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PokerStars FPPs

FPPs on PokerStars are the player points that are earned when playing in real money games. Play money players do not earn FPPs. FPPs can be used for items in the VIP store at PokerStars.

FPPs are earned according to how much rake you pay and what VIP status level you are. Players who have a higher VIP status at PokerStars are entitled to more FPPs than newer or lower volume players. The more that you play on PokerStars, the more FPPs that you are going to earn.

FPPs can really add up before you even know it. Cash back rewards are just the beginning of what FPPs can translate into. Even if you don’t want cash for your FPPs, there are many other options available to you. PokerStars could send you a sweater, hat, or even an iPod for your efforts as a player.

PokerStars also has some unique player rewards that you won’t be able to find on other poker sites. For example, the concierge services available to some PokerStars players are a great help when shopping or traveling. PokerStars support staff goes out of their way to make sure that all players are happy with their rewards.

Earning PokerStars FPPs

The PokerStars reward program can be confusing. There are VPPs and FPPs that are used on PokerStars. VPPs are used as a tool for measuring status levels, while FPPs are the actual points that are paid out to players. It might seem intimidating or confusing at first, but the rewards program at PokerStars is actually quite simple.

Best Ways to Earn PokerStars FPPs

Players who participate in real money games will always be generating FPPs, whether they are in ring games, sit n gos, or tournaments. The rate at which FPPs are paid out varies from game to game.

If you play a tournament, look at the buy in fee to determine how many FPPs you are going to receive. It works the same way if you are playing sit n gos. Cash (ring) games are where you are going to be able to earn the most FPPs. In a tournament or sit n go, the buy in fee will pre determine how many FPPs you earn, but in a cash game you are going to keep piling up FPPs. Look below to see exactly how FPPs are calculated for each type of real money game on PokerStars.

Ring Games (8 or more players)

FPPs are paid out differently according to how many players are at your table. For example, a full ring game will pay out FPPs at a different rate than a short handed (6 max) game. Technically, the FPP payout structures are set in two different categories: tables with 8 or more players, and table with 7 or fewer players. You could actually be sitting at a full ring game and earn the FPP equivalent of a short handed game. In other words, even at a full ring game, your FPP earnings will vary from hand to hand.

Since the FPPs that you earn are going to be relative your VIP status level, PokerStars calculates VPPs per hand instead of FPPs. You are going to have to alter the calculation formula to fit your personal status level.

The rate of VPPs at full ring tables (assuming 8 or more players are dealt in) is 6 VPPs per $1.00 paid in rake. The VPPs are not going to be evenly divisible by the amount of players at the table, so PokerStars will break the VPP total evenly amongst all players involved. The VPPs will be broken up all the way to the hundredth. In other words, no one is going to be getting free VPPs, everyone is equal.

Ring Games (7 or fewer players)

Short handed games do not pay as many VPPs as full ring games. Players are going to earn 5.5 VPPs for every dollar paid in rake. This is a .5 VPP difference when compared to the full ring games. .5 VPPs seems minute, but it can really add up. The entire premise of VPPs is that players are rewarded for steady play, so you are definitely going to earn a bit less when at the ring games. What is lost in this, however, is that you are going to be receiving bigger chunks of each VPP pool. PokerStars is not giving an edge to the full ring players, instead they are balancing out the equation by offering 5.5 VPPs per $1 to short handed players, and 6 VPPs to full ring players.

Your Cut

Players are going to earn more VPPs if the game happens to be short handed, even if they are sitting at a full ring game. The reason for this is simple. Because the VPPs are split evenly amongst all players involved in a hand, each player will get a bigger cut of the entire VPP pool.

Pretend 5 players were vying for 10 VPPs in a hand. At that rate the players in the hand would each be entitled to 2 VPPs.

Now pretend that the number of players involved dropped down to 4. This would then mean that each player is due 2.5 VPPs.

