Learn to evaluate online poker bonus offers

Nowadays, there’s not a single online poker room out there that doesn’t offer its new players some sort of first deposit or sign-up bonus. In today’s highly competitive online poker industry, poker rooms must give their players bonuses in order to stay competitive, there’s no room for half hearted measures and partial solutions.

Some poker rooms up the pressure on their competitors by giving their players more and more advantageous bonuses all the time. Certainly, while the rich poker rooms have no problems financing this “arms race”, smaller poker rooms often find themselves in the position of simply not being able to match the aforementioned offers. They can’t openly admit defeat by giving weaker bonuses either, because that would only push them further down popularity-wise. What they often resolve to are bonus offers that are apparently just as generous, but are in fact riddled with small technicalities that make it almost impossible for players to actually get their hands on the money.

Let’s see how you can spot such “covert” offers, and how you can generally tell whether a sign-up bonus is indeed all it’s advertised to be. Before we go any further, let’s see what a sign-up bonus actually is. Most rookies believe it’s free money, even some high-profile poker sites state the same. Well, free money it ain’t.

A good sign-up bonus can be defined as a limited rakeback deal. No poker room will ever give you free money, you’ll have to work for every cent of bonus money you’ll receive. The first thing you notice about a sign-up bonus is the amount of “free” money advertised. Caution is the better part of valor when it comes to that though. Never jump on the bonus that offers the most “free” money. The sum advertised usually represents a maximum of a percentage match that you’ll get for your first deposit. If you get a 100% match up to a max of $200, it means you will have $200 transferred into your bonus account as soon as you deposit $200. The money in your bonus account has to be redeemed or unlocked before it hits your real money account though.

The redemption requirements are usually a direct function of the rake you generate through your real money play, or a direct function of the number of raked hands that you play. The more rake you’re required to generate per bonus dollar, the less value there is in your bonus.

At the end of the day, by unlocking your bonus, you’ll get a set percentage of the rake you generated through your play back. That’s why I said that bonuses were in fact rakeback offers that lasted for a limited time. As soon as you’ve succeeded in unlocking the whole bonus, the “rakeback” deal runs dry. In this respect, the more money there is to unlock, the better off you are. Watch out for the validity period though. Most bonuses do expire, and if they’re only unlocked in one lump sum, and their validity is a short one, chances are, you’ll never see a penny of it.

It is important that a good bonus be free of any set deadlines, or at least have a very generous validity-period. Some bonuses are unlocked in smaller batches, thus, you’ll be able to unlock at least a part of them before the deadline is upon you.

In conclusion, the main factors you should look out for when assessing a bonus offer are: the percentage match (the higher the better), the maximum amount (the higher the better, again), the rake requirements (the lower the better), the validity term (the bigger the better, if there’s no such thing: it’s perfect), the actual method of redemption (one lump sum is bad, many smaller chunks are good).

If you take a look at these factors you’ll be able to tell immediately whether the entity offering you the bonus does indeed want you to get your hands on it or not.

A good bonus deal is imperative because it is the equivalent of rakeback, it is by no means free money. Don’t ever forget that.