In order to attract business, many poker sites will offer promotional bonuses wherein they will pay qualifying players some bonus cash. “Qualifying” is usually as simple as making a deposit. Prior to cashing out the bonus money, the player is almost always required to meet a site-determined minimum amount of play at real money tables.
Bonus chasing is moving your bankroll (BR) from poker site to poker site (or partitioning a large BR among multiple poker sites) in order to take advantage of the promotional bonus offers of those poker sites. It is also known by some less savory names, but here at ITH, we prefer the term “bonus chasing”.
Why should I bonus chase?
Quite simply, because it is profitable – disproportionately so for small stakes players. As an example – say you are a good limit holdem player, earning 2 BB/100 hands played at $1/2 limits. After playing 1200 hands, you would expect to be up (on average) 24 BB, or $48. However, if by playing those 1200 hands you were also clearing a $100 bonus, your bankroll would increase by $148 ($100 in bonus + $48 in winnings).
What is a “signup bonus”?
A signup bonus is one that is available (sometimes for a limited time) when you open your account. For example, a site may give you $10, or give you free merchandise for opening an account. Some sites’, first deposit bonuses are actually signup bonuses – you may only have a set amount of time (i.e. 30 days) from the time you open your account until you make your first deposit to get a bonus for making that deposit. Read the T&C.
What is a “reload bonus”?
A reload bonus is one that a site offers its players after they already have an account and they have played for real money. The site will offer a bonus to entice their existing players to make an additional deposit and play some more. Some sites have implemented rules regarding eligibility (such as you can’t have made a withdrawal 3 days prior to depositing for the reload bonus) – so check the T&Cs for the reload bonus you are considering to verify your eligibility.
What is a “first-deposit bonus”?
A first-deposit bonus is a cash bonus a poker site will award a player when they make their first deposit to that site.
What is an “account specific bonus”?
An account specific bonus is one that the site does not make available to the general public, but informs select players about it individually – usually via e-mail, sometimes via telephone. Sometimes a forum member will post that they received an account specific bonus, and post the bonus code that they received. Then, other forum members will attempt to use that code, even though they were not notified of it directly from the poker site. Sometimes this works for the forum members, sometimes it does not. There have not been any reports of people running afoul of their poker sites for trying this, so its probably worth a shot.
What are “stackable bonuses”?
If you can have two (or more) uncleared bonuses at a site at the same time, then those bonuses are said to be stackable. Some sites will not permit you to use more than one promotional offer at a time – so their bonuses would be considered unstackable.
What is “bonus clearing”?
Nobody starts a poker site with the intention of just giving away some money to the folks who (virtually) drop by. The site managers use bonuses as an incentive to get players playing at their site. When you take advantage of a bonus, the site will require a certain amount of play from you at their site before you can cash out that bonus. When you are fulfilling the play requirements to be able to cash out a bonus, you are said to be “clearing the bonus”.
Do sites care if I only play there when they are offering a bonus?
Probably. Poker sites offer bonuses for several reasons; to attract new customers, to entice former customers to come back, and to reward their loyal players. None of them offer a bonus hoping that you will make a deposit, play the exact minimum hands to clear the bonus and then cashout. That said, the toleration level for players who do just that varies from site to site, but it is generally good. It is rare that a site takes action against players, even bonus chasers, unless they have outright violated some stated portion of the site's T&Cs. On a few rare instances a site has closed the accounts of players who they deemed to be abusing the bonus offers (these players all got their money back after their accounts were closed).
If you are concerned about staying in a site's good graces, you should overplay the bonus.
What is “overplay”?
Overplay is the play you do at a site above and beyond the bonus clearing requirements. This is done to prevent the site from labeling you as a ‘bonus abuser’ and closing your account (or limiting your access to future bonuses). Of course, you might just like the site better than any others out there, so your overplay there would just be normal non-bonus-chasing play.
What are “T&C”?
“T&C” are “terms and conditions” – a generic term for the guidelines a site uses for implementing their promotional bonuses. Some sites will use a different phrase for their T&C, such as “bonus rules” or “bonus terms”, etc. For our purposes, the rules concerning a bonus promotion will be known as “T&C”.
The T&C should ALWAYS be read before depositing at a site. The T&C will tell you:
What you need to do to clear the bonus
How much time you have to clear the bonus
How the bonus will be credited (all at once or in increments)
Etc.
