pokerstars offers $600 sign up bonus!

anyone else notice the 1200% increase in the new player bonus at pokerstars? i first spotted something strange last week on pokerstars italia where they were offering a 600 euro bonus. interested to see if that was the norm i jumped over to pokerstars.com but alas, the sign up offer still sat at a paltry $50.

then, on wednesday i noticed that my banner execution , see below right, had refreshed and was promoting a $600 offer. again i jumped over to pokerstars.com and yes, there is was in big bold letters! interestingly enough though, the banner creative switched back to the wcoop less than 24 hours later! strange!

so what does this deal signify? from my point of view its a very aggressive message to the market. pokerstars have seen huge growth without offering the same level of sign up bonus as full tilt, party and other poker rooms yet now they have entered into the financial incentive space. was new player growth slowing at pokerstars? is this a big push by them to really turn the screw on their closest competitor, namely full tilt, as their bonuses are now exactly the same?

either way it great for new players, not so great for me as i already have an account, although hopefully an influx of fish will be my return on investment.

it will also be interesting to see if and when pokerstars promote the new bonus. the banner creative changing to the bonus and then back to the wcoop could suggest two things, one that they don't want to take any attention away from a big marketing property, the wcoop. or this is only a soft offer, in which only those consumers affected by pokerstars other marketing activity will be exposed to the bonus message rather then pushing it out with heavy investment for everyone to see.

either way people, the offer is there, its good and if you don't already have a pokerstars account it is definitely worth exploring.