Pokerstars big changes

Mr.Ram · Aug 10, 2026

PokerStars has announced a decision to boost liquidity by partnering with other skins (for instance, in the UK, they have opted to operate via Betfair, Sky Poker, and Paddy Power).
Previously, these brands were part of the iPoker network (owned by Flutter—the parent company of Stars), but they will now join the PokerStars player pool.
Additionally, Flutter owns brands such as Adjarabet (operating in Georgia and Armenia).
The concept of expanding the player pool is certainly impressive in its scope. Do you think they will succeed in executing this plan and returning PokerStars to the top of the online poker rankings?

KrazyKoo · Aug 10, 2026

Could be okay change although I like iPoker more. But... the UK players should be able to play iPoker elsewhere.

MAFNL16061986 · Aug 10, 2026

sadly i cant play pokerstars anymore i loved that poker room spend many hours on it

NotADonk · Aug 10, 2026

Mr.Ram said:
PokerStars has announced a decision to boost liquidity by partnering with other skins (for instance, in the UK, they have opted to operate via Betfair, Sky Poker, and Paddy Power).
Previously, these brands were part of the iPoker network (owned by Flutter—the parent company of Stars), but they will now join the PokerStars player pool.
Additionally, Flutter owns brands such as Adjarabet (operating in Georgia and Armenia).
The concept of expanding the player pool is certainly impressive in its scope. Do you think they will succeed in executing this plan and returning PokerStars to the top of the online poker rankings?

This move smacks of desperation on the part of Pokerstars. Even rolling the Betfair/PP player pool into Pokerstars will still leave them behind GG.
After Pokerstars cancelled all tickets with more than 12mnth expiry, I mostly stopped playing there, playing more on other sites including Betfair/PP. I guess I will just have to wait and see how this pans out.

Sunz of Beaches · Aug 10, 2026

NotADonk said:
This move smacks of desperation on the part of Pokerstars. Even rolling the Betfair/PP player pool into Pokerstars will still leave them behind GG.
After Pokerstars cancelled all tickets with more than 12mnth expiry, I mostly stopped playing there, playing more on other sites including Betfair/PP. I guess I will just have to wait and see how this pans out.

Its just a business move in a competitive market.

Could it be that the real reason for ur move is that betfair/pp offer freerolls while stars basically does not? 12 months should be enough to to use a ticket, especially now that u are aware. But agree it was kind of deceptive to change this and include tickets that had a longer expiry date.

pltelles · Aug 10, 2026

I find it unlikely that PS will ever return to being a standout site like it was in the past. Even here in Brazil, they no longer hold much sway in online poker—despite having Neymar as their brand ambassador and the BSOP being exclusive to them.

Poker Orifice · Aug 11, 2026

Mr.Ram said:
PokerStars has announced a decision to boost liquidity by partnering with other skins (for instance, in the UK, they have opted to operate via Betfair, Sky Poker, and Paddy Power).
Previously, these brands were part of the iPoker network (owned by Flutter—the parent company of Stars), but they will now join the PokerStars player pool.
Additionally, Flutter owns brands such as Adjarabet (operating in Georgia and Armenia).
The concept of expanding the player pool is certainly impressive in its scope. Do you think they will succeed in executing this plan and returning PokerStars to the top of the online poker rankings?

What exactly does this mean? Some of the iPoker network skins will be joining with the Stars player pool? imo, this could be decent. My experience playing on ipoker sites (although I haven't now for maybe 3yrs.), lots of fish on there.

fundiver199 · Aug 11, 2026

It makes a lot of sense to merge player pools to boost liquidity and also focus marketing efforts on just one brand instead of several. But I dont think, this will mean any kind of revolution, and I also dont think, it will stop the decline in activity, which PokerStars have seen for at least 15 years. The pandemic in 2020-2021 gave a temporary boost to online poker in general, but since then all the old sites like PokerStars, 888 Poker, PartyPoker and ACR have resumed their declining trend. And I just dont see much chance of that trend changing unfortunately.

moraeskvmi · Aug 11, 2026

Mr.Ram said:
PokerStars has announced a decision to boost liquidity by partnering with other skins (for instance, in the UK, they have opted to operate via Betfair, Sky Poker, and Paddy Power).
Previously, these brands were part of the iPoker network (owned by Flutter—the parent company of Stars), but they will now join the PokerStars player pool.
Additionally, Flutter owns brands such as Adjarabet (operating in Georgia and Armenia).
The concept of expanding the player pool is certainly impressive in its scope. Do you think they will succeed in executing this plan and returning PokerStars to the top of the online poker rankings?

