Players at PokerStars will find several changes beginning on January 1, 2012 as the site announced a major change to their rake calculations, which in turn will have a severe impact on the site’s VIP Loyalty Program, according to a 2+2 forum post by PokerStars Steve.

Beginning January 1st, PokerStars will make the move to the “weighted” model when determining precisely how much a particular player has contributed to the rake each hand. Up until now PokerStars has been using the “Dealt” model to divvy up the rake attributed to each player in a specific game.

The “Dealt” method is the best model for serious grinders, who play fairly tight and don’t go splashing around in a lot of pots, since each player who is dealt cards at the beginning of the hand is credited with contributing an equal share of the rake for that hand, regardless if the folded pre-flop or got their whole stack in the middle.

Under the “Weighted” method players will receive credit for rake contributed equal to the amount of money they put in the pot. So, if the pot is $60 (with a $3 rake) and one player contributed $20 of that he would receive credit for $1 in rake, whereas a player who folded pre-flop would be credited with $0 in rake.

The “Weighted” method of Rake calculation has become the industry standard over the past few years as poker sites have attempted to thwart high-volume (usually rakeback) players attempting to game the system. Under the “Dealt” method it was a simple undertaking to play super-tight, actually be a slightly losing player, and still make an obscene amount of profit from a rakeback deal and the site’s VIP Program. The “Weighted” model makes this a far more difficult undertaking.

Additionally PokerStars has tweaked their rake percentages, switching form an incremental collection to a flat percentage-based calculation. PokerStars will take 4.5% of each pot (rounded to the nearest half) up to the cap at each limit (which you can find in the tables below).

The Changes will make it harder for players to reach the higher levels of the PokerStars VIP Program, and are seemingly most beneficial to micro-stakes players and casual players who employ a loose style.

Here is a glimpse at the new rake tables that PokerStars will implement after the New Year:

The PokerStars marketing code 2012 is PSP12612 and all marketing codes utilize the new rake calculations.

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Tags: Amount Of Money, Cards, Equal Share, Flat Percentage, Forum Post, Game, Grinders, High Volume, January 1, January 1st, Loyalty Program, Percentages, Poker Sites, PokerStars, Pot, Pots, Rake, Stack, Undertaking, Vip Model

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