Exclusive: New Jersey Online Poker VIP Programs Compared
There are five New Jersey online poker rooms that offer a VIP program. These programs offer players cash, tournament tickets or other prizes based on the amount of points earned. Poker points are tied to rake paid.
Some New Jersey poker sites offer better returns when exchanging points for tournament tickets, freerolls or merchandise. We do not include any of these in the charts below. These returns are based solely on cash paid to players at the best possible rate.
Betfair Poker VIP Program
Betfair offers the most straightforward VIP program. It does not force the player to do any math to figure out the rate of return. It is clearly disclosed as “valueback” on its poker VIP page. The rake requirement is based on monthly action:
| Tier | Rake Required | Rakeback |
| Platinum | $1,667 | 20% |
| Gold | $833 | 12% |
| Silver High | $278 | 10% |
| Silver Low | $139 | 9% |
| Bronze High | $56 | 8% |
| Bronze Mid | $28 | 7% |
| Bronze Low | $14 | 5% |
Borgata Poker VIP Program
The Borgata Poker VIP program returns little to players. There are probably some typos in the charts presented on the Borgata Poker site. For example, the Silver Label tier says this about converting points into cash:
Earn $25 in Cash for 1560 iRP (Over 69% discount over Red Label)
Black Label says this:
Earn $25 in Cash for 1560 iRP (75% discount over Red Label)
While Black Label Elite says this:
Earn $25 in Cash for 1560 iRP (Over 81% discount over Red Label)
Note that the number of points needed for $25 never changes but the percentage does. I contacted Borgata Poker support to clarify this but they never responded. I can only go by what is presented on the website. A points discount for higher tiers would not substantially improve returns compared to other sites.
Borgata VIP Return Chart:
| Tier | Monthly Rake | RB % |
| Red | $0 | 1% |
| Red Label Plus | $75 | 2% |
| Silver Label | $313 | 3% |
| Black Label | $1,250 | 3% |
| Black Label Elite* | $7,500 | 3% |
* Black Label Elite is an annual tier.
Borgata Poker players may want to consider exchanging points for comps at Borgata’s Atlantic City casino. The return there is 10-13%, depending on the tier.
Party Poker VIP Program
Party Poker does not pay cash through its VIP program. A bonus is as close as it gets. The best bonus is only available to Palladium players. It is a $100 bonus that requires 2,000 Party Points to purchase, which is equivalent to paying $1,000 in rake. The $100 bonus requires an additional 600 Party Points ($300 rake) before it is released. This means that a player must rake a total of $1,300 to receive $100 in cash.
There is a $50 bonus available to Gold and Palladium players. It requires $625 in rake to purchase and an additional $175 in rake to clear once it is pending. All players may purchase a $10 or $25 bonus. VIP bonuses expire in 60 days.
Players will receive better returns buying tournament tickets. A Palladium player can see a 16% return when buying $20 sit and go tickets. The return is just 8% for Bronze players buying the same ticket.
These are the best cash returns in terms of exchanging points for a bonus at Party Poker based on the amount of action required to turn it into cash:
|
Tier |
Rake Required |
RB Percent |
|
Bronze |
0 |
6% |
|
Silver |
$125 |
6% |
|
Gold |
$250 |
7% |
|
Palladium |
$500 |
8% |
While Party Poker’s VIP system is not competitive compared to other New Jersey poker sites it does offer the best first deposit bonus. The 100% up to $100 first deposit bonus clears at a rate of 50% rakeback.
Ultimate Poker VIP Program
Ultimate Poker has a complex VIP program. It is not easy to compute rakeback returns due to its format. We did the best that we could to come up with the proper numbers. The returns at levels below Black Chip are insignificant so we did not include them. Players at those levels cannot accumulate enough points in a year to meet the lowest cash exchange point.
Ultimate Poker’s VIP program is the same in Nevada as it is in New Jersey. It is competitive and players that can reach the Platinum Plaque tier will receive the highest level of VIP returns in either state. That tier requires $100,000 a year in rake to obtain.
We had to make some assumptions in our chart below due to how Ultimate Poker’s VIP program is designed. We assumed that a player started the tier at the beginning of the year and based all rewards on an entire year even though only Gold and Platinum Plaque are annual tiers. The monthly XP/rake required can be determined by dividing the tier by 12. Many of the lower tiers would only be able to convert points into cash a few times a year, which was another reason we went with annual rates.
The Cranberry Chip tier is hard to compute because at some point a player would enter Gold Plaque. Gold Plaque has a number of Milestone Bonuses on the quest to Platinum. For these reasons, those tiers show the lowest possible return where the other tiers show the highest return.
| Tier | XP/Yr | Rake/Yr | Annual U-Points | Reward Cash | Milestone | Rakeback % |
| Black | 6,000 | $600 | 72,000 | $40 | x | 6.70% |
| Purple* | 12,500 |
$1,250 | 100,000 | $90 | x | 7.20% |
| Yellow | 30,000 | $3,000 | 300,000 | $270 | $25 | 9.80% |
| Orange | 60,000 | $6,000 | 720,000 | $680 | $50 | 12.20% |
| Cranberry | 120,000 | $12,000 | 1,800,000 | $1,770 | $175 | 16.20% |
| Gold | 100,000 | $10,000 | 1,800,000 | $1,770 | $175 | 19.45% |
| Platinum | 1,000,000 | $100,000 | 30,000,000 | $28,000 | $17,625 | 45.60% |
* The minimum Purple Chip tier requires 1,000 XPs per month to qualify. We bumped it up slightly to get it to the next cash reward tier to show the proper return.
WSOP.com VIP Program
WSOP.com offers a generous VIP program that is connected to Caesars Entertainment’s Total Rewards program. Players that maintain a tier for four consecutive months will receive a Total Rewards card for the same level. This can be beneficial to players that reach Diamond as they may then receive access to the exclusive Diamond Lounge available at most Caesars Entertainment properties.
| Tier | APPs Required | Rake Required | Rakeback | Monthly/Yearly |
| Silver | 200 | $100 | 8% | Monthly |
| Gold | 400 | $200 | 10% | Monthly |
| Platinum | 1,200 | $600 | 12% | Monthly |
| Diamond | 3,500 | $1,750 | 15% | Monthly |
| Elite | 50,000 | $25,000 | 20% | Yearly |
| Seven Stars | 400,000 | $200,000 | 30% | Yearly |
WSOP Action Points are exchanged for cash in the software. The minimum points exchange is $10.
888 VIP Program
888 has not yet published any information regarding its New Jersey online poker VIP program.
Contact John Mehaffey via Twitter @John_Mehaffey and USPoker.com @USPoker