Rakeback vs Loyalty Poker Programs
I’ve never played seriously enough to rack up thousands of loyalty points on a poker site. I usually get to maybe 1000 over the course of a few months and this helps me to own coffee travel mugs and other silly little poker trinkets that clutter my apartment. But, the truth of the matter is, if you play at a high enough volume, you can earn cash-back or even use your points to buy some pretty insanely expensive things.
As I’ve discussed in the past, some outside partners will offer rake-back incentive programs where you can earn money and have it put directly into your poker account. This is normally a meager percentage of what you spend on the site, with the highest of payouts being 33%. For the occasional player, it’s nice to get a few free games out of your spending, and for the high volume player, it can really add up to significant “wins”.
But some websites don’t offer rakeback, like PokerStars.com. Instead, they have a loyalty point program. The Frequent Player Points (FPPs) you earn (as every site does awards you) can go toward entries to tournaments, or items in their store, ranging from ball caps to Porches. But, how quickly you earn loyalty points is determined by your VIP status. Your VIP status is determined by the amount of hands you play. The lowest status is Bronze and the highest is Supernova Elite. At Supernova Elite, you earn FPPs 5x faster than at Bronze.
In an article written (http://pokerbonussource.com/pokerstars/rakeback/) about the subject, the author speculated that being Supernova Elite is the equivalent to having a 60% rakeback program.
At the lower VIP status levels, however, your FPP earnings are not near the equivalent that some basic rake-back programs offer. Regardless of how often you play, the rakeback incentives stay the same. You are guaranteed a percentage of what you spend. However, these programs are only for new players. A site like Pokerstars offers their loyalty program to every player, old or new. And if you’re dedicated, your earning potential is very high.