seriously,
I mean I used to play ongame, but that was back in the pro-US days and when I played 8 or less games

I'm pretty sure for the conceirge service, you have to be a supernova. Also, they are pretty flexible about it; you don't necessarily have to get the 186k points for the 3k value, you can do it in increments of at least $500. Or, for example, I bought my new computer, and it was $850; I sent them a copy of the receipt, and they credited my account, and took away the appropriate player points to equal $850. It is a better rate to go conceirge than to buy the bonuses. Not sure of the exact numbers, but it is slightly better value.

the numbers are:

Bonus of 100k FPP's for $1500 = 1.5c/FPP
Concierge purchase of at least $500 = 1.61c/FPP

In concierge you get $500 for every 31k FPP's or whatever it works out to for your item.
This is $1610 for every 100k FPP's instead of the regular $1500.
Roughly 7.3% extra.

There is no clearing requirement for the concierge so that is an advantage as well.

So if you have any semi-major item purchase in the $500 range or higher just drop a line to the Stars VIP e-mail and ask if you can have it concierged.
I don't use it nearly enough because I just haven't had many significant purchases lately.
Although I do need to look into getting a WalMart card or something assuming that is still an option.

Bonuses are 1.5 cents/FPP
Concierge is 1.6 cents/FPP

I think


Actually I'm sure, because Bob beat me to it

officially...concierge is 62 FPPs = $1. (Divide your FPPs by 62 to get $, duh)

I know this because I use it constantly to get Bestbuy GC's, WalMart, HomeDepot, NorthwestAirlines....whatever.

100,000 for a $1500 bonus that you have to play add'l hands to release

OR

100,000 for $1612.90 in Giftcards or whatever else you want.

You decide. I, personally, hate giving up that $112.90 every 100,000 FPPs.

What are some other creative things concierge service has been used for?


also, I love the giftcard idea, what other places have giftcards besides the ones mentioned above?

cell phone bills? other bills?

Sorry to bother you MicroBob but I am having trouble understanding this comment. I have tried reading everything I can on Supernova Elite. I did not see anything that says last years bonus offers carry over. Could you please explain this to me. I hope this is not to much to ask since I know your busy chasing elite.

Ty Wes

For anyone in the UK, John Lewis vouchers are excellent value.

It's a milestone bonus, he probably bought it before the year-end and is putting the raked hands in to clear it.

Wes,

There's a base FPP playthrough that players have to finish before being awarded their bonus. This playthrough requirement is 5x the bonus's value. Thus, to completely unlock the $7500 bonus, you have to earn 38,500 base FPPs (VPPs). This can carry over to the next year before being completed

No bills allowed...I emailed Scotty to see if I could turn in my $1K/month housepayment (afterall, someone used concierge for a $20/K downpayment on a house) but he said no. I thought it would work, considering he would be buyin my house 1K at a time, but I guess not.

Other things I've gotten...

I basically have them finishing my basement:
Prof. Painting service (2K)
Hardwood Floors (2K)
HomeDepot Giftcards for sheetrock and supplies (4k)
50" DLP TV, (2k)

$1500 in Target Giftcards which I've used to furnish my newborn babies nursery...
Crib/changing table/dresser/diapers/etc

I got to 750k VPP's on Dec 30 or very early on Dec 31 or something.
So I bought the $7500 milestone bonus.
It takes 37500 VPP's for them to release the bonus and I have 120 days to clear it.
So basically, I'm still working off my final 2007 milestone bonus.

That's kind of my motivation right now. I'm keeping an eye on how many points I have to go before I FINALLY get the $7500.

Ty Thac I still do not get all of this Stars store stuff but will be reading and rooting you all on in your quest for elite. Hopefully I will build the Br high enough this year and join you all next year in this awesome quest.

yeah, you probably can't away with, "Here's my Cell-phone and cable bills that I just paid. Pay me for that please."
But you could get away with getting a Best Buy gift-card and then getting those to-go phones there. Or maybe even going to the cell-phone store there.