At the surface it might seem like it would be a good idea to only play short handed games, but this wouldn’t be very profitable. While you are earning more VPPs when fewer players are in the pot, you are also going to be paying more in rake. VPPs and FPPs are not given away for no reason. PokerStars would not be giving out points to players if they were not being paid a lot of money in rake.

In short, don’t worry about how many players are at your table when earning VPPs. In the short term you might earn more or less than you would expect, but in the end it will all even out. VPPs and FPPs are not free money, instead they are a kickback for the rake that you are paying in.

Limits

The higher limit games will provide more of an opportunity for players to earn massive amounts of VPPs. This doesn’t make playing medium or high stakes games a good choice. The only reason that higher limit games pay out more VPPs is because players are paying in more rake. Plus, if you can’t beat the games, you will be costing yourself far too much in real money for a chance at earning some VPPs.

The rewards for medium or high stakes players will add up much more quickly than they do for micro or small stakes players, but it is only because they are paying in more rake. Look at it this way, if you got 10% off of a $300 purchase, you would be saving $30. If you got 10% off of a $500 purchase, however, you would then be saving $50. Your savings, or rewards in this case, will be greater when you spend more money, but you are also spending more money to get the rewards.

Your aim as a player shouldn’t be to earn VPPs, instead you should aim to be a winning player and let the VPPs exist as a side benefit. This is particularly true in ring games, where some players put all of their focus on VPPs and rewards instead of actual profits at the tables.

Sit n Go and Tournament FPPs at PokerStars

Tournaments and sit n gos follow the same VPP payout structure as short handed ring games, 5.5 VPPs per $1 in rake paid. The rake is represented by the buy in fee for any given event.

Most players find that it is tough to accumulate VPPs by playing tournaments. Buy in fees don’t really add up unless you are playing a ton of tournaments at a time. VPPs do add up, however, if you are multi tabling either sit n gos or tournaments.

Even someone who plays $10 sit n gos will be able to see big returns on their investments, if they are multi tabling.

In a $10 tournament, the buy in fee is typically around $1. For this dollar you earn 5.5 VPPs. If you play 10 tournaments in an hour, this is worth 55 VPPs.

Now, pretend that you play 20 hours of poker per week in this same structure, that is 1,100 VPPs. In a little over a month you can earn an iPod, even if you are a Bronze star player. Add the multiplier in and you will see that the rewards are much more significant than they might seem.

Multiplier

Players who are steady PokerStars players are rewarded even more than casual players. The VIP status levels on PokerStars determines how many FPPs that you earn for each VPP that you earn. This is where the entire VIP rewards system comes full circle. New or low volume players will definitely get rewards, but it is the high volume players who really see big cash back rewards.

New players on PokerStars are Bronze star players. Bronze star players earn FPPs at the same rate that they earn VPPs. In other words, one VPP is worth one FPP.

Players who become Silver star players see a slight pay increase, 1.5 FPPs paid for every VPP earned. This looks like a small multiplier, but it amounts to a huge increase in FPPs.

It doesn’t stop here, however, as players can advance to Gold or Platinum stars, and can eventually work their way to Supernova or Supernova Elite status. Gold star players earn a 100% (2x) multiplier on all VPPs earned. This means that they are now earning exactly double what they were when they first joined PokerStars. A multiplier this big will allow for a big boost to any bankroll.

Platinum star players earn 2.5x FPPs, Supernova players earn 3.5x FPPs, and Supernova Elite players earn 5x FPPs.

Loyalty is rewarded at PokerStars. Supernova Elite players earn over $100,000 worth of cash back bonuses and other rewards. These players have to put in a lot of work to earn these massive bonuses, but in the end they often find that it was worth the time and effort.

PokerStars VIP Store

The FPPs that you earn are instantly credited within your PokerStars cashier. They wouldn’t do any good if you just let them sit there though. This is where the PokerStars VIP store comes into play. After earning FPPs, you are able to use them in the VIP store. There are many different items that can be purchased with FPPs at the VIP store.

