PokerStars March 2015

PokerStars and Full Tilt decided to focus more on recreational players and modify their offer in a way they believed to be more enticing for first-time and casual players.

The VIP Steps program replaced the traditional VIP program that PokerStars players had become accustomed to over the years. Jan. 1 of 2016 was when the new VIP Club would be offered.

Another important change was the replacement of the variable FPP currency with a new one called StarsCoin which was set to have a fixed value of $0.01. PokerStars was trying to make its currency more accessible to new players.

The VIP Club rewards were capped at 30 percent, with this new implication mainly affecting those at the higher tiers of the VIP program such as Supernova and Supernova Elite players. The Supernova Elite status was discontinued along with the quarterly $1 million freeroll.

Players would no longer earn any VPPs at pot-limit and no-limit games with blinds of $5/$10 or higher, 8-game with limits of $10/$20 or higher and other limit games with blinds of $10/$15 or higher.