partypoker to Unveil Revamped Loyalty Program March 1st
One of the internet’s leading online poker rooms, partypoker, announced this week that it has revamped its customer loyalty scheme and will roll out the changes on Sunday, March 1st. The changes are not overly drastic – the program is not undergoing a complete overhaul – but based on what partypoker has said so far, it appears that the adjustments should help players.
Not all of the details have been released yet, but in a post on the partypoker blog, the site said that the current loyalty levels will remain the same, but it will be easier to move up. Bronze, of course, will still be the base loyalty level and will require no points. If you have a partypoker account, you are automatically at Bronze Level. Everything else will have its requirements drastically cut. Take a look:
Silver old requirement = 400 Party Points per month; new requirement = 50 Party Points per month
Gold old requirement = 1,000 Party Points per month; new requirement = 750 Party Points per month
Palladium old requirement = 9,000 Party Points per quarter; new requirement = 2,000 Party Points per month
Palladium is the one that, for some, may actually turn out to be harder. There could be some people have slow months at the start of a quarter and go nuts in the latter part of the quarter to hit the Palladium requirement, so for them, this isn’t the best news. But for the vast majority, it will now probably be much easier to make Palladium. 2,000 Party Points per month versus an average of 3,000 per month is just math.
Another thing about the new loyalty program that players will probably like is that Party Points will be able to be exchanged for cash, at a rate of up to 22.2 percent rakeback equivalent. Higher loyalty levels, as one might expect, get better rates.
The way players earn Party Points will not change. Two points are earned for every $1 spent on rake or tournament fees.
To celebrate the new loyalty program, partypoker is giving away tickets to the March 1st $500K Guaranteed tournament (it is normally the $200K Guaranteed, but the prize pool has been boosted while the buy-in remains at $200). The tickets will be awarded in four Freeway to $500K freerolls, one freeroll for each loyalty level. Seeing as the new loyalty system doesn’t take effect until March 1st, assigning loyalty levels early based on the new system is tricky, so the time span is compressed. Points will be counted from February 16th through February 28th. Those who earn enough points for the “new” loyalty levels will earn a ticket for that level’s freeroll. Bronze isn’t an auto-ticket; players must earn five points to nab that one.
In the Bronze freeroll, 10 tickets to the $500K Guaranteed will be awarded. For the Silver, Gold, and Palladium freerolls, 20, 30, and 40 tickets will be awarded, respectively.
Once March rolls around the all the loyalty changes are implemented, partypoker will also run a “Loyalty Launcher” promotion in which players can try to earn as many points from March 1st through March 8th to win cash prizes. It’s not going to be a lot of cash, but “not a lot” is better than nothing at all.
During the Loyalty Launcher, Bronze players can earn as much as $5 (yes, that’s FIVE dollars – told you it wasn’t much). Every five points earned will award a little something, maxing out at 25 points and five dollars in total. Silver players will win some money for every 25 points earned for a maximum total of $20. Gold players will earn 25 percent extra points during the week, up to 200 points. Partypoker hasn’t explicitly stated how much the Palladium bonus will be during the Loyalty Launcher, but the blog post does say “you’ll be able to…earn up to 50% more points, depending on your VIP level….” so it looks like 50 percent might be the Palladium bonus.
No reason has been given as to why partypoker is not releasing all the details about the revamped VIP system when we are just a week and a half away from the launch date, but perhaps all of the specifics have yet to be worked out. It looks fairly promising for players, even if it is possibly a bit underwhelming. It will be interesting to see any rewards have been cut, seeing as the VIP levels will be easier to attain. Naturally, there will be players who will scoff at the rakeback equivalent of the cash back, thinking it is too low (I am unable to comment one way or the other, being an American who is unable to play much of anywhere), but the idea behind making the loyalty levels easier to hit is a good one. Casual players will feel more encouraged with the ability to rise in the ranks (I know I would) and might very well feel more compelled to play every day.
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