Review of World Series of Poker (WSOP) Visa

When Did It All Start - On 16 February 2006, World Series of Poker announced that they have partnered with MBNA to issue an affinity card. Not long after after that, MBNA was acquired by Bank of America. Hence the WSOP MBNA card became part of the Bank of America portfolio and was soon renamed the BOA WSOP Visa. At the moment though, it appears that Bank of America is no longer issuing this card. And to our best knowledge, this card is no longer being issued. But here is a recap of what this card was all about.

The World Series of Poker® Visa® Card with WorldPointsâ„¢ Rewards is a credit card designed for the WSOP aficionado who wants to earn reward points that can be redeemed for WSOP Buy-ins including the Texas Hold'em World Championship. You also get a good 0% APR deal and a low interest rate with this card.

How Do You Earn Your WorldPoints? - The World Series of Poker® Visa® Card with WorldPointsâ„¢ Rewards allows you to earn one point for every dollar you spend on the card. You can use these points to redeem for WSOP Buy-ins including the Texas Hold'em World Championship. You can also redeem them for WorldPoints rewards, which includes travel, shopping, cash rebate and gift cards. You can earn unlimited points though they are only valid or five years.

What I like and Do Not Like About This Card - When I review credit cards, I normally compare them with their peers. But being a specialty affinity card, there is really no good comparisons to be made. But the one thing that I can mention is that I wish this card lets a cardholder earn more than one point per dollar spent when they use the card for WSOP items. In fact, many affinity cards do that. Airline cards for example, allow you to earn double points. Department store cards also allow you to earn more than one point when you shop at their stores. From this perspective, the card disappoints. But if you play in the WSOP, then the World Series of Poker® Visa® Card with WorldPointsâ„¢ Rewards will appeal to you because you can redeem points for WSOP buy-ins and merchandise. If you do not feel like redeeming it for these, then you have the flexibility to redeem points from a regular reward program. This card also has no annual fee, a low interest rate and a good 0% APR offer on both balance transfers and cash advance checks.

One of the things cardholders (or then potential cardholders) had to consider was how much they spent on the card. If you are a low spender, then to be honest, you were not going to get more value and rewards out of this. I would assume that the value of the WorldPoints is about 1%. So if you have earned 10,000 points, that only gets you $100 in buy-ins (not really a lot). It appears to me that those who intended to use this card for buy-ins had better be high spenders so that the points can be exchanged for a decent value!

A Little Thought About WorldPoints - To end this review, I just want to share some of our insights on the WorldPoints program. If you ever thought about using your points for WorldPoints rewards, our opinion is that it is best used for travel. I would advise never to use it to exchange for merchandise because you typically get less than 1% value on your reward points. Using it to exchange for gift cards is also not a very good idea because for lower than gift cards, the exchange ratio is also less than 1%. The best use of worldpoints is still for travel rewards.

Update - This card is no longer being offered. If you are looking for this card, the reality is that you may not have missed out much because the card does not allow you to earn more than one point when you use the card for WSOP purchases. And since this card can also be considered a general rewards credit card because it has the WorldPoints reward program, you might as well consider other rewards cards.