Over the past couple of years, PokerStars global has completely revamped its rewards system, but so far, players at PokerStars USA have been left out in the cold. The new system, which was fully implemented globally by Oct of this year, moved the operator back to a more transparent rewards scheme.

Under the new scheme, players can get up to 65% back in rake, depending on their level of play, but the main feature of the new system is transparency. Under the old system, which replaced the legendary Supernova Elite and offered more opaque chests with no clearly defined value as a reward, players had limited ability to predict their rewards.

The new rewards system changes all that, setting chest values in a transparent way that lets players predict exactly how much rakeback they should expect to see. However, while the new system is fully implemented in the global market, it has still yet to make an appearance for the PokerStars USA ecosystem.

There are still no details yet on when players in the USA might see the new system and limited information on what is causing the delay. That said, the complex regulatory environment in the US, which is different from state to state, is a safe bet for why the system hasn’t yet been deployed in the US market.

It seems likely to think that the new system will go live in the US markets sometime in 2022, but that is just speculation. However, US-based players can get a look at what they might expect from the new system when it does go live at the breakdown of the new system over at pokerfuse.

The latest running of PokerStars' Dare2Stream competition is now complete, with Austrian streamer Sebastian “peace&loove” Huber announced as the winner. Huber is a mid-stakes pro who plays under the name “peace&loove” and has been streaming on Twitch as peaceandlove since Sep 2020.

While the main prize on offer in Dare2Stream was a coveted Platinum Pass to the next PokerStars Players Championship, the competition also gives streamers new exposure and potential opportunities. Three past entries in the last Dare2Stream competition, Lasse “WisternJL” Jagd Lauritsen, Mark “Naigo1” Foresta, and Keith “AccidentalGrenade” Becker parlayed their Dare2Stream experiences into ambassadorships with PokerStars.

That shows there can be prizes for just participating, as none of the three won the last competition, but Niclas “flushiisback” Thumm found a more immediate way to win without winning. Thumm was an active member of the Dare2Stream community throughout the run and took down the Community Winner prize, which was another Platinum Pass.

Live poker since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic has been an ever-changing thing, with a lot of uncertainty around health and safety protocols for a social game where players pass chips and cards around.

PokerStars has added some clarity to its 2022 live poker schedule, however, with a COVID refund policy.

The new policy will be in effect for PokerStars live events in 2022 and provides some form of refund for anyone who tests positive during an event. While the amount of the refund and how the player’s chips are dealt with is different depending on the tournament stage, it looks like players will not be on the hook for entry fees if they test positive during the debate.

According to Barry Carter’s analysis at PokerStrategy.com, proof of a positive rapid antigen test may be required to qualify for the refund. Carter also points out that a clear policy like this reduces the incentive to play while sick, and it seems likely more operators of live events will move in a similar direction.