stars heads-up tables coming soon? but 22% FPP rate hurts

[pygmyhipo]

So I play a lot of heads-up limit holdem at Stars. Now that they changed the blind structure (to small-blind-button) I expect more people will play. And the new "1-on-1" entry in the table filter window gives me hope that Stars will spread dedicated heads-up tables soon.

There are many reasons to love heads-up games:
- over 200 hands/hour/table
- you get to know your opponents and their style, instead of being an 8-tabling automaton whose only input is the PAHud overlay
- experts' win rate per hand is more than double their rate in a ring game, where the correct decision is almost always to fold preflop
- opponents go on tilt more often and it benefits you directly when they do

But the one annoying thing about playing heads-up on Stars is that FPPs are doled out at 22%-33% the normal rate.

At the lower stakes, Stars charges $1 rake and awards 1 FPP to each player. In a 9-player game they award 9 FPPs; in a heads-up game they award just 2 FPPs. So heads-up players receive only 22% as many FPPs per dollar of rake that they pay.

At higher stakes, Stars charges $3 rake and awards 2 FPP to each player. In a 9-player game that means they award 18 FPPs per $3 rake, or 6 FPPs per dollar. In heads-up games the rake is limited to $1 or $2, with 1 or 2 FPPs awarded to each player, both for the rate of 2 FPPs per dollar of rake. At the higher stakes, then, heads-up players receive 33% as many FPPs per dollar of rake paid.

Now considering the FPP multipliers from the VIP club and an approximate FPP cash value of 1.5 cents, the rakeback formula is:
(VPP per dollar rake) x (VIP bonus tier rate) x 1.5 cents

9-handed Gold, low stakes: 9 x 2 x 1.5 = 27%
9-handed Gold, high stakes: 6 x 2 x 1.5 = 18%
2-handed Gold: 2 x 2 x 1.5 = 6%

9-handed Supernova, low stakes: 9 x 3.5 x 1.5 = 47%
9-handed Supernova, high stakes: 6 x 3.5 x 1.5 = 32%
2-handed Supernova: 2 x 3.5 x 1.5 = 11%

Maybe our friend Lee Jones can help...

-pyg

[2461Badugi]

Emails on this subject from late November. Hopefully they'll implement this soon:

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I really appreciate the recent VIP upgrade for six-max games, and between that and the addition of triple draw, if the games continue to run I imagine I won't be playing much anywhere else any more. I'm also sure I'll be playing headsup a fair amount of time. In that vein, I'd like to ask you to extend the logic used in that decision somewhat, and consider changing VPP earning rates for headsup games. Headsup we pay a lot of rake, and I think it makes sense to give some VPP back the same way you did for six-max players. My suggestion is that using the two-tiered rake schedule you have, you give one VPP at .50 and a second at $1. That still leads to us getting less VPPs per attributed rake than six-max players -- we'd be paying 25 cents per VPP while they pay about seventeen -- but it makes it closer to equitable.

I realize this might be harder to do since you don't have headsup tables, and would have to implement changes when the games change. But since playing headsup leads to a lot of rake both on a per-hand and hourly basis, I hope you'll consider it worth it.


[/ QUOTE ]

Thank you for your email. We will make changes in the future on how VPPs
are awarded. The changes you have suggested make sense and will be
considered for the future. The 6 max and No Limit issues were our number
one priority when the last batch of changes were made.

Regards,

Scotty
PokerStars VIP Team