[WPT Global] Official Thread
Hi 2+2ers,
Welcome to the official WPT Global thread!
WPT Global is the real-money online poker business of the World Poker Tour, and we’re about to celebrate our two-year anniversary, having launched in April 2022. After such a short time, we’re already the third-largest online poker room in the world (ranked by PokerScout.com, based on cash game traffic).
We’re joining TwoPlusTwo to share information with you, engage with the community, and answer any questions you might have.
WPT Global is special for a few reasons:
- Our modern platform has been built from the beginning to leverage AI technology. We use this in two main ways. The first is to protect the games by detecting collusion, bot use, RTA use and other forms of cheating extremely quickly. We have the best Game Integrity tech I’ve experienced in my 19 years in the industry, and a team of around 50 people using it.
- The second way we utilise AI technology is in managing our ecology. We ensure that games are sustainable and beatable by reserving seats in every game for casual players and limiting the number of seats per table that can be occupied by highly skilled professionals. I’ll go into more detail on this point later, in the below FAQ, but the net result is - we have the softest cash games you’ll find online, and typical win-rates for regs are 5-10x higher than elsewhere. (If you don't’ believe me, just try them and see for yourself).
- We have had a large liquidity pool from the very beginning, especially in cash games. This is because we partnered with a couple of successful Asia-facing poker rooms to bootstrap their liquidity. Most poker startups face an enormous challenge in growing their liquidity from scratch - this solution allowed us to launch with cash games running 24/7 and it contributes to our soft player pool. Now, WPT Global is a large poker site in its own right and less dependent on the Asia liquidity, and we’re growing our games in US Dollars all the time.
- There is enormous value on offer - our explicit aim is to pay back more to players via promotions and giveaways than any other site. Check out our current promotions here.
- Global Spins is our unique twist on the Jackpot SNG concept, with a progressive jackpot and the lowest rake in the industry (5%).
- As part of the World Poker Tour family, we’re the best place to qualify for WPT events around the world, like the WPT World Championship at the Wynn later this year.
Some of you might remember me and my colleague WPT Global Peter from our previous roles. Many years ago, I was one of the first site representatives ever to engage with the 2+2 community, as the first PokerStars representative in the ‘PokerStars Software Improvement Thread’. Later, Peter and I ran the ‘Official MPN - Microgaming Poker Network...’. You can expect a similar level of transparency and responsiveness here. While I don’t promise to respond to every single thing, no constructive question or criticism is off limits.
I look forward to engaging with you all!
All the best,
Alex Scott
President, WPT Global
(X/Twitter: @AlexScott72o)
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FAQ
You can also read a more general FAQ on our website, here.
What countries is WPT Global available in?
Currently, we have a .com licence and have not entered any regulated markets (although we will start to do so later this year). We’re open to most markets that have yet to regulate, including Canada (except Ontario), Ireland, New Zealand and most of Latin America, Asia and Africa.
We don’t (yet) accept players from the US, UK, Australia, Russia, and most of Europe. If you’re from one of these countries and want to qualify for WPT events then Club WPT might work for you!
See our Terms and Conditions (section 2.5) for more detailed information.
How does the ecology management system work? Do you ban winners from playing at WPT Global?
Our ecology management system is specifically designed so that we can run sustainable games without having to penalise winners.
In cash games, our AI technology measures the skill level of every player and predicts their win rate. The model is highly accurate and continually updates so that it cannot be abused or ‘gamed’.
We reserve a number of seats at each cash game table for players that fall into one of our ‘casual player’ categories. In our most popular game (8-Handed NLHE with an ante and a straddle) we reserve six of the eight seats for casual players, which effectively means that highly-skilled pros can only occupy two seats.
Because there is plenty of liquidity, if you find yourself categorised as a pro, you can still always find a game to play at any stake, and you can guarantee yourself a seat in a great game if you start a table, since our ecology management system ensures that only one other pro can sit with you.
The system does not categorise players by their actual win rate, but by how skilled they are. If you have a great run of luck, you will not necessarily be categorised as a pro, and vice versa, you will not necessarily be categorised as a casual player if you run bad.
We find that once players get used to the system, they love it. Both pros and beginners have a better experience because we eliminate some of the common predatory behaviour that occurs elsewhere, and pros can achieve significantly higher win rates. I encourage you to give it a try!
What’s with the games in CNY currency?
Because we partnered with Asia-facing poker rooms to launch, some of our games are in Chinese Yuan (CNY) currency. At the time of writing, the exchange rate to the dollar is about 7.25 CNY to the USD. As we’ve become less dependent on the Asian liquidity we have introduced more USD games. Most cash games and all tournaments including Global Spins are now available in USD, and for those of you that want to play in the CNY games, there’s a handy currency converter in the lobby, and the ability to change the stacks to BB.
