There are as many VIP programs as there are poker sites, but which ones are actually good? Are some more valuable than others, and which ones are actually worth your while?
We’ve analyzed all the major players in the industry, looking for those with truly great VIP programs. It turns out that of all the sites out there, only 8 have really outstanding loyalty systems. We’ve ranked these 8 sites below, from best poker VIP programs to less-best. If you’re looking to be rewarded for your consistent play, you’d do well to choose any of the rooms below.
| Rank |
Poker Room |
USA |
Mac |
Bonus |
Match |
Code |
Player Trafic |
Room Review |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
888 Poker | |
$600 | 100% | N/A | 20,000+ | 888 Poker | |
| 2 |
BetOnline Poker | |
|
Instant | 25% | N/A | 6,000+ | BetOnline Poker |
| 3 |
Lock Poker | |
|
$750 | 150% | N/A | 8,000+ | Lock Poker |
| 4 |
Party Poker | |
$500 | 100% | NETPOKER500 | 70,000+ | Party Poker | |
| 5 |
Cake Poker | |
$600 | 110% | N/A | 8,000+ | Cake Poker | |
| 6 |
BWIN Poker | |
$500 | 100% | N/A | 40,000+ | BWIN Poker | |
| 7 |
Bovada Poker | |
$1100 | 110% | N/A | 10,000+ | Bovada Poker | |
| 8 |
Winner Poker | |
$2000 | 250% | OPNET | 25,000+ | Winner Poker |
The 888 Poker rewards program is our top choice thanks to its simplicity and variety of rewards available. You’re automatically signed up for the program when you deposit at 888 Poker – all you need to do to participate is play some poker.
Overview:As you earn Status Points, you progress through Status Levels. Your goal is to reach as high a Status Level as possible by earning lots of points in a month. Higher levels means bigger rewards, so get grinding.
Earning points: As you play raked hands of poker, you earn both Status Points and Reward Points. Status Points are the most important, as they determine your Status Level each month.
Status Levels:There are 10 status levels in the 888 Poker rewards program. The lowest is Blue, which is the default for all players. The highest is VIP Diamond, which really means you’ve made it.
Here’s a rundown on the points required to reach each status level every month:
Rewards:Each level comes with its own set of rewards. Tournament entries, cash back, poker gear – you name it, you can earn it through the 888 rewards program. Here’s an overview of the rewards associated with each Status Level:
The main thing here is that your Reward Points multiplier goes up as you progress through the levels. Reward Points allow you to buy all sorts of cool stuff from the 888 shop, like electronics and home poker sets. You can also convert Reward Points to cash instantly, so it’s in your best interest to pick them up quickly.
Once you hit the VIP status levels, you get a whole other set of benefits. For one, you’ll be set up with a personal account manager whose job will be to cater to your every whim. You’ll be informed of exclusive benefits at the shop, live tournament opportunities only available to VIPs, and special cash bonuses that pop up from time to time. In short, you’ll be treated like a true VIP.
It’s all quite simple: earn points, climb the Status Levels, and cash in. 888 Poker’s is one of the best poker VIP programs around.
BetOnline Poker’s POP Points program is one of the simplest VIP programs around. There are no levels, tiers, and no points multipliers – you just play poker, earn points, and then use your points to buy in to POP-only events.
Earning points: You earn POP points by playing in either cash games or tournaments. In cash games, you’ll earn 1 POP point per 10 cents you pay in rake. In tournaments, you’ll earn 10 POP points per $1 you pay in tournament fees.
Rewards: You can spend your POP points on POP-only tournament entries. There are two types: the big monthly POP2CASH freeroll, and the smaller daily POP freerolls. The POP2CASH event costs 100 POP points to enter, and has a $500 prize pool. The daily POP freerolls have a 1 point buy in, and feature a 1000 point prize pool.
The Lock Poker VIP program works like many others: you progress through a tiered system of reward levels as you earn VIP points. You move between levels based on the points you earn monthly. The higher your VIP level, the bigger the rewards you’re eligible for.
Earning points: VIP points are the currency of the Lock VIP program. You earn VIP points at a straight rate of 10 points per $1 in rake.
Levels:There are four VIP levels at Lock Poker: White VIP, Silver VIP, Black VIP, and Black VIP Elite. Unlike at some other poker sites, you don’t start off with a VIP status at Lock. The lowest level – White VIP – requires you to earn a baseline of points. Keep that in mind.
Here’s a rundown of the monthly points requirements for each level and the rewards you’ll unlock at each:
These benefits make the Lock VIP program equivalent to a really good rakeback program. The more points you earn, the better your cash back gets. A huge plus compared to other programs is that Lock Poker automatically pays you your cash bonus. Not only that, it pays you every single day. That is a level of service you won’t find at many places online, and one of the reasons we think Lock’s VIP program is our #3 poker VIP program.
Party Poker’s Palladium Rewards Program is top-notch in terms of simplicity and value. You earn PartyPoints as you pay rake, and you move up in status tiers as you accumulate PartyPoints. As you move up the ladder, you earn cash rewards and bonuses automatically.
At the top tiers, Palladium Rewards are worth up to 50% rakeback. That’s no joke, and shows that Party takes rewarding players seriously. Hence why we’ve chosen it as one of the best poker VIP programs.
Earning points: You’ll earn 2 PartyPoints per $1 you pay in rake or tournament fees. Earning points is cumulative, and you’ll never be denied points just because you leave a table too early.
Levels:There are 5 key levels in the Palladium rewards program. The lowest is Bronze, and the highest is Palladium Elite. When you sign up at PartyPoker, you’re automatically considered a Bronze VIP. As you earn points, you’ll move up as follows:
Once you’ve earned the requisite number of points, you instantly unlock the associated Palladium level – and all the rewards that come with it. In order to maintain your status, you must earn the required number of PartyPoints again in the following month or quarter.
