Free Stress Balls!

Filed in archive Internet Poker on January 9, 2007

As mentioned in a previous post winning a hand isn't the only way to build your bankroll while playing internet poker. Many sites now offer "VIP" or Frequent Player type rewards. The rewards range from freeroll tournaments with $100 given away, to tournaments such Full Tilt's Ironman or PokerStars VIP $100,000 monthly with potentially thousands of dollars being awarded to the victors.

But... there's a catch. You have to play. A lot. Then play some more. Unfortunately for the low-stakes player most of these rewards are difficult to obtain since "points" are awarded with a certain amount of rake paid per hand that you are dealt.

In my little experiment I've been imitating someone who multi-tables the lower stakes games at PokerStars in search for a little higher tier of VIP standing at the site. After just one hour of play I was able to obtain 430 VIP Player's Points while grinding away at the $1/$2 limit tables.

Tables is plurial for a reason because I was playing ten of them at the same time. Now, some players may scoff at that and say they play 12+ tables while reading the latest Grisham novel and polishing off a box of new popcorn chicken from Arby's. But to a regular low limit grinder getting the 10,000 VPPs needed for the top monthly tier means putting in nearly 25 hours of play at 10 tables.

Does the risk of not paying attention to all your opponents out weigh the rewards? We'll come back to that another time.