Phenom Poker is the site for those of us who love poker in every shape. Here you find a wide variety of games from NLH to PLO variants to mixed games. Or why not try the newly added and extremely popular Pineapple Open Faced Chinese Poker.
Phenom Poker also introduces its own token PHNM. Owning this token is like owning a part of the pokersite – you get a part of the revenue. Owning PHNM is not required to play, all gameplay is in USDT. However you can jump up the rakeback ladder by owning and locking up the token.
By signing up with my code PULVRET you’ll receive an additional 5% rakeback, wherever you are on the ladder.
Rake Structure
Phenom Poker has the lowest rake of all sites I’ve played on – only “Svenska Spel” can compete, but that is available to Swedes only and have 0 rakeback.
In the table below I give the rake and caps for NLH and PLO ring games. For more details, fixed limit and mixed limit games, and open face chinese visit the rake page at Phenom Poker.
Rake Cap by Stakes and Player Count
NLH and PLO ring games. Caps shown in USDT (BB)
← Swipe sideways to view the full table →
| Blinds (USDT) | % Rake | 2–3 Players | 4+ Players |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.01 / 0.02 | 5.00% | 0.10 (5 BB) | 0.20 (10 BB) |
| 0.02 / 0.05 | 5.00% | 0.15 (3 BB) | 0.30 (6 BB) |
| 0.05 / 0.10 | 5.00% | 0.25 (2.5 BB) | 0.50 (5 BB) |
| 0.10 / 0.25 | 5.00% | 0.50 (2 BB) | 1.00 (4 BB) |
| 0.25 / 0.50 | 5.00% | 0.50 (1 BB) | 1.50 (3 BB) |
| 0.50 / 1.00 | 5.00% | 1.00 (1 BB) | 2.00 (2 BB) |
| 1 / 2 | 4.50% | 1.50 (0.75 BB) | 3.00 (1.5 BB) |
| 2 / 4 | 4.50% | 2.00 (0.5 BB) | 4.00 (1 BB) |
| 3 / 6 | 4.50% | 2.50 (0.42 BB) | 5.00 (0.83 BB) |
| 4 / 8 | 4.50% | 3.00 (0.38 BB) | 6.00 (0.75 BB) |
| 5 / 10 | 4.00% | 3.00 (0.3 BB) | 7.00 (0.7 BB) |
| 10 / 20 | 4.00% | 4.00 (0.2 BB) | 10.00 (0.5 BB) |
| 25 / 50 | 4.00% | 5.00 (0.1 BB) | 12.00 (0.24 BB) |
| 50 / 100 | 3.00% | 7.00 (0.07 BB) | 15.00 (0.15 BB) |
| 100 / 200 | 3.00% | 7.00 (0.035 BB) | 15.00 (0.075 BB) |
| 200 / 400+ | 2.50% | 7.00 | 15.00 |
Rewards System
Your rakeback at Phenom Poker is determined by how much you’ve raked in the last x days, see the table below. The table shows a rakeback ladder that Phenom calls Rank Tiers.
Rank Tiers
1 USDT raked = 1 point.
← Swipe sideways to view the full table →
| Rank | Rakeback | USDT Raked to Qualify | Status Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze | 10% | Default (no threshold) | Permanent |
| Silver | 15% | 100 in 30 days | 30 days |
| Gold | 20% | 1,500 in 90 days | 90 days |
| Platinum | 25% | 10,000 in 180 days | 180 days |
| Phenom | 30% | 120,000 in 365 days | 365 days |
You can increase your rakeback by staking PHNM token. I will go in to more detail about this in a separate section below. Basically it means buying it and locking it up for any time period – while it’s locked you have the boost.
Staking will first of all allow you to instantly jump the ladder to a higher tier and it will also give you a higher rakeback within that tier. See the table below to find out how much rakeback you can get by staking different amounts. Phenom calls this Tier Warping.
For example I staked 500 PHNM on my first day and got bumped to Gold tier with a rakeback of 25% from the very first hand.
