Winning Poker Network - WPN skins, policies, FAQ & history
Winning Poker Network Overview
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The Winning Poker Network is owned and operated out of the country of Costa Rica in the city of San Jose, the Costa Rican capital city. This offshore group, no surprise given its name, caters to winning card players around the world, including those in the United States of America.
The online poker rooms ACR Poker, Black Chip Poker, True Poker, and YaPoker are all highly reputable sites that Professional Rakeback is willing to put our name behind and endorse. We have this faith in these sites for a variety of reasons. One of those reasons is that all of the aforementioned sites are owned and operated directly by the Winning Poker Network (WPN).
There are other poker sites that share players, tournaments and liquidity with the WPN; these 3rd party operators are called “skins” and will be addressed in further detail within this article. Other topics that will be discussed are Winning Poker Network sanctioned promotions, poker games offered, the history of the network, what the network looks like in the present, how to transfer player notes from one WPN skin to another, and various other frequently asked questions.
WPN Skins
“Why do they have multiple skins?” you ask/ For that matter, what is a WPN skin? What is an ACR skin? We will answer these questions and others below.
A “skin” in the online world traditionally refers to a visual overlay that changes the look but not the way a program operates. Changing the background on your mobile device or even putting a colored case or a set of stickers are all forms of “skinning” your phone.
In the online poker world, a “skin” is pretty much the same thing except that each skin is also a different company. Some of these companies are owned directly by the network, and others are owned and operated by third parties.
Why are there several skins? Well, the answer is that they were acquired at different times, in different manners, and are marketed to different groups of players in general.
For example, ACR Poker is the network flagship and is the one that you will see advertised on American television, such as ESPN. Black Chip Poker is marketed pretty heavily toward forums and online poker rakeback pros as it was involved heavily with rakeback deals on the Merge Gaming Network before moving and being purchased by WPN. True Poker was a standalone poker site created in the early 2000s that is marketed more towards recreational players. Ya Poker is marketed towards Spanish and Latin American markets in Central and South America and worldwide.
Room Reviews & Info
- ACR Poker ACR Review - ACR is the flagship brand, i.e., the largest website of the WPN. It has a few special features other brands do not have access to due to its favored status.
- Black Chip Poker BCP Review - Black Chip Poker is the second largest brand on WPN, and many foreign players gravitate towards this website as it is marketed heavily outside the United States even though U.S. players are allowed on BCP.
- True Poker Review - The oldest brand on Winning Poker Network was once an independent poker room back in the early 2000s. This brand is not heavily advertised though it still accepts new players world-wide.
- YaPoker Review - Ya! poker room is a brand marketed heavily in Spanish and Portuguese speaking markets, where native speaking support is offered, primarily on the South American continent. U.S.A. players are not allowed on this website.
- Winning Poker Network Rakeback vs Elite Benefits VIP - This comprehensive article digs into the mathematics of comparing the default Elite Benefits VIP program versus the special 27% flat rakeback program offered by ProfessionalRakeback.com. Learn which program provides the most value back to you as a player by reading this detailed article.
Promotions
Every new client at a Winning Poker Network skin has the opportunity to grab a 100% up to $2,000 first deposit bonus that clears at a rate equal to 20% rakeback and is released $1 at a time. In addition, you'll get to choose between a flat 27% rakeback plan or the Elite Benefits VIP rewards scheme, which is intended to cater to high-volume players.
At ACR Poker, Professional Rakeback also offers an exclusive $10 free bankroll promotion for new accounts whereby players can try out the software with no deposit necessary. Learn more about that no-deposit ACR Poker referral code.
Cash game players can look forward to The Beast leaderboard while sit-and-go fans can participate in the Sit & Crush competition. Both of these promos pay out cash prizes and satellite entries to the top placers each week. The best part is that these prizes are funded by a portion of the regular rake taken in ring games and fees paid in SNGs – there's no extra house charge involved.
Occasional reload bonuses exist to pad your bankroll too. These reload bonuses tend to be offered three to four times per year typically in conjunction with large guaranteed poker tournament series. These reload bonuses tend to offer $200 - $1,000 in reload bonus money at an effective 20% rakeback rate. As such, players should definitely take advantage of these reload bonuses and maximize their effective rakeback.
Poker Games
The Winning Poker Network offers a wide variety of online poker games, types, and stakes of play.
High-Roller Games
The WPN is where the high rollers go to play online – at least if they're Americans. This is because both NLHE and PLO are spread up to the “nosebleed” stakes of $200/$400. Surprisingly, it is commonplace for a few tables of $50/100 to $200/400 buy-in games to be active at these stakes on both No-Limit Hold'em and Pot Limit Omaha tables.
Small-Stakes Games
Microstakes games, down to $0.01/$0.02, will probably be of more interest to most customers. In fact, the Winning Poker Network is one of the few online poker websites that still offers penny game poker games as many sites, due to rampant world-wide inflation, offer minimum stakes of $0.05/$0.10 games which are five times as large and less friendly to recreational players with small bankrolls.
