The largest online poker site in the world has never been one to rest on their previous achievements, or be content with the status quo, and as 2013 approaches PokerStars has announced a couple of new changes to the site that should make players from micro-stakes-grinders, to tournament professionals happy.

The two changes PokerStars has announced in recent weeks are the additions of a new VIP Level to their popular program, and the much-anticipated launch of Zoom Poker tournaments at the site.

Chrome Star

One complaint players at PokerStars have had for quite some time has been the difficulty for low-limit players to achieve the rank of Silver Star on the PokerStars VIP Program. To achieve Silver Star a player needed to rack-up a four-figure amount of VPP’s at PokerStars, something many casual players were unable to do in the course of a single month –perpetually leaving these players at the lowest possible level, Bronze Star.

Now, with the addition of a level in between Bronze and Silver casual players at PokerStars will no longer be on the same rung of the ladder as brand new players to the site. Chrome Star status takes a mere 100 VPP’s to achieve, something that can be accomplished even if you play only sparingly.

In addition to the addition of Chrome Star, the entire VIP program has been tinkered with, and players will now find it easier to reach and maintain the other levels on the VIP ladder. You can find out more regarding these changes at the PokerStars website: http://www.pokerstars.com/vip/2013-changes/

Zoom Tournaments

When PokerStars added their own version of Fast/Fold poker, Zoom Poker, one of the first questions was, “When will Zoom tournaments be offered?” Well, it seems we now have our answer as PokerStars Home Game Manager Lee Jones stated the following on the 2+2 poker forum recently when asked about Zoom Tournaments:

“Yes, indeed. They’re in the new software release, so it’s just a question of putting a final polish on. We hope they’ll be out in the next week or so. Of course, these things occasionally slip, and job #1 is making sure they work properly, but we’re getting very close on these.”

Full Tilt Poker was the first to offer the online poker world a Fast/Fold version of poker, Rush Poker, and was offering Rush Poker tournaments as far back as 2010. Amazingly, PokerStars will become just the second site to offer the tournament format, even though a number of other poker sites have rolled-out their own Fast/Fold poker variants.

In the same post Jones also announced PokerStars would be hosting an Open-Faced Chinese Poker tournament at the 2013 PCA, but said the site doesn’t have any plans to offer the game online –although he did leave the door open.

Tags: Additions, Bronze Star, Chrome Star, Game Manager, Grinders, Home Game, Launch, New Software, Online Poker, Poker Forum, Poker Tournaments, PokerStars, Quite Some Time, Silver Star, Software Release, Star Status, Tournament Professionals, Vip Ladder, Vpp, Zoom

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 16th, 2012 at 8:21 am and is filed under Poker News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.