ClubWPT Review: is this online poker site worth paying for monthly?

ClubWPT is one of the most successful and popular websites that offers a monthly subscription for online poker players. By signing up for ClubWPT, you'll need to pay a monthly fee in exchange for the chance to play in poker tournaments for prizes, including live poker event trips, cash, and much more.

ClubWPT offers a sweepstakes-based internet poker model, which is somewhat reminiscent of Global Poker and Chumba Casino, although it certainly seems like ClubWPT is a bit more above board in how they operate their company.

Real Player Evaluation of ClubWPT

In this detailed review of ClubWPT, our experts will cover all the important aspects of the ClubWPT poker site and the benefits and drawbacks of signing up for a membership. We will explore other players' opinions and experiences as well as review the software, membership value, tournaments, social casino games, and overall quality of the ClubWPT poker site.

To learn more about ClubWPT and the tournaments and memberships on offer, please feel free to peruse our quick list of pros and cons below, or continue reading our extensive ClubWPT review.

Other Real Player Impressions of ClubWPT

As a part of our review process, we always like to take a look around the internet and see what other real users are saying. In our experiences, we have found that the majority of users enjoy ClubWPT, but there have also been many dissatisfied customers.

Below, we have compiled a few real player comments regarding ClubWPT:

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Key Performance Indicators

Now that we have covered some of the basic pros and cons of ClubWPT, let's take a closer look at the key performance indicators regarding poker play at ClubWPT and the value of signing up for a membership.

• Trustworthiness - Good. Although players have reported difficulties with billing and receiving their cash or prizes, overall, the site appears to be fairly trustworthy. Canceling your membership is quite simple nowadays, and the prize redemption process is reasonable.
• Play for free - Excellent. ClubWPT often touts the phrase “never lose money playing online poker again” as a part of its advertising. Although this is only partially true due to the need for a $27.95 monthly recurring membership, it is a good option for recreational players who want to experience many tournaments without losing large amounts of money. You can also play cash games purely for “play chips,” which have absolutely no cash value. We expected ClubWPT to score well in this category, and indeed, it does.
• Country availability - Average. Players from the United States are welcome at ClubWPT. Numerous other countries are also allowed to utilize ClubWPT, although it seems as though it is primarily aimed toward Americans, Canadians, and Australians.
• Game variety - Fair. Considering this is a monthly subscription service, the variety of tournaments for VIP members leaves a bit to be desired. There are Hold'em, Omaha, and Omaha Hi/Lo events, but the prize pools are often meager or only consist of “tournament points.”
• Speed of website & user experience - Average. On the basis of most real user experiences, ClubWPT provides players with functional gameplay and a decent overall experience. All elements of the website operate as expected with the occasional hiccup.

ClubWPT - In-Depth Review

ClubWPT is strongly intertwined with the popular World Poker Tour brand, which is well recognized for hosting some of the most prestigious live tournaments and televised events across the world. Because of the complexities regarding the legality of internet poker in the United States, ClubWPT was created as a way of offering real online poker with a “sweepstakes” model. This enables users to pay a monthly fee in exchange for a membership that lets them participate in tournaments throughout the month.

Some of the better tournaments offered at ClubWPT grant players the opportunity to win their way into live World Poker Tour tournament events in various areas of the world. Additionally, players can often win prizes like swag, clothing, and even cash throughout each month by participating in the online poker tournaments on offer.

Register for an Account

Getting started at ClubWPT is a fairly simple and straightforward experience. First, you'll need to visit www.ClubWPT.com and click on the green "Sign Up" button in the top right-hand corner.

Click on the green "Sign Up" button in the top right-hand corner to get started

After clicking the "Sign Up" button, the first registration form will open. Fill in these details honestly and accurately to ensure a smooth sign-up and playing process.

Use the promo code BOUNTY to receive a 2-week VIP membership + 2,000 tournament points for free

After you enter the BOUNTY promo code and complete step 1, you'll need to provide ClubWPT with some personal information, like your name, address, and phone number. We would highly encourage you to provide accurate information so you'll be able to earn real prizes and redeem funds in the future should you win or place in an event. ClubWPT will not advertise or share your private information with other businesses or agencies as stated in their Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Step 2 asks you to fill in personal details like your name, date of birth, phone number, and address

Once you have finished entering your personal details and submitted the step 2 confirmation, you'll need to proceed to step 3 which involves providing billing details for the monthly recurring membership. There are a few different options including the Diamond membership, which gives you access to the best tournaments and events but costs a whopping $149.95 monthly.

