Tag: VIP

Pokerstars Makes Changes, Causes Uproar

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Pokerstars caused a bit of an uproar to mark the turning of the calendar when last week (which was also last year) the site announced certain changes to its VIP program and its rake structure.

In a Bank of America style backlash, PokerStars players came out to the online forums by the scores to protest the actions.

One of the two controversial changes was from the former “dealt” method of calculating VIP Player Points (VPPs) to a new “weighted contributed” method. In the dealt method, all players dealt cards in the hand received an even share of the VPPs for that hand. In the weighted contributed method, those same number of VPPs are distributed, instead, according to how much money each player put into the pot. Players who fold before the flop will now receive none of the share. All of this obviously disadvantages tighter players by encouraging lots of action.

The other controversial changes were to Poker Stars’ rake structure. Designed to simplify the process on PokerStars’ end, the changes that include lower rake percentages and new rake caps seem only to reduce the amount of rake most players will be able to get.

By the same token, even a Poker Stars representative admits that the new VPP calculation method will have the effect of reducing the number of VPPs awarded in any given period as well.

PokerStars’ reaction to the protest? Poker Stars is moving forward still with the change to the VPP calculation method but has decided to put its rake structure changes (including the caps) on hold pending further study.

Poker Stars Holds VIP Club Blast Off in January

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For January of 2012, Poker Stars is blasting off its VIP Club with enhanced benefits all month long, including Discount TCOOP Tickets & Merchandise Sale, VIP Ring Game Happy Hours, a Pace Bonus, Special VIP Tournaments and VIP TCOOP Satellites.

Discount TCOOP Tickets & Merchandise Sale offer discounted entries into the upcoming PokerStars Turbo Championship of Online Poker, taking place January 19 – 29. No matter a player’s VIP club level, he or she can find a discounted TCOOP seat in the PokerStars VIP Store. So too are over 100 different items of PokerStars merchandise in the store discounted to up to 60% as of January 4, 2012.

VIP Ring Game Happy Hours take place daily from January 2 – 29, albeit at different times each week. Regardless of the time, however, the benefit is the same: 50% more VIP points earned for all your real money play during those hours.

The Pace Bonus is a special bonus for PlatinumStar and Supernova VIP players only, giving a cash bonus in February for your January performance.

Special VIP Tournaments include Weekly $30,000 VIP tournaments and a Monthly $100,000 VIP tournament. The Weekly $30,000 VIP Tournaments run every Saturday at 2:30 pm ET for a buy-in of 100 FPPs. The Monthly $100,000 VIP tournament takes place Saturday, January 28 at 3:00 pm ET.

VIP TCOOP Satellites are offered solely to Poker Stars SilverStar VIP players and higher, giving extra, exclusive chances to win seats in the first ever TCOOP.

Pokerstars 10th Anniversary Extras

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Yesterday we brought you word of two of the latest additions to the PokerStars 10th Anniversary festivities: Ring Game Leaderboards and the $10K High Roller tournament. But PokerStars has also released several other promotions under the heading of 10th Anniversary Extras. These extras are: $10K Class Freerolls, Ten Cent Trivia Tournaments and special deals on certain VIP Store items.

The $10,000 Class Freerolls take place December 10. There are 10 of them in all, one for each year of PokerStars history. Each boasts a $10,000 prize pool and offers a prize package worth nearly $16,000 into the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Entry into these events is determined by the date each player first signed up for their PokerStars account.

From December 1 – 18, players can enter 100 different $0.10 Trivia Tourneys, so-named because they are password protected by the answer to a PokerStars trivia question in the form of a year. Before players can pay the 10 cent buy-in to register for the event, they must first correctly guess the four digit password to that tourneys trivia question. Each $0.10 Trivia Tourney has a $1,000 prize pool making for a total of $100,000 up for grabs in this promotion.

Finally, as of December 1 players visiting the VIP store will notice an influx of special edition items honoring PokerStars’ 10th Anniversary–caps, t-shirts, card protectors and more–all of which will be on sale for an attractive discount. And all of which are expected to sell out fast. Find these items listed under the category “10th Anniversary”.