Hoping they make it!

bremp555 · Aug 11, 2026

I think this could be a very positive move for PokerStars. Increasing the player pool should help liquidity, especially in cash games, and could also make tournaments more attractive with bigger and more consistent fields.

The big question is whether they can execute it without hurting the player experience. If the liquidity improves as expected, I can definitely see PokerStars becoming much more competitive again.

Sintubai · Aug 11, 2026

It’s a strategy that gives PS a good chance of improving its tournament options, as well as the quality of its promotions and player support!
Was the biggest, but nowadays, even by joining forces with others, there’s no guarantee it could challenge the current market leader...

KrazyKoo · Aug 11, 2026

pltelles said:
I find it unlikely that PS will ever return to being a standout site like it was in the past. Even here in Brazil, they no longer hold much sway in online poker—despite having Neymar as their brand ambassador and the BSOP being exclusive to them.

Does Neymar Jr poker deal with PokerStars do anything anymore or does he care? Sadly I was watching some Twitch streams from him and it seems he has not played poker at all anymore and has been victim of the Gen Z influence... he was playing roulette! The devil's game.

LUKADONCICMVP · Aug 11, 2026

a dead poker site who should be closed ages ago.

fundiver199 · Aug 11, 2026

LUKADONCICMVP said:
a dead poker site who should be closed ages ago.

Just because a site largely got rid of its freerolls, does not mean, its dead. There are still lots of games to play on PokerStars for those of us, who play with our own money. poker sites dont exist to support people, who never pay any rake.

Station_Master · Aug 11, 2026

LUKADONCICMVP said:
a dead poker site who should be closed ages ago.

Still plenty of games, as long as i can find decent tables it doesnt matter if there are bigger sites available

Poker Orifice · Aug 11, 2026

LUKADONCICMVP said:
a dead poker site who should be closed ages ago.

Why? Are you a huge shareholder? (making multiple deposits without every making a withdrawal does not count). Is this your expert business advice for Pokerstars?
Why do you post on any threads regarding poker? What poker player would EVER want an active site to close? Why don't you mention this to people in the USA who only wish they could've continued playing on the site that they loved pre BF. I'm guessing that most would play on there today if they were able to.

Poker Orifice · Aug 11, 2026

LUKADONCICMVP said:
a dead poker site who should be closed ages ago.

a freeroller comment made by a poster whose account should've been closed ages ago.

R.Melnyk77 · Aug 11, 2026

A few years will pass and you will receive a message that PokerStars is finally winding down its operations. They have lost everything they had, thanks to brilliant management, and all that awaits them ahead is a takeover procedure at best.

fundiver199 · Aug 12, 2026

LUKADONCICMVP said:
a dead poker site who should be closed ages ago.

R.Melnyk77 said:
A few years will pass and you will receive a message that PokerStars is finally winding down its operations. They have lost everything they had, thanks to brilliant management, and all that awaits them ahead is a takeover procedure at best.

