January 02 2012, Brett Collson

On Jan. 1, 2012, PokerStars introduced changes to its VIP Program that could change the way ring games are played on the world’s leading poker site.

PokerStars announced last week that it was changing its VPP program from the “dealt” method to the “weighted contribution” method, which significantly changes how VIP points are disbursed at a ring game table.

The new method awards VPPs proportionally based on how much a player contributes to the pot. The same amount of VPPs will be awarded as before. However, aggressive players will earn VPPs faster by getting involved in more pots, while tighter players will earn them more slowly.

The new formula for VPP earnings under the method is as follows:

VPPs = (your contribution to pot / total pot) * (rake collected * VPP multiplier).

The previous “dealt” method awarded VPPs to everyone dealt into a hand, regardless of whether they folded preflop and contributed no money to the pot. The new “weighted contribution” method will reward players with lower VIP statuses more and players with higher VIP statuses less, making the distribution of VIP Club benefits more balanced. However, players with higher VIP statuses such as Supernova will accumulate VPPs at a faster pace.

PokerStars said that it had considered going to a “Winner Take All” method of VPP distribution, but decided that the weighted contribution is a “superior method of allocating VPPs.”

“We did review the differences in how the weighted contributed and winner take all methods would award VPPs to players in the long run. While individual players would earn VPPs at different rates due to differing play styles, as a group the members of each VIP level would see no material difference in the number of VPPs earned between the weighted contributed and winner take all methods,” said PokerStars in a press release.

The VIP points earned in sit-and-gos and multi-table tournaments will remain unchanged. PokerStars confirmed no immediate plans to change the VIP Program in 2012, but could not guarantee there won’t be any significant changes to it during the year.

For more information on how the new VIP Program works, visit PokerStars.com.

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