Changes to the rake structure and foreign exchange policies at PokerStarshave taken center stage the last few days, even igniting calls for a sit-out on Wednesday. Amid the rash of feedback from players, site front man Daniel Negreanu took to his blog at Full Contact Poker to comment, calling many of the changes “inevitable.”

—

PocketFives’ news coverage is brought to you by William Hill Poker, one of the largest skins on the iPoker Network. The poker room offers a generous welcome package including a 200% deposit bonus up to $2,000 and a superb VIP program. PocketFivers will love playing in the site’s €1 million guaranteed iPOPS series, which runs through November 9. Visit William Hill today!

—

Before arguing that PokerStars remains the “cheapest place to play online poker,” Negreanu told readers, “Most of the recent changes were going to happen well before the new ownership group took over. The online poker landscape has changed over the last few years and many of these changes were inevitable in a competitive market for the company to continue to be the world leader.”

Negreanu equated the rake increase at PokerStars to a rake increase at the World Series of Poker several years ago. Negreanu said that while the reaction to the WSOP’s rake increase included complaints that the games would be “unbeatable,” “the WSOP continues to break attendance records each year.”

Negreanu also touched on the introduction of lottery-style Spin and Go tournaments, which take the form of three-handed turbo sit and gos. Some have chastised Amaya for being at the helm when Spin and Gos were introduced, but Negreanu claimed, “Broadening the game offerings was always something PokerStars looked to do each year and the plan to launch Spin and Gos was put in place long before Amaya came around.” Spin and Gos have eaten into PokerStars’ cash game traffic.

Many of PokerStars’ changes were directed at attracting recreational players and, as Negreanu put it, “It’s imperative that we attract new players and I do believe the company’s strategy will do that. If that strategy works, that could mean more profit for online grinders in the long-run.”

PokerStars’ sister site, Full Tilt, cut ties with its two remaining sponsored prosin recent days, Viktor Blom and Gus Hansen. Amaya officials have stressed the company’s commitment to online casinos and sports books, several affiliates saw their recurring revenues cut, and the company withdrew from 30 grey markets, just to name a few of the recent changes.

Amaya acquired PokerStars and Full Tiltvia a $4.9 billion acquisition in June. Now, the company must answer to its shareholders, many of whom are concerned about the mountain of debt taken on. To that end, Negreanu commented, “Being a publicly traded company means more checks and balances and less leeway. Whether it was Amaya or the old group, going public means there are going to be changes and the company plan was to ultimately go public at some point.”

Want the latest poker headlines and interviews? Follow PocketFives on Twitterand Like PocketFives on Facebook. You can also subscribe to our RSS feed.