PokerStars Shakes Up MTT Scene with New Schedule and Increased Rake

PokerStars has introduced a new MTT schedule starting May 9, 2016, with improved structures for 'Bigs' and 'Bounty Builders'. The average rake in PokerStars increased to 8.1% in April from 7.85% in March. The number of small freezeouts decreased, while the number of 'red' tournaments with larger fields increased. The number of 9-max tournaments decreased by almost half, while the number of 6-max tournaments increased almost threefold. The average field size increased by 20%.

All 'Bigs' start with 10-minute levels, with adjustments for higher buy-ins. The average rake in hyper-turbo MTTs increased by 2.4 times. The number of hyper-turbo tournaments increased by 18% to 1,570 per week. The average rake in rebuy tournaments increased by three times. The number of rebuy tournaments decreased from 2,250 to 1,150 per week.

The percentage of profitable regulars on iPoker is over 70%, on 888 it is 66%, and on PartyPoker it is 61%. The highest percentage of profitable regulars on PokerStars is 46%. Vlad Shabalin launched 527 MTTs with a buy-in of $77,988 and achieved a ROI of 15.8%.