Alternatively, you can select the 2-week free VIP trial along with the 2,000 free tournament points by using code BOUNTY and then you can select the VIP plan that works best for you. You can choose to pay annually for a total of $264.95, quarterly for $74.95, or monthly for $27.95.

You can cancel your monthly membership at any time prior to the expiration of your 2-week free VIP trial, and you will not be charged for membership moving forward. We elected to choose the VIP Monthly plan including the 2-week free trial and 2,000 tournament points.

Step 3 asks you to choose your membership plan and provide a payment method like a credit or debit card or direct deposit ACH bank account

In our experience, ClubWPT did test the debit card we provided by charging it $0.01 to verify that we provided an active card with funding. The $0.01 was promptly refunded, and our 2-week free trial was set up. We were ready to play at ClubWPT.

Site Design

After registering for an account, confirming your email, and logging in, you'll be able to see the available tournaments and sit and gos scheduled every day. If you chose to register for the 2-week free trial, you'll have access to the VIP-level tournaments. The better and more exclusive tournaments are reserved for Diamond members, which costs $149.95 monthly.

Tournaments available to Diamond ClubWPT members

Many of these VIP events require no buyin at all, but some of the more lucrative events necessitate a buyin of a certain number of “tournament points.” By using the promo code BOUNTY when you sign up, you'll receive 2000 tournament points to get started for free along with your 2-week free trial.

Website Performance Testing and Speed

ClubWPT seems to be somewhat fast and responsive across a few different kinds of devices. However, instead of simply trusting our impressions, we decided to conduct a few simple tests to see if this is really the case.

WebPageTest gives ClubWPT marginal scores when it comes to loading speed and performance. It seemed to take 13.7 seconds for the entire page to load and be fully usable while it only took 2 seconds for text and images to begin appearing.

When utilizing Google's PageSpeed Insights, ClubWPT scores a measly 40 out of 100 when it comes to mobile performance. The test shows a similar result to that of WebPageTest with a total of 13.3 seconds being needed to load the entire page. This is quite slow. The desktop test rendered a more respectable score of 72 and took around 3.6 seconds to fully load, which is about average.

Security and Safety

ClubWPT seems to be heavily invested in the security of their customers as well as their financial information as becomes clear throughout the lengthy Terms of Service and supplemental documentation available on the website. With that being said, however, there have been a significant number of negative reports from players regarding difficulty canceling their membership and other billing concerns.

In our experience, registering for an account and paying for the monthly membership is quite simple and safe. You can either attach your bank account to withdraw the funds automatically each month or you can attach a debit or credit card for these purposes. You may also want to peruse the Privacy Policy to learn how ClubWPT keeps your information safe and private. It is located at the bottom of the page along with the Terms of Service.

In the past, users often reported that canceling their membership was complicated and difficult and it seems as though this is unfortunately still the case.

Once you've reached the account management section, you can change your membership options including your preferred method of payment and plan options. Simply scroll down and select the “Cancel My Membership” button for instructions on how to cancel your membership by email or phone.

Scroll down and click “Cancel My Membership” if you wish to cancel your recurring membership at any time

Yes, you read that correctly. Clicking the button above will not actually cancel your membership whatsoever and instead will simply bring you to a page that gives you instructions on HOW to cancel your account. You'll need to call their phone number or email Cancel@TheClubServices.com to cancel your recurring membership. Be sure to include your name, username, email address, and phone number in your email requesting cancellation.

Honestly, it shouldn't be this difficult in this day and age to cancel a simple recurring subscription service. We cannot recall a single other billing service that operates in this manner in the year 2023. It is simply unacceptable for the company to require such hoop-jumping in a vain attempt at hoping customers will not put in the work required to cancel their billing information or membership in time. The site also requires you to request cancellation five days prior to your next billing cycle or your request will not be processed in time.

Licensing

ClubWPT operates as a sweepstakes operator, which means it is not under the same scrutiny as a real money online poker site might be. Because players pay a monthly fee to participate in free events, you aren't technically gambling, so ClubWPT does not need to hold any kind of gaming licensure.

ClubWPT does follow the regulations that are in place for all sweepstakes contests held in the United States or offered to citizens in the United States. You can learn more about how ClubWPT operates by viewing the Terms of Service located at the bottom of the ClubWPT website as well as the Prize Eligibility documentation.

Trust, Reputation, and Reliability

When it comes to this area, ClubWPT is a bit of a mixed bag. There have been many users like the two comments we highlighted above who have been less than impressed with ClubWPT and the way that it does business. In our experience, the games are certainly dealt with a fair RNG, the billing practices are reasonable, and cashing out winnings is doable.

With that being said, there are significant downsides. We have continued to encounter an oddly specific glitch which results in being timed out every so often while attempting to click call or raise. In both instances in which this occurred to our reviewer, he was holding a very strong hand, so being timed out while the rest of his computer and programs were running perfectly smoothly was a bit frustrating.

Of course, we aren't at all suggesting that this was intentional or purposeful, but significant software glitches like this one can certainly get in the way of trying to win cash and prizes as well as having a good time.

Welcome Bonus

Because ClubWPT isn't a real money poker site, there isn't any standard deposit or welcome bonus on offer as players cannot deposit. Instead, all new users can get a free 2-week VIP trial membership as well as 2,000 free tournament points by using code BOUNTY upon signing up.

As far as the cash games are concerned, you'll start with 10,000 play money chips and you can intermittently collect 500 free chips every 2 hours or so to continue playing for free. Keep in mind that the play-chips cash games are only for fun and have no real prizes or cash up for grabs.

VIP and Diamond Memberships

As we have already touched upon, ClubWPT is a monthly subscription sweepstakes poker site. Players can choose between a “standard” VIP membership, which costs approximately $27.95 per month, or the more prestigious Diamond membership, which costs $149.95 per month.

To be perfectly honest, we wouldn't really encourage you to sign up for either of these subscription plans as the value simply isn't there. At the VIP level, it is almost impossible to win any real money or prizes, and at the Diamond level, the cost of $149.95 monthly is far too steep.

Diamond members receive a few extra perks like access to the learning platform called Learn WPT and a few more elite tournaments that offer buyins to live World Poker Tour events and real-money prize pools, but the tournaments are still not worthwhile in our experience, and it will be quite difficult to win your monthly membership fees back on a regular basis.

Below, we have included a side-by-side comparison detailing the major differences between the VIP and Diamond memberships offered on the ClubWPT website and poker platform.

VIP vs Diamond membership levels at ClubWPT

Poker Tournaments and Games

The major aspect of ClubWPT that attracts most players are certainly the free tournaments. Of course, these events aren't exactly free because you'll need to pay a monthly membership to participate, but still, being a member entitles you to register for free tournaments each and every day in the VIP tournaments section of the site.

Somewhat recently, ClubWPT started offering a more elite monthly membership plan dubbed “Diamond.” Diamond memberships cost $149.95 per month, but Diamond members have access to more valuable tournaments with large prize pools and satellites to live World Poker Tour tournaments.

Cash Games

At ClubWPT, cash games are not the primary focus as all cash game play is only conducted using play money chips with absolutely no cash or prize value. The cash games are solely there for entertainment purposes, and you can easily top up with an extra 500 free play chips every 2 hours or so by clicking the “bonus” button at the bottom of the screen.

The cash games section of ClubWPT functions much like any other play money poker site, such as Replay Poker or Zynga Poker. The games are fairly deserted, at least compared to the busier tournament section, and the play tends to be extremely fishy and reckless.

Sit and Gos

Sit and Gos at ClubWPT are fairly uneventful. The SNGs all require buyins of tournament points, and you'll have an opportunity to win additional tournament points by playing and winning. There are only a few SNGs on offer, and none of them offer any real cash or prizes. You can use tournament points to enter future tournament events, so perhaps playing an occasional SNG may help you pad your tournament points in an effort to make your way into a more lucrative tournament.

Tournaments

Tournaments are really the most impressive and enjoyable aspect of ClubWPT. As a monthly VIP or Diamond ClubWPT member, you'll be able to register for tournaments every single day without ever needing to purchase chips or buyin.