Niche Poker Games
WPN is one of the few US-friendly poker destinations where one can find and play Limit Omaha8 and Seven Card Stud tables. Even more surprisingly, these more obscure poker games are actually populated throughout most hours of the day in both US and European prime time hours. Game quality is excellent, though the stakes played rarely exceed mid-stakes as opposed to the high-roller games mentioned above for NLHE and PLO games.
Fast-Fold Poker
Fast-Fold Poker is a type of poker game invented in the 2000s by Full Tilt Poker and rapidly copied by many other online poker sites, including the WPN.
In fast-fold poker, a player who does not like their hand can instantly fold it and be moved to a new poker table with a brand new hand dealt within seconds thus avoiding waiting for an entire hand to finish before being able to play again. A poker player playing on a fast-fold table will play 150 or more hands per hour while a traditional table may average only 50 hands per hour.
On the WPN, their fast fold poker variant is named “Blitz Poker,” and it is available on PC, Mac, and mobile systems.
ACR Poker Cash Game TableSit and Goes
Besides the regular sit-and-goes that you'll encounter at any poker site, such as regular stacked/speed games, turbo formats, and hyper-turbo formats in 2-, 6-, and 9-person table sizes, the Winning Poker Network provides a couple of variants that you won't find at most other rooms in the U.S. market.
Jackpot Poker is a lottery-style contest where three people play for a random prize pool. That random prize pool is a multiple of their buy-in amount determined randomly at the beginning of each new sit and go. The most frequent mulitple is 2x, but these multiples can be as high as 2,500 times the amount paid to enter the SNG tournament!
On Demand tourneys start like a SNG does when the specified number of contestants register. However, there's a late registration period, like in an MTT, so the starting field can grow appreciably before registration closes
Multi-Table Tournaments
Many serious tourney players have begun to appreciate the Sunday Special $250,000 Guaranteed, the most lucrative such guarantee regularly available to American poker enthusiasts.
The Sunday Special PLO, with $30,000 up for grabs each week, holds the same distinction on the Pot Limit Omaha side.
Once every few months, there's a Multi-Million Dollar Sunday tournament, with buy-ins ranging from $500 + $40 to $2,150 per event. The top finisher in these tournaments sometimes gets a $1,000,000 payout while everyone else at the final table takes home at least six figures each in prize money!
WPN sometimes strings dozens of tournaments together in series, like the Online Super Series. Moreover, The Venom, which has had guarantees of $10,000,000, is hosted a few times a year. Besides these big-name events, there's also a compelling schedule of daily and weekly MTTs for every budget and poker preference.
History of the Winning Poker Network
The progenitor of the Winning Poker Network was True Poker, which operated a standalone 3-D poker site since 2001. This was certainly a unique poker platform when it first appeared, but it wasn't really updated very often, and it soon fell by the wayside as newer and slicker software packages started to go live on competing sites. Nevertheless, True Poker was a modest success in the U.S. poker scene, and it was able to host games for several partner organizations on its Yatahay Poker Network.
BetCRIS, one of the operators on Yatahay and a well-known bookmaker, decided to take over the network in 2011. The company then opted to deploy a better poker client solution, developed by IGSoft.
At around the same time, the network bailed out players from failed poker site Doyle's Room, on the Cake Network, and transferred them over to the new ACR Poker. This skin had once served the US market before being retired in the wake of the UIGEA, and it now returned in a newer, more attractive form. While True Poker used to be the leader of the network, this position was taken over by ACR, but True remains a respected network skin.
With a smoother poker client and the renewed vigor provided by the new management group, the network started to grow. Far from being a small, niche entity, like it used to be, it became the second-largest network serving the United States.
In July 2023, ACR Poker announced its rebranding to ACR Poker. Not that much changed apart from the unveiling of a new poker client with a few innovative elements. ACR maintains its leadership position in the WPN, which was established in the days that it was known as ACR Poker.
WPN Today
The Winning Poker Network is one of the top options available for US online poker players and continues their upward trend. Offering players a bevy of tournaments, cash game options, sit-n-go's, and great promotions, such as Sit & Crush and The Beast, WPN has carved out a coveted space among the desired places to play for players of all skill levels.
Highly rated in our own Cashout Reports and offering dependable, safe deposit options at recommended online poker sites ACR Poker, Black Chip Poker, True Poker, and Ya Poker (all offer the same promotions and options - the only serious difference is software color schemes), you can be sure that the Winning Poker Network is here to stay.
We give great detail on how you can take advantage of WPN's offerings to U.S. and Rest-Of World players alike. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at your leisure.
Winning Poker Network FAQ
When you have problems with your online poker room, you want answers fast because time = money! Professional Rakeback understands this and wants you back in action as soon as possible. With that in mind, we have created and are constantly updating and adding onto this list of frequently asked questions, or Winning Poker Network FAQ if you will. If you note any errors, omissions, typos, or are unable to solve your problem after reading this FAQ, please contact us for further assistance! Enjoy!
