Cad's Mind

I had originally intended to write this tomorrow however some abdominal pains this morning led to an emergency room visit which revealed appendicitis and an emergency operation. So, since I am stuck in a hospital bed with a firewall blocking all ports except 80, now is as good a time as any to talk about why I have moved off PokerStars and onto FullTilt.

One aspect of serious poker playing that I believe does not get very much attention is the incentive for regulars to play at a particular site. For most places other than PokerStars, that is generally found through Rakeback. The idea behind rakeback is a great one; the player gets back a percentage of that pesky rake to account for the money leaving the table not in players’ accounts. Here’s the catch: in order to take advantage of rakeback, you have to do the following:

• Know that Rakeback exists
• Know that Rakeback exists BEFORE you sign up at a site that offers its affiliates the opportunity.

It is the second bullet that tends to get most people. Most casual, recreational players sign up for a site and play for a while before they’re serious enough to know what rakeback even is, let alone if the site they are playing on has it, or where to find an affiliate with a rakeback program. By the time they do, they have already signed up at their favorite site and have been playing and they are doomed. This type of system weeds out most folks from the benefits and leaves them cold and wondering what to do.

Enter the PokerStars VIP Rewards program. PokerStars bypasses the need for rewards to come through an affiliate. Anyone that signs up is entered in the program, generates points from their play, and uses those points to gain rewards. What confused me about the PokerStars system is in its means to counter the direct benefits of Rakeback. After playing on PokerStars for six months, I still did not see why serious players were playing on PokerStars without rakeback. Since I will be depositing my bankroll this month to move up to 25NL, I decided that it was necessary I find out if PokerStars was still the right place for me, so I started doing some research.

What I found made me understand the process whole lot more. You see, PokerStars has the option in their VIP Rewards program to use your Frequent Player Points to ‘buy’ cash bonuses. You spend the FPPs, then have to earn enough VPPs to clear the bonus. This system is similar to the deposit bonuses many sites have. Where the complexity begins is in the cash bonus amount. Each VIP level gets access to a better cash payout, with higher VPP requirements. Thus, when you reach the upper tiers of the VIP program, you are getting bonus options in the thousands rather than the tens or hundreds. When you do the math to compare the amount received in Rakeback and compare that to the amount of rake needed to clear the VPPs for your cash bonus, the system can clearly outstep the Rakeback programs by a very large margin depending upon what your VIP level is.

Then why is the title of this ‘So Long, PokerStars?’

It’s all in the details. In order for the PokerStars VIP Rewards program to outpace Rakeback, you need to be playing higher stakes and in the higher levels of the VIP program. To compare, the 27% rakeback FullTilt offers would not be out-stripped in 25NL until reaching PlatinumStar VIP, which is level 4 and requires quite a bit of rake going into the system. From my research, it seems that you really cannot outpace the 27% from FullTilt as a regular unless you are rolled for 50NL or higher, and that’s putting in a lot of hours a day to accomplish that.

Since I am playing 25NL and not at a point where I can really put in more than four hours a day to poker, it seems to me that the obvious choice is to say goodbye for now to PokerStars and setup shop at FullTilt. While I bide my time waiting on my tax refund (which is fueling my move up to 25NL), I have been playing 5NL Rush and turning a nice profit.

If you have any insights on the VIP program, rakeback, or just an opinion on why I am wrong, leave a comment. I welcome anyone who has more experience on the debate, and think this is a topic that new people can really benefit from getting more on.