One of the most popular items in the VIP store are cash bonuses. These bonuses range from $10 up to tens of thousands of dollars. Your VIP status level will, in part, determine whether you are eligible to purchase a certain item.

If you don’t want a cash bonus for your FPPs, other options still remain. Players can purchase anything from books to clothing to electronics in the PokerStars VIP store. It is a good idea to compare the cash value of your FPPs when determining which item(s) you want to purchase.

An iPod might cost you more in FPPs than the cash equivalent. If this happens to be the case, you are better off purchasing a cash bonus for your FPPs and then buying the item on your own. There is a huge variety of items to choose from in the VIP store, it would be tough to find a player who couldn’t find an item that they liked.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Party Poker is hosting a women’s poker tournament called the “PartyPoker Women’s World Open IV” later this month. The PartyPoker Women’s World Open IV is a ladies only poker tournament being held in London, England on March 23 and March 24, 2010. The tournament will have 24 players, and the buy-in for the PartyPoker Womens World Open IV is $3000. (The total prize pool is $72,000.)

You can expect to see some of the following women poker players participating in the Party Poker Womens World Open IV:

• Kara Scott
• Annette Obrestad
• Aisling Collins
• Kim Wooka
• Shelley Rubenstein
• Stefanie Bergener
• Maria Demetriou
• Christine Klecz
• Pippa Flanders

Party Poker has plans to televise the event later this year. Jesse May will provide commentary for the televised tournament. The PartyPoker Women’s World Open IV looks like a good opportunity to watch some expert poker strategy in action.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Texas Hold em is the most popular card game in casinos and online poker rooms. Due to a blast of recent media exposure Texas Hold em has enjoyed great popularity for gamblers at all levels. Still, the game shares a few key differences with that of traditional poker that can be mystifying to Texas Hold em novices. As opposed to other poker variations where individuals carry their own hand, Texas Hold em is a community card game where players may use the five “community cards” as well as their own two “hole cards” in combination to make a winning hand. Because Texas Hold em is relatively simple with a little experience, and five cards are shared among all players, it is the perfect game to apply mathematical strategy. Texas Hold em is the game publicized in televised poker tournaments, like the World Series of Poker.

Texas Hold em play requires a minimum foundation of knowledge of the poker game and involves a few tidbits of technical knowledge and jargon. There are several modes of betting, including small blind bets, big blind bets, and Antes, which are defined as forced contributions by all players at the table. Blind bets are placed by players to the left of the dealer button. In Texas Hold em the dealer button is used to designate the player acting as dealer. The number of blind bets can vary. The small blind bet is posted by the player directly to the left of the dealer and usually equals half of the big bet, posted by the player to the left of the small blind player. Betting structures of Texas Hold em include limit, no limit, and pot limit Hold em.

Each hand in Texas Hold em begins when each player is dealt two cards face down, with the small blind player receiving the first card. The dealer receives the last card. Betting begins with the small blind player and continues until all players fold. This is the pre-flop round. Following the pre-flop round the dealer produces three face up community cards and another round of betting commences. After this flop round another community card is dealt followed by another round of betting. Next, the final community card is dealt, referred to as the river. The next phase is referred to as the showdown. If all players fold and one betting player is left, that player is awarded the pot without having to reveal his hole cards.

Common Texas Hold em poker strategy recommends playing “tight,” meaning restricting the amount of times one bets while raising on few chosen hands. Raising later in the game is recommended as well, since players who bet later have more information about cards than those who bet early.

Popularity: 87% [?]

Congratulations to Smokkee for winning his third Mookie title.  Be sure to read his previous profiles.  Here is his latest profile…

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Champion: Smokkee

Blog: Adventures on the Poker Felt

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Q: Do you have any pre-poker rituals?

$: None.

Q: Do you have a special place, room, or setup that you prefer to play online? Describe?

