Does anyone know how their VIP points apply to tourneys? On their site it references 1 point per $4 in either "buyin fee" or "buyin" depending on where you look. So for a $10 + 1 tourney, are you contributing $1, $10 or $11 toward earning points?

I'd email AP but I'd rather know the answer before Halloween.

It seems strange to say this now, but back in the day this was the only reason I played at Party.

Not sure, but AP have live chat. Try that.

its up on their Promotions page now. you can indeed get 9% interest.

*shrugs*

so they're basically banking that you'll have to withdraw funds some of the time, thus nobody will really get the 9% interest.

http://www.absolutepoker.com/vip/terms.asp

* Maximum balance eligible is $500,000
* You Must be Elite
* Your average daily balance must be greater than $1000 (balance snap shot taken once per day)
* You may not have any payouts during the calendar month
* You must earn the VIP points needed to maintain your Elite status during the calendar month
* Interest credits to your cash account will be given within the first 7 days after the closing of the previous calendar month
* All issues not covered in the terms and conditions will be decided on by Absolute poker, and all resolutions will be final
* Absolute poker reserves the right to withdraw this program at any time, with 10 days notice

Note: No payouts or transfers.

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The real reason they are doing this is to help finance the business. Reduction of the business interest expense is the driver. The company has lines of credit that are extended for certain capital expenditures i.e. purchase of UB or upgraded servers for new player base ect.

If AP has a line of credit extended for 7,000,000.00 at 18% the interest payment monthly is 105K, if they pay you instead they save 52.5K monthly while increasing revenue.

************************************************** *********

Kudos to AP management for this move...brave, risky and bold!

So an elaborate chip-dumping HU could work right? I don't play at AP or anything, but it seems like if you have a 2nd account and a friend, you can make cashouts over time.

Except - Depending on how much and how high you play AP points for cash conversions can more than make up for the fact that rakeback is contributed. I average 2k per month in points conversions, which is about equal to my monthly rakeback.

Lucky

My biggest fear is that they are going to make a very restrictive 9% interest on balances promotion and take away something else (like the points for cash conversions).

Lucky

Anyone who is happy about their poker site using their money - rather than storing it in a separate fund - has an excessive amount of trust in these businesses.

If this is true, it means that your money might not be matched by an equivalent dollar amount in a bank account - which leads to a huge problem if there is a run on this operator, let alone other possible problems.

Has anyone done the calculations on the minimum amount of rake generated for one of these players vs the maximum amount of interest payout per month (or the difference between 9% and a t-bill or something similar)?