Charles Hawk: Amaya's CEO has been recently charged with insider trading, stock price has tanked and the server errors are on the increase since the 2014 takeover. How safe is pokerstars position as a market leader and trend setter in the online poker industry?

RyPac13: It's difficult to say. I don't particularly care for how Amaya has handled PokerStars since the acquisition, and the face of Amaya, the heart of Amaya, seems to be their CEO. I don't like the flash, there seems to have been a lot of inflated talk, but very little substance to back it up thus far. More worrying for the industry, it seems like the Amaya team hasn't been ready to handle the development and operations of this type of company. From delaying new product lines to the poor handling of communications with their customers, it has inspired little faith. Things could get worse before they get better though. Lower stock pricing may mean more pressure to look at creating short term revenue at the expense of long term health. At this point, I think the best case scenario for players, even if it is a gamble, is that another entity purchases PokerStars. That may create some short term turmoil with the transition of such a large company, but it may be what is best for players in the long term.

Spencer '360flip19' Moe: It would seem natural that Pokerstars' position would begin to slip after all these negative changes. While it is still the best option for most players, it's already getting to the point for some that it isn't. It had seemed at one point that pokerstars had a monopoly on online gaming, but after nearly two years of nothing but bad news we have all been reminded that other sites exist too. ​

AanythingKK: At the moment it doesn't seem like any other sites are trying that hard to capitalize on the communities dissatisfaction with Pokerstars. If any of the other operators made a big investment in their software/marketing/support etc. and lowered their rake to be more competitive then they could possibly overtake Pokerstars in the next few years unless they work hard to combat it. The way things are now though I think they're pretty safe so long as they're willing to make some more player friendly decisions when necessary​.

Eric 'paddygo' Sullivan: Not safe at all, with all these changes if someone comes up with a good product it could become the new leader.​

Jack "jackstack99/aisixer3jk" Ketendjian: I think it's very safe there software is the best by far, every other site follows them really. They come out with Spin'n'gos and now most sites have them. These other sites just seem to be poorly run to say the least. Not saying that Pokerstars is run great but they are a lot better then there competitors​.

Charles Hawk: ​Where do you see Pokerstars in 5 years?

RyPac13: Likely will remain the largest poker room in the world, but with increased competition from sites like 888, Party and Ipoker. PokerStars is trying to become more like the competition, competition they blew out of the water by focusing on more affordable poker offerings for years. As you increase per player margins by increasing customer costs, focus on sportsbetting, casino and fantasy offerings and build a reputation for caring less about customers that earn a living off of poker, it will be difficult to stand out as a unique and superior option to sites that have been using that model for years.

Spencer '360flip19' Moe: It's really hard to predict which direction Pokerstars will go in. A lot would depend on their CEO's legal issues which are ongoing as well as the large lawsuite the site faces vs Kentucky. It's possible they will have to get a new CEO. If Baazov stays in charge I think things will continue in the direction they are currently going in - Rewards will be almost completely gone with rake increasing. The question remains as to whether that is a better business model or not. Most people who actually play poker feel very strongly it will fail. We will have to wait and see on a lot of different factors. ​

AanythingKK: I'm not really qualified to speak on this but I think they'll expand into one of the larger online casino operators while poker slowly declines. If a big market like India or hopefully America opens up then we might see another boom and I think they'll do a good job of capitalizing on that, using their name to get most of the market share.​

Eric 'paddygo' Sullivan: Probably going the same path that Party Poker on its time. If I recall correctly they use to be the bigger site during the first years of the 2000s but they tried to take advantage and players found other sites. PokerStars is probably going to be on the same place Party Poker is now or worse because a few negative reviews have a way bigger impact than the same good reviews.​

Jack "jackstack99/aisixer3jk" Ketendjian: I have no idea where Pokerstars will be in 5 years but I believe they want everyone to move to mtts. this will likely be best for them as a business. Mtts and Spin and Gos.

Charles Hawk: ​Do you think the poker community as a whole could benefit from pokerstars losing its position as market leader?

RyPac13: In most circumstances I would say 100% yes, competition is much better for customers (players). However, in the poker world, there are some downsides to competition. Liquidity is a major one. You need a healthy number of participants to make higher stakes, larger entry formats work. That said, it is most important for MTTs, so maybe if I'm a MTT pro or MTT focused business, particularly higher stakes, I'm a bit more reserved about competition being good for me. There's no reason why competition shouldn't be great for spin and gos, HUSNGs, 6 max cash/SNGs for example, because you can just split your volume across sites according to populations, and each site is competing with rewards/rake/software/overall experience, and I feel strongly that is much greater than having 90% of volume on one site.

Spencer '360flip19' Moe: As I have already said, I think a lot of other players are already starting to look for alternative sites to play online poker. Since amaya has taken over, the players have only received negative news/updates and have received them in laughably unproffessional fashion. Pokerstars used to be a brand that everyone trusted. That reputation is now gone. No body trusts Pokerstars now. Everyone used to feel like the old management had the players backs, but now we are treated like nothing more than mindless consumers who will accept what we are given. ​

AanythingKK: Speaking as someone who relies on poker to make a living it's possible. Regs will be forced to split action across more sites and the number of professionals will start to decline. This would mean recreationals lose their money less quickly which would improve the health of the ecosystem. So long as everyone's money is safe on the other sites and we don't have another black Friday it could definitely be for the best.​

Eric 'paddygo' Sullivan: Of course, the more competition there is in the market, the better offers for the players. Monopoly is only good for the owner of the company.​

Charles Hawk: ​What are your thoughts on the merging of FTP and pokerstars scheduled to take place in April?​

RyPac13: FTP became rather obsolete fast. Whether it was because of the reputation that the previous owners ran into the ground by cheating players and mismanaging funds, or if Rational and/or Amaya stopped prioritizing the site to players, it just didn't work. It doesn't make it a failure, for example, buying FTP may have been good value leverage for Rational to settle with the USA DoJ over Black Friday charges. In any case, I don't expect a large impact because the site's traffic has gone down considerably in recent years.

Spencer '360flip19' Moe: I'm somewhat indifferent to FTP becoming a skin of stars. FTP is a ghost town right now. I am not sure if it was amaya's intention to drive all the traffic over to Pokerstars, or if FTP was just poorly managed.​

AanythingKK: I don't have a strong opinion on this, but adding the FTP Jackpot player pool to the PokerStars Spins player pool will probably improve everyone winrate a little​.

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Big thanks to Richard "chadders0" Chadders for sharing with me the news and helping create the questions.

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     Spencer '360flip19' Moe

     AanythingKK    

Eric 'paddygo' Sullivan

Jack "jackstack99/aisixer3jk" Ketendjian