Apart from ACR Poker, BlackChip Poker, True Poker, and Ya Poker, which are owned and managed directly by the network, several other third-party rooms exist on the WPN. These are all smaller entities, and so we don't really recommend them except to experienced customers who are willing to put in the research time to investigate their offerings. Independent Winning Network sites include:
- PokerKing: Non-US room with its own rewards program called “Royal Club”
- Fabulous Poker: Old and possibly defunct skin
- Betcoin.ag: Disreputable BTC site with shared WPN tournaments but separate cash games
- PokerHost: Highly respected third-party WPN skin that closed permanently in July 2018.
Though there are a few minor WPN skins that are independently owned, we advise our clients to stick with the network-run sites: ACR Poker, Blackchip Poker, True Poker, and Ya Poker (non-US). They're all virtually indistinguishable from each other in terms of ongoing promos and the games available. However, ACR Poker gets our nod as the best poker site on the WPN because our visitors can get a free $10 no deposit bonus, and it has a points merchandise store, which the other skins lack.
There are two main ongoing promotions at the Winning Poker Network, and all of our recommended skins participate in them. Those promotions are “Sit and Crush” and “The Beast,” which are effectively very large weekly rake races.
Sit and Crush, or SnC, often approaches $50,000 in the weekly prize pool. The Beast often reaches the $100K dollar market each week, and it sometimes tops $150K. The top winners get $500 in cash apiece. There are additionally satellite tourney entries up for grabs in both The Beast and Sit & Crush
No, each race is separate. SNG (including Jackpots and On Demand) play is counted toward SnC, and likewise cash game play is counted towards The Beast. Players can compete separately and concurrently in both promotions and receive prizes from both.
First of all, take a moment and don't panic! We have all the info you need in the event this rare and untimely event occurs.
First, there are three policies in place for tournament players - one if a crash happens before late registration ends, another after late reg is finished but you're not yet “in the money,” and one while you are in the money. These policies take effect if a tournament cannot be resumed after two hours and is cancelled. If the technical difficulties can be fixed within the two-hour timeframe, then the MTT will continue as though nothing had happened.
If late registration is still open when the tournament is cancelled, then all participants (including those who have busted out) will receive back their buyins, rebuys, add-ons, and re-entries. This is basically a complete refund, and it's as though the tournament never happened.
Players still in a tournament, but not in the money, receive their buy-in and fee back, plus a share of the remaining prize pool proportional to the size of their chip stack relative to the total number of chips outstanding. There is a caveat that no individual prize allocated in this manner can exceed the stated first-place payout.
Players in the money receive an amount equal to the next minimum cash prize. The remainder of the prize pool will be split up according to the percentages of chips held by each player. Again, nobody can receive a prize greater than first place.
These rules cover most freezeout and R&A tournaments. However, additional rules apply to bounty events, multi-flight tournaments, and sit-n-goes. Consult the Winning Poker Network tournament Cancellation Policies for the latest complete tournament cancellation policy.
France, Spain, Sweden, Italy, Turkey, Guadeloupe, French Guyana, Mayotte, Réunion, Sweden, North Korea, South Korea, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, Israel, and Martinique.
So you've decided to set up an account with Professional Rakeback on the Winning Poker Network. Now it's time to verify your newly created ACR Poker, Black Chip, or True Poker account. Verification of one's account is necessary in order to initiate player-to-player transfers and also to withdraw.
Performing this verification also has other benefits as well. A verified account often is granted the privilege of higher credit card deposit limits. It's sometimes also possible for verified poker accounts to request higher limits for peer-to-peer transfers to their friends.
We here at Professional Rakeback appreciate your business and your time. Therefore, we'd like to provide you with instructions on how to quickly and efficiently verify your new Winning Poker Network account.
Verifying a New Winning Poker Network Account:
1) Scan or take a digital photograph of your photo ID. Acceptable forms of photo ID include an ID issued by your local, state, or federal government that features a clear headshot, a name that matches your registered poker account name, and your date of birth. Common examples would include a driver's license and a passport.
2) Scan or take a photo of your address verification documents, dated no earlier than three months ago. The address on this document does not need to match the address on your photo ID. The address does, however, need to match the address you had input when creating your poker account.
Common examples of address verification documentation include, but are not limited to, a utility bill, a telephone bill (landline or mobile), a bank statement, a credit card statement: basically just something that physically comes to your address. In some cases, online bank or credit card statements that come in PDF form – those that are copies of the physical bill that would actually be mailed – will be accepted by the security department in lieu of anything else.
3) If you deposited with a credit/debit card, you must also send in a copies of all cards you deposited with. If you funded your account via some other means than credit card, then you can skip this step.
4) Open up the poker software, and click on the following areas: “My Account,” “Deposit,” “Certifications,” “Document Verification”
5) Pay close attention to the instructions given and upload your poker account identification documents.
6) Within 1-2 days your documents should be verified. Should you have need to have your account verified more quickly, please contact Professional Rakeback support via Skype, and we will expedite your verification process by interfacing directly with the poker managers and/or the security department.
Tips:
- Make sure your files are not too large or they will cause unnecessary upload times for you and download times for support! Try to keep all files under 3 MB in size.
- Saving files as a .jpg typically keeps them under 3 MB in size.
- Make sure that your documents are clearly visible and do not obscure or cut off any portions or extremities.