Maybe its time for a bit of reality check for the CC freeroller community. Lets look at some player numbers for cash games right now, which is a random wednesday morning in Europe:

Pokerstars
2NL - 310
5NL - 200
10NL - 150
25NL - 150
50NL - 63
100NL - 33
200NL - 25
500NL - 10

Now lets look at the numbers from a site, that according to most freerollers have a bright future ahead of it:

888 Poker
2NL - 18
5NL - 14
10NL - 5
20NL - 3
50NL - 5

Here is the final question from "Who wants to be a millionaire": Based on those numbers which of these two sites is most likely to no longer be around in 2 years:

A: Pokerstars because they cancelled freerolls
B: Pokerstars because I lost money, when I played there
C: Pokerstars because its fashionable to say bad things about them
D: I have no clue

And just to round it out lets look at the numbers from GG Poker as well:

GG Poker
2NL - 900
5NL - 530
10NL - 610
25NL - 470
50NL - 330
100NL - 210
200NL - 180
500NL - 94
1000NL - 32
2000NL - 26

So GG Poker is undisputable the biggest online poker site now. But the distance between them and PokerStars is much smaller than the distance between PokerStars and 888 Poker. Especially considering, that these numbers are only from the global PokerStars.com site, and PokerStars also run other sites for players in France, Italy, Spain, some US states and Ontario.

fundiver199 · Aug 12, 2026

As an additional comment to the above its also worth noting, that the difference between volume on PokerStars and GG Poker can be explained to a quite significant degree by the fact, that PokerStars no longer operate in several markets, where GG Poker still operate. These include countries like:

* China
* Hong Kong
* Taiwan
* Russia
* Poland
* Israel

The reason, PokerStars pulled out of these markets, is mostly legal, since its countries, where online gambling is illegal. In the case of Russia it was because, PokerStars does not engage in crypto transactions, and this left them without any way to pay players in Russia, when russian banks got kicked out of the global SWIFT system.

So the two sites are not competing on equal terms. PokerStars are largely following the laws of various countries, although there are still some exceptions to this like for instance Thailand. GG Poker on the other hand are breaking the laws of many countries, and this is a big part of the reason, why they have more players. Until 2 month ago GG Poker also broke the laws of Sweden, where I live, but this has now changed.

In particular China is likely very important, because its a country with a lot of "newly rich" people, who have likely fed a lot of recreational money into GG Pokers "ecosystem" attracting for profit players from many other countries. As poker players its not really our problem, if sites break the laws of certain countries, where online gambling is illegal. But just because a site choose to largely operate legally does not mean, it is being poorly run or mismanaged.

As Poker Orifice mentioned above, if people in the USA were still allowed to play on PokerStars, then for sure a lot of them would do so. And this would bring in a lot of recreational money, which could then sustain a large population of for profit players from both the USA and many other countries. So the reason for PokerStars decline is not mainly mismanagement (even though they made some questionable decisions) but rather governments, that wont allow people to play online poker legally.

Mr.Ram · Aug 13, 2026

fundiver199 said:
Maybe its time for a bit of reality check for the CC freeroller community. Lets look at some player numbers for cash games right now, which is a random wednesday morning in Europe:

Pokerstars
2NL - 310
5NL - 200
10NL - 150
25NL - 150
50NL - 63
100NL - 33
200NL - 25
500NL - 10

Now lets look at the numbers from a site, that according to most freerollers have a bright future ahead of it:

888 Poker
2NL - 18
5NL - 14
10NL - 5
20NL - 3
50NL - 5

Here is the final question from "Who wants to be a millionaire": Based on those numbers which of these two sites is most likely to no longer be around in 2 years:

A: Pokerstars because they cancelled freerolls
B: Pokerstars because I lost money, when I played there
C: Pokerstars because its fashionable to say bad things about them
D: I have no clue

And just to round it out lets look at the numbers from GG Poker as well:

GG Poker
2NL - 900
5NL - 530
10NL - 610
25NL - 470
50NL - 330
100NL - 210
200NL - 180
500NL - 94
1000NL - 32
2000NL - 26

So GG Poker is undisputable the biggest online poker site now. But the distance between them and PokerStars is much smaller than the distance between PokerStars and 888 Poker. Especially considering, that these numbers are only from the global PokerStars.com site, and PokerStars also run other sites for players in France, Italy, Spain, some US states and Ontario.

