | х2 | 404,882 |
| х4 | 229,506 | х3 | 504,012 |
| х6 | 75,000 | х5 | 85,000 |
$250:
| Old Х | Probability | New Х | Probability |
| х2 | 685,788 | х2 | 397,682 |
| х4 | 233,106 | х3 | 511,212 |
| х6 | 75,000 | х5 | 85,000 |
$500:
| Old Х | Probability | New Х | Probability |
| х2 | 684,588 | х2 | 395,282 |
| х4 | 234,306 | х3 | 513,612 |
| х6 | 75,000 | х5 | 85,000 |
*Note: the probability is given for 1 million tournaments.
Starting at the $15 tournaments, the X3 multiplier will drop out more often than X2. And the probability of hitting an X5 is higher than an X6 by 12%. And, most importantly, the probability of the second and third multipliers is more than twice.
Players have highly commented such a change in the Spin&Go structure. Dmitry "FREEQ" Nikitin, the owner for the world-record of playing more spins on one stake per month, shared his opinion:
"I compared new/old multipliers and odds with SwongSwim. The variance is reduced by 5%-10%. The main thing is that it was not a step to any further action. But it could be: we will reduce the variance, but we will forbid pools. But for now — it's good, and now let's wait for improvements from Stars. Everyone will win."
Other players share Dmitry's assumption that such a move could lead to a prohibition of pools at PokerStars. However, not everyone thinks that a possible ban should be considered a bad thing. As an argument, in this case, even if the variance increases for players without pools, the EV of all regulars will increase, and the fields will decently unload.
Actually, on the PS website, there is a table with the probabilities of different multipliers, and it includes $1,000 spins, but there are no such tournaments in the lobby yet. It's possible that shortly those will be added.
Spin multipliers at other poker rooms
At all sites, except iPoker network, there are standard multipliers: X4 and X6, but with a different probability of hitting. Of all the sites with a classic structure, the most interesting one belongs to the MPN rooms. Here, the highest X4 probability is 25%, and for all factors above, X6 is over 1,2%.
And, regarding iPoker, it offers the lowest variance even compared with the latest PokerStars changes, and also uses even more traditional multipliers — X2, X3, X4, X5:
| Buy-in/Multiplier | x2 | x3 | x4 | x5 | x10 | x100 | x1,000 |
| € 1 | 57,185 (€2) | 25,710 (€3) | 15,000 (€4) | 1,500 (€5) | 500 (€10) | 100 (€100) | 5 (€1,000) |
| € 2 | 57,185 (€4) | 25,710 (€6) | 15,000 (€8) | 1,500 (€10) | 500 (€20) | 100 (€100) | 5 (€2,000) |
| € 5 | 57,185 (€10) | 25,710 (€15) | 15,000 (€20) | 1,500 (€25) | 500 (€50) | 100 (€100) | 5 (€5,000) |
| € 10 | 57,185 (€20) | 25,710 (€30) | 15,000 (€40) | 1,500 (€50) | 500 (€100) | 100 (€100) | 5 (€10,000) |
| € 20 | 57,185 (€40) | 25,710 (€60) | 15,000 (€80) | 1,500 (€100) | 500 (€200) | 100 (€100) | 5 (€20,000) |
| € 50 | 57,185 (€100) | 25,710 (€150) | 15,000 (€200) | 1,500 (€250) | 500 (€500) | 100 (€100) | 5 (€50,000) |
| € 100 | 57,185 (€200) | 25,710 (€300) | 15,000 (€400) | 1,500 (€500) | 500 (€1,000) | 100 (€100) | 5 (€100,000) |
Interestingly, HUDs only work in iPoker and Microgaming at the moment, and you can get a great rakeback deal from us. However, real-time stats only work in the old MPN client, and it's unclear how long it will last.
Conclusion
Updating the poker client and reducing the variance in spins is undoubtedly good news. Although, it must be noted that only those spin regs that need massive traffic are still playing at PokerStars.
All the rest moved to other networks a long time ago having good results, and also, a decent rakeback deal has a positive impact in variance. To get more details about our deals at poker networks with spins, please contact our team.
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| Rakeback | 35+% |
| Deposit bonus | €1000 |
| Rakeback | 30% |
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