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Edit/MH: WPT Global Peter
Can I have another question.
So the limitations of the high skill players will remain forever?
If you mean the FairGame AI system (which reserves seats for recreational / casual players) then yes, although I'm sure it will change and evolve over the years. This is a key thing that differentiates WPT Global from every other site. I fully expect other sites will either copy our approach or find their own, similar solution to their ecology problems at some point in the future, but for now we're the only people doing this and it ensures we have the softest games online.
+1 to adding more PLO MTTs 😀 (with guarantees)
July is upon us and we are hosting 2 festivals this month! The first one kicks off next Friday, 12th July, with our $3,000,000 guaranteed Preheat Festival. Running for 10 days and awarding over $100,000 in additional prizes, it features our multi-day $220 Championship $300,000 guarantee as well as the $22 Mini Championship with $80,000 guaranteed. Festival buy-ins start from $5.50, all the way up to our $2,100 High Roller with $200,000 guaranteed!
Festival Promotions:
1. $30,000 Preheat Festival Freeroll - Play at least 20 Preheat Festival events (20+ entries) to qualify for this freeroll, where all prizes are tickets for the upcoming Summer Festival. The more events you play, the larger your starting stack will be
2. Champions Promotion - Win any Preheat Festival event and you will be awarded with a ticket to our $500,000 guaranteed $220 Summer Festival Championship
3. Play More, Get More - Potentially get over 100% rakeback (in tickets & casino coin) on this promotion, where the more you spend on Preheat Festival event buy-ins means the larger the reward you will get. The largest reward is $1,000 ($440 in Summer Festival tickets, $300 in Global Spins tickets and $260 Casino Coin), which one will get by accruing at least $10,000 in Preheat Festival event buy-ins!
A targeted promotion is also currently running for any player that bought into at least $50 worth of MTTs, using their cash account balance, between January & May. Please check your emails from us for more details.
All our Preheat Festival events will count towards our $250,000 Player of the Year promotion!
Satellites & feeders for the Preheat Festival start this Sunday, 7th July!
Players will have 6 days rest after the conclusion of the Preheat Festival before our, at least, $7,000,000 guaranteed Summer Festival begins. This will be a 3 weeks series, 28th July - 18th August, similar to our Spring Festival. More details coming on this very soon!! (There will be a couple of PLO events in this)
I have a suggestion for game security. Would it be an idea to put up a block on withdrawals for new accounts which flag up as reg accounts until they pass extensive security checks? I think Alex you mentioned a while ago that there was a large cheating ring which got banned. Since then, there have been a bunch of new reg accounts popping up at the 2k/4k level. It just seems like the operators of cheating rings can keep setting up new accounts, making frequent withdrawals and by the time they get caught, they have already done significant damage and will then just manipulate some of the variables and start over again.
I know it seem like a radical move but the thing is legit players don't really care much if they can't make withdrawals for a few weeks.
Hi... were there problems with the room's server in the last 7/8 hours? I had some problems today .. thanks
I have a suggestion for game security. Would it be an idea to put up a block on withdrawals for new accounts which flag up as reg accounts until they pass extensive security checks? I think Alex you mentioned a while ago that there was a large cheating ring which got banned. Since then, there have been a bunch of new reg accounts popping up at the 2k/4k level. It just seems like the operators of cheating rings can keep setting up new accoun
+1. Would also give security team a chance to zero in on mtt multi-accounters who abuse to SKOs.
I'm guessing needs to be quite long though, at least a month (3-5weeks is about how long it seems to take security team to respond).
Two accounts showed up this week with similar screen names, only got a pic of this one. Might want to take a look at the filters for new names.
Is there really nothing in your arsenal to stop this guy creating new accounts every day and KOing himself in a SKO to get back all his bounties and get the chip lead?
Like nothing in your power? And he can just do this exploit every day?
An example of how he operates from a different day
He does this every day making mad coin
He also limp click click click back clicks with all his accounts, fleecing other players with their capped ranges
It's literally impossible for anyone who isn't multi-accounting to win at this format, and yet all we hear is how solid your security is.
Please can you do something about this? I've been reporting it for about 6 months now
^ In case you can't get it from the hh, in this hand he shoved 500bbs into a pot of 10 on the river. One of his accounts called with total air, the other with underpair. So he collects his 2 bounties back which is 50% of the buyin for a SKO (not SPKO)...that's huge.
