Bonus Hunting

     By now there are a dozen websites and forums dedicated to the craft of increasing your bankroll through insightful use of the poker room bonuses. While the popular term is bonus whoring, it's really just a second iteration of the bonus hunting that started on the blackjack tables of the online casinos years ago.

     The process is simple. Find a poker room offering a bonus, read their terms and conditions, deposit, play, and when the requirements are filled take the bonus. Find the next room, and start all over again.

     You can take a zero bankroll and turn it into thousands a month in bonus money from the poker rooms by playing nothing more than break-even poker. Of course you'll be playing against other players that are trying to do the same, so often you'll find yourself playing poker in a rock garden. But, thousands of dollars in free money a month means making some concessions.

     While I won't be putting a step by step guide in place today, and most of the bonus hunting conversations at this site are something I have planned on doing on the upcoming message boards, here are some poker bonus hunting guidelines.

What is a Raked Hand?
     The accepted definition is a hand in which you were dealt cards, and the pot was raked (.$25 or more). This means that find'em and fold'em qualifies as playing a raked hand. You do not need to make a bet.
     A few rooms require the player to place money into the pot before they consider it as playing a raked hand. So, if you are unfamiliar with the room, read the terms and conditions before making a deposit.

Get a Neteller Account
     If you don't already have one, get one. Several of the reload bonus offers are for neteller-based chip purchases only. There's no reason to miss out on that bonus money. It's also a good place to keep your poker bankroll, instead of keeping it in your player accounts at the poker rooms. Many rooms will allow you to make a deposit, they will recognize the bonus you are working towards earning, and then allow you to withdraw your money to use at another room for another bonus.

Learn to Multi-table
     Since playing at more than one table increases the amount of hands you can play per hour, and playing hands is how you release your bonus, learn to play at two tables at once. By playing two tables at once, you'll release the bonus twice as fast, doubling your hourly rate.

     While hunting bonuses, players are rewarded for not playing marginal hands. This is the one thing I can say about bonus hunting that I love. It helps add pateince to your game, and leads you into bettter decisions. Anytime you are earning money for folding marginal hands, it takes some of the steam out of your game. You're no led into action in situation where you're likely to fail just because you feel the need to play, or to take chances to recover (or gain) some bankroll.