888 Poker Cashing In On Protests Against PokerStars By Reducing Rake And Upping Guarantees

Over 2,500 high stakes and high-volume players are on a strike against PokerStars for 3 days (Dec 01-03). They have withdrawn funds and are not playing on the site to protest against the changes announced by the company. Taking advantage of the situation, 888 Poker, world’s 2nd largest poker site is wooing the online poker community with higher guarantees in tournaments and lower rake on cash tables.pokerstars-888-poker

PokerStars new policies on VIP Rewards will come into effect from 1st January 2016. The changes announced will hamper the profits of high-stakes and high-volume players. A few top pros of the online poker world led by Dani “Ansky” Stern started a protest against these changes and thousands of PokerStars players joined them in past 2 days.

888 Poker came up with a list of promotions and rake cuts for this week to lure the players on strike and earn goodwill in this situation. The company dramatically slashed the rake at Omaha tables of $1/$2 higher by 50%. Earlier the rake deducted by the site on such tables was 5% which is down to 2.5% now.

The company upped the guarantees of some of its tournament for this duration of 3 days. The guaranteed prize pool of the $600 buy-in Tuesday Volcano increased from the usual $85,000 to $100,000. Adding to it, the website announced 2 new tournaments –   $5,000 guaranteed 8-max – Special! ($55 buy-in) at 13:00 GMT and $5,000 guaranteed Turbo – Special! ($30 buy-in) at 15:00 GMT.

Here is the list of special tourneys with increased guarantees at 888 Poker:

Regular Guarantee Special Guaranteed Buy in Start Time (GMT)
The $85,000 Tuesday Volcano The $100,000 Tuesday Volcano $600 19:30
The $30,000 Thursday Quarterback The $35,000 Thursday Quarterback $215 19:30
The $25,000 Tuesday Crocodile The $30,000 Tuesday Crocodile $160 17:30
The $15,000 Crocodile (Midweek) The $20,000 Crocodile (Midweek) $160 17:30
The $30,000 Tuesday Challenge The $35,000 Tuesday Challenge $109 20:35
The $7,000 Lightning 6-Max The $8,000 Lightning 6-Max $109 14:00
The $10,000 Tornado The $12,000 Tornado $109 20:15
The $6,000 Hurricane The $8,000 Hurricane $109 21:45
The $10,000 Breeze The $12,000 Breeze $55 15:45
The $5,000 Twister The $6,000 Twister $55 11:00
The $7,500 Thunder 6-Max Second Chance The $8,000 Thunder 6-Max Second Change $55 19:35
The $5,000 Cyclone The $6,000 Cyclone $55 02:20
The $5,000 Typhoon Second Chance The $5,000 Typhoon Second Chance $55 09:00
The $7,500 Swordfish The $8,000 Swordfish $30 18:00
The $5,000 Turbo Swordfish The $6,000 Turbo Swordfish $30 22:00
The $3,000 Super Turbo Swordfish The $4,000 Super Turbo Swordfish $30 00:00
The $8,000 Guaranteed Turbo R&A The $10,000 Guaranteed Turbo R&A $5 19:00
The $1,000 Turbo Blowfish The $1,500 Turbo Blowfish $5 18:00
The $1,000 Super Turbo Blowfish The $1,200 Super Turbo Blowfish $5 23:00
The $1,000 Goldfish The $1,200 Goldfish $1 20:00
The $600 Turbo Goldfish The $700 Turbo Goldfish $1 15:00
The $300 Super Turbo Goldfish The $400 Super Turbo Goldfish $1 02:00