On some sites, they make it difficult to find their T&C. Find them, anyways. E-mail customer support and request them if necessary, but DON”T DEPOSIT UNTIL YOU’VE READ THEM. Even if you got some site information on that site/bonus from this forum, read the T&C – poker sites frequently modify their T&C, and the info you get from another forum member may not be the latest and greatest. Read the T&C.
NOTE: You may also see “T&C” used to describe other rules that pertain to a site, exclusive of bonuses. For instance sites may prohibit players under the age of 21 from playing at their site – this would be part of the site’s general T&C. You should read these, too.
What is a “raked hand”?
A raked hand is a poker hand in which the site rakes the pot – or takes their small percentage. Rake is how the poker sites make money.
Unfortunately in bonus chasing, “raked hand” can mean some different things in different sites’ T&Cs. Site A might list that you have to play 500 “raked hands” to clear their bonus and Site B might list that you have to play 500 “raked hands” to clear their bonus, but they may end up meaning very different things. Bonus chasers have developed the terms “Dealt Raked” and “Contributed Raked” to distinguish between the two major uses of “raked hand” in poker sites’ T&Cs.
Dealt Rake means that you were dealt cards in a hand that was eventually raked. You can fold pre-flop, and spend no money on that hand, but it still counts as a raked hand toward your bonus because you were dealt cards in a hand that was raked.
Contributed Rake means that you must put money in the pot on a raked hand in order for it to count as a raked hand for bonus clearing. It could just be the small blind, and then you fold. No need to go to showdown, but you must put money in the pot of a raked hand for it to count toward bonus clearing.
You would have to have outrageously loose pre-flop play to accumulate contributed raked hands as fast as you can accumulate dealt raked hands. Bonuses that clear on a dealt rake structure will almost always clear at a much faster rate than bonuses that clear on a contributed rake structure.
Also be aware that some sites use a point system to clear their bonuses – and the number of points you get per hand depends on the rake on that hand. And there are also sites where your raked hand does not count toward the bonus clearing unless it reaches a certain level. All of this information will be in the T&Cs – read them!
Where should I start?
There’s no one correct answer to this question, as there are many factors that go into the answer, and many of them are specific to the individual player. The following is offered as general guidance:
Moving your money around.
It is very helpful to bonus chasing to be able to agilely move money to and from poker sites. Typically, the best way to do this is through the use of an eWallet (see below for more details). Additionally, some sites will offer players an added bonus if they use a specific eWallet – so you may want to consider this when choosing an eWallet.
Evaluating a bonus.
The value of a bonus is based on several things:
1. The bonus %. This is the amount of bonus money awarded for a given deposit.
2. The bonus max. This is the maximum amount of bonus that you can get on a single offer.
3. The rate at which the bonus clears. A $100 bonus requiring 700 dealt raked hands to clear has a better rate that a $100 bonus that requires 1,500 dealt raked hands to clear (although 1,500 dealt raked may be better than 700 contributed raked…)
4. The site itself – or your opinion of it. If the software is slow, or site traffic is low so that you can never find a table, or if the color scheme of the site annoys you – any of these things (and others) can reduce the value of a bonus for an individual player.
The relative weight given each of these factors when evaluating a bonus depends on the player and his circumstances. Generally speaking, when a bonus chaser starts out with a small bankroll, they want to look for the bonuses that clear at the fastest rate that they can also max out. It is unwise bonus chasing to use up an easy-to-clear bonus at less than the maximum amount. So, while a 500% bonus ($1,000 max) that clears at 5 X dealt raked (at a great site) might look very tempting for a guy with a $50 bankroll, he should save that bonus for a time when he can take full advantage of it by maxing it out when his BR is $200.
Additionally, Ammbo made this very cool bonus chasing planner to help you plan your bonus attack!
What is a “skin”?
A “skin” is a poker site that is part of a shared poker network. You connect to the poker network through the skin where you register and deposit. For example, William Hill and Interpoker are skins of the Cryptologic poker network (there are several other skins on this network). I can be logged into my William Hill account and you can be logged into your Interpoker account, but we still have access to the same poker tables for cash games and SNG tournaments. We could end up at the same table even though we are logged into different poker web sites. (Some skins will offer special promotional tournaments that are not visible to players on other skins of the same network.)
Can I have an account at more than one skin of a network and chase their bonuses?
Usually. Read the T&Cs.
Can I have multiple accounts at the same site?
This is a violation of the general T&C of every site. I would expect the site to treat you harshly (like keeping your money) if they catch you doing it. There are reports of people getting away with it, but with all the sites and bonuses available, it does not seem necessary to cheat the poker sites in this manner. Why kill the goose that lays the golden eggs?