The way that it works is that ClubWPT offers daily freeroll events that usually award the top finishers with “tournament points.” The tournament points won can then be utilized to buy into future tournaments with cash prizes or other prizes, like live World Poker Tour event buy-ins and trips. The Diamond-exclusive tournaments never require any points to enter – an additional perk of this upscale membership package.

VIP tournaments at ClubWPT

Rake and Tournament Fees

Due to the monthly paid membership model, ClubWPT does not collect any rake or tournament fees. Of course, the site does rake in a hefty sum through the paid monthly memberships, but you'll never see any play money chips being raked at the cash game tables. All play money chips will be won and played for at every table.

Tournaments and sit and gos are largely the same story. Because players don't ever need to buy in to play in an event, there is simply no point in taking any other fees or rake. The tournaments that ask players to pay tournament points to enter may not always reward the full number of tournament points used to buy in by the total number of players in the event. So perhaps this could be considered a form of fee or rake.

With that being said, tournament points never cost any real money to purchase, so there isn't any actual money being raked. Tournament points can only be won by entering and placing in freeroll tournaments or tournaments that cost tournament points to enter. Besides the monthly membership fees, there is no rake taken from games at ClubWPT.

Game Quality

The tables at ClubWPT are truly wild and unbelievably fishy. Because there are no real money buyins, players tend to play quite recklessly without any regard for their chips or proper poker strategy. ClubWPT often touts that their players play “real poker” as opposed to other free-to-play poker sites, but this has not been our experience.

In general, the games play quite loose and somewhat “bingo” like. Luck-based tactics run rampant at ClubWPT, so it should be somewhat easy for experienced card players to navigate playing in these large field tournaments. Unfortunately, it seems that most of this type of reckless play stems from the lack of solid prizes and prize pools available.

Although ClubWPT touts that members can participate and win their share of up to $100,000 per month, this figure is somewhat misleading and inaccurate. Most events don't offer any cash or prizes and instead only award more tournament points, which can be used to enter tournaments at a later date.

An advertisement for Diamond membership at ClubWPT

Even the events that do offer prize pools and cash tend to be fairly small and far and few between. There are often daily events offering $50-$100 prize pools, but there are usually at least a few hundred players who enter these events, making your odds of actually cashing quite low and not often worth your time.

To make matters worse, the best events are reserved only for Diamond members who will need to fork over $149.95 monthly to participate. Even at the Diamond level, the prizes and prize pools leave much to be desired. We certainly do not suggest paying such a steep membership fee to potentially win a prize or an opportunity to play a live World Poker Tour event. Your money would likely stretch much further and reap more significant profitability at a legitimate online poker site, like Ignition, ACR Poker, or BetOnline.

ClubWPT Poker Software

The poker software at ClubWPT previously relied on a somewhat outdated medium known as Flash technology to operate. Fortunately, it seems as though ClubWPT has finally evolved and created a new, HTML5 browser-based poker client.

There are also downloadable poker clients available for Android, Mac, and Windows systems although the functionality isn't any more impressive. It functions and looks identically to the browser-based poker software.

Overall, the poker software here is quite limited and unimpressive. It is extremely difficult to play multiple tables at once, and the software experiences far too many bugs. The software looks fairly clean and crisp, but in comparison to other poker sites, ClubWPT is lacking well behind its competition.

ClubWPT Lobby

ClubWPT utilizes an HTML5 browser-based poker interface in addition to a simplified downloadable poker client available for Mac, Windows, and Android devices. From within the ClubWPT lobby, you can access tournaments, sit and gos, cash games, and social free-to-play casino games by using the toolbar on the top of the screen. The downloadable poker client is identical to the HTML5 browser-based poker software.

Tournaments are available in the ClubWPT poker lobby

Although you can play more than one game or table at a time, it is a bit of a hassle because you can't separate each game or table into its own window. Instead, you'll have to manually switch your screen back and forth between your active tables. This type of gameplay is clearly geared towards recreational and beginner players as most experienced poker players will prefer to have multiple tables open and active at the same time.

Tables

The poker tables at ClubWPT are somewhat simplistic in design and functionality. Unfortunately, there also seem to be a significant number of glitches and issues that users may encounter while playing for any prolonged period of time.

