Online Poker: Goodies!

Let's face it. From day 1, online poker can feel like a carnival.

1. "Give us your money, and you get some credits."


2. "First deposit, we'll give you 100% bonus on your credits. But you can't have the bonus credits now, you get them over time."


3. (from a different internet "tube") "Hey, leave them, come over here! We'll give you 10% bonus. It's not 100%, but you get it right away!"


4. "Here! You've earned some reward points, some Iron Man points, some Frequent-Flier miles, and a free car wash! (with 10-gallon purchase)"


5. "Withdrawing money? Sure! You'll have it before your kids graduate high school! Probably!"

Let's walk through the finer points of all of the bells and whistles.

1. Rakeback

Rakeback is the first thing you should know about when starting an account. There are different places you can go for rakeback, but if you plan on playing any cash games at all, you simply must get rakeback. Here's how it works.

The price of rakeback is your referral bonus. This is why you need to get rakeback at the very beginning. So, for instance, at Full Tilt they currently give $100 to the referrer, and $25 to the new player. Total bonus $125.

So, to continue the example, instead, you sign up for rakeback at Full Tilt Poker. Sign up, and instead of a referral bonus you will get 27% back of every dollar (with rare exceptions) you drop into the rake. If this doesn't sound like much, I invite you to play a little cash and see how much you contribute to the rake. This is enough money that it could easily double (or more) the profits of a small stakes player.

Is it worth your referral bonus? Yes. If you win a $3 raked pot, you get 80 cents back. Every time. Do you plan on winning at least 150 pots, lifetime?


2. Deposit Bonus

On your first deposit, sites will give you a matching bonus of some sort. Sometimes, bonuses like this (and others) require "clearing" before you actually get your money. What is clearing?

Clearing means you have to earn your bonus. You do this by playing raked hands, and literally putting money into the rake. They wrap it in "points" and other fancy names, but it all comes down to this. They can afford to pay such a large bonus to every player because you help them earn it back. By playing raked hands.

So, you have to work off a bonus, within a reasonably-long timeframe. However, if you were going to play those hands anyways, this becomes free money.

Warning!

This warning is from personal experience. I used to play at a site that offered redeposit bonuses, which basically meant I could withdraw my money, deposit it again, and get a new bonus, usually 20-30%. Then I would clear those bonuses. Now, at the time, I wasn't good enough to make a profit, and often deposited $500, got a $200 bonus, and by the time I cleared the bonus I had $350, not the $700 I could have had if I was playing "rake-even" (break-even plus the rake).

Don't let the allure of deposit bonuses change your game. If, worst-case scenario, you don't get it all cleared in time, that's okay, you get what you were able to clear. Don't hurry, don't play extra hands, just do what you do and enjoy the free money.


3. Rewards Points

Rewards points are a lot like frequent-flier miles. You receive a certain number of points for investing some money. You can get them on slot machines when you sign up with the casino. Live casinos will give you some comps for playing a certain number of hours, or just value on your frequent-player card.

So, the online equivalent is RPs, ARPs, FTPs, something like that. And since it's online and easy to track, you'll find most sites give points in an EXACT proportion to the rake paid in. They often count these points as a criteria to clear bonuses, as in #2 above.

So, you probably will notice that these are small. As a specific example on Full Tilt, 600 FTP will get you into a satellite, which pays 1 $26 token. So, at this exchange rate (this is a good rate, they do vary), it works out to about 200 FTP = $1. So, receive your points, and translate them into a bit of money or a bonus satellite tourney.


4. Iron Man (Full Tilt, other sites may have an equivalent program)

On Full Tilt, they have a program called Iron Man for players who play a lot. And by that, I mean a lot of cash games, since the rakes for tourneys are usually not enough to earn any significant points. However, by earning a certain number of points, a certain number of days in a given month, you can qualify for medals and bonus freerolls. Medals, which are like fancy points, can be exchanged for stuff or bonuses. And freerolls, if that's your style, allow you to win some moneys, by playing against a large field. One thing of note -- these players are mostly limit, cash players, because that's the easiest route to becoming an Iron Man. So, if you are better than the average cash player at tourneys (90% of you are), this might be a very +EV opportunity for you.

Summary:

I know it's a lot of bells and whistles, but there is some real value to be had in the "perks". Let's say you have a 4% profitability (ROI) over time, and rakeback and bonuses can get you a combined 4% more. It sounds like a small amount, but do you see that you just doubled your profits?

Most of these things require very little effort on your part, so make sure you don't miss out on all the free money that is available to you.