Judging by traffic data from PokerScout, PokerStars holds a solid second place. The planned changes will only strengthen their position in the future. Meanwhile, 888 sits in 21st place; were it not for the freerolls, I suspect the figures would be even lower.

Brigistul · Aug 13, 2026

Yeah, Flutter’s strategy is clearly an aggressive growth move.PokerStars has the infrastructure and the name, but today’s market is far more fragmented than during their golden era. If they manage to bring enough recreational players from the Flutter ecosystem, then yes, they could climb back to the top. But execution will decide everything.

doom · Aug 13, 2026

ps should make a skin for grey market like gg for rus and china

ulisesmero · Aug 13, 2026

Mr.Ram said:
PokerStars ha anunciado su decisión de aumentar la liquidez mediante la colaboración con otras plataformas (por ejemplo, en el Reino Unido, han optado por operar a través de Betfair, Sky Poker y Paddy Power).
Anteriormente, estas marcas formaban parte de la red iPoker (propiedad de Flutter, la empresa matriz de Stars), pero ahora se unirán al grupo de jugadores de PokerStars.
Además, Flutter es propietaria de marcas como Adjarabet (que opera en Georgia y Armenia).
La idea de ampliar la base de jugadores es sin duda impresionante por su alcance. ¿Crees que lograrán llevar a cabo este plan y devolver a PokerStars a la cima del ranking de póker online?

I think the strategy can work, especially since increasing liquidity means having a much larger player base and, therefore, more tables and tournaments available. If PokerStars manages to integrate players from different platforms well and maintain a good experience, it could regain a lot of strength in the market.

ulisesmero · Aug 13, 2026

fundiver199 said:
Como comentario adicional a lo anterior, cabe también destacar que la diferencia entre el volumen de juego en PokerStars y GG Poker se explica en gran medida por el hecho de que PokerStars ya no opera en varios mercados donde GG Poker aún opera. Estos incluyen países como:

* Porcelana
* Hong Kong
* Taiwán
* Rusia
* Polonia
* Israel

La razón principal por la que PokerStars se retiró de estos mercados es legal, ya que se trata de países donde el juego online es ilegal. En el caso de Rusia, se debió a que PokerStars no realizó transacciones con criptomonedas, lo que les impidió pagar a los jugadores rusos cuando los bancos rusos fueron excluidos del sistema SWIFT global.

Por lo tanto, las dos plataformas no compiten en igualdad de condiciones. PokerStars, en general, cumple con las leyes de varios países, aunque existen algunas excepciones, como Tailandia. GG Poker, por otro lado, infringe las leyes de muchos países, y esta es una de las principales razones por las que tiene más jugadores. Hasta hace dos meses, GG Poker también infringía las leyes de Suecia, donde vivo, pero esto ya ha cambiado.

En particular, China es probablemente muy importante, ya que es un país con muchos "nuevos ricos" que probablemente han inyectado mucho dinero en el "ecosistema" de GG Poker, atrayendo a jugadores profesionales de muchos otros países. Como jugadores de póker, no es realmente nuestro problema si los sitios infringen las leyes de ciertos países donde el juego en línea es ilegal. Pero el hecho de que un sitio opte por operar mayoritariamente de forma legal no significa que esté mal gestionado o mal administrado.

Como mencionó Poker Orifice anteriormente, si en Estados Unidos todavía se permite jugar en PokerStars, sin duda muchos lo harían. Esto generaría una gran cantidad de dinero proveniente del juego recreativo, lo que a su vez podría sustentar a una amplia comunidad de jugadores profesionales tanto de Estados Unidos como de muchos otros países. Por lo tanto, la razón del declive de PokerStars no se debe principalmente a una mala gestión (aunque tomaron algunas decisiones cuestionables), sino más bien a los gobiernos que no permiten jugar al póker en línea legalmente.

However, returning to being number one will not be so simple, because there are other very strong platforms with fairly consolidated communities. For me, the key will be that PokerStars not only gets more players, but also offers good tournaments, attractive promotions and a stable platform. If they manage to combine all that, I do see it possible that they will once again be among the leaders of online poker.

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