PokerStars Rewards: Chests, Levels and Select

What PokerStars Rewards is

Rewards replaced the old VIP system and, in its current form, runs on a simple idea: play real-money poker, earn reward points, fill your bar, open a Chest. Membership is free, but you have to opt in with the Start button in the lobby or in My Rewards; until then no points are counted.

The figures below come from the international .com terms as of 2026. Segregated markets and regional sites, such as Ontario or the US states, run their own versions of the program with different rules.

Points, bars and Chests step by step

You earn 100 reward points for every $1 of rake in cash games and Zoom or of tournament fees (110 per €1, 130 per £1). The points fill a progress bar; when it is full, you win a Chest of your current level.

The six levels and their bars: Blue, 2,000 points for a $3 Chest (15%); Bronze, 6,000 for $10.50 (17.5%); Silver, 20,000 for $40 (20%); Gold, 50,000 for $125 (25%); Diamond, 120,000 for $360 (30%); Black, 250,000 for $1,000 (40%).

Open five Chests within a rolling 28 days and you move up a level. If 28 days pass without a Chest, the bar resets and you drop a level, where Chests are easier to win but smaller.

Rules worth knowing

Unopened Chests expire after 30 days, and the rewards inside can have their own expiry dates, listed in My Rewards. Rewards may come as cash or game credit, and some can carry play-through requirements, so read the details of each one.

If you are above Blue, you can exchange your bar for a lower-level Chest when you cannot finish the current one in time. Rewards points are separate from the redemption points that release the welcome bonus.

PokerStars Select and Select+

Players who pay $50,000 or more in rake and fees over a rolling 12 months are moved automatically into PokerStars Select and get 50% back as cash every day. To keep the status, you need $10,000 over three months or $50,000 over 12 months.

Select+ starts at $100,000 a year and pays 60% on Spin & Go and Zoom and 50% on everything else; it is kept with $20,000 per three months or $100,000 per year. Select players leave the Chest system, and PokerStars may admit a player early on proof of similar volume at another room.

How it compares with other loyalty programs

GGPoker’s Ocean Rewards reaches up to roughly 80% cashback at its top tier, which is more than PokerStars’ 60% ceiling. 888poker pays weekly cash-game rakeback from 5% to 50% depending on weekly rake, and WPT Global gives a flat 30% to every PLO player.

ACR’s Elite Benefits uses military ranks and Combat Points exchanged for cash, while CoinPoker spreads rewards over leaderboards and Splash Pots. The PokerStars strength is predictability: the Chest values are fixed and published, so you can work out your rakeback in advance.

Who benefits and how to play it smart

Regular players gain most, because the percentage only climbs if you keep opening five Chests a month. A casual player will usually sit at Blue or Bronze with 15–17.5%, and at those levels, as a rule, a free daily Power Path Step 1 ticket for any raked game is part of the package.

The program can change at any time, so check the PokerStars Rewards page or My Rewards in the client for current terms. Never chase the next level by playing longer or higher than you planned: rakeback softens costs, but it cannot turn a losing game into a profitable one.