ClubWPT fixed limit Hold'em tournament gameplay

As is usually the case with online poker sites, you'll be able to see the other players' usernames and stack sizes with relative ease. The major hiccup with ClubWPT is that it is quite difficult to play more than one table at a time as you'll have to toggle back and forth between the tables. It is not a very user-friendly poker client, and the functionality is severely limited.

Notes and Chat

Towards the bottom left-hand corner of any poker table, you'll see the chat window which also has a few other functions. You can see previously dealt hands, statistics, take notes on other players, and change a few options.

You can chat, take notes, and view previous hand and statistics in the box in the bottom right-hand corner of any table

It is nice that ClubWPT still features full chat functionality as some sites have removed this feature recently after encountering issues with abusive or spammy chat messages. The games here tend to be pretty relaxed and friendly, so the chat often coincides with this feel.

Hand Histories

By clicking on the three black lines in the top right-hand corner and selecting “Poker Game History,” you'll be able to view your previous sessions and hand histories. Unfortunately, you can't see the full table or hand replay and instead will only be able to see a text version of the hands as they took place.

You can view your previous hand histories at any time

Game Settings

As is the case with most online poker sites, there are certain settings that you can adjust to change or enhance your playing experience at ClubWPT. Unfortunately, these settings are fairly narrow and unimpressive as the poker software is somewhat simple and archaic.

You can select a four-color deck, choose to toggle sound effects on and off, choose to auto muck and auto post blinds, and you can opt to hide gifts and the gift shop options.

The gift shop is essentially just a set of cute and fun animations like virtual drinks, card protectors, and cigars that you can purchase for your avatar or for other players at your table. The worst part about these gifts is that they expire each and every session or table you play, so there is really no point in spending your play chips on them.

You can also adjust your preselected bet sizes and the bet slider used to place bets during your games. You can select from standard amounts like 1/4 pot, 1/2 pot, and 2/3 pot. Preflop, you can select betting increments denominated in Big Blinds like BBx2.5, BBx3, etc.

Promotions

The promotions available at ClubWPT change from time to time, but it is standard for the site to offer all new players a 2-week VIP trial membership to try out the site before paying for a full membership. There are often other promotions available – for instance, by using the code BOUNTY you'll get an additional 2,000 tournament points for free to go along with your 2-week free trial.

Another example of a kind of promo extended by ClubWPT to its users is the loyalty program whereby anyone who maintains VIP or Diamond membership level for a full calendar quarter will get a 10,000 point loyalty bonus. This does seem kind of useless for Diamond players, who don't need points to enter their special events, but it does have value for VIP members.

Play Chip Information and Purchases

Cash games at ClubWPT are only played with play money chips which have absolutely no cash or prize value. New players who register for an account will start with 10,000 play money chips.

Bonus Chips

Besides using your allotted 10,000 free chips to win additional chips in the cash games, you can also grab 500 bonus chips every 2 hours by clicking the gold ClubWPT bonus coin at the bottom of the screen. You can collect 500 chips for free every 2 hours. Once you collect 500 chips, the 2-hour timer will begin, and you'll be able to receive another 500 chips once the timer expires.

Purchasing Chips

The main way that ClubWPT profits is through the monthly membership fees, but they also sell play money chips to supplement their income. There are several different packages available ranging from $4.99 all the way up to $499.99. At the lowest price point, $4.99, you'll get 30,000 play chips. For $499.99, you'll receive 10,000,000 play chips.

You can purchase play money chips for up to $499.99

The payment methods available include Visa, Discover, and Mastercard. You'll need to use one of these three debit or credit card options to purchase play money chips.

Of course we will again reiterate that these chips are solely for practice play and will never equate to any cash or prize value. It is hard to understand, but perhaps some players will be entertained by purchasing massive sums of play money chips to bully other players at the play chips tables. In our eyes, this seems like a complete waste of time and money when you can easily get chips for free or play elsewhere for real money.

Shop WPT

ClubWPT also offers all VIP and Diamond members a 10% discount on any purchases made at the ShopWPT.com store. To use your discount, be sure to log in to your account prior to visiting the ShopWPT site.

