[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
So I've been following the complaints in this thread thinking that this won't apply to me for some time and then I appear to have been tagged pro at 3 levels within 24 hours including a stake I haven't even played.
My play on WPT Global:
I played 20k hands at 1/2/4 cny and then I was tagged pro. I was up 50-60 buyins so fair enough.
I was losing or downswinging at 2/4/8 cny for maybe $2.5k or so. I then won around 30 buyins to put me up maybe 5 buyins overall at this stake (10 if we include some jackpot winnings). However, I did have a 10 buyin win on the 31st of July and was tagged pro when I logged in again on August 1st. It felt unfair, but okay I was on a streak so maybe your AI technology recognised a trend. Again, I played around 20k hands.
Yesterday, I played 5/10/20 cny with only $6k in my WPT Global account. I won maybe 1/3 of a buyin in 800 hands and today when I logged in I was seemingly tagged pro. I played fairly well, but ran pretty bad so perhaps the AI factors that into a perceived win rate. However, when I open 10/20/40 cny, which I'm definitely not rolled for on my account, I also can't see any tables. I haven't even played a single hand at these stakes.
So question for Alex, how do you determine that I can beat 5/10/20 cny on WPT before I know I can? And why do you also restrict me from playing 10/20/40 when I haven't even played that stake?
Day 6 of Summer Festival is running right now, including another Day 1 flight for the $22 Summer Festival Mini Championship ($150,000 GTD). Fridays are generally busier days for our Asian players:
A reminder that there is a 5 vertical promotion running right now (Global Spins, MTTs, PLO4/5 cash, Casino, Sportsbook). There is a leaderboard for each vertical and also an overall leaderboard. To qualify for the overall LB, you must score at least 1 point in each vertical (quite easy to do, in general). There is a $12,400 WPT World Championship package up top for the overall leaderboard, and total prizes amount to over $40,000 for all leaderboards combined. The promotion runs another week and more information can be found [B]here[/B]
I have been skimming this thread every few days lately and I was surprised to read that a lot of you guys never used a HUD, because I was totally under the impression that nearly all regs did.
I confess that I have used a HUD on WPT Global for more than half my volume there.
I started out without one, but after months I heard from multiple players that they (and "all regs") also used a HUD there and had no issues.
I contacted the main HUD suppliers and they assured me that their HUD was fine to use and they had "loads" of players playing there with the HUD and basically never had any issues with it.
From my point of view I was operating at a disadvantage for months there and I felt that it was somewhat unfair, so my justification for using a HUD was that I was leveling the playing field vs the majority of regs. I realise now that maybe it was over stated how many regs were actually using HUDs, although I'm still not sure because I never spoke to a WPTG player who didnt use one.
I came from bodog where HUDs are not allowed, but they really dont care and never take any action and its openly known that huds are used, I assumed it was a situation like this.
I accept that I broke the TOS of WPTG.
I left WPTG a while ago after it became impossible to get action, so for full clarity I dont have any funds on WPTG currently and therefore it is easier for me to be honest about this without the risk of losing my funds. Although it seems that WPTG does not confiscate funds for using a HUD.
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I do think that some people are overestimating the benefits of a HUD and the disadvantage they are at vs a HUD user though.
The most beneficial aspect is being able to track results for review.
Next would be having the ability to take notes on the table instead of a .txt file, and being able to color code players.
After that, the benefits are miniscule IMO due to the presence of the VPIP/PFR in the avatar. Even with the banned HUD, I relied almost entirely on the avatar VPIP/PFR.
Also made it quite easy to determine who has spoofed their avatar stats at other limits/games.
I have chosen to be honest about this to give a perspective of a player who was willing to break the rules and how someone could justify doing so.
I am confident there are probably plenty of lurkers and some posters in this thread who use (have used) HUDs too.
I have just noticed that on top of removing rakeback they increased the rake for 2-3 handed play at 25/50/100+ table
Before it was 1bb cap, now its 1.5bb
I actually joined this site because i expected it to be hudless, or you would risk a ban like on GGpoker if you used it.
All the things you mentioned help a lot, note taking on leaks, color marking for faster PF decisions, and with HUD you can indentify new/burner accounts that played HU so they have 50+ vpip while in 3max+ they actually play 25-30/20.
Also having hand history to study own play/others is a big advantage too...
I dont like sites banning people too light, but i don't like people getting an advantage while knowingly breaking TOS
Hey guys, yes, it's totally unfair what they did with the rake, especially as many players rely on rakeback, I guess it's their site, so their rules, but they will go down in popularity tremendously, as they also screwed over the affiliates and agents, one big affiliate already left them, more to come?
We all know what happens when you don't treat your partners right....
All the things you mentioned help a lot, note taking on leaks, color marking for faster PF decisions, and with HUD you can indentify new/burner accounts that played HU so they have 50+ vpip while in 3max+ they actually play 25-30/20.
Also having hand history to study own play/others is a big advantage too...
I dont like sites banning people too light, but i don't like people getting an advantage while knowingly breaking TOS
Definitely.
A HUD provides great benefits.
I am not denying that.
I do think that some people are overestimating the benefits of a HUD and the disadvantage they are at vs a HUD user though.
Stop it man. It's a format where everyone is unstudied and clicking buttons (already starting preflop) so the benefit of a hud in those games is massive, and I would imagine there would be significant difference in the edge vs the pool playing with and without a hud. And therefor just blatant cheating by getting an unfair advantage over the other players by breaking the tos.
The regs are already getting ****ed by this site, and apparently also by other regs.....
wtf u guys are playing with HUD with no consequences? This is absolute BS along with the high rake.
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Hi Alex,
I hope you're doing well. I play a lot of Shortdeck on your site, often starting tables and playing heads-up against anyone. I'd like to know if the RB cut affects Shortdeck as well, because I think it's nearly impossible to win consistently in a game with 40BB-60BB stacks and such high variance. This is not just my opinion but also the view of other players in a similar situation. I'm writing this message because I would like to continue playing on WPTGlobal, but it's becoming challenging to play without RB in such a high-variance game.
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https://wptglobal.com/poker-table-rake
Am I looking at the same page? It seems to be 1bb still.
Yes I made a mistake. My bad.
Posting again since it wasn’t answered:
It is said that with each 20bb+ win, 1bb would become jackpot rake. However, in this hand on 50/100/200, even though winner got only 10bb, 0.5bb still went into jackpot without seeing flop.
We can’t get jackpot if we don’t see flop, so this doesn’t really make sense to me. Any explanation please?
There is at least 1 more flight for each of our current Day 1s today, with Day 2 of our #10 $530 WPT500 ($400,000 GTD) occurring tomorrow:
Flights for our #130 $1,060 WPT Prime ($750,000 GTD) begin tomorrow evening and you can satellite into them now!
typical burner account at 25/50/100
Posting again since it wasn’t answered:
It is said that with each 20bb+ win, 1bb would become jackpot rake. However, in this hand on 50/100/200, even though winner got only 10bb, 0.5bb still went into jackpot without seeing flop.
We can’t get jackpot if we don’t see flop, so this doesn’t really make sense to me. Any explanation please?
They take it, flop or not. Fish limp, you iso him, he folds, you pay jackpot fees if pot over 20bb. And of course, with straddle, antes, almost impossible for a pot to not be 20bb, i click 1-2bb less when i iso so the pot is 19.5bb instead in case he folds i just saved .5bb. Great system
Hi, Alex!
First of all, I want to express my deep gratitude to you for maintaining an open dialogue with users!
I would like to highlight some questions related to Short Deck because they often get lost in discussions and remain unanswered.
I understand your position from the perspective of the poker room, but I suggest looking at this issue from the viewpoint of regular Short Deck players.
Regulars at mid and high stakes in Short Deck know each other well and communicate closely because the player pool is very small:
- Many are simply not willing to play 40-60 antes stacks without Run It Twice due to the enormous variance and, as a result, do not play on your site.
- Among those who do play, there have been swings up and down to 20,000 antes over the past year or two. To make it clearer for NL players, that’s equivalent to 200 buy-ins at 100 BB. In terms of time, a Short Deck regular (with a good EV win rate) can easily experience 4-6 months of losing while playing 6-max 40 antes deep.
And now you are announcing that you are removing rakeback for Short Deck players (at mid-high stakes, this is 50%+ of the profit).
Alex, please think about it again—considering the catastrophic variance, will the average Short Deck regular want to continue playing on your site? To me, the answer is unfortunately obvious.
This is just the final nail in the coffin for the game called Short Deck.
I hope you will consider the situation from the perspective of Short Deck regulars and ultimately provide a fair rakeback system—statuses, checkpoints, and other options, rather than leaving the situation in a state of "it was 100, now it’s 0.
$840,000 is guaranteed in Day 8 of our Summer Festival, which includes Day 2 of our #10 $530 WPT500 ($400,000 GTD) event. There are 3 more day 1 flights to this, with multiple feeders running to all of them!
The first flight of our #130 $1,060 WPT Prime ($750,000 GTD) also starts today:
Hi Alex,
I hope you're doing well. I play a lot of Shortdeck on your site, often starting tables and playing heads-up against anyone. I'd like to know if the RB cut affects Shortdeck as well, because I think it's nearly impossible to win consistently in a game with 40BB-60BB stacks and such high variance. This is not just my opinion but also the view of other players in a similar situation. I'm writing this message because I would like to co
The problem with removal of RB for shortdeck is not just variance. In this discipline the preflop pot is 7 bb ( 1.5 bb in classic holdem). Because of that, it's correct to move all-in your 50bb stack a lot and defend by calling all-ins of other opponents also a lot. As a result, you are VERY FREQUENTLY end up in 90-100 bb pots that are raked with a 2bb cap. Shortdeck players PAY THE BIGGEST RAKE AMONG ALL other players. I suppose real rake for shortdeck is around 15-20bb ( ante) per 100 hands. It's just insane if rakeback would be removed for this disciple.
Alex, Shortdeck holdem is not even comparable to NHLE in terms of rake per 100 hands !! It's insanely high , please , return affiliate payments for shortdeck players ! Otherwise most regs will just leave to GGpoker , where internal loyality programs + daily leaderboards provide about 40-50% rakeback .
Hi, Alex!
First of all, I want to express my deep gratitude to you for maintaining an open dialogue with users!
I would like to highlight some questions related to Short Deck because they often get lost in discussions and remain unanswered.
I understand your position from the perspective of the poker room, but I suggest looking at this issue from the viewpoint of regular Short Deck players.
Regulars at mid and high stakes in Short Deck know eac
We are all unhappy with the changes WPT made in regards to the rakeback and hsp tag in general. But I don't get what playing a higher variance game has to do with that. You choose to play this higher variance (and lower skill-edge game) game, and now you feel like you are more entitled to rakeback?
don't get me wrong I can't even handle 20bi swings lol, but thats also why I will not play these formats (other than a simplified and more gambly version of holdem seems like a pretty mehh game tbh, but maybe I need to give it a try before having an opinion).