By using my code PULVRET you’ll receive an additional 5% rakeback, wherever you are on the ladder.
Rakeback by Rank and PHNM Staked
Staking PHNM bumps you up the tier ladder and boosts your rakeback.
← Swipe sideways to view the full table →
| PHNM Staked | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loyalty Tier | Base | 50–499 | 500–4,999 | 5,000+ |
| Bronze | 10% | — | — | — |
| Silver | 15% | 17.5% | — | — |
| Gold | 20% | 22.5% | 25% | — |
| Platinum | 25% | 27.5% | 30% | 33% |
| Phenom | 30% | 33% | 36% | 40% |
Grind Prix - the Rake Race
Phenom also run daily rake races (noon to noon, GMT) in 5 tiers called the Grind Prix. Everyone who rakes the minimum amount to qualify in each leaderboard is enrolled automatically, no action needed. All cashgames except heads-up and OFC counts towards the Gring Prix.
The prize pools are based on how much rake is collected each each day and in the leaderboard dashboard you can see the prize continuously growing. The payout structure is also dynamic – the more qualifying players, the more prizes paid.
Out of each accumulated prize pool 80% is distributed to the winners and 20% is used to seed the next day’s prize pool. Payouts by the end of each day.
Grind Prix Leaderboards
1 USDT raked = 40 points.
← Swipe sideways to view the full table →
| NL / PL | FL / ML | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tier | Qualifying | Min Reseed | Stakes | Stakes |
| Nano | 40 pts (1 USDT) | 5 USDT | Up to 0.10 | Up to 0.40 |
| Micro | 80 pts (2 USDT) | 10 USDT | 0.10 – 0.50 | 0.40 – 2.00 |
| Low | 200 pts (5 USDT) | 25 USDT | 0.50 – 2.00 | 2 – 8 |
| Mid | 400 pts (10 USDT) | 30 USDT | 2 – 5 | 8 – 20 |
| High | 1,000 pts (25 USDT) | 50 USDT | 5 – 25 | 20 – 100 |
Hot Tables
Hot Tables are a way to reward game starters – the players who take on short-handed play to get a game going or keep it alive.
Tables are selected periodically to be Hot Tables, there is no set schedule. You will easily spot them in the lobby as they are clearly marked by a flame and pinned to the top.
When you sit at a Hot Seat at a Hot Table you lock in an extra rb up to 20% for that table and it will persist as long as you’re seated whether the table fills up or not. On 6- and 7-max tables the first 3 seats are hot, on 8- and 9-max tables the first 4 seats are hot.
Games and Traffic
My own experience on Phenom Poker is still limited, I haven’t really grinded it. When I did play I spent my time in the PLO streets – 4, 5 and 6 cards and they have a PLO mix table that does one orbit of each. I’ve also played some bomb pots (even though I don’t like it so much online) and PLO Hi-Lo (which I do love!).
Traffic naturally depends a lot on the time of day and which games you’re willing to play. Sometimes there have already been one or two tables running at my preferred stakes (buyin 25-100), and other times I’ve started tables myself. In general though, I’ve never had to wait long for action.
If you’re flexible between regular PLO, bomb pots and Hi-Lo, multi-tabling is definitely possible. I’ve personally been able to comfortably 4-table when mixing formats.
One thing to like about Phenom Poker is the variety. Besides NLH and regular PLO, there’s a strong focus on mixed games and more niche formats – which gives the site a very different feel from most standard poker rooms. I don’t personally play any of the limit games, but I have tried OFC which was loads of fun!
Deposits and Withdrawals
Deposits are instant and free with USDT on Polygon. It is possible to deposit other tokens on other networks,but most other tokens and networks will infer a deposit fee. There is an option to deposit with Peer and then one can use apps like Wise, Revolut and PayPal. I have never tried it and I don’t know what fees apply, but I don’t think it’s free. You will need a crypto wallet to withdraw anyway, so I strongly recommend setting that up right away.
Like deposits withdrawals are free with USDT on Polygon and to my knowledge not available with other tokens/networks. In my limited experience withdrawals are near instant.
