Gutted...
Was just about through writing an (in my opinion) EPIC reply and just at the end I fumbled my phone, accidentally clicked 'back' and lost the whole post.
:bawling:
Too disappointed to rewrite it for now...
Maybe will try again later.
Short answer:
Withdrew my BR from Stars a while ago and (almost exclusively) play freerolls there after counterintuitive variance day in, day out for years.
..... meant to be I guess
I haven't 'left' Pokerstars. I don't play on there as much as in the past but this is mostly due to the increased rake & the lack of player Rewards/rakeback. It makes some of the games that I like, barely beatable. (cash tables/ Zoom).
Stars still has many good points.
Tournaments are excellent - large prizes, large player pools but also others that have a limited number of entrants in them (300 CAP, etc.). Where else can you buyin for $215 and take home a $1.5 MILLION payout? .... nowhere (although GGPoker is getting closer).
Software is excellent (aside from that b.s. new crap they threw down player's throats... but I'm able to still play on a revised version that is almost like the old one today).
Payouts are prompt. Deposits are simple. And TONS of other great features!
I personally prefer to simultaneously play on many different sites while playing 'tournaments' so that I'm able to set up a schedule of games of similar structure, buyin and starting time. It's much easier for me to multi-table them with this method. It's not possible to do this on one or two sites.... hence why I prefer playing on many.
How is the 'variance' on Stars vs. others &/or live play... ??? It's all the same to me & I spend zero time thinking about it, wondering about it, analyzing it, etc. That would be time wasted.