I've never seen such blatant cheating in 10years+ as pro
The old limp-click and re-click. A classic
My posts are a bit disjointed, am playing rn lol, but you get the picture. Have sent you team heaps more but they're not on it
I have a suggestion for game security. Would it be an idea to put up a block on withdrawals for new accounts which flag up as reg accounts until they pass extensive security checks? I think Alex you mentioned a while ago that there was a large cheating ring which got banned. Since then, there have been a bunch of new reg accounts popping up at the 2k/4k level. It just seems like the operators of cheating rings can keep setting up new accoun
We have a risk-based approach to withdrawals already and most players have to provide KYC at some point, but we're always looking for ways to optimise. We have some improvements in this area coming soon - a technical change will free up resources and allow us to redirect our team's manual effort.
Hi... were there problems with the room's server in the last 7/8 hours? I had some problems today .. thanks
There was no downtime in that time frame. Please contact [email]customercare@wptglobal.com[/email] and they'll help you if you lost any hands as a result.
Two accounts showed up this week with similar screen names, only got a pic of this one. Might want to take a look at the filters for new names.
That's a new one. Thanks for highlighting it.
^ In case you can't get it from the hh, in this hand he shoved 500bbs into a pot of 10 on the river. One of his accounts called with total air, the other with underpair. So he collects his 2 bounties back which is 50% of the buyin for a SKO (not SPKO)...that's huge.
I've never seen such blatant cheating in 10years+ as pro
I understand the theory and I'll follow up with our security team, but what I'm not getting from your post is what makes you so certain it's multiple accounts belonging to the same person. You mention the similar screen names, but there are a lot of players on our network with Chinese screen names and what looks similar to us might actually be completely different. Apologies if I've missed something.
I understand the theory and I'll follow up with our security team, but what I'm not getting from your post is what makes you so certain it's multiple accounts belonging to the same person. You mention the similar screen names, but there are a lot of players on our network with Chinese screen names and what looks similar to us might actually be completely different. Apologies if I've missed something.
But why would multiple people call a 500bb jam on the river with trash, only specifically in a SKO, every day
Why would accounts do the limp-click thing everyday ONLY in these tournaments?
I don't see how this can't either be the same person, or a team.
I don't know how you can't see this clearly.
FYI I've reported this in detail to your team multiple times. On 2 occasions they've agreed it's cheating 100% and awarded me 5x$110 tickets (twice), which is very nice. They just don't seem to be able to do anything about it. I'm still reporting it and currently they're ignoring me, hence why I posted here. You really have to get a grip on your security Alex, no offense.
very obvious to anyone with a lil more playing experience that its the same person its almost hilariously obvious(dont take it in an offensive way think you doing a great job nonetheless alex)
bit random Q but is it allowed to use chatgpt or claudeai for some coding stuff while playing?
also are there any plans to increase the table cap one day maybe?
hi guys, I have a Lenovo e14 laptop with i5 10210U processor, integrated graphics card and 32 gb of Ram. During the game the CPU usage is araound 45%, the GPU usage goes between 10 and 35%, Ram usage is around 33%. In the first hour of the game everything is quite smooth, but after an hour/an hour and a half it starts to lag, often the poker room goes into block for a few seconds (time banking stops and everyone is immobilized), or it works
It's just very poorly optimized software. I have a $4,000 gaming desktop PC and WPT Global's app pushes my CPU harder than the computer games do. 💀
But why would multiple people call a 500bb jam on the river with trash, only specifically in a SKO, every day
Why would accounts do the limp-click thing everyday ONLY in these tournaments?
I don't see how this can't either be the same person, or a team.
I don't know how you can't see this clearly.
FYI I've reported this in detail to your team multiple times. On 2 occasions they've agreed it's cheating 100% and awarded me 5x$110 tickets (twice),
very obvious to anyone with a lil more playing experience that its the same person its almost hilariously obvious(dont take it in an offensive way think you doing a great job nonetheless alex)
Fair enough - I alluded to this before but the challenge we face is balancing a) the ease of creating an account (the easier, the better); b) making it difficult for fraudsters to return (the harder, the better). It's clear we've got the balance wrong in this case and we'll work on it.
bit random Q but is it allowed to use chatgpt or claudeai for some coding stuff while playing?
also are there any plans to increase the table cap one day maybe?
We have no issues with ChatGPT, Claude or similar LLMs right now, but this might evolve and change quickly if they become a realistic threat in terms of real-time assistance.
Is the sportsbook winners welcome? As in same max bet limits for everyone or if I win, the max bets would get slashed to pennies?
Will you guys support mystery bounties at some point?
Seems to be a great format to attract new players to your site.
