The PokerStars VIP system rewards regular players with bonuses like tournament entries, gifts, and cold hard cash. Players who play higher stakes and a ton of hands can receive tens of thousands of dollars each year in rewards and, for those who achieve the top level of Supernova Elite, over $150,000 in returns can be had. PokerStars is a fully Mac OS X compliant poker room with a downloadable software client. Earlier this month, the long-awaited changes to the PokerStars VIP system were announced, benefiting all players with greater rewards.
The first big change to the system is the addition of VIP Stellar Rewards, which award players along their VIP Player Point (VPP) path. These new VIP Stellar Rewards consist of cash deposited into your account instantly upon purchase from the VIP Store. There are 19 levels of VIP Stellar Rewards available for purchase in 2010. By the time a player reaches 90,000 VPPs, a total of $1,000 will be received from the Stellar Rewards promotion. Each Stellar Reward can be purchased once and the first unlocks at 750 VPPs for a $10 cash credit. Once players reach the 90,000 mark and finish off the Stellar Rewards, they are eligible for the 100,000 VPP milestone bonus and Supernova status.
Accumulating VPPs and the associated FPPs is easily done every time a player sits at a real money game on PokerStars. Whether you play a tournament, sit and go, or sit at a cash table, you’ll accumulate VPPs based on the amount of rake paid at the table. In PokerStars tournaments, players earn points based on the entry fee at 5.5 VPPs for each $1 paid in rake.
At the PokerStars cash games, VPPs (and corresponding FPPs) are awarded based on the amount of rake taken from each hand played. For cash tables with eight or more seats, the VPPs are awarded at the rate of six for each $1 in rake collected. At cash game tables with seven or fewer seats, the rate is slightly different, calculated at 5.5 VPPs for each $1 in rake.
Monthly VPP levels reward those who play more. BronzeStar requires no VPPs and does not come with a multiplier for FPPs (which can be spent in the Store). SilverStar requires 750 points and comes with a 50% multiplier, while GoldStar requires 3,000 points for a 100% multiplier. Players should note that the SilverStar requirement is now lowered from the previous requirement of 1,200 points.
The top monthly VIP level is PlatinumStar, which has a 7,500 requirement and comes with a 150% multiplier. The yearly VIP levels are Supernova, which requires 100,000 VPPs and has a 250% FPP multiplier, and Supernova Elite, which requires 1,000,000 VPPs and has a 400% FPP Multiplier. Players can check their VIP status from the Cashier window and clicking on the “VIP Status” button.
Another huge change is the alteration of VIP freerolls, which now feature a quarterly $1,000,000 freeroll tournament for Supernova and Supernova Elites. The million dollar freerolls will occur on February 6th, May 1st, August 7th, and November 6th. FPP Satellites will be available for GoldStar and PlatinumStar members. There are also daily, weekly, and monthly VIP Tournaments available to all levels of the VIP system, ranging from $500 to $100,000 in prize pools.
Supernovas will be able to retain their status more easily, as the monthly requirement is down from 10,000 VPPs to 7,500. The Supernova milestone bonus plan also got better with $1,000 rewarded once a player hits 100,000 VPPs. Other rewards include $3,400 for hitting 200,000 VPPs, $4,000 at 500,000 VPPs, and $5,000 for 800,000 VPPs (there are more rewards in between these milestones).
Reaction to the new VIP system has been, on the whole, relatively positive. Specifically, Six-Max and Heads-Up players will benefit more by this system, while Full Ring players will be getting a very slightly reduced number of VPPs per hand.
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