$: The “POC” is in our spare bedroom.

Q: What variation of poker do you consider to be your strongest game?

$: NLHE full ring

Q: What variation of poker do you feel needs more work?

$: Every other most def

Q: Why do YOU play The Mookie?

$: I enjoy ten dollar tilt.

Q: Are you a winning player and if so how long did it take you to become a winning player?

$: I haven’t made any new deposits to my poker accounts since 2006 except to take advantage of reload bonus offers from time to time, I started playing in 2004.

Q: What bankroll standards have you setup for yourself?

$: Minimum 20 buy-ins for cash and 50 for MTT’s.

Q: Cash or MTT?

$: I bounce between both.

Q: What was your worst reaction to a bad beat?

$: A few years ago I broke my laptop screen slamming the lid down.

Q: Do you believe ‘Trash Talking’ is a legitimate strategy to be used while playing poker and why?

$: I don’t consider it a legit strategy although it may work against some players who can’t tune it out.  I think its ok in a private game as long as it’s friendly jabber.  Smack talking a stranger in a live game is no bueno unless he’s ruining the game.

Smokkee’s question for the next champ…

Q: What is the biggest purchase you’ve made from your poker winnings?

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Congrats again to Smokkee and thanks for participating in this profile.

Popularity: 94% [?]

Congratulations to 1Queens Up1 for winning his first Mookie title.  Here is his profile…

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Champion: 1Queens Up1

Blog: Green Fish!

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Q: How did you get into poker?

1QU1: Very slowly actually. The first game I remember playing was 5 card draw for quarters before and after Biology class in 10th grade (1996) which led to some kids setting up a card night where we played this awesome game called “Anaconda”, a 7 card stud variant. I also saw Rounders in the theatre without really knowing/understanding what Texas Holdem was. But I would have to say the biggest influence on me playing poker has to be Magic: The Gathering. Magic and poker are similar in that while there is luck involved (more luck in Magic than Poker) you also need skill to be able to play at a competitive level.

Q: Do you have any poker related goals and if so what are they?

1QU1: At first it was simply “make money”. Then I wanted to at least play in the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods. Then I really wanted to attempt the WSOP (which I am doing this year thanks to Al & the BBT!).   I guess right now my only poker goal is to continually improve to a point where even Chad might consider me an equal. Really is there any higher goal than that?

Q: What are key improvements that you’ve seen in your game over the last six months, and what is one priority you have for improving? (Submitted by CC)

1QU1: Patience, patience, patience. A lot of players panic or give up when they lose a lot of chips early on in a tourney. Pick your spots and go with your reads.
2 areas I’d like to improve upon is my blinds play, and getting away from Phil Gordon’s theory of never being the first to enter the pot without a raise. I need to learn to limp a little more as odd as that sounds.

Q: How would you describe your poker style?

1QU1: I feel about 99% of players classify me as a rock-type player but that’s great, please continue to play me that way. I just try to feel for spots where I may get folds if I raise or paid off when I have a hand.

Q: What would be your first piece of advice for someone wanting to learn to play poker? (Submitted by Maudie)

1QU1:Read and Play. I’m more of a “learn by doing” type of person so I read a brief introductory of Texas Hold’em in Poker For Dummies then I went out to Foxwoods and tried it out.

Q: What level of static do you get over your poker habit? (Submitted by Drewspop)

1QU1: My gf is awesome about it, she has supported me through good and bad times. She’s stayed up late when I’ve gone deep in tourneys online and watched me live when I am going for 10k seats into the Foxwoods World Poker Finals, she’s absolutely the best with regards to me playing. My mom and her parents are all supportive of me and playing, while my dad basically calls it “your silly poker thing”.

Q: What was the first poker blog you read?

1QU1: Its a toss up between my buddy Unimpressed “Live By The River-Die By the River” blog or Hoy. I initially started my blog because the first blogger tournament I played back in June 07 was also my first blogger win at Hoy’s MATH and I felt like I should have a blog to be playing with you guys!

