The current world’s best online poker site, PokerStars has chosen to reduce time banks in cash games in an effort to speed them up. This has occurred in both zoom games and standard rings games. The reduction will cut the time banks by around 40% in all these instances. Therefore, anyone accessing such games will have a shorter maximum time bank to work with.
In a blog post, the director of poker innovation and operation for The Stars Group, Severin Rasset made the announcement of the changes. This particular announcement came not so long after the one stating that seating scripts would be banned at PokerStars. With such decisions, the brand appears to be catering more so to its recreational players.
Yet, the change in time banks will mean that those who have a particular preference for playing at multiple tables may end up having to speed up their own abilities or cut down on the number that they’re gaming on.
In his blog post, Rasset stated that the economy of poker is “complex” and that a large number of factors had to be weighed up when considering this particular change. “We are confident that the changes will be beneficial”, he said, when referring to the long-term health and continuation of online poker.
What Exactly Are the Specific Changes at PokerStars?
As of the moment, anyone who engages in online cash poker games at the PokerStars site have an 18-second preflop window to operate in, if they aren’t facing a raise. Alternatively, if a raise does take place or if the game has reached postflop, players have a 25-second window to act.
Once the new settings comer into play at the platform, both of these timeframes will be reduced, with the former becoming 10 seconds and the latter 15 seconds. On the other hand, if you’re looking to retain those longer time periods to act, you’ll need to watch out for fourth street in stud poker, after the first draw in triple draw and, finally, after the draw when it comes to single draw.
Meanwhile, there will be a reduction in the time banks, which activate if a player requires additional time on top of the allocated amount to act. As things stand at the moment, players have a 30-second time period in the bank to begin with, and this will slowly increase to a maximum of 600 seconds, should game time continue on for long enough. Yet, with the changes, the new maximum bank stands at 30 seconds in preflop and 60 seconds postflop. That’s just 10% of the previous maximum.
Something else to take note of, is that players can choose to sit out up to three orbits, instead of the current five. That change began in the month of December last year, though. The remaining changes will come into operation on February 5, relating to all cash game stakes.
