Frequent Player Points, or FPPs, are points that players earn for playing at PokerStars that can be spent on a diverse number of items. They are, in a sense, the currency used in the PokerStars store. Items
range from t-shirts to jackets and from plush toys to cookie baskets can be purchased using FPPs.
A common question regarding the PokerStars store is: What is the best way to spend FPPs? By best, players usually want to know how to get the greatest bang for their buck. The most common answer is the $4,000 VIP Reward
Bonus that only Supernovas can access for 250,000 FPPs. This bonus equates to getting $0.016 per FPP. This rate can also be attained by using PokerStars’
Concierge service.
However, not everybody has the time to spend on attaining
Supernova or the patience to save 250,000 FPPs. Luckily, there are alternatives to spending FPPs that can equate or even surpass the Supernova bonus rate. By entering PokerStars’ 10-player Sunday Million satellite for 5,400 FPPs, players have a chance to win T$215 (tournament dollars). The top four players of each tournament win a seat to the Sunday Million. PokerStars will automatically register the winners to that week’s
Sunday Million. By unregistering, players are awarded T$215.
Unfortunately, PokerStars will not buy back the tournament dollars. In order for the tournament dollars to be of any value, they must be sold to other players. If lucky, the buyer will buy the tournament dollars one-to-one; that is, the buyer will match the amount the tournament dollars are worth (buyer pays $215 for T$215). However, since tournament dollar buyers are providing a service, the agreement is to have the buyer buy at a
discount. Usually, the buyer pays 98%-99% of the tournament dollars’ value (the buyer buys T$215 for $210.70-$212.85).
Using simple arithmetic, one can find the
ITM% needed to attain a specific VIP rate. For this example, we will show the ITM% needed to attain the Supernova FPP rate. Supernovas spend 250,000 FPPs to attain $4,000 in cash bonuses. With 250,000 FPPs, a player can play in approximately 46.3 5,400 FPP Sunday Million satellites. Of those 46.3 attempts, a player must place in the money 18.8 times to make $4,000 (assuming we are selling our tournament dollars at a 99% rate). Therefore, if a player must place in the money 18.8 times out of 46.3 attempts, his ITM% must be ~40.6% (please note that this number may be higher given the opportunity cost of spending time [that can be used to earn additional FPPs] on these tournaments). Please remember that the top four players of each tourney get the tournament dollars. With this in mind, playing PokerStars 5,400 FPP Sunday Million satellites is an effective way to
turn those FPPs into cash!
The general equation for equating
ITM% to VIP Level
bonus is:
[
Bonus Amount/(215*selling rate)] * [5400/FPPs needed for
bonus]
