WPT Global Changes Policy Towards Highly-Skilled Players: FAQ

Announcement From Alex Scott on Two Plus Two

In July, 2024 president of WPT Global Alex Scott chatted with readers of [WPT Global] Official Thread on 2+2 forum about different things in the room, when person named “ALIGATO” joined the сconversatrion, asking about the recent rumor:

Alex Scott answered to this with the following:

“Not quite. From 1st August we’ll no longer be paying revenue share to affiliate partners on NLHE and Short Deck cash game play, on stakes where the player is classified as highly-skilled. (We’re still paying rev share on all other game formats like Omaha, MTT, and spins, and on NLHE and Short Deck stakes where the player is not classified as highly-skilled).

Some affiliates who offer rakeback to pros (something we always strongly discouraged) will therefore have to adjust the deals they have given to players.

There are various reasons for this but essentially, pros are, on the whole, winning much more on WPTG before rewards than they do on other networks after rewards. It is not necessary for us to further incentivise pros to play in games that they are already crushing. The money that we previously spent doing this will be allocated to other promos and rewards.”

Later he also added that this decision is part of preparation for “some regulatory changes coming in September”.

Will WPT Global Take Rakeback From Players?

WPT Global never offered players any rakeback from its own systems or programs. Except for different promotions and bonuses, the room always distances itself from classic loyalty programs and rakeback systems.

All rakeback from playing on WPT Global players get only through affiliates — companies or groups, who have partnership with room to get revenue for their players activity.

Any rakeback on WPT Global in reality isn’t paid by WPT Global at all — this money is paid by your affiliate and only them.

The amount of rakeback — in most cases, it is a percentage from rake that you paid in different games on WPT Global — is a sum of two factors. First is WPT Global’s deal with your affiliate — it conditions how much money the room pays the partner for your play. Second is your affiliate’s deal with you — it conditions how much money the affiliate offers to return you from the rake you paid in the room.

According to Alex Scott’s announcement, among other things from August 1^st, 2024 WPT Global will change its part of relationships with affiliates. After that it is the affiliates’ call to save or change their deal with you.

As Alex explained on Two Plus Two:

“We have always discouraged affiliates from offering rakeback, and warned that if they did offer it, it would likely cause problems that might result in some players being untagged, commission changes being made, or the closure of affiliate accounts entirely.

We are part of a poker network – this network has enabled us to establish, grow and be successful where other poker sites have failed, but it comes with expectations and conditions from our network partners, that we do not damage their businesses. Either we live up to these conditions, or we disconnect from the network entirely (and we are not quite big enough to do that yet).

To be clear on what we’ve done, we haven’t removed rakeback because we never offered rakeback. We’ve changed the way we compensate affiliates. Affiliates decide how they change the deals with their players. Yes, this change will make offering simple rakeback essentially impossible but that doesn’t mean that affiliates can’t reward players in a different way.”

New Rakeback Offer From WPT Global

On July 29th, 2024 WPT Global published on an official website a new promo “Poker Rewards Program”.

It offers Table Starter Boost — 20% rakeback program for first 2 players starting any NLHE, PLO, PLO5, or Short Deck cash table.

Mechanics are very simple:

• Since you sit at the table with 0 or 1 player only, your rakeback instantly starts to accumulate.
• It will accumulate until you stop playing at this table.
• You can play a few tables with an active “boost” at the same time.

The new program is weekly with rakeback paying out every Monday at 2 pm CET.

How WPT Global Measures a Player’s Skill?

WPT Global uses Smart Ecology Management system or FairGame, based on AI technology, to study players and predict their win rates in cash games. It considers such factors as player’s poker strategy patterns and behavioral features.

FairGame uses machine learning to evaluate gameplay data from the first 300-500 hands and make predictions with almost 90% long term accuracy.

After collecting data on the player, AI compares it to top WPT Global winners’ stats to determine early how close the individual is to long-term winners. In the end, the system labels players as high-skilled (PRO) or recreational (Non-Pro) that affects table selection and mechanics of seating for each of them.

Players don’t get their labels permanently. The system continues to measure their data to increase precision of the evaluation and correct conditions for them further.

To avoid mistakes and errors, the system doesn’t label players until reaching some level of certainty. It also uses a few specific problem solving techniques to protect recreational players and losing players from mislabeling.

Is My Skill Level Relevant To All Games And Stakes?

The FairGame system is applied only to cash games and determines players’ skill levels for each stakes separately due to differentiations between play styles and skill sets in various player pools.

However, if a player is labeled as PRO at any stakes, they will also be automatically labeled PRO at lower stakes too but not on higher stakes. A player also can be labeled by different labels on different stakes since the system evaluates them separately.

This system of measurement doesn’t apply to MTT and Global Spins due to complete randomization of the seating process and impossibility to target specific opponents there.

Differences Between PRO and Non-Pro on WPT Global

The major difference between recreational (Non-Pro) and professional (PRO) labels and skill levels on WPT Global is in a seating mechanism for each of them.

Non-Pro players have full access to all tables in WPT Global lobby and can freely choose any available seats.

PRO players have a reduced version of WPT Global lobby. The room’s system restricts the amount of seats available for high-skilled players at every table on each stakes and hides from other PROs tables that reach PRO cap.

The cap for each limit changes due to the makeup of the player pool and can be modified by room’s decision at any moment.

WPT Global also decided not to spawn new tables until players start playing at the inactive table. This mechanic is meant to prevent predatory game selection and stop high-skilled players from opening new tables to sit there and wait recreational players to sit with them. It also will stimulate PROs to start playing at available tables because otherwise they can miss a moment to take a seat at the table before it fills up and disappears.

Where Can I See My Skill Level On WPT Global?

Players can’t check their label/skill level on their own in WPT Global lobby or account details.

Usually, your status is obvious from the mechanics of seating and table selection available for you in the WPT Global lobby. If table selection options in the lobby aren’t clear for you, you can ask the WPT Global support team for details.

How New Rules Affect Poker Players?

Since WPT Global decided not to pay revenue to affiliates for their high-skilled players from NLHE and Short Deck cash games, affiliates can decide to reduce or cancel their own rakeback deal for these players.

It is also possible that professional poker players start to play less on WPT Global, which isn’t so bad for ecology since recreational players will be relieved from pressure of playing against pros.

However, Alex Scott is convinced that these changes won’t significantly affect the WPT Global community. As he stated on Two Plus Two:

“Even if 100% of the players affected by the change to affiliate commission decide to leave the site, it will not significantly impact our liquidity. I appreciate that reading this thread, you may come to the conclusion that a lot of players are affected, but that isn’t actually the case. […]

Essentially, I think there are two categories of winning pros:

1. Those who positively contribute to the ecology of the games and raise the value of the players around them. For example, by starting tables and keeping them running, playing quickly, being a fun opponent to play against, etc.
2. Those who harm the ecology by lowering the value of the players around them. There are lots of negative examples of this like bumhunting, playing slowly, being abusive or unpleasant to play against, etc.

WPT Global intends to reward recreational players AND pros in the first category a great deal, more than any other site in fact. But we will not spend any money trying to attract or reward the second category and those players would do better playing elsewhere.”