PokerStars Rakeback

PokerStars is one of the best poker sites in the world.

In many poker players opinions, the site that consistently hosts more than 200,000 players at a given time is absolutely the best, however, there is an area in which we've found fault.

When you compare PokerStars to other major poker portals they come up short in that they don't offer a rakeback program.

There is no such a thing as pokerstars rakeback, and if you find a poker site advertising it, it is against Pokerstars Terms of Services. It is not recommended to join such a rogue program, and it will shut down as soon as pokerstars finds out anyway.

PokerStars VIP Program

Further inspection of the offerings made available to VIP players at PokerStars however had our reviewers rethinking this stance.

While PokerStars doesn't offer a traditional rakeback program the site offers a more than stellar VIP program wherein players can actually earn anywhere from 5% to 150% of their rake....back.

Add that with freeroll events, and other bonuses the site offers, and you might find that as far as actually getting value for playing from the room itself, PokerStars is right up there with the biggest rakeback sites.

While you analyze the information below, keep in mind the poker sites that deduct from rakeback for bonuses, and other perks that players are encouraged to take advantage of at PokerStars. It is worth to download pokerstars and see for yourself.

PokerStars VIP scheme awards 5.5 VPP's to players for each $1USD they spend in rake. Players earn PokerStars VPP points and Frequent Player Points, known more commonly as FPP points, at the same time. The amount of FPP's earned varies dependant on the particular players current PokerStars VIP status. Players can earn from 1 to 5 FPP points for every VPP earned.

PokerStars FPP points can be used in the PokerStars store toward tournament buy-ins, and tons of merchandise. The cream of the crop in the PokerStars Store is the Porsche Cayman S.

Every player begins their debut into the PokerStars VIP program at the bronze star level.

How to Accrue VPP's

Players at the BronzeStar level earn 1 VPP point for every fixed limit, No limit, Pot Limit, or 1 on 1 hand where $0.40 is paid in rake. Players earn 1 VPP point for every hand wherein $1 is played in rake during any other type of poker game at Stars.

If the rake reaches $2 at a six max table, or $3 at any other table, then the player earns another VPP. 3 total VPP's are paid to any player at any table where the rake is $5.

Earning VPP's during tournaments

Players earn 5 VPP's for every $1 in tournament fee's paid to PokerStars. This doesn't include the actual buy-in to the event, just the fee.

VPP's are separate from FPP's. Players cannot shop in the PokerStars store with their VPP's, they can't be used as tournament buy-ins. The only thing VPP points are used for at PokerStars is determining the players status level in the VIP scheme.

Keeping in mind that every player that has 0-750 VPP points is playing at the BronzeStar level, BronzeStar players earn their FPP's or frequent player points, at the same rate that everyone earns VPP points.

SilverStar VIP Scheme Rewards

Most players really don't hang out long as BronzeStar players. Especially players that have made it to this point in this article.

It takes 750 VPP points to become a PokerStars SilverStar. Silver Players earn FPP points at a rate of 1.5 FPP's per VPP. That's the first perk of becoming a SilverStar Player at PokerStars. Another perk exclusive to SilverStar level VIP's is that they are able to purchase a $50 bonus from the PokerStars store for 5000FPP's.

Believe it or not, that's not considered a great buy, you can do better if you hang on for the next level.

GoldStar VIP Scheme Rewards

To Reach GoldStar status, a player needs to accrue 3000 VPP points in one month. If you do that, you are set at GoldStar until the end of the next month. 3000 VPP is a very easy level to reach if you play on a regular basis, even at the micro limits.

At GoldStar status, players start really reaping the value of their loyalty to PokerStars. Now players are earning FPP's at a rate of 2FPP's per 1VPP, and they're taking advantage of exclusive freeroll events, hot bonus offers, and are able to buy some very nice swag in the exclusive GoldStar section of the PokerStars store.

GoldStar Exclusive Freeroll Tournaments:
Weekly $20,000.00 Freeroll
Monthly $100,000.00 Freeroll

In addition to exclusive tournament invites, PokerStars offers a $285 bonus for sale in the store for 25,000 FPP's. The bonus is cleared with 1,995 FPP's that must be earned within the next 90 days. This is good. It's quite good, but not great, if you can hold off for Platinum, read on before buying any bonuses.

Platinum VIP Scheme Rewards

Earn 7,500 in VPP's during a single month and you become a PokerStars platinum VIP. At this level, FPP points are earned at a rate of 2.5 per VPP. Just to put the severity of the level of VIP in play here into perspective; Platinum VIP players can use their FPP points to enter the WSOP main event.

In addition to a seat in the World Series of Poker Platinum Players are able to buy seats in several major tournaments, including Pokerstars own WCOOP.

Platinum VIP members can buy a $650 bonus from the PlatinumStar portion of the store for 50k FPP's. If a PlatinumStar player were to play all of the freeroll tournaments at this level, and take advantage of the PlatinumStar bonus, let's just say PokerStars is kickin' Full Tilt's 27% in the ass.

PokerStars VIP Program Compared to Rakeback BronzeStar Players Earn Between 7%-11% in Player Rewards. SilverStar Players Earn Between 8% and 26% in Player Rewards - Rakeback. GoldStar Players Earn Between 15% and 43% in PokerStars Rakeback. PlatinumStar Players Earn Between 17% to 46% in Pokerstars Rewards and Rakeback.

Here are the PokerStars VIP Levels, the VPP's required to get to that level, and the rate of which you can then earn FPP's:
Players Earn SilverStar Status by earning 750 VPP's in One Month
Players Earn GoldStar Status after earning 3000 VPP's in One Month
Players Earn Platinum Status after earning 7500 VPP's in One Month

The final levels in the PokerStars VIP Scheme are SuperNova and SuperNova Elite. To reach SuperNova Status, a player must accrue 100,000 VPPs in one calendar year. The year ends on January 1st.

SuperNova Elite is the cream of the cream with a 1 million VPPs per year bar. Only a few hundred players reach this level each year, but it is worth it as the perks at SuperNova Elite surpass $100,000.

The rewards for SuperNova and SuperNova Elite players are amazing, in fact, they come with a personal concierge, in addition to a number of other mind boggling perks that are just too much to list here, check out PokerStars.com for further information on the SuperNova and SuperNova Elite VIP status levels.

Use pokerstars marketing code PSP8181 when you sign up at Pokerstars, and you will receive a 100% bonus up to $600 that you can apply to your first three deposits.

And you can watch and play with plenty of top pros like Vanessa Rousso.