Q: Who would be at your 6-handed SNG?

1QU1: I’m going to take the route as a friendly SNG because I love to hear stories. I’d take Doyle to listen to all his Texas Road stories, Jennifer Harmon to hear about her experiences as an up and coming female player surviving in a “man’s” game, Scotty for his drunken stories, Mike Sexton for his Stuey stories, and Moneymaker because I really am curious to see what kind of stories he has since winning the 03 Main Event, I wouldn’t be surprised if he writes a pretty honest book in the future about it.

Q: Between Nihilism and Masochism, which do you think better describes why you play poker? (Submitted by Iakaris)

1QU1: I’m going to say Masochism, just because when you finally win, all the pain and mental anguish you put yourself through makes the win that much more satisfying and rewarding. A little known fact is that poker was a form of self-flagellation for the Opus Dei secret society. I read that on Wikipedia, so it must be true.

Q: What’s the last book you have read?

1QU1:I’ve been on a Poker book non-strategy kick lately, the last book I finished was Mike Matusow’s autobiography Check-Raising the Devil. Excellent book and it really does give me a new perspective on “The Mouth”.

Q: Tell us a little known fact about yourself.

1QU1: I went to Catholic school as a kid and to receive the sacrament of Confirmation you must choose a name to be anointed with and prepare an essay on who the person is, what works he did, and why you chose him. So I got this really cool idea to make up a saint to use as my Confirmation name, this is how “Saint Hector, Protector of the Burros” came to be.

I did my essay and as you would expect I was called into the principal’s office (a nun) and was bombarded with questions regarding who this person is. I stuck to my story of him being a little-known Mexican saint who happened upon a pack of burros that were being viciously beaten by a mean farmer. Hector, spoke to the farmer in a calm voice asking him to think about what he was doing and remember “do unto others as you would do unto them” and he realized he was in the wrong and changed his mean ways.

The principal still protested my choice but eventually allowed it. So officially my name is Brian Thomas-Hector S.  It must have been destiny that I chose someone who protected burros, as clearly he could also be the Patron Saint of poker players everywhere.

1Queens Up1′s question for the next champ…

Q: What was the single best poker moment you have ever experienced?

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Congrats again to DrPauly and thanks for participating in this profile.

Popularity: 95% [?]

I’m WAY behind on posting anything here and in checking/replying to emails. I apologize to all the Mookie winners over the last few weeks, I finally emailed the profile questions today.  Here are the winners for the last few Mookie tourneys…

5/20/09 - Smokkee

5/27/09 - 1Queens Up1

6/3/09 – VBPro7

I’ll be posting their profiles over the next few days and hope to be posting on a more regular basis as well.  One of these days I’ll carve out some time to explain what’s been going on in my life.  Lots of changes but all good stuff.

Popularity: 92% [?]

Click HERE to the see the full list of players.

Top 25 (5/27/09)

Provided by WillWonka.

Popularity: 91% [?]

Congratulations to ShipFaced12 for winning his first Mookie title while securing his 2nd BBT4 TOC seat (due to a chop FAIL).  Two seats is pretty impressive especially considering he’s only played 8 events.

1. ShipFaced12
2. sellthekids
3. Cmitch
4. Irongirl01
5. Joanne1111
6. APOSEC72
7. BamBamCan
8. Lightning36
9. blaargh86

Popularity: 98% [?]

The Mookie kick off at 9:00PM CT on Full Tilt tonight and TuscaloosaJohn is your defending champ.  Everyone is welcome and the password is vegas1.  Be sure to tune into BuddyDank Radio for tourney coverage.

Tournament: The Mookie
When: Wednesday at 22:00ET
Game: NLHE
Buyin: $10+1
Password: vegas1

Popularity: 97% [?]

Click HERE to the see the full list of players.

Provided by WillWonka.

Popularity: 96% [?]