In a marketing email randomly signed by Daniel Negreanu, PokerStars have announced that you now don't have to be quite as important to become a VIP.
It seems to be great news for the player. Instead of having to earn 1,500 player points in a month to be crowned SilverStar, you only need 1,200. The price of GoldStar has also been slashed from 4,000 monthly FPPs to 3,000, and PlatinumStar from 10,00 FPPs to 7,500.
So what's it actually worth?
If you currently have no VIP status with PokerStars (they call it BronzeStar, but it means NoStar) then by reaching the SilverStar level 300 points sooner you can use the 1.5x multiplier on points 1,200 to 1,499 this month. That's a potential 150 more points than you would have got last month, and in real money (1 FPP = 1.6c) it's worth $2.40.
Then because you reach GoldStar 1,000 points sooner than before, you'll be earning 2x on points 3,000 to 3,999 instead of 1.5x. Get over 4000 points this month and get 500 FPPs more than you would have done last month. That's another $8.
Shoot for PlatinumStar and you will be earning a 2.5x bonus on points 7,500 to 9,999 instead of 2x. That's 1,250 more FPPs than previously, worth $20.
The revised point thresholds are only a quantifiable perk if you are moving up a level in any given month. There's a little value in being able to retain your status by playing less poker, but how much that's worth all depends on how much you play the following month.
Not really worth getting excited about then.
