Poker Bonus
There has been a tremendous increase in the number of poker players leading to severe competition amongst them. The poker rooms have thus initiated a move resulting in each poker player being allowed to choose his own room. One big move made by them is the introduction of the ‘sign-up bonus’ – which virtually means free money.
The sign-up bonus is particularly beneficial and is worth considering when the player starts his on-line poker game by playing in online poker site with a limited amount of funds. The sign-up bonus is so set, that when the player makes his first deposit bonuses at the site, he receives an additional bonus which is calculated as a percentage of his deposit. For example, if a sign-up bonus claims to give $100 bonus at 20% match, it means that if you deposit $500 (where 20% of $500 is $100), you will receive $100 for free as an extra bonus for your account, and a total of $600.
The bonus amount, however, does carry some restrictions. In order to avail of the bonus amount, you would have to play a certain number of ‘raked hands’. In other words, the bonus is kept on hold or frozen in your account till such time that you have played the necessary number of hands.
This step is typically taken to reduce risks of misuse. Poker rooms want to make sure that they get back their investment that they have given in the form of additional bonus. This is assured by the rake hands the player would have to play before cashing out the bonus money.
While taking advantage of the bonus, it is also important to be aware of the risk of bankruptcy even before you have played the required number of raked hands needed to be eligible for the bonus. In such an event, you would have to make another deposit to meet the conditions.
Some poker rooms also provide to pay out the bonus in smaller amounts while players continue to play or put the funds in the account enabling the players to release the bonus amounts simultaneously.
There are two factors to consider while deciding whether the offer is good or not.
- The first is the percentage that is matched - a bonus with $100 at 100% match can be better than a $300 at 50% if you’re only going to be investing $100 into online poker.
- The other thing is the restriction clause which can vary considerably. For example, a $100 at 100% might induce you to play twice the amount of hands before cashing out, than what the $300 at 50% would typically do. Some restrictions might be tough to overcome, particularly if you have only a small amount of money in your account. The risk of you going bankrupt before you reach the limit is higher. Thus, depending on whether your deposit is likely to be small or large and how much you plan to play, the relative value of the offers will differ.
- The best bonus has both, a high % match and a low requirement of raked hands.
- A good bonus deal will give you a 30-50% match at least and require you to play 5-8 raked hands per bonus dollar.
- A moderate deal would be in the area of 25-40% and 9-15 raked hands per bonus dollar.
- A bad deal would be if you are forced to play more than 15 raked hands per bonus dollar at almost every % match.