ClubWPT- Worth the monthly fee?

I have been an online poker player since 1995, and have played and been a member of nearly every poker site available to US players online up until sites began banning US players... with one exception- sites like ClubWPT that charge a monthly membership fee, giving paying members access to unlimited real money tournaments without any buy-ins.

If there are any players out there who have had any experience with these types of online poker sites - I'm curious to know....

---Is it worth the monthly fee to become a paying member?

---Are there really any benefits (money or otherwise) for paying members?

(basically any player experience / feedback / reviews from players at these types of sites would be great)

1. for $20 it's not bad to play this site as they have unlimited tournaments plus elimination blackjack you can play for some cash. So yeah I would say it is worth it unless you are in the state where you are not excluded from playing. (I can't play at clubWPT at this time because my state is excluded so I have to play other online poker sites)

2. Yes, some benefits - they do have like $10k tournament once a month to play and some cash - usually if you win you get $20 back from paying so it's not bad at all.

This is a big "it depends" question. Depending on what your goals are, it can be "okay" or it'll be a total waste. If you are looking for interesting ring games, it's total trash, as the ring games are play money only and there are no prizes to be had there. If you are looking for small stakes tournaments, it's not awful, as it seems pretty easy to at least make your subscription fee up if you aren't a complete idiot. I hit for $15 last night and I've only been on the site for 10 days and haven't played poker at all in the 3 years prior. Keep in mind though that that $15 was for taking 9th in a tournament with about 1780 runners and playing for about 3.25 hours, so in comparison to something like a $2 buy-in tournament on a regular site, its a terrible payout.

That said, they do offer a few tournaments with some big first place finishes, like a 7 day cruise, the $5k live WPT buy-in, and boot camp prizes but those are winner take alls, so it's pretty limited. They also have a monthly $10k prize pool tourney which offers the best deep payout structure, paying at least $20 to the top 250, and $1k to first.

They do gate the better tournaments to a certain extent as well, as they use a point system, called Tournament Points(TPs) as the buy-in currency. All subscribed accounts get 500 TPs and are reloaded once a day at midnight ET if they fall below 500. The big tournaments require 1k-2k TP buy-ins however, so you'll have to either win a satellite or build a bankroll of TPs by finishing "In the points" in MTTs/SnGs to get access to those.

The signup process is simple and since it's a service based site, you can use pretty much any old piece of plastic in your wallet and have no hassles(see next paragraph). The download process is kind of annoying since they use a wonky java applet to "launch" the download. I find this rather stupid and it seems to cause other people issues as well(a google search confirms this) since most Internet Browsers will block it by default. Once you get past that though, the install is simple. The client itself is okay, but you can only play up to 4 tables at a time, which will bother some players, I'm sure. Overall, the client seems fine for the intended audience.

One note on cancellations, I had previously used this site back in 2009 and it was a pain in the ass to cancel since you have to call and talk to a billing rep. It seemed basically impossible to actually get a hold of anyone at the time(always got an automated service). I ended up canceling the card that I had used during signup to stop payments to them. I don't know if it is still this bad to get a hold of a billing rep, but you still have to call to cancel, so I would suggest using a prepaid card if you decide to signup and cancel later.

As far as actually getting your winnings from them, I have no idea how this is. They do require submitting ID for address verification before they'll do a payout. In theory, once you're verified, they should be able to send you checks on demand since they don't have to go through any 3rd party poker laundry systems, but again I have no actual experience here and their overall customer service doesn't instill confidence.

They do have a couple VIP perks as well, but they are seemingly rather lack luster. You get online access to Bluff and WPT magazine, and coupon codes for services(entertainment/dinning/etc...) I have no idea if those are any good, I haven't looked into at all yet. You can also get a discounted rate(~15%) on the WPT bootcamp prices if you're inclined to go to one on your own dime.

Given the numbers that I have seen so far, it looks like they are only paying out around half of the subscription fees back to the players each month in prizes, so they are getting a pretty healthy margin on the whole thing. Given how soft the games appear to be, a decent player can still make some money here, at least in straight dollar terms. If you include the amount of time needed to make those dollars, most players will find it a waste though unless they are getting something else from it, like experience(which is debatable)

Overall, I would say the site is best for new players looking to the learn the game(tournaments in particular), and casual US players that want to play online and feel like "something" is on the line, as there is "some" competitiveness(again applies to tournaments specifically). Some experienced players might also want to try and take a crack at winning the Cruise/$5k WPT live event prizes. Of course, even if you win, you still have to actually pry the prize from them.

tldnr. cliff's notes available?

Read the last paragraph and if you sign up, use a prepaid card, as their cancellation system/customer support was(probably still is) crap.

I just got offered a free month to return (I've gone through 2 2-week free trials and haven't returned, but I did for the free month). I'll stay as long as I win money on the site to keep playing for free, or if I win a big tournament for a seat at the WPT or something.. but if I don't, I'm gone. It does keep me busy in online poker, though.. most of the players are either really bad, or just don't care.

Personally, I don't really like the idea of keeping an automatically billing subscription for this. First, I hear the prizes aren't worth it, but to be honest I haven't looked into it. It's more that I don't want to feel like I have to play just to get a little value back. And I think that's how this would be for me. Doesn't seem worth it at a glance.

Good Luck with playing players/tournaments where the buy-in is $0.00 for unlimited time/games.
Humongous Endless Freeroll (definitely a unique player mindset)
Best of Luck

I dont think so. the reason is the payout is almost always,to less than one half of one percent of the players. when i was able to play at pokerstars the payout was usually to about 15% of the players. now "club wpt" has raised its dues by 25% and in return they will give you awards and trophys.HA!! it was bad enough when they took my money and paid me in points.

I was a VIP member for about a year or thereabouts. I like playing their, but the only way you'll win any kind are real money, is to win your way to one of their lives tournaments, or once a month they have a big online tournament.For the time that I was a VIP member, I probably showed a profit of somewhere between 50 and $100. So if you are in it for the money it's probably not worth it. If you're in it for the love of the game it's a good place to play.