Earning PartyPoints is in itself a reward, since you can trade them in for all sorts of cool stuff. Spend them in the Party store if you’re after electronics, poker gear, or even land-based tournament packages. Alternatively, trade in your points for straight cash.
You’ll unlock a unique set of bonuses at each tier. You’ll also earn bonuses when you clear point milestones within a tier. Here’s an overview of the different points milestones, and the associated rewards:
The highest Gold milestone gives you rewards worth 15% rakeback, and it’s not that hard to attain. The highest Palladium Elite tier is equivalent to 50% rakeback, which is obscene. These are pretty generous rewards all things considered.
Bwin Poker’s VIP program is called b’inside. The idea is, like most everywhere else, to reward “insiders” for playing tons of poker. Note that the b’inside program doesn’t only apply to poker – you can earn points by betting on sports, in the casino, or on the horses, too.
Earning points: You earn Status Points at a straight rate as you play raked hands. The official rate is 100 points per $1 USD in rake. This is also calculated proportionally at smaller levels. For example $0.10 would earn you 10 points, $0.01 would earn you 1 point, and so on.
Levels:There are three tiers to the b’inside program. The lowest is Green, the next is White, and the highest is Yellow. You move up a tier whenever you hit a milestone in a 3-month period. Your level will be reassessed on a quarterly basis.
You start off at Green right off the bat. Once you’ve earned 35000 points, you move up to White. And if you manage 175000 points in a 3-month period, you’ll hit the true elite – Yellow.
Rewards:Your b’inside Status Points earn you Market Points, which you can trade in for goods at the Bwin Market. Purchasable items include sporting goods, electronics, and poker gear. Cash bonuses are also available from the Market.
You can also use your Market Points to enter into exclusive VIP tournaments at Bwin. Buy in prices vary depending on your status level. As you move up in VIP levels, buying in to these exclusive tournaments becomes cheaper.
Once you hit the Yellow tier, you earn two important bonuses: priority customer service (akin to VIP hosts at other sites) and entry into bi-monthly 10,000,000 Market Points freerolls. 10 million points buys a whole lot of stuff from the Market, including up to $2,000 in cash bonuses.
We’ve included Cake Poker’s Loyalty Levels program on this list mainly because it’s unique. It may not be the best value around, but it’s certainly amusing – and that’s worth something.
The idea is that you earn Frequent Player Points in order to move through a series of levels. Within each level, there is a series of tiers you must clear. At each milestone, you earn prizes in the form of Gold Chips and cash bonuses. The novel thing here is that there are 50 – yes, fifty – levels in total.
Earning points:You accumulate FPPs at a rate of 1 point per $1 raked in cash games. In tournaments, it’s 7 points per $1 in fees paid. As you earn FPPs, you also earn Gold Chips. Chips are mainly used to purchase tournament tickets. You earn 1 GC per 100 FPPs.
Levels: Each of the 50 Loyalty Levels has a series of sub-levels you must clear in order to move up. Clearing requirements differ according to level and tier. You’ll find a Loyalty Levels calculator in the Cake software client, which will fill you in on the details of each level and tier.
Rewards:Below level 10, you’ll earn Gold Chips as you clear tiers. Above level 10, you’ll earn instant cash bonuses. You can always trade in your Chips for tournament entries and cash bonuses, too. For example 400 Gold Chips earns you a $100 cash bonus. If you’re playing a lot of poker, that can add up quickly!
Bovada Poker doesn’t have a loyalty program per se, but it does have a Poker Points system that can earn you a bit of cash. It’s like most other such systems, where you earn points as you pay rake. It’s unlike most other systems in that you can convert your points to a cash bonus instantly, without any hassle or wait.
Earning points:You earn Poker Points at different rates, depending on how much rake you pay in a hand. These rates apply to cash games only, and are as follows:
Tournament players earn 3 points per $1 in fees paid regardless of stakes. In addition to earning points via rake, you’ll also earn points simply by sitting in. Bovada hands out 1 point per hour you spend sitting in at a real money table, up to a maximum of 500 “sit-in” points per month.
Rewards:You can convert your Poker Points directly to cash at a rate of $1 per 100 points. So if you had 10,000 points, you’d be eligible for a $100 cash bonus. You’ll need to earn at least 500 points before you can make a cash exchange, and you can convert a maximum of 25,000 points per month to cash.
Alternatively, you can use your Poker Points to buy in to special freeroll qualifiers. For example, 200 points buys you entry to the $7,500 qualifier. Win that qualifier, and you’ve got a shot at taking down your part of a $7,500 prize pool in one of two monthly freerolls.
An honorable mention goes to the Winner Poker VIP program, which is simple yet valuable. It follows the rake, points, exchange model we’ve seen frequently above. The program is still new, so rewards are limited to cash and tournament entries at this time.
Earning points: You earn points at staggered levels depending on how much cash game rake you pay. There are over 10 rates, so I’ll just list the important ones below:
If you’re playing tournaments, expect to earn 18 points per $1 in tournament fees you pay.
Levels:The Winner Poker loyalty program has 7 tiers. You’ll earn a monthly bonus whose amount depends on the tier you occupy. The higher your level, the higher your bonus. The absolute highest you can go is a cool $850, which isn’t bad considering you can earn this every month.
Rewards: Trade in your points for either cash or tournament tickets. The points-to-cash exchange rate varies depending on the size of your transaction. For example 40,000 points are worth $500 in cash (80:1 ratio) while 4,000,000 points are worth $125,000 in cash (32:1 ratio). You can make an exchange any time through the Winner Shop, accessible from Winner Poker’s main page.
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