I have put together guides on how to go from SEK in your bank account (will apply to most fiat currencies) to USDT on Phenom and vice versa with a loss of <1% each direction. Will add links to the guides once I’ve put them up on the Resources page.
As we will see in the next session PHNM token are bought with USDC on Base network. The Phenom team has communicated that gameplay token will also move from Polygon to Base in the future.
PHNM Token
One of the things that makes Phenom Poker stand out is the PHNM token. Unlike traditional poker sites where all of the rake stays with the company, Phenom shares a large part of the platform revenue with the token holders. However, it is worth noting that the vast majority of the tokens are owned by the original investors and ambassadors.
PHNM is an ERC-20 token built on Base. By staking it, players earn a share of the site’s revenues based on their staking multiplier and how long they’ve remained staked. According to Phenom, 50% of the platform’s net rake is distributed back to token holders every week.
Staking means locking your token up so you can’t sell it until it’s unstaked again. There are two main ways to stake. You can stay flexible and slowly increase your multiplier over time, or lock your tokens for a fixed period and receive a higher multiplier immediately. The longer you remain aligned with the ecosystem, the larger your share of the rewards becomes.
The multiplier only affects your revenue share, the extra rakeback you get from jumping the ladder or “tier warping” by staking is not connected to this multiplier and it is not dependent on how long you stake – only how much.
In the token dashboard you can swap USDC on Base to PHNM and vice versa. There you will also find a lot of continuously updated information such as last week’s net rake, estimated yearly returns, amount of tokens that are stake or liquid, total holders, etc.
At the same time, gameplay itself is still entirely in USDT, so owning PHNM is optional. You can simply play normally, or use the token system to boost rewards and participate in the rake share system.
Software and Support
Phenom Poker is still a young site and there are some bugs and some features I’m still lacking but in general the development team has been extremely active. New features, bug fixes and quality-of-life improvements are added regularly, and the client has improved and evolved noticeably already in the short time I’ve used it.
What stands out the most to me personally is the support. The team is highly active on Discord, feedback is encouraged, and players can directly suggest features or report issues to the developers. I’ve rarely waited long for replies, and it genuinely feels like the community helps shape the platform. One of the best examples was the beta testing of OFC, very low stakes and rake free. It felt like everyone was playing it (I streamed a session myself) and the Discord server was buzzing – the whole community was part of that development!
Allowed Tools
External trackers and HUD:s aren’t allowed, but you can download the hand histories and load them in to for example DriveHUD 2.
Jurojin for table management across multiple sites is allowed and compatible with Phenom Poker
Availability & Compliance
Phenom Poker is available in many regions across the world. According to their Terms of Service, access is restricted in certain jurisdictions, and it remains the player’s responsibility to ensure that online poker is legal where they live. Here’s the exact quote from Phenom ToS §4.4
We do not accept players who reside in a number of countries and jurisdictions. If a potential player cannot find his/her country of residence in the list of countries available during the registration process, Phenom Poker will not be able to accept them as a player.
Unlike some crypto poker sites, Phenom currently requires identity verification (KYC) during the signup process. They may also request additional verification or account reviews later on if needed. Their terms also specifically mention the use of WiFi or GPS based location checks for real money play.
Phenom also has fairly strict language regarding prohibited software, bots, collusion and other forms of unfair play. Accounts suspected of violating the rules can be suspended or permanently closed while investigations are ongoing. They also mention publicly revealing the real names of players found guilty of cheating.
Phenom Poker operates under an Anjouan gaming license through a Panama company structure.
This is not legal advice. Always check your local laws before playing.
Benefits through Pulvret
Sign up with my link and become a member of Pulvret Poker Community, share the knowledge and experience I have gained.
What you get
- 5% additional rakeback from your first hand
- Access to a private Discord community
→ discuss hands, rewards strategy, and hud setups with me and other players - Ongoing updates and insights
→ as I continue testing games, rewards, and tools - Direct contact
→ you can reach out to me anytime with questions