Cash games are going to get faster, TimeBanks will be shorter and you can sit out for less orbits starting this month at PokerStars.

As the live poker world take many steps to speed up the game (including shot clocks and single antes), PokerStars are making their online cash games faster.

After conducting trials since 2017, Severin Rasset has now confirmed further changes. These impact cash games and Zoom tables. Tournaments, Sit & Go and Spin & Go tables are unaffected.

From February 5, the new Time to Act settings will be as follows:

Current Setting New Setting Preflop not facing a raise 18 seconds 10 seconds Preflop facing a raise and post flop 25 seconds 15 seconds

These times are already in place at $0.01/$0.02 to $0.10/$0.25 tables.

The new Time Bank settings will be as follows:

Starting Increases By Maximum Preflop 15 seconds 5 seconds every 10 hands 30 seconds Postflop 15 seconds 5 seconds every 10 hands 60 seconds

The number of orbits a cash game player can sit out has also been reduced from five orbits to three.

Rasset commented on the changes:

Poker is all about the pressure moments - taking your time to think through a massive bluff or steeling yourself to hero call for your stack - and that isn't going to change. We are confident that there will still be plenty of time to make key decisions while simply reducing the average time spent waiting.

Do you agree with the times? Let us know in the comments: