Poker Bonuses

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Almost all online poker websites offer "poker bonuses" to their new players. A poker bonus is an extra incentive to sign up at a poker site and play real money poker. These bonuses usually take the form of a partial or full deposit matching amount. Think of "poker bonuses" as "poker extras".

For example, Full Tilt Poker offers a 100% matching bonus of up to $600 on your first deposit. So if you deposit $600, you'll receive $600 in bonus money. (So you'll have a total bankroll of $1200.) use Full Tilt Poker referral code "COWBOYS" to get this signup bonus.

These bonuses make online poker an attractive proposition for the skilled player. These offers aren't the only poker rewards available at an online cardroom; but you could consider them your initial "poker benefits" package.

The Release of Poker Bonuses

Poker bonuses are released into your poker account as you play raked hands at the poker room. Most online poker sites base this on how many player points you've earned, and player points are earned by playing raked hands. Most poker sites consider the juice on poker tournaments to be rake for purposes of this, so if you play a $10 + $1 sit and go tournament, that $1 will count toward clearing your bonus.

The poker sites don't just give the poker bonus directly into your account immediately; to do so would encourage abuse. For example, with no play-through requirements, nothing would prevent you from depositing $600 at Full Tilt Poker, getting your $600 bonus, and cashing out $900 (or even $1200) the next day for a $300 (or $600) profit. By requiring you to play to earn your bonus, this type of bonus abuse is avoided.

But winning players can still profit from these signup bonuses. Poker sites make more money from winning poker players than from losing players. Winning poker players spend more time playing on their site and contribute more rake to the cardroom as a result.

So strategic play can make you a winning player, and the online poker room will be glad you're winning. They figure you'll more than make up for that bonus in rake over the lifetime of your account at the card room.

How to Profit From Poker Bonuses

In order to make a profit from a poker bonus, you need to play stakes that fit within your bankroll. If you deposit $600 at Full Tilt Poker and sit down at a $200 buy-in no limit Texas holdem table and get sucked out on three times in a row, you won't get enough play in to earn your bonus. (And, as Steve Badger likes to point out, losing players need an infinite bankroll. But we're going to assume that the poker players reading this site aren't losing players.)

You also need to learn enough poker strategy to be able to profit or at least break even long enough to earn your bonus. This means playing good hands aggressively and getting away from hands that aren't likely to win. We're fans of an almost simplistic, common-sense approach to poker strategy: get the goods, then bet the goods.

And once you've cleared your bonus at one online poker site, you can move on to another poker site and clear your bonus there too. You could earn an extra $1000 or $2000 in a month or two with a minimal starting investment. Just make intelligent choices with your bankroll and taking full advantage of the poker bonuses available.

Poker Perks and Poker Goodies

Besides the initial signup rewards at online poker rooms, most sites also offer other poker perks and poker goodies for their players. These gifts for regular players include free entries to tournaments, apparel, electronics, and books. Most of these items are purchased using frequent player points in the poker site's rewards store.

No Deposit Poker Bonuses

Some Microgaming poker sites have offered no deposit poker bonuses for new players who don't deposit any money. These bonuses are usually limited to $10 or so. In order to make that last and build any kind of respectable poker bankrolls, a player would have to play for hundreds of hours at microstakes games. If that's what you're into, that's cool, but most folks can probably come up with a $100 or more to parlay into something a little bit bigger a little faster.

The only site (I'm aware of) currently making such a no deposit poker bonus available right now is Pitbull Poker. They offer $10 free with no deposit. Looks like this particular type of incentive is on its way out.

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