All online gambling sites across the board do it; they offer new and existing members bonuses as an incentive to join their site. These are therefore not exclusive to poker sites, but because of the nature of the game of poker, they work a little bit differently than for say a casino. The concept is the same however and a new online poker player needs to get their head around these bonuses in order to understand them better.
The most popular bonus is by far the sign-up bonus. These generally consist of a percentage, cash match or cash back if you like and it is common to find 100%, 200% and even more. There are obviously both pros and cons in accepting these bonuses, so we take a brief look at these.
On the pro side, there is definitely some financial benefit to accepting a sign-up bonus. It helps to fund your bankroll and this enables you to play in higher stakes games. On the con side, once the poker room has made a considerable financial investment in the player, they want them to play at their site so the bonus funds are in the majority tied up in rollover requirements. You may have to wager many times your initial deposit and bonus amount in order to make a withdrawal, and bonus funds can be penalised if this wagering requirement is not met.
The beauty of bonuses, particularly on sign up to a new poker site is that you are able to shop around and it doesn’t cost too much money out of your own pocket. This obviously is one of the pros; make an initial deposit of $10 and receive $10 or more and you have a small bankroll for experimenting with the games as a low-roller. With a small first deposit such as this, even if you decide to stick with this site; rollover or wagering requirements won’t be difficult to stomach. Also, if you don’t like the site, simply spend your money or withdraw and leave; try another poker site.
There is no obligation for collecting a sign-up bonus, if you have an account at one site, you can have an account at as many different pokers sites as you like. There is absolutely no obligation to remain at one site. Simply play enough poker hands to clear the bonus funds and off you go.
The clearing requirements for online poker bonus funds is obviously the biggest con, they are generally cleared according to the number of raked hands played. This is absolutely in the spirit of fairness, but the problem comes in when you decide you actually don’t like a site. It is for this reason we say don’t let the huge incentives blind you, make a reasonable first deposit that won’t tie you in for ages while bonus funds clear, simply be sensible about it all. If you do become a serious player at the site your poker loyalty bonuses will more than make up for what you may have missed out on in the beginning.