How to sell play money at PokerStars?

Many poker fans are wary of making a deposit right away and starting to play at the tables for real money. Instead, they prefer to play for free at PokerStars. This rationalism helps them try poker without investing and adapt to real opponents. Some get so carried away that they earn several million play money. Is it possible to accumulate seed capital to play for real money on the sale of virtual chips?

What is a play money?

Play money are a virtual currency used in poker rooms for free play. Many poker rooms allow you to play without investing: PokerStars, partypoker, 888Poker, Winamax. Playmoney can be used as a buy-in for MTT, Sit&Go, Spin&Go. You can also sit at the cash tables with them. Most often the free mode is activated in the room client by toggling a button.

People naturally raffle off the banks for millions, albeit in virtual currency

Why do poker rooms spend money on server support if it does not generate any rake income? It's simple - playing with virtual chips is the first step for many first-time players. After that people make a deposit and play for real money. It is a win-win situation for everyone: beginners try poker without risk, the room gets an influx of new players.

Is it possible to sell play money on PokerStars?

During their time at PokerStars, some players have amassed a lot of chips. Looking at their millions of virtual currency, they wonder, "Is there any way to sell playmoney and get a bankroll to play for real money?" Sometimes nothing like that occurs to them, but they see forum threads or social media ads discussing buying and selling chips.

To answer briefly, no, you can't legally sell play money on PokerStars. This option existed until the fall of 2013. Back then, people would negotiate a price outside of PS and then send game chips by transfer inside the PokerStars system. At that time, Stars didn't have any playmoney transfer rules. In September 2013, they imposed restrictions:

• Only 1,000 chips could be transferred within 24 hours;
• Only 10 transfers could be accepted within 24 hours, that is, in total no more than 10,000 chips.

The new rules made trading play money too cumbersome: transferring even 1 million chips at 1,000 would have taken almost 3 years. Simultaneously with the restrictions PokerStars made a move: they began to sell play money for real cash.

If earlier it was possible to get $10-$15 for a couple million "chips", now it is impossible. There are still advertisements in social networks, where people offer to buy conditional chips. However, the only way to transfer a few million to PS is to knowingly lose them at the table. This "overflow" of chips is called "Chip Dumping" and it violates the rules of PokerStars.

Получить бан за столами на реальные деньги при чипдампинге условных фишек - крайне печальная история

That is, there is a high probability of getting a permanent blocking of the account. Banning your account will make it impossible to play on PS forever. Earning a few dollars is not worth it. It's easier to boost your bankroll with free tournaments.

Why would anyone want to buy for virtual money at all?

With sellers play money all is clear: to exchange virtual currency for real money - a great deal. But the motivation of buyers is not so easy to understand. There are several hypotheses explaining the purchase of chips:

• PokerStars has its own atmosphere and its own high rollers at the high limits. There are tables in the lobby with bets of 25,000,000/50,000,000. Even getting 100 big blinds is a challenge, not to mention a conservative bankroll. A button with a free top-up of 15,000 every 4 hours does not solve the problem. Buying in bulk hundreds of millions of chips is a shortcut to high limits.
• Asian poker applications use a trick - formally they play them for virtual currency. However, users buy chips for real money. This allows you to bypass the restrictive laws. There is a possibility that the PS also play for virtual money, and the results pay each other with real money outside of PS.
• Big numbers lovers. Some players just want to see hundreds of millions in their account. The easiest way to do that is to buy playmoney. And then proudly show off their incredible bankroll to friends and family. On the practical side, it doesn't make much sense, but some people will gladly trade a small amount for positive emotions.

Let's not go into conspiracy theories like "Pokerstars trades a billion in chips for real money". They look too implausible.

How to play for free at PokerStars?

To play for free at PokerStars, you need:

1. Download the client from the official site of the room.

2. Follow a simple registration procedure.

3. Switch the client to the game mode for play money.

The main advantage of free play on PS compared to other rooms - the client with conditional chips is not inferior to the basic version by the number of types of poker and disciplines. And there are more playmoney players here than in any other room. NL Holdem, PLO, 5 Card Draw, Badugi, HORSE, 7 Card Stud, Razz - not a complete list of available types of poker.

All is well on PokerStars and with disciplines: Cash, Zoom, 6+ Holdem, Sit&Go, Spin&Go, Tourney, and even the exclusive format Tempest. There are 5,000-6,000 players sitting only at the cash tables in the evenings. In spins, the cheapest tournaments are literally started in 1 second. On the limit with the bets 50/100 in fast poker we observe up to 550 connections. And the tab with "Sit&Go" on play money is much livelier than in the client for real money. Every day there are hundreds of MTTs with a prize pool of up to a billion chips.

What free poker software works at PokerStars?

PokerStars poker programs are allowed. They work in free play mode, too. Here are a couple of useful programs that won't cost you anything:

1. StarsCaption. Handy software when playing at multiple tables. Frees you from the routine and helps you concentrate on making decisions. Converts stacks to big blinds, saves betting profiles, shows handy HUD, automatically places tables on monitor, blocks pop-ups.

Making it even easier to play at multiple tables is the integration with H2N

And that's not the whole list of useful features. StarsCaption works for free in the client for play money. The software works without time limits on some limits (up to NL10 and in tournaments up to $3 inclusive) when playing for real money.

2. Hand2Note. The program imports all played hands into a database, then displays them during the game with HUD and popups. Due to the collected statistics, you find weaknesses in your opponent's strategy faster and win more.

For a successful game in the free client basic version of the tracker is more than enough!

H2N also comes in handy for finding your own weaknesses during analysis. Since the fall of 2019, the basic version of the software is free with no time limit. You can download Hand2Note from the tracker's official website. Specify H2N10NU when you sign up for your first paid subscription and receive a 10% discount.

For every purchase at PokerEnergy you get bonus points. Use them on your next orders and they will cost you less. All discounts and exclusive offers are posted in the PokerEnergy Telegram Channel. Sign up so you won't miss anything.