What is an affiliate?
An “affiliate” is someone (or a company) who establishes a website and uses it to promote a poker website or websites – usually with a banner ad. If you join that poker site by linking to it through the affiliate web site, then the affiliate is compensated for leading that new player to the poker site. There is a variety of ways to compensate an affiliate - including a one-time lump sum payment or a recurring payment based on a fraction of the rake that the player generates when playing at the site. Internettexasholdem.com is an affiliate website – the ITH website is compensated when its members sign up to new poker sites by using the links provided here.
One benefit for the player of signing up via an affiliate is that the affiliate generally has a closer relationship (and access to) the poker site than the players. Therefore, as a player, if you have a dispute with a poker site, the affiliate through which you signed up may be able to get you some answers and resolution faster than you would on your own.
What is rakeback?
In order to entice players to sign up for new poker sites via their affiliate links, some affiliates began offering to return part of the recurring fractional rake payments they received from the poker sites to the players – thus the players were getting some of their rake back. Initially, affiliates who did this were violating the terms of their affiliate agreement with the poker site(s) – and many still are.
I prefer to play in tournaments, can I still chase bonuses?
Yes, but your options are severely limited. Players playing in cash games generate a lot more money for the site than players playing in tournaments. Thus most sites allow players to clear bonuses only in cash games. There are a few sites, PokerStars and Bodog considered the best, that allow players to clear a bonus playing tournaments. It takes quite a few tournaments to clear a bonus – thus it takes a longer period of time - but if its what you prefer, it is an option.
Are there other bonuses besides cash that are worth chasing?
The ITH Free Books Offer is quite valuable - given that the cost of poker books has soared along with poker's popularity. (You can also get some nice poker chips to impress your friends at a home game.)
Additionally, some sites offer 'tickets' to freeroll tournaments for new players. These freeroll tournaments can be profitable to those who enjoy tournament style poker.
Is it better to play limit/NL/PL, short-hand or full-ring, Holdem, Omaha, or Stud to clear a bonus?
I am a firm believer that you should play the game that you like to play, at the limit you like to play, and take the bonus as a bonus – something extra that you get for doing something you already enjoy. That said – if what you really enjoy is clearing bonus money as fast as humanly possible, then the game, betting structure and limit will definitely influence the rate at which your bonus will clear. Each poker site, its player traffic and its bonus T&C are different. By using the bonus chasing forum to ask other chasers about their experiences at a poker site and your own prior experiences you can determine which choices for game selection will optimize your bonus clearing in your current situation.
What are “Player Points”?
Player points is a generic term for points a site awards to its players that can be later used for bonuses, merchandise or entry into tournaments. Sites may have different names for their player points (i.e. Absolute Reward Points or ARPs) but the concept is the same. The rules for how a site awards points is up to the site, as is what you can win or earn by acquiring these points. You should check into the player points program of the site(s) you play.
What are Neteller “NetPoints”?
Every time you use your Neteller account, you accumulate Netpoints – which are basically player points awarded by Neteller. You can use these Netpoints to enter periodic drawings for free cash.
What is an “eWallet”?
An eWallet is a convenient method of moving money around the internet. The eWallet is, more or less, an intermediary between your bank (or credit card) and your poker site(s). You deposit to your eWallet account via your bank or credit card (there may be a fee for this – so read the eWallet’s T&Cs as well!). Once in your eWallet, your money can easily be deposited and withdrawn from poker sites. If you need some money from your bankroll, you can transfer it from your eWallet back to your bank or credit card.
The most popular eWallets are Neteller and Firepay, but there are others, so you can shop around and find the one that suits you the best.
I chased a bonus, and by the time I was done clearing it I had lost more than the value of the bonus playing poker - so I ended up down overall. Am I a hopeless loser?
Probably not. A single bonus chase is a short-term poker event, and in the short-term the fluctuations to your bankroll in poker can be maddening. Chase a lot of bonuses and you're bound to finish down on a few. I know I have.
I fulfilled the bonus terms at Site XYZ, but they are not paying me – now what do I do?
If you signed up through ITH, contact Ciaran with the details. He may be able to assist.
If you did not sign up via ITH, contact the customer service department of your poker site. Call them if they don’t respond to your e-mail. Be patient and give them a few days to work it out. It is rare that a dispute with a site does not eventually work out to a customer’s satisfaction – but some sites are frustratingly slow about it.
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