WSOP NJ Has Its Moment In The Sun Thanks To A Stocked Promotional Cupboard

After a whirlwind October that saw PokerStars NJ reinforce its foothold in the New Jersey online poker market, WSOP NJ is fighting back with arguably its strongest promotional push since the site first launched nearly three years ago.

Reload bonuses highlight November promotions

Bound to attract returning players to the site are two reload bonuses that taken together, will award an unprecedented $1,723 to those who take full advantage.

Fall Reload

The first, entitled Fall Reload, offers players who use promotional code FALL600 a 100 percent deposit match up to $600. Like similar reload offers run by WSOP NJ in the past, players will unlock $10 for every 100 Action Player Points (APPs) earned.

APPs are accrued at a rate of 2 APPs for every $1 paid in rake and tournament fees, meaning that players who take part in Fall Reload will earn 20 percent rakeback. This is on top of what they already earn in accordance with their Action Club loyalty tier.

The promotion is already in full swing, having kicked off on October 28. The final bell sounds on November 13, but players will have 60 days from the time they opt in to fulfill the APP requirements.

Anniversary Celebration

WSOP NJ will up the ante even further beginning on November 19, with a reload offer reminiscent of the promotional fire sales of 2013-14.

Players who partake in Anniversary Celebration (promotional code CHEER) will be entitled to a 100 percent deposit match up to $1,123. The monetary cap of this offer is the biggest affixed to a match bonus in NJ online poker history.

Why the odd number? November 23, 2013 was the day that WSOP NJ first went live in New Jersey; the numerical value chosen is a reflection of that date and three successful years in the industry.

Like Fall Reload, bonus funds from Anniversary Celebration clear at a rate of $10 per 100 APPs earned.

In other ways, the latter promotion should prove more appealing to players:

• Players have a full 90 days from the point of activation to clear the bonus.
• As an added incentive, players will earn double APPs from 11:23 a.m., on November 20, through 11:23 a.m. on November 21. These added points will only apply to a player’s loyalty tier, and not their reload bonus(es).

Anniversary Celebration runs from November 19 – 25.

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More ways to earn

WSOP NJ is also hosting a swath of other promotions this November, many of which are recurring on the site:

• APP Leaderboards: Each week in November, the 30 casual players (loyalty level Silver+ and below) who rack up the most loyalty points will split a $2,500 prize pool, with $500 going to first.
• Happy Hours: Earn double APPs at the ring game tables. Runs from 4 p.m. – 8 p.m. daily in November.
• Leaderboards: Both MTT and SNG Leaderboards will return in full force, with a combined $5,000 in weekly prizes. Promotional period runs from November 1 – 28.

Notice the emphasis on accumulating APPs. Combined with the reload offers, players have never been more incentivized to up their loyalty status.

Measuring the impact on the market

After maintaining the market’s cash game traffic lead (based on data from Poker Industry Pro via PokerScout) for much of the summer and early fall, WSOP NJ and network partner 888 Poker NJ saw their position take a hit in October.

The drop-off was somewhat expected, as both Party / Borgata and PokerStars NJ were hosting high-profile tournament series. The latter also rolled out a reload offer of its own.

Presently, WSOP/888 is still lagging slightly behind PokerStars, which followed up its NJCOOP and PokerStars Festival with another running of its popular CardHunt promotion. However, the gap is small, with PokerStars NJ controlling  39.5 percent of cash game liquidity, and WSOP/888 36.6 percent.

On the revenue front, PokerStars’ lead over its competitors shrank dramatically in September. However, when the October revenue reports are released later this month, players can expect to see the full impact of the largely successful NJCOOP. This, coupled with a subdued month from WSOP/888, and a disastrous turn of events for Party/Borgata, should see PokerStars regain a comfortable lead.

It could be a short lived lead, however.

Granted, a portion of PokerStars’ positive momentum should carry over to November. But with some Party/Borgata players presumably looking for a new home, and the monumental promotional push by WSOP NJ, it’s conceivable that the industry’s top two networks will lock horns in a close race for the market share lead.