How to Make the Most of the PokerStars Rewards Program
Ten months ago, PokerStars replaced its old VIP system with a new rewards program that earns players significantly more bonuses than the old program. In fact, the new program was advertised with up to 65% rakeback via PokerStars Rewards. In this article, we will take a closer look at the PokerStars Rewards Program and show you how to earn cashback.
How to Earn PokerStars Reward Points
In order to receive rewards through the PokerStars Rewards program, you have to earn so-called Reward Points. These are points that are proportional to the rake paid. This is how these Reward Points are distributed:
- Tournaments: Players receive 100 Reward Points for every $1 in tournament fees.
- Cash & Zoom: Players receive 100 Reward Points for every $1 in rake in all cash games.
You can also earn Reward Points through casino and sports betting, although different keys apply here depending on the game. The bottom line, however, is that you always earn roughly 100 Reward Points for every dollar PokerStars collects via fees or house edge.
PokerStars Reward Level
There are six different reward levels at PokerStars. For each of these, you earn so-called chests, which contain fixed cash rewards.
These are the six levels:
| Level | Points per Chest | Chests to level up | Chest value | Cashback |
| Blue | 333 | 5 | $0.50 | 15% |
| Bronze | 935 | 5 | $1.50 | 16% |
| Silver | 2,850 | 7 | $5 | 17.50% |
| Gold | 10,800 | 7 | $20 | 18.50% |
| Diamond | 37,500 | 10 | $75 | 20% |
| Black | 100,000 | - | $250 | 25% |
Each player starts at the "Blue" level. As soon as you have earned 333 reward points, you get your first chest, which contains 50 cents cash. As soon as you have collected 5 of these chests, you will be promoted to the next level.
You have 28 days to level up. If 28 days pass and you haven't won a single chest, you will be moved down a level.
For example, to level up from Bronze to Silver, you need to win 5 Chests. For each chest, you need 935 Rewards Points. That means you need to earn 4,675 Rewards Points within 28 days to advance to the next level. This is equivalent to about $47 rake. To reach the highest level ("Black"), you need to earn 375,000 Rewards Points within 28 days. This corresponds to $3,750 rake within four weeks.
Additionally up to 40% Cashback via Monthly Challenges
Every player who is at least in the "Silver" level has additionally the possibility to earn up to 40% cashback via so-called Monthly Challenges.
For these challenges, there is an additional points variant, the so-called Redemption Points. You earn 5 Redemption Points per dollar of rake paid. The challenges are tailored to the player and there is a new one every month. These challenges require you to earn a certain number of Redemption Points and give a reward in cash once the challenge is completed.
This is what these challenges can look like:
- 125 Redemption Points for $10 cash
- 750 Redemption Points for $15 Cash
- 2,500 Redemption Points for $200 Cash
- 15,000 Redemption Points for $300 Cash
Each challenge is worth at least 10% and up to 40% cashback. As a player, you can never know exactly what challenge PokerStars has in store for you next month. The provider itself states that the rewards for the monthly challenges depend on your playing history. Long-time winners are likely to receive a monthly poker challenge of 10% instead of the maximum monthly poker challenge of 40%.
Long-term successful poker players should expect 10% cashback via the challenge program rather than more.
Is the PokerStars Rewards program worth it?
The Stars Rewards program is leaps and bounds better than the program the provider had in previous years, which gave many players cashback only in the single-digit percentage range.
Active players now receive a minimum of 17.5% cashback through the core PokerStars Rewards program starting at the Silver level. In addition, they can also earn at least 10% further cashback each month via the Challenges. This equates to a total rate of at least 27.5%.
There are providers that pay more cashback, but PokerStars is in the upper midfield with their Rewards Program and offers a reliable VIP system that also guarantees a good cashback rate for players who are long-term winners. Overall the PokerStars Rewards Program is good and worth it, mainly because the core rakeback system does not discriminate between net depositing and net withdrawing players.
» All you need to know about PokerStars in our Review
*Any mention of a bonus or discussion of such terms is not in relation to the province of Ontario.
Yes but how do you redeem the rewards from the chests, it is not easy to find the way to do this, there is no “ redeem your rewards” label in your OVERVIEW list. WHY NOT !!!!