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WSOP Online Circuit Promo Plethora

Update 6:04pm Sep 15: This article was in error as to the Happy Hours. The double APPs do not count toward cashback. They only count toward loyalty status. Updated to reflect this.

WSOP.com is billing their late September tournament series as an Online Circuit event, which presumably means the winners will receive rings. For tournament players, this adds some events to play that may bring out more recreational players.

But, are you aware of the cash game promos WSOP.com is running at the same time? Sep 16-30

Beware long grinds

Expect tables to be much busier than this.

First, let me say that I’ve experienced many bonus bonanzas in my online poker career, and they were almost never worth grinding for long hours. The reasons are:

  • Bonuses are essentially just “decreased rake”
  • Recreational players don’t play more games
  • Grinders play more games

Your EV on every game is guaranteed to drop during this period, the question is whether it drops as much as the extra money you receive from the bonuses.

Ok, let’s get to the bonuses and I’ll lay out some strategies for this period after.

September Reload Bonus

This is an easy $500. Remember, WSOP doesn’t care if you deposit and withdraw a short time later. Go ahead and add this bonus to your account and start working on it.

Full Details

DIY Bonus

This is the toughie. For a NL100 grinder, the top prize is appealing. A $2000 bonus for 10k APPs earned in a 15 day period. This is $2000 on top of the $1600 (as top reward level) you would have earned in cashback for a $3600 rebate of the $5000 rake you paid. 72% rakeback.

Alternately, and much easier to reach is the 2nd tier. A $500 bonus for 5k APPs earned. A $1300 rebate on $2500 rake or 52% rakeback.

For myself, without adding extra games or playing bigger, I’d have to play 10 hours per day for all 15 days to reach 10k APPs.

Full Details

But there’s more…

Happy Hours

Between the hours of 5pm and 9pm, you receive double APPs. Though these APPs won’t count toward anything but loyalty status, for most grinders, it’s worthless.

Full Details

80%+ rakeback?

So, let’s do some quick math on taking advantage of these bonuses.

For exactly 10,000 APPs earned in the period.

  • $500 Reload
  • $2000 DIY
  • $1600 base cashback

Total rake rebate: $4100 or 82% rakeback

Granted, you will still have to play off $1200 of your DIY bonus which dilutes the actual rakeback some.

Effective Strategies

A good month of poker

 

If you can play long hours and stay focused and generally have a good strategy against the other regs on the site, by all means go for the $4500 in bonus.

Even with a goal for the second level of the DIY bonus, your rakeback would still exceed 50%, for me this is a much more sensible goal, as it allows me better game selection and I won’t be playing long days and exhaust myself.

Expect the regs that want to grind for the 10k to come online a little earlier and stay later. I will be grinding as early as 7am to miss this onslaught and still get some of the recreational players, taking a break in the afternoon. I’ll play less games and the better games and focus on making sound decisions while the regs are playing as many hands as possible.

Remember the goal is max EV, not max rakeback.

Good Luck regs!

Be careful of Tilt

graph of tilt progression

The Progression of Tilt

Might be a good time to check out my recent article on Tilt.

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