Poker Room Baggers Guide

This guide shows how you can increase your profits at online poker rooms through bonuses.

Introduction to Poker Room Bonuses

If you are already an existing online poker player then you will be well aware that many online poker rooms offer bonuses to new members. Perhaps you received a first time deposit bonus when you joined the poker room you play at, or maybe you have received emails offering you a reload bonus on your next deposit. If you haven't or if you are completely new to online poker, perhaps only having played in casinos or clubs before, here is the lowdown.

Online poker rooms want to attract new players, and one of the major ways they do this is through offering bonuses. Indeed, almost every major poker room offers bonuses, which can range from an extra $50 to a massive $1000, perhaps more! As the popularity of online poker has grown so has the number of people using bonuses to their advantage; indeed some have even recognized it to be so lucrative that is all they do. Poker rooms have embraced such players because even they usually generate enough rake to make a poker room no less than break even on a bonus, there may be a small chance of permanently retaining the player, and such players help to keep the poker room active and encourage action.

Taking advantage of poker room bonuses, however, is not always easy. Just because a particular poker room offers a large bonus doesn't necessarily make it any more profitable than another smaller one. Attached to the bonuses are conditions which whilst often similar in nature often vary slightly from room to room requiring you to pay extra special attention. For more information on the conditions that you are likely to find see the "Conditions" section.

Nevertheless, this guide used in conjunction with the rest of the site should provide the foundation for you as an online poker player to make relatively easy cash.

Are You a 'Break-Even' Player?

As we have stated above, poker room bonuses are an excellent way to supplement your profits at poker. However, to profit from them you must be able to hold your own at the poker table being an even money player or better. By this we mean that when you normally play that you do not lose money. If you regularly lose money then we would firmly suggest that you step down some limits, study and improve your game. Poor performance often happens when a player steps up a level, trying to play above their normal game. There is no point in trying to claim a $50 bonus from the poker room if you are going to lose $100 in the process to the players around you.

This is also a good place to make the important point that whilst playing at a poker room to release a bonus, you should play at the level which your are comfortable and profitable at. You may think that by stepping up a level you will increase the rate at which the bonus is released, but by playing out of your depth you are only likely to lose money. Only go up limits when you have gained the the skill and experience required to be profitable at them.

Bonus Conditions

As we have previously mentioned in order to receive or release your bonus from a poker room you will need to fulfill certain conditions or requirements which will often involve the play of a set number of raked hands.

Precisely what a 'raked hand' is can vary from one poker room to the next and it is thus important to check the terms and conditions beforehand. Usually a raked hand is defined as 'a hand where you have been dealt cards, and a rake is taken out of the pot, regardless of whether you did any betting in the hand or not', but this is not always the case. The two main things to look out for are, (a) do you have to bet or do you just have to be dealt cards?, and (b) does the rake taken have to be over a certain amount?

Another thing that you may often see is a requirement to gain a certain number of loyalty points to release the bonus. The exact name of the loyalty points may well vary from one poker room to the next, but they essentially are gained from playing raked hands. However, often they are awarded on a sliding scale depending on the rake taken from the pot, for example, at Titan Poker at the time of writing you gain 1 loyalty point if the rake taken is between $0.25-$0.50 up to a maximum of 8 loyalty points if it is between $2.01 - $3.00.

In addition to the requirements to release the bonus, i.e. the number of raked hands or loyalty points, there may also be conditions which limit the time you can take, for example, you may be required to complete the whole requirement releasing the bonus within a 30 day period. This should be investigated before you deposit.

Where To Start?

We have selected two poker rooms which offer generous first deposit bonuses to new players and frequently offer reload bonuses (see below) to existing ones. If you already have accounts at these poker rooms then we suggest that you skip straight ahead to the next section.

When starting at a new poker room it is always worth depositing the amount required to receive the maximum allowed bonus. That way you will not come to regret not having taken full advantage of the bonus at at a later point when you are no longer eligible as an exisitng player to receive it..

Party Poker

Party Poker is a great place to start. It is the internet's largest poker room and provides some of the easiest competition at the low limit tables, e.g. $0.50/$1.00. Party Poker currently offer a 20% first deposit bonus up to a maximum of $100, so to get the maximum bonus you would need to deposit $500. In order to release the bonus you need to play 500 raked hands. Party Poker also frequently offers reload bonuses to existing players so it is useful to have an account their to take full advantage of these as they come along whilst clearing bonuses at other poker rooms.

Click to claim 20% bonus (max $100)

Paradise Poker

Paradise Poker is a great place to start if you have a smaller bankroll. They currently offer a 25% first deposit bonus up to a maximum of $50 by using the bonus code "FIRST25". $10 of the bonus is released for every 100 hands you play from which the rake taken is £0.25 or greater. Reload bonuses are also frequently offered.

Click to claim 25% bonus (max $50)

Reload Bonuses & Moving Poker Rooms

We have already briefly mentioned reload bonuses. A reload bonus works very similarly to a first time deposit bonus, but instead of being restricted to new members only it is open to everyone. You are likely to be offered these from any poker room with which you have account at, and by combining these with new first time deposit bonuses, you should be able to make a healthy profit.

Once you have cleared your bonus at one poker room you can move on to the next and so on until the very unlikely day that you have played them all. But, even then you will still have the reload bonuses to profit from.

For a comprehensive list of poker rooms offering bonuses which you can release see our poker room bonus table.

You can also discuss particular poker rooms, their bonuses and their terms and conditions of release by checking out our poker bonus forum.

Poker Articles

These articles should help you improve you poker:

Useful Resources

There are a number of useful resources available which help you to track you play, and if used properly can improve your game (and profitability) no end.

Poker Tracker (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

Poker Spy (http://www.poker-spy.com/)

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