A couple of weeks back, ClubWPT Gold rolled out its long-announced changes, rebranding itself as a poker training site and doing away with the double currency model. The operator removed Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins, leaving only one type of currency for players to use at the tables, simply called Chips (at least for the time being).

Gold has now pivoted to a training site, we won’t be under the sweepscoins thing anymore. The operator’s goal is clear. They are looking to pivot in a growingly unfavorable climate for sweepstakes sites, particularly underlined by the recently signed California sweepstakes ban that comes into effect in 2026. So, they have become something else.

What is this “something,” and if it will actually work as intended, remains to be seen. Players, for one, are curious to know the answer, as became obvious last week. Doug Polk, one of the biggest ambassadors for the site, took it to Twitter/X, asking people who haven’t signed up with ClubWPT Gold yet to explain their reasons.

To be clear, Polk’s tweet was done with the best of intentions, as he’s been very active asking the community for feedback and pushing for changes as much as he can. However, it seems that this recent pivot to a “training site” isn’t really resonating with players, and despite the best of intentions, Polk wasn’t able to offer a real explanation.

No Longer a Sweepstakes Site

In a long thread of answers to Doug’s original post, several players raised concerns about the sweepstakes model and the fear that the government could be coming after operators at any point, potentially causing them to lose money or have the funds frozen for an undetermined length of time.

Without going into the probability of something like this happening on either the state or federal level, much more interesting is Polk’s response, stating that “we won’t be under the sweepscoins thing anymore“.

It sounds somewhat reassuring if you’re worried about the clampdown on the sweepstakes model, but it also opens a whole new can of worms. Because what other “thing” is there?

There are many poker training sites out there, and Polk himself was the owner of one of the biggest in the market until very recently. Some of them also offer players a chance to practice against different simulators. None have a player vs. player practice platform that allows winnings to be exchanged for cash.

With this new model, ClubWPT Gold is trying to have the best of both worlds, where your purchases of hand analysis (training) credits are rewarded with free Chips, and you can use these Chips to play poker. So far, so good. The problem is, you can use these Chips to redeem actual cash prizes at a rate of one-to-one.

The main reason why sweepstakes poker sites were able to operate without any issues until very recently is the fact that they were legally allowed to treat their Sweeps Coins as, de facto sweepstakes entries. It is a loophole, of course, but until plugged (which has now been happening on state levels), it’s legal, or at the very least, not illegal.

If you remove the sweepstakes segment from the equation, what’s left? Chips that are called chips, which you can exchange for real money when you’re done playing. That model sounds quite familiar.

Answering another player, who compared ClubWPT Gold to ACR (stating there is a distinction, but not a big one in his eyes, at least), Polk answered that “Club WPT Gold runs legal poker through a different part of the law.“

But, if it’s not a sweepstakes poker site, which part of the law is it that allows for poker games with real money prizes?

There Is Conversation to Be Had

The topic of the legality of online poker in the US and who gets to do what can be quite nuanced, but I feel like there are a couple of things that need to be said here.

First of all, everything written up to this point isn’t against poker. Personally, I’d love for people to just be allowed to play where they like, how they like, without unnecessary barriers. Regulation is good to protect players, but not to the point where it makes it impossible for them to actually play.

Secondly, I’m not a lawyer or even remotely an expert in gaming laws. So, I could be completely off base here. There is no doubt that ClubWPT Gold has a strong legal team working behind the scenes, consisting of people who know exactly what they’re doing.

The problem, from the player’s perspective, is that they don’t quite understand, and telling them the site is perfectly legal because we say so may not cut the mustard.

It also needs to be said that Polk is doing a great job, actually coming out and encouraging the interaction, putting himself on the line. However, there is a bit of a feeling that he doesn’t quite know or isn’t allowed to say what it is that makes this model legal.

It may well be, but looking from the outside, it’s hard to understand how, and so far, we haven’t heard from any actual legal experts either way. So, at the very least, there is conversation to be had. And if ClubWPT Gold actually found a way, more power to them, and happy days for American players!