Garry Gates announced his position of Senior Consultant of Player Affairs at PokerStars. In his role of senior consultant, Garry Gates returned the poker site’s payout structure to its old model of 15%, down from the 20% it had been in recent months.
Amaya Gaming, the parent company of PokerStars, has undergone tremendous upheaval in the past 13 months. A Canadian insider trading scandal forced Amaya CEO David Baazov to leave the company he founded, while Rafi Ashkenazi took over as CEO in the wake of Baazov’s departure.
Just last week, Amaya Inc. announced it would change its corporate name to The Stars Group Inc. and move its headquarters from Montreal to Toronto. While the new leadership is not likely to change too much about PokerStars’ successful formula, one can never know. So far, Stars Group and PokerStars’ new leadership’s moves appears to be positive ones.
Gates announced the changes to the payout structure in a blog post announcing his new role with the world’s largest online poker community. He said during the post that he was given the necessary resources and support to carry out those duties “authentically“.
“Confident in Their Commitment”
In the post, which is located on the PokerStars Corporate Blog, Garry Gates told readers, “I promise you, I wouldn’t be writing this now if I didn’t feel confident in their commitment.
PokerStars made the move to bridge a gap between the site and its players. Garry Gates created the Players Advisory Council during the recent PokerStars Championship in Monte Carlo.
Garry Gates at the Monte Carlo Event
During a meet-and-greet session with players while in Monaco, Garry Gates got a lot of feedback from longtime players who wanted a return to the 15% rate. That is the same payout structure the European Poker Tour (EPT) has used for several years.
The idea is to please the large base of players instead of the vocal minority. Most live poker events draw the bulk of its gamblers from the local talent in the region or country where the event is held. At the same time, those players are not that vocal about their preferences — or do not have a voice that is heard by the poker public.
No Longer Pleasing the Vocal Minority
The most vocal players are those who follow the tour, either as poker professionals or notable amateurs, such as celebrities or wealthy retirees. These people do not represent the bulk of the card playing community, but instead more of a poker playing elite. Especially among the pro players, they prefer the 20% payout structure.
The EPT chose the 20% payout structure for their Season 13, based upon feedback from their Season 10 competitors. Once again, this was the vocal minority giving that advice. Both the EPT and PokerStars are guessing when they try to gauge which level is best or most popular, though.
15% Is a Return to the Old Payout Structure
Garry Gates believes he has divined the will of the mass market players, though. Thus, PokerStars returns to the payout structure which helped it attain its preeminent position in the online poker world.
While PokerStars remains light years ahead of its competition in the online poker industry, card playing customers grouse about the PokerStars experience all the time. Any improvement of the payout structure will be lauded among the community, especially since it hearkens back to an earlier, more advantageous payout rate.