ShopWPT offers World Poker Tour branded swag like shirts, hats, and poker chips for sale

Many of the “classic” items listed above at a 50% discount are completely sold out. Almost every “classic” item on the site is sold out or unavailable, so we aren't exactly sure why the sale above is highlighted on the main page of the ShopWPT site. The items that are available include the new “lifestyle” collection and hats with the new WPT playing card logo. The hats go for around $29.99 each, so the prices are certainly a bit steep.

Some of the new hats available at ShopWPT.com

Learn WPT Training Platform

Diamond members can access a poker training platform called LearnWPT for free through the insider all-access plan, which is automatically included in all diamond memberships. We didn't have an opportunity to try a diamond membership, so we can't really comment too much on this platform, but the usual cost for the all-access insider plan is $99.99 per month.

We would surmise that this learning platform is not at all worth the money when compared to other more advanced and modern training platforms like GTO Wizard. GTO Wizard offers many different levels of membership, and only the most elite tier costs more than the LearnWPT all-access membership. It seems as though the depth of information and technology available is far superior at GTO Wizard and we certainly don't think there is any need to explore the LearnWPT platform.

ClubWPT Social Casino Games

In addition to the poker room, ClubWPT also features a free-play casino comprised of slot machines, video poker games, and a few table games, like blackjack and roulette.

Play money casino gaming at ClubWPT

To play casino games, you'll need to click on the “Casino” tab toward the top right-hand portion of the ClubWPT lobby. Keep in mind that you'll be using the same play money chips used to play cash game poker at the casino tables and slots. Of course, you can always get 500 free chips after waiting for 2 hours, so it isn't too big of a deal if you lose all of your play money chips.

Blackjack table at ClubWPT

ClubWPT Mobile Poker

ClubWPT is easily accessible on a wide range of devices and computers, including smartphones like Android and iOS devices. The gameplay and visuals are exactly the same because the site utilizes simplified HTML5 poker software to operate the games. There are also download clients available for Mac, Windows, and Android users, but there seem to be virtually no differences or benefits to utilizing the downloaded software.

100/200 play chips cash game on an iPhone 7 at ClubWPT

Dealing and RNG

Unfortunately, there will always be questions regarding the legitimacy of the Random Number Generators at ClubWPT and every other online poker site. Based on our experience in playing at ClubWPT, we are confident in stating the RNG is fair and is not rigged in any way, shape, or form.

Most claims regarding online poker being rigged stem from negativity bias or a severe misunderstanding of the game and its inherent variance. ClubWPT charges people a monthly subscription, so the site has next to zero upside in rigging the games for certain players. ClubWPT will earn money on a steady basis regardless of the outcomes and winners, so it would be quite preposterous for them to skew the outcomes to favor certain players.

Support

Customer service and support are of paramount importance at any online poker site. Although ClubWPT isn't quite a real-money poker site, it still takes customer service and support quite seriously. There is a detailed page on the ClubWPT site dedicated to contacting customer service should you need any assistance or clarifications regarding your account or poker play.

You can call or email support at ClubWPT

One impressive aspect of the ClubWPT customer support is the live phone number that is available to call Monday through Saturday between the hours of 11:00 a.m. EST and 11:00 p.m. EST. Being able to call and speak with a real person is always an excellent option nowadays.

Alternatives to ClubWPT: Competitor Comparisons

There aren't many direct comparisons available to evaluate against ClubWPT as this site operates a bit differently in somewhat of a grey area between real money poker and play money poker. In some ways, the site resembles Global Poker, a site known for disguising real money play with a sweepstakes model and free play chips. In other ways, the site much more closely resembles a truly free-to-play site like Replay Poker or Zynga Poker.

Since this site straddles the line between real money play and free play poker, we have decided to compare it head-to-head against one real money site and one free-to-play site. We will compare ClubWPT against the following two online poker rooms to help you decide where to play:

• Replay Poker Play Money
• Ignition Real Money

ClubWPT vs Competitors: How Do They Compare in Key Areas?

We have identified Replay Poker and Ignition Poker as two reasonable competitors on which to base this detailed comparison. Let's take a look at some of the most important factors regarding how these sites operate.

Trust

When considering the trust factor, the difference between real money and play money becomes quite important. Replay Poker doesn't charge users any monthly membership fees, but you also won't be able to win any real prizes or cash whatsoever.

