PokerStars Xmas Vault promotion

[puzzlefish]

The current Christmas promotion on pokerstars is called the Xmas Vault. You get access to the game after wagering $100 on casino games, after which point you get to pick one of three vaults and get prizes this way. It will run for 10 days and is available for any players that have made a deposit at some point on PokerStars.


The probability of a particular prize being drawn is shown in the table. What I am not sure about is whether it matters at all whether you pick the "correct" vault out of the three for the best possible prize. For example, today I picked a vault that contained a $10 Casino Instant Bonus, which I returned because I don't play those. The other two choices, had I supposedly picked them instead, would have been the $20 and $150 drops. Did I just get a 12% drop or did I really get all the top three as possibilities to pick from (12%, 8%, and 1%), which would be very rare (0.009% chance)?

As everyone knows, PokerStars loves me and I love them too. I have committed myself to playing this challenge for all 10 days (if possible) to see how their vaults work, for science. I have really been enjoying their challenges and, between the card hunt and this challenge, this should keep me busy on my down time. At some point I also have to play three New Year series games to do that challenge too.

If you're also doing this challenge, stay tuned as I will be posting my three vaults for every completed Xmas Vault challenge. (That's right. I am going to wager $1000 in the next 10 days.)

 

[puzzlefish]

Ok, second vault challenge completed:

1. $10 Casino bonus, ($150, $20)
2. 20 slot spins, ($20, 10 slot spins)

I'm doing this using slots on the sticky fruits game. I don't think the slot spins prizes are worth playing if you hit them, since the time invested in actually finishing the spins is worth more than the returns.

 

[Suns of Beaches]

Ok, second vault challenge completed:

1. $10 Casino bonus, ($150, $20)
2. 20 slot spins, ($20, 10 slot spins)

I'm doing this using slots on the sticky fruits game. I don't think the slot spins prizes are worth playing if you hit them, since the time invested in actually finishing the spins is worth more than the returns.

Why did u give back the 10 $ casino bonus? Too complicated to clear?

This promotion sounds not really promising if i look at the prices. Good chance to loose part of the 100 or all of it while rolling it over imo...for winning mostly just a few free spins.


...or do u know/play a slot/game with very low risk? Where its easy to rollover the 100?

 

[puzzlefish]

Why did u give back the 10 $ casino bonus? Too complicated to clear?

This promotion sounds not really promising if i look at the prices. Good chance to loose part of the 100 or all of it while rolling it over imo...for winning mostly just a few free spins.


...or do u know/play a slot/game with very low risk? Where its easy to rollover the 100?

It's much more likely to lose the casino bonus while trying to clear it due to the wagering that is required.

I just play some fun slots game that has a decent payout but I can't say if that's low risk or not. The sticky fruits one has treated me well. roulette has also been good but now it's doing some weird variance so I may have to step back from that for a bit. Also you can't get any bets to count if you stack the table to win more than 65%, so there's that for roulette as well on this promo.

 

[black and]

A very interesting experiment. I hope this study will be safe for your bankroll and bring you good profit. Good luck

 

[Suns of Beaches]

It's much more likely to lose the casino bonus while trying to clear it due to the wagering that is required.

But why not just play with the casino bonus untill u loose it? Yes i understand its more likely to loose it but its free and u dont have anything to loose other than the bonus 😀

 

[puzzlefish]

But why not just play with the casino bonus untill u loose it? Yes i understand its more likely to loose it but its free and u dont have anything to loose other than the bonus 😀

Yeah in hind sight I should have just used that towards wagering for this same promotion. Now I am not sure if I read something in the conditions that I didn't like or if I was just dumb. Probably the latter.

 

[Suns of Beaches]

Yeah in hind sight I should have just used that towards wagering for this same promotion. Now I am not sure if I read something in the conditions that I didn't like or if I was just dumb. Probably the latter.

It makes zero sense to not use that bonus. We are not talking 888 poker where u have to use first ur cash (if available) before the bonus.

 

[puzzlefish]

It makes zero sense to not use that bonus. We are not talking 888 poker where u have to use first ur cash (if available) before the bonus.

There is one possible reason. By giving it back, I may have reset my challenge and got an extra shot at another prize - two attempts in one day. But in hindsight still probably better to have kept it as it was one the better prizes.

 

[WrongUsername]

stars promotions are as bad as their poker site.

 

[hexplore35]

Xmas promotion is a poor joke.Last award - 5 cents from 20 spins

 

[Cooking]

If you're a regular casino player on PS then the promotion is better than nothing. I never play casino, but I've Iearned my lesson on their poker promotions, never deposit to play because of their promos, They are getting worse each year.

 

[puzzlefish]

1. $10 Casino bonus, ($150, $20)
2. 20 slot spins, ($20, 10 slot spins)
3. $10 Casino bonus, (20 slot spins, 10 slot spins)

Today for some reason roulette did the trick even when I wasn't really playing specifically for this promotion. I must have found the sweet 65% spot.

