bonus whoring
i found this guide to whoring bonuses i thought you guys might find enjoyable.
ive been a NL MTT and STT player, but am shifting to limit. I thought this would be a great way to get started... by taking out $100 from my roll and trying this.
Recently, I've seen a lot of posts from newbies asking what site they should start out at with a $100 bankroll. Many of the responses suggested Party Poker, which I believe is flat-out horrible advice. The reason is that when you're starting with such a small amount of cash, the money you make from bonuses is going to dwarf the money you make from actual gameplay (as you move up in limits, bonuses make up a much smaller percentage of your overall profit).
As a new player on a limited bankroll, you need to make sure you receive the maximum bonus at every site to survive. If you deposit at Party first, you will not be doing this. You'll be missing out on $75, which is 3/4 of your entire bankroll! How are you losing $75, you ask? Well, at Party you are given a choice of either a $25/$25 or 20% up to $100 sign-up bonus. With $100, your best option is the $25/$25, which leaves you $75 short of the maximum bonus offered. What this means is that you should wait until you have $500 before depositing at Party.
So, where should you start? Remember, you want to obtain the maximum bonus at each site, and unfortunately most sites require a deposit of more than $100 to receive such a bonus. However, there are a few exceptions to this, namely some of the Cryptologic sites (Interpoker, Poker Plex, Carribean Sun and Will Hill). The bonuses offered at these sites are as follows:
Interpoker -> $90 for $90 bonus - 450 raked hands
Poker Plex -> $50 bonus - 300 raked hands
Caribbean Sun -> $40 bonus - 250 raked hands
William Hill -> $25 bonus - 5 hrs of play
Starting with your $100, proceed through each of these bonuses. If you breakeven on gameplay, you will have $300 (actually $305) when you're finished. If you suffer some losses and are at less than $200 when all is said and done, do these bonuses again the next month (yes, that's right, these are monthly bonuses!).
Assuming you're now over $200, follow this link to Paradise Poker and enter bonus code GRANNY for a 50% bonus up to $100. The $200 amount is key because that is the amount needed to obtain the maximum bonus. After you clear this bonus, you should have around $400 in your bankroll, assuming breakeven play. Now head back to the Crypto skins (if you haven't already) and get yourself up to that magic $500 mark.
Okay, so you now have $500. Now we're going to start rolling around in big piles of money. Hit up Party and skins, whose sign-up bonuses are as follows:
Party -> 20% to $100 bonus - 500 raked hands
Empire -> 20% to $100 bonus - 500 raked hands
Intertops -> 20% to $100 bonus - 500 raked hands (Use code EARN 20)
Multi -> 25% to $150 bonus - 1500 raked hands
After getting all of these bonuses, go back and get the iGM-Pay bonus from Party and Empire, for another $100 each (for more information on the iGM-Pay bonuses, do a search of the Internet Gambling forum).
For each of these sites, attempt to sign up through a reputable affiliate in order to get a percentage of your rake returned to you at the end of each month. It is preferable to sign up through a site that has express consent to offer rake rebates, such as www.rakereturns.com, than through an individual.
Anyhoo, by now you should have around $1000 in your roll. It's probably about time to hit up the Crypto sites again (you haven't forgotten about them, have you?). Also, you can now whore the following sites, which have good sized bonuses, but games that aren't quite as good as Party's (additionally, you may want to expand into casino whoring, starting with Casino-on-Net, Starluck and Planetluck).
Poker Stars -> No standard sign-up bonus, must wait for a reload (usually 20% to $120)
Ultimate Bet -> 20% to $100 bonus - 1000 player points
Pacific Poker -> 25% to $100 bonus - Wager $2000
Poker Room -> 20% to $100 bonus - 700 player points
Absolute Poker -> 35% to $210 bonus -> 2100 raked hands
Now you'll have $1500-$2000 in your roll, and hopefully have enough experience under your belt to multi-table 2-4 and/or 3-6 and pull in >= $20/hr from gameplay alone. Every so often, you'll receive reloads from Party and skins, and of course you'll still want to take advantage of the Crypto bonuses each month, but the majority of your profits will be from gameplay. Eventually, you'll be 47 tabling 400 NL and $15-30 ala Zee Justin, and the bonuses won't mean jack to you. But they'll always have a place in your heart...
-- Homer
ive been a NL MTT and STT player, but am shifting to limit. I thought this would be a great way to get started... by taking out $100 from my roll and trying this.
Recently, I've seen a lot of posts from newbies asking what site they should start out at with a $100 bankroll. Many of the responses suggested Party Poker, which I believe is flat-out horrible advice. The reason is that when you're starting with such a small amount of cash, the money you make from bonuses is going to dwarf the money you make from actual gameplay (as you move up in limits, bonuses make up a much smaller percentage of your overall profit).
As a new player on a limited bankroll, you need to make sure you receive the maximum bonus at every site to survive. If you deposit at Party first, you will not be doing this. You'll be missing out on $75, which is 3/4 of your entire bankroll! How are you losing $75, you ask? Well, at Party you are given a choice of either a $25/$25 or 20% up to $100 sign-up bonus. With $100, your best option is the $25/$25, which leaves you $75 short of the maximum bonus offered. What this means is that you should wait until you have $500 before depositing at Party.
