Poker Bonus Whoring 101

Shopping for a new poker site can be a pain. You need to spend time researching the site to make sure that…

• Accepts players from where you live.
• Has a primary banking method for you to use, as well as a couple backups.
• Has the games and stakes you want to play.
• Is safe and trustworthy.

…. and so on. This can take a lot of time.

It’s worth it though. You can’t underestimate a poker site that feels like home.

The best part, though, is that when you sign up to a new site you’re eligible to receive a deposit bonus. Other than being free money, what’s great about bonuses nowadays is that they’re so competitive. Poker sites offer the biggest bonuses and matches to try to lure players in. So it’s possible not just to get a bonus — you can get the biggest poker bonus.

So with that in mind, what you’ll find below are the poker sites that are competing for your attention with none other than the biggest poker bonuses online. Take your pick, or for more information you can continue reading below.

3 Things to Consider When Shopping for the Biggest Poker Bonuses

Look for Higher Percentage Matches

One thing to keep in mind is a bigger dollar amount isn’t always better. I realize that might sound weird on a page that’s talking about the biggest poker bonuses. But hear me out for a second.

Instead of looking for the biggest bonus in terms of dollars, look for the bonuses with higher match percentages instead. For example, instead of a 100% match look for a 150% match. Why? Every dollar you deposit is going to go farther.

For example, say you have the choice between a 100% up to $1,000 bonus and a 150% match up to $750 bonus. Which one would you take?

I’d take the 150% match bonus all day long. If you take advantage of the full bonus you’ll earn $1,125 — $125 more than the $1,000 bonus!

It’s not just the fact that you are receiving more money, though, although that is a big part of it. You are risking less money, too. That point can’t be underestimated in this day and age with poker rooms and casinos up and leaving overnight. If that were to happen to you with that $750 example, you’d actually lose less money if someone were to run off with it. If they don’t, you actually came out ahead. It’s a win-win no matter what.

Understand the Terms and Conditions

Another point that I want to drive home is the importance of knowing and understanding the terms and conditions. There are a couple of things that you want to look for.

Rollover / Points Req. – The first thing you want to look for are the number of points you need to earn, hands you need to play or number of times you need to rollover your deposit. As a general rule of thumb, you’ll spend $20-$30 for every $5 of your bonus. However, by reading the terms and conditions you might find that the site you’re considering wants you to spend $50 for every $5, or more. At that point the bigger bonus might not be worthwhile in your eyes, unless you’re going to be a long term customer of the site and are going to be spending the money anyway.

Excluded Games – Some sites have side games. These can be casino games like blackjack, slots and video poker. If you plan to play these games you’ll want to look to see if the poker site prohibits players from earning points from these games that will apply to your bonus. Some sites will void your bonus altogether if you play these games while you clear your bonus.

Expiration Dates – This is a big deal. What you want to find is how long the poker site is giving you to clear your bonus. Some sites have an expiration date of a couple of weeks, and others have expiration dates as long as 6 months. The bigger the bonus the more games you’ll have to play to clear it, so you’ll want to make sure the expiration date gives you long enough to clear it, or else you run the risk of not completing the requirements. Sometimes that means only missing out on what you couldn’t earn (of the bonus), and other times that means missing out on the total amount.

Biggest Bonus = Bigger Games

The last thing I wanted to talk about is that the bigger the bonus you go after, the bigger the games you should play. The reason for this is simple.

Just a second ago I mentioned that you will need to spend $30 for every $5 of your bonus. PokerStars is more generous. There you will spend about $15 for every $5 of your bonus.

But despite the generosity you’ll still need to play a lot of games to clear the bonus. Say you’re playing MTTs with a $1 rake. For every 3 games you play you clear $1 of your bonus, or 15 games for every $5. You’ll have to play 1800 games to clear the entire $600 bonus. From experience I can tell you that’s a lot of games to play. Many professionals play 100 games a day, and part time players play 20-40 games a day. At that rate it would take the pros 1-3 months to clear the bonus. So if you’re playing for fun you’ll have a hard time clearing a significant amount of the bonus.

So what do you do?

Well, my suggestion would be to play a little higher. For example, if you can play games with a $2 rake — a $30 game — that will cut the number of games you need to play to 600. If you play $60 games you’ll cut your required number of games down to 300. That’s only 10 games per day.

Of course, I’m not suggesting that you play outside your bankroll or with money you don’t have. If you follow through with this suggestion you should be a decent player with an adequate bankroll. Otherwise you’ll do more harm than good.