 

[puzzlefish]

1. $10 Casino bonus, ($150, $20)
2. 20 slot spins, ($20, 10 slot spins)
3. $10 Casino bonus, (20 slot spins, 10 slot spins)
4. $20 Cash, ($10 casino bonus, 30 slot spins)

This time played roulette again and hit the best prize of the three.

 

[puzzlefish]

1. $10 Casino bonus, ($150, $20)
2. 20 slot spins, ($20, 10 slot spins)
3. $10 Casino bonus, (20 slot spins, 10 slot spins)
4. $20 Cash, ($10 casino bonus, 30 slot
spins)
5. 20 slot spins, ($10 casino bonus, $20 cash)

Same idea as yesterday, but this time I picked the worst of the possible prizes. Half way through now!

 

[rachelle2291]

I have been getting a lot of casino challenges lately but I do none of them and just do the free spin of the day. I just do not know if the rake back by doing the challenge would cover the rake of doing the gambling. It was interesting in that a year ago I had no casino challenges but a whole bunch of sportsbetting challenges. And there it was easy to see that it was worth doing because the rake could be calculated easily.

 

[puzzlefish]

I have been getting a lot of casino challenges lately but I do none of them and just do the free spin of the day. I just do not know if the rake back by doing the challenge would cover the rake of doing the gambling. It was interesting in that a year ago I had no casino challenges but a whole bunch of sportsbetting challenges. And there it was easy to see that it was worth doing because the rake could be calculated easily.

On Stars it's pretty straight forward. You will either lose your bonus gambling or you will meet the wagering requirements and whatever is left of your bonus will be released. I don't think there's even any rake back to consider. Just stop if you lose the bonus.

 

[puzzlefish]

1. $10 Casino bonus, ($150, $20)
2. 20 slot spins, ($20, 10 slot spins)
3. $10 Casino bonus, (20 slot spins, 10 slot spins)
4. $20 Cash, ($10 casino bonus, 30 slot
spins)
5. 20 slot spins, ($10 casino bonus, $20 cash)
6. 10 slot spins, ($150 cash, $10 casino bonus)

Another one down. This time a mix of roulette and slots on sticky fruit. Unfortunately I picked the worst prize again. I'm still not convinced that it really matters which vault I open.

 

[puzzlefish]

1. $10 Casino bonus, ($150, $20)
2. 20 slot spins, ($20, 10 slot spins)
3. $10 Casino bonus, (20 slot spins, 10 slot spins)
4. $20 Cash, ($10 casino bonus, 30 slot
spins)
5. 20 slot spins, ($10 casino bonus, $20 cash)
6. 10 slot spins, ($150 cash, $10 casino bonus)
7. 30 slot spins, (20 slot spins, 10 slot spins)

Another day, another vault game. Best prize this time, and more realistic based on the table of prize drop odds.

Today was bad for me. I had run up a very nice bankroll on roulette over the past few days, more than I have ever had for a bankroll on any site, and then once again the variance kicked in and I lost about half of it. I can't mentally deal with that and am tired of being stuck watching a ball rolling around. I decided to withdraw most of the remainder since it still covers all of my deposits that I have ever made on Stars and then some. Then the remainder I played more roulette to continue this challenge. I think I should still be able to finish this.

 

[puzzlefish]

This challenge is practically over. I busted the remainder of my bankroll after withdrawing yesterday and I am not cancelling my withdrawal. It was cute seeing red and low 10 times in a row on roulette, after some unusual losses and then finally taking a stand using the Martindale system. Just goes to show, nothing is guaranteed. All good PokerStars 👌

 

[puzzlefish]

Snatched from the jaws of defeat. I remembered I had StarCoins, got a $0.25 spin and won that for $0.75. Then put that towards wagering through this vault challenge and.....

1. $10 Casino bonus, ($150, $20)
2. 20 slot spins, ($20, 10 slot spins)
3. $10 Casino bonus, (20 slot spins, 10 slot spins)
4. $20 Cash, ($10 casino bonus, 30 slot
spins)
5. 20 slot spins, ($10 casino bonus, $20 cash)
6. 10 slot spins, ($150 cash, $10 casino bonus)
7. 30 slot spins, (20 slot spins, 10 slot spins)
8. $20 cash, (20 slot spins, 10 slot spins)

Back in it!

 

[Poker Orifice]

how much did you get it up too?

 

[hexplore35]

Now better: 10$ cash and about 10 $ from free spins

 

[puzzlefish]

how much did you get it up too?

I was up to $450, from about $13 when I started roulette. All went great (too great) until I hit that amount and then it was right into the variance gutters.

 

[puzzlefish]

Ok I am officially throwing in the towel. I just tilted the $20 away. It was my own fault. Casino was still in opposite mode for me and I should have just rolled my wagers by betting both black and red with some amount on green for insurance, but I was determined to try to beat this weird variance and run up the balance again like before and it just didn't work. Now the idea that a roulette wheel's variance can somehow perfectly oppose my bets for 10-15 times in a row is in my head.

I'm just glad I withdrew when I did because I would have tilted everything away for sure.

8 data points is enough. It's probably a legit promotion although I felt I saw too many cash prizes, but still within the realms of probability. I will freeroll for a little bit and still have a Sunday Million to play with one ticket.