Advanced Poker Strategy: Player Points- Not Play Points

When most online poker players log into their playing accounts and click the cashier tab, it is usually to get a quick reminder/confirmation of the funds available.  What most people don't look at, mistakenly, is the total amount of player points they have available.

Playing points are distributed to a player based on the amount of his play.  There is a mathematical algorithm that the poker houses use to disperse these points.  Though they are referred to by different names on the various online poker sites, thesepoints are basically the equivalent to the "comp" system found in a brick and mortar casino. 

Using these points wisely can reap huge benefits.  I was taken aback the first time I logged onto the FPP store on Poker Stars and saw that if I accumulated enough points, I could actually purchase a 60'' big screen plasma television.  Your common player, myself included, will probably never accumulate the amount of points it takes for the television.  However, player points can be used to enter satellites to tournaments with prizes that would justify having plasmas in every room of the house.  Satellite tournaments are even available to qualify for the world-renowned World Series of Poker Main Event.  So, not only could you sit home watching your favorite poker show on a beautiful new television, but it could end up being yourself that you watch play!

From talking to players, and actually witnessing it first-hand, it seems that people only fall back on their player points when they have lost their bankroll ("gone bust") and are craving a game of some sort.  Most admit to entering player point tournaments and throwing all caution to the wind with regard to their play.  The mind set is that it's easy to push or call an all-in bet early with a less than desirable hand because it didn't cost the player anything to get in the tournament to begin with.  Or did it?  Would people make such hasty use of frequent flyer miles, booking flights to destinations all over the world that they never plan on boarding rather than saving them for a trip they actually want to take?  Of course not!

So why treat tournaments that you enter using player points any different than the ones you bought in with using your own hard-earned money?  The seemingly simple answer is that you shouldn't.  Treat your player points just as you would your cash bankroll and perhaps you can strike it big!