A few days ago, Pokerfuse, in an exclusive interview, announced the planned changes for the PokerStars room. One of these has already been implemented – Spin & Go Flash. Flash is an even faster format than the usual Spin & Go:
- Players start with 300 chips or 15BB.
- Blinds increase every minute.
Many of these tournaments last just a few minutes. The PokerStars room drew inspiration for this poker format from Winamax, which launched Expresso Nitro a few months ago. The structure and gameplay of Nitro are identical to Flash.
The ultra-fast structure of Spin & Go makes the game easier for recreational players, as there are many more all-ins pre-flop at such a low stack depth. Some regular Winamax players claim that the introduction of Nitro negatively affected the fields of all Expresso (Spin & Go) limits. It is likely that Spin & Go Flash will also affect the regular Spin situation in the PokerStars room. Spin & Go and Expresso players are still not entirely sure if the new games are profitable, as the potential advantage of a good player in Nitro and Flash games is very small.
The second major news for PokerStars room players currently applies only to Cash games – anonymous tables. The exact date of this update is not yet specified, but it is already known that, at least for now, it will be just a trial applied to the Cash format, which will be called “Stealth Mode.” The nicknames of players who choose the “Stealth Mode” option (as well as their opponents) will be hidden. Pokerfuse does not have exact data on how the anonymous tables will work, but speculates that it will be a choice given to each player, unlike in other rooms such as Run It Once. PokerStars announces that Hand History will still be available when playing at anonymous tables, but nicknames will be revealed only 24 hours after the hand is played. Information about changes to tracking programs (Hold ‘Em Manager 2 and PokerTracker 4) is not provided.
This year, PokerStars is implementing yet another major change in the online poker field, likely driven by financial reports announced at the beginning of the year. PokerStars is experiencing stagnation in the poker industry, while the profitability of competitors is growing significantly. From the constant updates and changes in the company's strategy, it is clear that this room is trying out new strategies to remain at the top of the poker industry. The target of these strategies is to attract new players. Attracting new players should stimulate the poker economy, allowing PokerStars to remain the most profitable and well-known among poker providers.
