PokerStars Imposes Four Table Cap on Cash Games

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If you’re an online poker player outside of the United States that dreams of being the next ElkY and playing 20 tables at a time at mid to high stakes, your dream is now dead.

On Tuesday, the World’s Largest Poker Site announced that they are implementing a hard cap on the number of cash game tables that players can open at once. No longer can you play up to 24 tables at a time That number is now a paltry four tables.

PokerStars Makes Change For The Good of the Ecosystem

PokerStars opened their announcement on Tuesday stating that ‘Maintaining a healthy poker ecosystem and balancing the interests of all our players is at the core of what we do.” This led to the announcement that effectively immediately, online poker cash games on the website will now be limited to just four tables.

In the past, players were able to play up to 24 cash games at once. It’s not uncommon for players to play more than four tables of cash game NL Hold’em at once in order to maximize their hourly rate. In the past, some players would take advantage of rakeback in an attempt to supplement their bankrolls.

PokerStars effectively eliminated this practice last year with changes to their player rewards program and this year they have effectively eliminated a common practice that kept many online poker pros afloat.

Hard Cap Tested in Italy in 2018

PokerStars tested a hard cap on table games in Italy last year and for that test, they limited table to just six, rather than four. The company revealed that most players at the website, meaning recreational players, only play a single table at a time.

PokerStars believes that a four table cap is the optimal number of tables that should be in play in order to balance the ecosystem and keep games moving at a decent pace. They gave examples of how slow play from multi-tablers impacts the game and how that the experience of multi-tabling pros makes recreationals feel outmatched.

Cap Will Not Impact Zoom Poker or Tournaments

What’s interesting about this new cap is that it only impacts standard cash games, such as full ring games and six-max. Games such as Zoom Poker and online poker tournaments will not be impacted by this cap.

The reaction from the poker community was swift, with many people expressing disdain towards the move. Some believe that PokerStars is trying to kill online poker while others say that the company does not truly care about the players or the ecosystem. Instead, they only care about their profits.

What This Means for PokerStars Players

The impact of this move on PokerStars players will depend greatly on the types of games they play. For those that play four tables or fewer, this will not impact how they play, but it may impact the number of games available.

There are already some complaining that there is a lack of action at stakes above .50/$1 due to the cap. Often, higher stakes were filled with multi-tablers and you could see the same players at a dozen tables or more at a time.

Poker pro Phil Galfond believes that some players will simply move over to Zoom Poker and frequent those games more often. Those games do not have a table cap and already provide tons of action for players.

For those that multi-table at more than four tables at PokerStars, they will either have to adjust their style of play or leave the site entirely. Some players are already taking their business to other sites on at least a part-time basis and you can continue this trend to continue.

PokerStars used the be the #1 destination for high stakes players around the world, especially after Full Tilt Poker shut down. With this new change, don’t be surprised to see partypoker or 888poker become the new home for high stakes online poker pros outside of the United States.