A new rakeback system went into effect on partypoker on Monday, May 22nd. The Cashback reward program, as it is called by partypoker, allows players to earn from 20 to 40 percent in rakeback per week.
It really is a simple system, something that should be familiar to most people who have participated in virtually any short of rakeback program. It starts with partypoker’s rewards points (which aren’t called Party Points anymore – who knew?), which are doled out at the rate of one for every $1 a player generates in rake (cash games or tournament fees).
Those points accumulate on a weekly basis, the week starting at 00:01 CET Monday and ending, at 23:59 Sunday (WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT EXTRA MINUTE?).
Beginning with a minimum of 25 points earned for the week, players can earn cash that will be deposited directly into their accounts. At that 25 point level, players will receive $5 back. At 50 points, it’s $10, and so on and so forth, with a 20 percent cash back rate up to 100 points.
Once a player crosses that 100 point threshold and hits 150 points, the rakeback percentage increases to 25 percent. It jumps to 30 percent at 600 points and finally 40 percent at 1,200 points.
Unlike traditional rakeback – the kind often earned via a rakeback affiliate – the cash back is not given in relation to the exact number of points a player earns for the week. Instead, there are certain points marks that must be hit to earn the next chunk of rakeback. For example, 400 points earns a player $100 (25 percent); the next plateau is 450 points for $112.50. If a player accumulates 430 points for the week, he doesn’t receive $107.50, but rather the $100 for hitting the 400 point mark. The remaining 30 points fall by the wayside. To earn the money for those 30 points, the player would have to gain another 20 points to get to 450.
Naturally, the gaps between the points thresholds increase at each rakeback percentage. At the 20 percent rate, the plateaus are every 25 points. At 25 percent, there are 50 points in between plateaus. At 30 percent, the gaps are 100 points and at 40 percent, the gaps are 200 points. After 2,000 points, players keep earning 40 percent for each additional 200 points accumulated.
These are not marginal rates, either. If a player crosses the 20 percent goal into 25 percent, he will earn 25 percent on his total points, not 20 percent for some and 25 percent for others.
As is the case for many online poker promos, players must go to their Rewards section of the poker client and “opt-in” to the Cashback rewards program. Fortunately, if a player opts in during the middle of the week, all of that player’s points for the week will count.
According to a partypoker representative on Two Plus Two, the requirement to opt-in is the result of a technical issue that is being worked on, so hopefully players won’t have to continue to opt-in every week for much longer.
