It looks like no one noticed that the $1000 freeroll poker tournament got halved. This means all the prizes for each place are now only half from its original prize. I feel like this might end soon because the prize is decreasing. I think I'll lay low on playing freeroll poker on Stake for now. Imagine playing two hours of poker on Stake.com and only winning $0.5 for minimum prize. Not worth it to take risk and time.
I am not a poker player, so I sure lack the basic experience of how if feels to play this game, but I definitely will agree with you that playing for 2 hours where one can only win up to $0.5 Is not encouraging, but let's also take into account that you said minimum prize, so, I am assuming that it's also possible to win even a much higher prize, right?
If the answer be a yes, then I see no reason for the discouragement, because I personally have some time in the past played slot and casino games for more than 4, 5 hours straight and end up not winning any thing, or end up losing all my initial winnings back to the casino, which also is as good as not winning anything.
So, if you ask me, there is basically no difference whether one decide to continue to play the poker game or not due to the reward halving, since it's still possible to win more than the mentioned $0.5.