So, where should you start? Remember, you want to obtain the maximum bonus at each site, and unfortunately most sites require a deposit of more than $100 to receive such a bonus. However, there are a few exceptions to this, namely some of the Cryptologic sites (Interpoker, Poker Plex, Carribean Sun and Will Hill). The bonuses offered at these sites are as follows:
Interpoker -> $90 for $90 bonus - 450 raked hands
Poker Plex -> $50 bonus - 300 raked hands
Caribbean Sun -> $40 bonus - 250 raked hands
William Hill -> $25 bonus - 5 hrs of play
Starting with your $100, proceed through each of these bonuses. If you breakeven on gameplay, you will have $300 (actually $305) when you're finished. If you suffer some losses and are at less than $200 when all is said and done, do these bonuses again the next month (yes, that's right, these are monthly bonuses!).
Assuming you're now over $200, follow this link to Paradise Poker and enter bonus code GRANNY for a 50% bonus up to $100. The $200 amount is key because that is the amount needed to obtain the maximum bonus. After you clear this bonus, you should have around $400 in your bankroll, assuming breakeven play. Now head back to the Crypto skins (if you haven't already) and get yourself up to that magic $500 mark.
Okay, so you now have $500. Now we're going to start rolling around in big piles of money. Hit up Party and skins, whose sign-up bonuses are as follows:
Party -> 20% to $100 bonus - 500 raked hands
Empire -> 20% to $100 bonus - 500 raked hands
Intertops -> 20% to $100 bonus - 500 raked hands (Use code EARN 20)
Multi -> 25% to $150 bonus - 1500 raked hands
After getting all of these bonuses, go back and get the iGM-Pay bonus from Party and Empire, for another $100 each (for more information on the iGM-Pay bonuses, do a search of the Internet Gambling forum).
For each of these sites, attempt to sign up through a reputable affiliate in order to get a percentage of your rake returned to you at the end of each month. It is preferable to sign up through a site that has express consent to offer rake rebates, such as www.rakereturns.com, than through an individual.
Anyhoo, by now you should have around $1000 in your roll. It's probably about time to hit up the Crypto sites again (you haven't forgotten about them, have you?). Also, you can now whore the following sites, which have good sized bonuses, but games that aren't quite as good as Party's (additionally, you may want to expand into casino whoring, starting with Casino-on-Net, Starluck and Planetluck).
Poker Stars -> No standard sign-up bonus, must wait for a reload (usually 20% to $120)
Ultimate Bet -> 20% to $100 bonus - 1000 player points
Pacific Poker -> 25% to $100 bonus - Wager $2000
Poker Room -> 20% to $100 bonus - 700 player points
Absolute Poker -> 35% to $210 bonus -> 2100 raked hands
Now you'll have $1500-$2000 in your roll, and hopefully have enough experience under your belt to multi-table 2-4 and/or 3-6 and pull in >= $20/hr from gameplay alone. Every so often, you'll receive reloads from Party and skins, and of course you'll still want to take advantage of the Crypto bonuses each month, but the majority of your profits will be from gameplay. Eventually, you'll be 47 tabling 400 NL and $15-30 ala Zee Justin, and the bonuses won't mean jack to you. But they'll always have a place in your heart...
-- Homer
Comments
Good luck:)
Is it those poker points??
And sorry for the repost guys
Hi the_main,
I use Poker Tracker so it's really easy in my case...this is what I do:
- Go to the "Preferences" tab and filter my results down to Cryptologic (Interpoker) only
- Then go to the "Game Notes" tab and select the "Get All" button at the top right
- At the bottom of the first table is a stat called "TRH" (Total Raked Hands)
- FYI, it took me 652 hands to reach the 450 raked hand mark
If you're not using PT, I guess you'd have to view your log file and manually count the number of raked hands...or maybe you can email support and ask them where you stand.
Also, I'm not sure how long it takes for them to release the bonus...I passed the 450 mark yesterday and the bonus is still locked in. At this point it doesn't really matter, though, as I am still waiting for my PIN in the mail, which they say takes about 10 days to arrive.
Hope that helps. Happy New Year!
Oh, also, the initial deposit bonus took forever to release. The monthly ones are quick and easy, but the initial deposit bonus just ended up being released one day (after months and months of playing).
they told me i was half way there @ 250 raked hands, they also said that you had to contribute to the pot in some way for it to qualify as a raked hand for you(as little as a SB)
thanks for the info though guys, i wish i had poker tracker, my evauluation copy expired......
Ah, maybe that explains why my bonus hasn't been released yet. Oh well, the bonus is just a perk...overall, I find the competition there pretty weak...at least so far (I've only played less than 700 hands). Thanks for the update.
At least this is the trend that myself and a couple of pokerbuddies have seen lately.
Btw- unless they've changed recently (ie., this week), for the monthly bonuses raked hands are defined as being dealt cards in a game where rake is taken. So you don't have to wager in the game for it to count. I seem to remember wagering being a requirement for the original deposit bonus on interpoker, but that was so long ago, I can't really remember the specifics. I just remember it took me quite a long time for the original one to come through.
hork.
Bonus Whores FAQ
Personally, I'd prefer all talk of bonus' to remain at BonusWhores since they've all been answered there already. Unless there really is a canadian slant to whoring..