There was some downtime last night and the following changes were made for MTTs:
1) 6 minute breaks - all MTTs have been moved from a 5 minute break to a 6 minute break (:55 to :01). This is a quicker fix than waiting for the last hand to complete in a tournament for it to go on break. Hopefully this gives people an extra few seconds to grab some food or use the bathroom
2) PKO tournaments now show the winnable amount as the bounty amount (rather than the total amount on the player's head, some of which would move to your own). Example, at the start of an $11 ($10 + $1) 50% PKO, everyone will have a 2.50 bounty amount displayed (vs 5 as it was previously)
3) Variable starting stacks & manual registration - We will now be able to register players for MTTs ourselves along with giving players a variable starting stack. These will primarily be used for freerolls for promotions (think festival winner freerolls & participation type freerolls). I can also see our weekly Kings of Cash promotion getting a large makeover
Our [B]Preheat Festival[/B] starts this Friday (12th July) and satellites/feeders are running for it already. The next 4 seat guaranteed feeder to the $2,100 High Roller begins tomorrow (10th July) at 12:35 UTC-5. Many opportunities to get into this $220 buy-in feeder from $22 every 2-3 hours!
Our Summer Festival will be our largest ever with over $8,000,000 guaranteed! It kicks off on July 28th and runs for 3 weeks. The full schedule will be released in a couple of days, but some highlights:
Week 1: $530 WPT500 $400,000 GTD
Week 2: $1,060 WPT Prime $750,000 GTD
Week 3: $3,500 WPT Championship $1,000,000 GTD & $2,100 High Roller Bounty $250,000 GTD
Flights will run all throughout the festival for the $220 Summer Festival Championship $500,000 GTD as well as a $22 mini $150,000 GTD version
Plenty of promotions will run alongside our Summer Festival, which we will release more details on in the next week or so!
It was released about a week ago, but unfortunately there is a display issue so I would not be happy to run these currently. It should be fixed in the next release, and we will start to run some then!
hey I won the micro/low leaderboard(great game of plo) now 4 times in a row but did not get any money for the 3 out of 4 times could anybody check this please?
There was some downtime last night and the following changes were made for MTTs:
1) 6 minute breaks - all MTTs have been moved from a 5 minute break to a 6 minute break (:55 to :01). This is a quicker fix than waiting for the last hand to complete in a tournament for it to go on break. Hopefully this gives people an extra few seconds to grab some food or use the bathroom
2) PKO tournaments now show the winnable amount as the bounty amount (ra
1) Is absolutely huge, 2) very nice.
Great changes thanks
If a flood of PLO players came here, I'd definitely make use of their deposit bonus. I'm not signing up right now with what's there.
Is the sportsbook winners welcome? As in same max bet limits for everyone or if I win, the max bets would get slashed to pennies?
Like every other sportsbook, it's not feasible for us to consistently lose money on any customer relationship. So we may, at our discretion, apply restrictions. Sorry, I know this is probably not what you wanted to hear, but at least it's the truth!
hey I won the micro/low leaderboard(great game of plo) now 4 times in a row but did not get any money for the 3 out of 4 times could anybody check this please?
Since this pertains to your specific account on WPTG the best way to get help is to contact [email]customercare@wptglobal.com[/email]. It seems very strange that this would happen, but my team can help.
If a flood of PLO players came here, I'd definitely make use of their deposit bonus. I'm not signing up right now with what's there.
Building liquidity in the PLO games is a priority for us, but your post highlights the Catch 22 situation that poker sites often find themselves in. What could I do to convince you to play right now, and help us grow that liquidity?
Hello Alex, I would like your help to change my withdrawal method.
I made my first deposit through Skrill, and when Skrill stopped operating with Brazilians, I already had more than 1k USD in my account and I just deposited 10 USD through Astropay to be able to make a withdrawal. What happens is that the fees for converting USD for my country's currency via astropay there is an exorbitantly high rate, which makes it impossible for anyone with common sense to use this method.
so I also deposited 10 USD in cryptos to make the withdrawal but my withdrawal was denied because of the money laundering policy, what happens is that the support tells me that I should withdraw via astropay since I received my funds through an astropay deposit, which It's not true because when I deposited 10 through astropay I already had more than 1K bankroll which makes 10USD an insignificant amount as part of the bankroll.
What support would like is for me to withdraw my entire bankroll through Astropay and then deposit it with cryptos, which would simply make me waste money, I understand your policies but if I have already withdrawn through Astropay 10x what I deposited, why stop me from withdrawing with cryptos?
Please could you help me with changing the withdrawal method
Sorry if there are any errors in agreement, I used the translator to explain it more clearly.
Hello Alex, I would like your help to change my withdrawal method.
I made my first deposit through Skrill, and when Skrill stopped operating with Brazilians, I already had more than 1k USD in my account and I just deposited 10 USD through Astropay to be able to make a withdrawal. What happens is that the fees for converting USD for my country's currency via astropay there is an exorbitantly high rate, which makes it impossible for anyone wit
I looked into this and it should now be sorted for you. Let me know if you have any further issues.