At ClubWPT, you'll need to pay a monthly membership fee to participate, but this fee does entitle you to play in a number of tournaments that indeed feature real prizes and cash. All in all, it functions more like a play money site than a real money site as it is quite hard to earn your membership dues back at the tables, but ClubWPT is trustworthy in the sense that they will pay you winnings that you have earned and their billing processes are safe and secure.

If you're going to spend $27 or $150 per month on online poker, however, we would highly suggest putting this money toward real money buyins at a reputable site like Ignition Poker. At least when you deposit into Ignition, you'll have a decent opportunity of winning money by entering legitimate cash games or tournaments. If you do win, you can easily withdraw your winnings using Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency.

Game Variety

Numerous online poker rooms excel in game variety, but unfortunately, ClubWPT comes up a bit short in this category. Although the site does offer play money cash games, sit and gos, and tournaments across a few variants like Limit Hold'em, Pot Limit Omaha, and Omaha Hi/Lo, the number of actively running events with real prize pools tends to be fairly small. Unless you solely want to play for fun, it is likely that you'll struggle to find all of the types of poker tournaments and cash games that you seek.

If you're looking to play for fun without risking money, we would think Replay Poker is a much better option as the site is completely free and offers plenty of poker games and tournaments on a regular basis. Of course, if you prefer to play for real money, Ignition is an excellent option.

Ignition offers many different formats for serious poker players, including sit and gos, multi-table tournaments, fast-fold cash games, and more. Ignition also features lottery-inspired Jackpot Sit and Gos, which award a randomly selected multiplier prize pool in a three handed turbo sit and go.

Promotions and Bonuses

When it comes to comparing promotions and bonuses, it is a bit difficult to do so because ClubWPT is so unique when compared to other real money or play money online poker sites. Overall, we would have to say that the bonuses here are not impressive. The 2-week free trial is all right, but because it forces you to provide billing information and is a hassle to cancel, we aren't exactly impressed.

Ignition Poker offers a solid welcome bonus for poker players worth 150% of your first crypto deposit up to $1,500. If you're going to spend real money playing online poker, we would strongly suggest trying Ignition as opposed to ClubWPT. It is simply too difficult to actually win money or prizes at ClubWPT, and you'll be spending at least $27.95 per month.

Payout Speed

We weren't able to win any real money or prizes during our two weeks of play at ClubWPT, so it is a bit tricky for us to say confidently one way or the other with regard to cashout speed. We have seen a number of complaints online regarding the prize redemption process and the fact that it is too difficult and potentially time-consuming.

If you play at a site like Ignition for real money, you'll easily be able to withdraw your winnings using cryptocurrencies within 24 hours. Replay Poker, the free-to-play site we are comparing ClubWPT against, is completely free and doesn't process cashouts, so there really isn't much to say in this regard.

Deposit and Withdrawal Options

ClubWPT does not have any deposits or withdrawals as it is only a monthly subscription sweepstakes poker site. With that being said, the site allows users to pay their monthly membership fee using Visa, Mastercard, or Discover cards. Members can alternatively choose to connect their bank account and pay the monthly fee via ACH automatic withdrawal.

As mentioned above, Replay Poker doesn't process any withdrawals or deposits as it is completely free to play, but it does support PayPal in addition to credit cards for buying play chips. Ignition offers players many ways of depositing and withdrawing their funds quickly, including a wide range of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash. Players at Ignition can also deposit with debit cards and a few other trusted methods.

Software, Speed, and User Experience

Unfortunately for ClubWPT, we would have to put it in last place when it comes to user experience and software. The poker client frequently experiences glitches and bugs, and you'll often end up being timed out and forced to fold your hand. Both Ignition and Replay Poker offer much better poker software that functions quickly and smoothly across numerous kinds of devices.

Has ClubWPT Evolved?

ClubWPT has largely stayed true to its catchphrase of “never lose a dime playing poker, guaranteed,” but unfortunately, this is not entirely accurate. The VIP membership used to only cost $20, but the membership was raised to $24.95, and then it was raised again to $27.95.

The major issue with these price hikes is that the value of playing the tournaments hasn't seemingly improved over the years. In fact, if anything, the value of these events has gotten even worse with the advent of the diamond membership status which costs $149.95 and boxes most standard VIP members out of the most lucrative tournaments.