Some places let you pay your utilities at the grocery store or perhaps even at the WalMart. Not really sure.
No idea if a WalMart gift-card could be used for such a purpose.

But there are so many zillions of other things you can use the concierge for that I think it's a bit cheap to try to find work-arounds to use it for your phone, utilities, mortgage/rent somehow.

SFCell has some pretty good ideas on how to put concierge to use.

I kind of agree about the value aspect. I feel like an idiot for passing up that extra $110 or $112 or whatever it is every 100k FPP's.

Not trying to sound all baller or anything. But you really don't need a very large bankroll to make a realistic run at Elite. It does take a lot of hours on a lot of tables though.
But it's do-able all the way down to 3/6 limit or even .5/1 NL imo and is very realistic at 5/10 limit or 1/2 NL.

Random question: what is the average hands per hour for 200NL6max..or just 6max tables in general.

I tried out the stars calculator for the vip program and entered in 12 tabling $50nl for 20 hrs a week and it said that at that rate I will be on track for sne for the year. SNE here I come!!!!

That calculator is way off IMO...

best way to check is to get all your tables going and then track it for an hour or two...thats the best way to get your VPP/hour rate, and it will adjust in your playing style as well.


I highly doubt 12-tabling 25-50 cent NL for only 20 hours a week will get you there.

You BARELY get there by 10-tabling 1-2NL for 50 hours a week.

pretty sure he was joking and understood it was super-duper off.

your caution could still be helpful for those who didn't understand the joke or see the earlier thread about how off the calculator is.

it wasnt that is was off, at the bottom it said I was on track for nova and sne, so of course I had to make a funny, looking at the numbers i would only make like 200k vpps I think

speaking of that...yeah...I think thats a little deceiving of PS to put that bit at the bottom of being on SNE pace, even when the monthly total calculates to less than the req'd 83K/month pace.

err...but i guess they put this too?

I just checked this because I didn't believe it would actually claim that you were in the 83k/mth range necessary for Elite just by 12-tabling NL50 for 20hrs/wk.

Indeed I was correct. It estimates the monthly VPP total at 18731.

This does put you on pace to reach Supernova. But it does not put you anywhere close to on pace for Elite of course.

But indeed it appears that for any Platinum player they seem to imply that this pace is good enough to make it to Elite which, of course, is ridiculous.

The quote I am referring to is:
"If you consistently achieve PlatinumStar status each month, you are on pace to achieve our yearly VIP levels, Supernova and Supernova Elite."

This is pretty irresponsible of them imo.
Obviously you would have to be a total moron to not be able to figure out that 18k VPP's a month is NOT going to get you to 1 million.
But this calculator was designed in the first place for the people who can't figure out the basic math for themselves so who knows.
And there's really no reason to even come close to implying that 10k or 18k a month is going to get you anywhere near all the awesome rewards that one gets as an Elite player.
If they're going to do that then they might as well just say that gold level players can make it to Supernova too. It's just as ridiculous.

I assume this was just an oversight on their part and they are just trying to mention that they have a program above and beyond Supernova that you can strive for as well.
But the language on their site should be changed because right now it is somewhat deceiving/misleading although thankfully to such a comical degree that one would assume people wouldn't get fooled by it.

SF - didn't see your post before I made mine.

Gas cards (if ps allows it) for concierge.

Another idea for concierge service:

"
>Hello!
>
>I'm going to participate in a 1000€+100€ No Limit Texas Hold'em 3-days
>tournament that will take place in 3 weeks in Villajoyosa (Alicante,
Spain)
>and I was thinking if it was possible to buy the ticket (or a package
>including travel and hotel expenses) with fpp's. You can check the
following
>link to see more information about the event:
>http://poquer-red.com/noticias/i-ope...ro-villajoyosa
>
>Thanks. Regards.
>


Hello Vedast,

You may buy the entry, the hotel and flight on your own, email us the
receipts, we are willing to deduct the FPPs and credit your Pokerstars
account.

FPP conversion rate:

31,000 FPPs = US$500

Thank you for being a VIP on PokerStars.

Regards,

William
PokerStars VIP Team"