Online Poker Bonuses - Beginners Beware
Online Poker Bonuses - Beginners Beware
Most online poker sites offer a first-deposit bonus of 100% of whatever you deposit. If you put in $500, they match it, giving you $1000 total. This is enough to make a lot of players think about jumping around several sites and cleaning up. Despite the apparent benefits, this can actually be very dangerous for most beginning players. Here's why:
A bonus is awarded to you based on the amount of rake taken by the site in the games in which you are dealt cards. A poker site will usually take out a few cents in a small pot and up to a dollar or two in a very large one. Each site has a slightly different formula, but in general it takes a lot longer than you might assume. Sometimes they release it in $10 increments; other times it's in one lump sum at the end.
To clear a $200 bonus playing in a $0.25/$0.50 Limit game (meaning the bet in the first two rounds is $0.25 and in the final two rounds it's $0.50) for example, you'd need about 30,000 hands, which is a huge amount and requires a TON of playing.
The bankroll guideline for Limit poker is 300 Big Bets. That means that for a $.05/$.10 game, you'd need $30. For a $0.10/$0.20 game, you'd need $60. No Limit poker has different requirements. Low stakes games are a $2 or $5 buy in. You should have no less than $40 in your bankroll to play 2NL. This gives you enough money to absorb some losses and still not risk going broke.
You only get a bonus of whatever amount you deposit, so beginners wishing to play these stakes would only earn $30-$60 of bonus money. Most bonus-hunting new players are greedy to make much more than that. Players could deposit more than they need for the levels, but that would leave them frantically trying to play as much as possible, and their game would suffer.
Beginners really need to be playing at the small stakes where there are lots of loose players (like $0.05/$0.10 Limit or 2NL). This helps them nail down the fundamentals of Texas Holdem that are essential for any successful player and get some good experience.
But the structure of the bonuses often entices them to play at higher stakes games where they unlock the bonus faster (like $0.50/$1, $1/$2 or 25NL). This puts them in way over their heads among experienced players and they risk losing their entire deposit.
I was fortunate enough to realize this and deposit a smaller amount to get me bankrolled for $0.25/$0.50 ($150). I dropped down to $0.05/$0.10 and logged a lot of hands, posted on poker forums and read books like Small Stakes Holdem by Miller, Slanksky, and Malmuth. Then I played a bunch of $0.25/$0.50 Limit and I've unlocked about half of my bonus so far with a month left before it expires.
While I might not get the entire $150 because it unlocks pretty slowly, it's a much better scenario than playing out of my comfort zone. Plus I've learned more and gotten better at poker in the meantime.
Most online poker sites offer a first-deposit bonus of 100% of whatever you deposit. If you put in $500, they match it, giving you $1000 total. This is enough to make a lot of players think about jumping around several sites and cleaning up. Despite the apparent benefits, this can actually be very dangerous for most beginning players. Here's why:
A bonus is awarded to you based on the amount of rake taken by the site in the games in which you are dealt cards. A poker site will usually take out a few cents in a small pot and up to a dollar or two in a very large one. Each site has a slightly different formula, but in general it takes a lot longer than you might assume. Sometimes they release it in $10 increments; other times it's in one lump sum at the end.
To clear a $200 bonus playing in a $0.25/$0.50 Limit game (meaning the bet in the first two rounds is $0.25 and in the final two rounds it's $0.50) for example, you'd need about 30,000 hands, which is a huge amount and requires a TON of playing.
The bankroll guideline for Limit poker is 300 Big Bets. That means that for a $.05/$.10 game, you'd need $30. For a $0.10/$0.20 game, you'd need $60. No Limit poker has different requirements. Low stakes games are a $2 or $5 buy in. You should have no less than $40 in your bankroll to play 2NL. This gives you enough money to absorb some losses and still not risk going broke.
You only get a bonus of whatever amount you deposit, so beginners wishing to play these stakes would only earn $30-$60 of bonus money. Most bonus-hunting new players are greedy to make much more than that. Players could deposit more than they need for the levels, but that would leave them frantically trying to play as much as possible, and their game would suffer.
Beginners really need to be playing at the small stakes where there are lots of loose players (like $0.05/$0.10 Limit or 2NL). This helps them nail down the fundamentals of Texas Holdem that are essential for any successful player and get some good experience.
But the structure of the bonuses often entices them to play at higher stakes games where they unlock the bonus faster (like $0.50/$1, $1/$2 or 25NL). This puts them in way over their heads among experienced players and they risk losing their entire deposit.
I was fortunate enough to realize this and deposit a smaller amount to get me bankrolled for $0.25/$0.50 ($150). I dropped down to $0.05/$0.10 and logged a lot of hands, posted on poker forums and read books like Small Stakes Holdem by Miller, Slanksky, and Malmuth. Then I played a bunch of $0.25/$0.50 Limit and I've unlocked about half of my bonus so far with a month left before it expires.
While I might not get the entire $150 because it unlocks pretty slowly, it's a much better scenario than playing out of my comfort zone. Plus I've learned more and gotten better at poker in the meantime.
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