One other important note is regarding their poker software. Many users reported that ClubWPT was one of the last sites to continue utilizing Flash technology to operate the poker games. Users also reported only being able to use Windows computers through Internet Explorer.

Fortunately, it appears that most of these problems have been resolved, with the site now offering a reasonable HTML5 browser-based poker client in addition to basic downloadable software that is compatible with Android, Mac, and Windows devices.

Pros | Cons | Positives

Now that we are reaching the end of our detailed review of ClubWPT, we felt like it might be helpful to highlight some of our favorite and not-so-impressive aspects regarding the ClubWPT platform. Let's go over the positives first:

• Americans and Canadians Accepted. ClubWPT welcomes American and Canadian players as well as players from Australia, France, and the United Kingdom. The site utilizes a sweepstakes-based monthly subscription model to allow players from these areas to participate and potentially win real money and prizes.
• Compatible with Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android. ClubWPT offers a simplistic downloadable poker client for Android, Mac, and Windows. Users who prefer to use other platforms like Linux or iOS can easily play via the browser-based HTML5 poker software.
• Besides the monthly fee, the ClubWPT slogan of “never lose a dime playing poker, guaranteed” is accurate. You'll need to pay at least $27.95 per month to play here, but besides the monthly fee, you can't lose any additional money. Unfortunately, it is also quite hard to win real money, but at least it is equally difficult to go broke playing at this site.

Cons | Negatives | Drawbacks

Now that we have covered a few of our favorite things about ClubWPT, it is only fair that we talk about the things that we do not like. Here are the negatives regarding ClubWPT:

• Nearly impossible to win back monthly dues. Although the VIP tier is fairly cheap at $27.95 per month, the tournaments with real money or prizes up for grabs are far and few between. Additionally, real-money events tend to have a massive number of players. An average $1,000 event will have at least 2,000-3,000 entrants. As you can imagine, these events are rarely worth your time and focus.
• Diamond membership squeezes out VIP members and costs a pretty penny. The most lucrative events are reserved for Diamond members, which costs a whopping $149.95 per month. Unfortunately, it is still incredibly difficult to win real money and prizes as the tournament fields are large, and the daily events only guarantee $1,000 each. You can win your way into live World Poker Tour events and special online tournaments, but be prepared to spend a lot of time and energy playing grueling and long tournament events in hopes of winning an elusive seat.
• Poker software is outdated and overly simplified. The poker software at ClubWPT is quite basic and somewhat buggy. It barely functions at times, and it is quite difficult to multi-table. Serious grinders and players will be sorely disappointed with the poker client and software here.
• Cash games are only available using play chips. Due to the heavy tournament focus of this sweepstakes-based poker site, cash games are only available using play chips for fun. You won't be able to hone your skills here as the games largely play incredibly loose and “bingo”-like. It is free, though, so there is that.

Conclusion | Summary

All in all, ClubWPT is a fun and reasonable poker site for players who are just learning how to play the game seriously or want to play in a lot of tournaments without investing much money. Unfortunately for ClubWPT, it misses the mark when compared to other online poker sites that offer both free play and real money poker.

The poker software is oddly simplified and somewhat buggy in functionality. It is very difficult to play more than one table at a time, and the play tends to be quite reckless and goofy. Because there are so many VIP members, the tournaments featuring real cash prizes have massive fields and take far too long for a small reward.

All in all, we don't recommend ClubWPT. You can easily play for fun at free-to-play sites without paying a monthly membership, or you can benefit from a free $10 to get started at ACR Poker. To sign up and get started now, please feel free to click the button below to register at ACR.

Another option might be to seek out freeroll events at real-money poker sites. Many legitimate poker sites offer free events with real money prizes up for grabs. To learn more, peruse this page regarding online poker freerolls.

For serious players who want to make money playing poker or seriously pursue this endeavor, we would highly recommend avoiding ClubWPT in its entirety and focusing your attention on real money online poker sites instead. Please check out this list of the top US-friendly internet poker sites to learn more about the best places to play and potentially win real money.

Frequently Asked Questions

ClubWPT certainly operates much differently than most online poker rooms. Many sites offer free-to-play poker and other sites offer real-money online poker. ClubWPT merges these two types of poker sites in a less-than-clear manner. If you have any lingering questions regarding ClubWPT and the poker on offer, please feel free to review our Frequently Asked Questions section below.