Earn Double VIP Points And A Fat Stack At Carbon Poker

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This November, you can earn double the VIP points and a fat stack at Carbon Poker in two separate promotions: 2X VIP Points November and Fat Stack & Slim Stack Tourneys.

2X VIP Points November is similar to last month’s 2X VIP Points October. Lasting the entire month, in this case November 1 – 30, 2011, the promotion awards opted-in players twice the VIP points they would ordinarily earn while playing at cash ring games, multi-table tournaments and Sit and Go tournaments at Carbon Poker during the hours of 00:00 on Mondays through 23:59 on Tuesdays, server time.

Before playing during these times, before to first opt-in to the promotion through your Carbon Poker player admin area using the Activate Promo button. Bonus points will be calculated the day after earning them, by 2 am server time. These points may be used for VIP-points-for-cash trades, merchandise from the Carbon Poker VIP store and tournament tickets. They will not, however, be used to determine what VIP tier Carbon Poker will place you into for December.

Meanwhile, at Carbon Poker, a new type of tournament has been added to the regular line-up, or in actuality, two new tournament types, both of which are rake-free. As of November 4, 2011, Carbon Poker has added to its regular tournament schedule two weekly Fat Stack tournaments, one with a $2 buy-in and one with a $5 buy-in, both with $1 million starting stacks and $25K/$50K starting stacks. The site has also added two weekly Slim Stack tournaments with the same buy-in options, these with 10 chip starting stacks $0.50/$1 starting blinds.

August 2011 is PokerStars VIP Club Mega Month

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This August, 2011, all you have to do is earn 75 VIP Points at Poker Stars and you will be given Silver Star player status for the rest of this month and all of next, through to the end of September. Ordinarily you have to earn 750 VPPS to achieve that status.

What does SilverStar status bring you? You get 1.5 FPPS for each VPP instead of just 1 for 1, as BronzeStar players do. You also get a better monthly rewards rate: 16-18 percent starting the first month at $22 and previous months 19-21 percent starting at $26 instead of 9-10 percent for up to $12 the first month and 15-17 percent for up to $21 the second month.

And what if you’re already a SilverStars VIP player? Then you can gain GoldStars status for earning only 300 VPPS instead of the normal 3,000. GoldStar VIP players the same–earn 750 VPPs for PlatinumStar status instead of the usual 7,500 VPPS. Now, once September ends, to retain the boosted status you will have to earn the normal requisite number of VPPS or be downgraded to your previous status. But for two months at least, you can get a feel for the view “up there” and perhaps an added incentive to try and climb your way back to those heights.

Each status level brings you a better FPP for VPP rate and higher monthly rewards potential.

During VIP Club Mega Month, Poker Stars is also holding a VIP Store Sale.

Party Poker Oktoberfest VIP Prize Packages Up For Grabs

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This August 2011, Party Poker is giving away sixteen trips to Germany for this year’s Oktoberfest celebration. Open only to Party Poker’s Palladium VIP members, this promotion is broken down into two separate points races, each awarding 7 of the 16 Oktoberfest prize packages, with a freeroll tournament at the end of the promo period to award the remaining 2 prize packages. In addition, more than 100 iPods, iPads and iPod Touches are up for grabs as well.

Opt-in to one or both races, running August 12-21 and August 22-31. Compete in both races and you’ll get more chances to win, in more ways than one. Players who excel in both races can win either an iPad 2 (16GB), if in the top 25 of each, and/or an iPod Touch (64GB) if in the top 75 of each.

The Oktoberfest prize packages, meanwhile, include luxury hotel accommodations, breakfasts, special dinners, exclusive poker tournament entries, and VIP tent access and VIP treatment throughout the festivities. Players finishing 8th-25th on either of the leaderboards win $250 in cash, while players finishing 26th-75th win $100 in cash. Then, the remaining players in the top 400 starting from 76 on down, will win an entry into a VIP Oktoberfest and Super Gadget Freeroll taking place September 4.

Just opt-in to the races and start playing at Party Poker’s real money tables as much as you can, earning as many PartyPoints as you can, and climbining higher and higher on that leader board toward a weekend in Munich you’ll never forget.