Benefits of Making a Poker Deposit
Everybody knows about first time deposit offers by poker rooms. Get 100% up to $500! While these offers are great, most players never get them because they don’t read the fine print or pay attention. You see, most bonus deposit offers have requirements and a time limit to meet these requirements. Poker deposit bonuses are great incentives for sure. There’s a lot of value for you, the player. In this article, I want to help you understand how they work so that you can select the deposit bonus that works best for you. That way you can maximize your value. In addition, we’ll also talk about other benefits you should look for when considering where to make a deposit.
For a long time, and deposit offer of %100 up to $500 was as good as it got. Not anymore. There are better offers out there, like %100 up to $1000 for instance, but are they really the best option for you? The first thing you need to ask yourself is how much will you actually be depositing. If you’re making a $100 deposit, then who cares if the offer is 100% up to $400, $500, $600, $1000 or even $2000. Your bonus money value will still be $100 at the end of the day.
The second thing you want to ask yourself is can I get better than 100%? Some rooms offer 110%, 150%, 200% and even 1000%. But don’t let those numbers mislead you. They look great on banners but there is another important factor to consider. See my next point.
How are the bonuses cleared? This is where you really need to pay attention. This is the fine print that everyone ignores. Most of these offers require that you accumulate so many player points. These points are acquired by generating rake.
If I have the choice of the following two poker bonuses, which one is the best deal?
· Room A – 100% up to $500 with a 1000 player point requirement
· Room B – 100% up to $500 with a 300 player point requirement
Obviously, the second choice is the best option right? WRONG! It may or may not be. What you need to ask yourself now is what is required for me to acquire 1 player point. Let’s say that at room A you get one player point for every dollar you generate in rake. At room B you get a player point for every $4 you generate in rake. Now the plot thickens! That means that at room A, I will need to generate a total of $1000 in rake in order to get my bonus, but at room B I will need to generate $1200 in rake to get the same bonus. So which room is best for you? Room A right? WRONG AGAIN! It may or may not be.
Are you confused yet? Don’t worry, I’ll throw in more elements and make things even more complicated for you! Let’s look at time limits. If room A requires that you acquire your 1000 player points in 60 days while room B gives you 90 days to acquire the 300 points, do a calculation. Let’s call 60 days two months, and 90 days 3 months to keep things simpler. At room A, I would need to generate a total of $1000 in rake in two months ($500 per month). At room B, I would need to generate a total of $1200 in rake in three months ($400 per month). So depending on my gambling habits and my budget, maybe I only generate $420 in rake every month on average. So in this case, I wouldn’t even meet the requirements of room A in 60 days, but I would meet the requirements of room B in 90 days.
As you can see, the numbers you see on a poker banner are pretty much useless. An offer of 1000% up to $2000 will have ridiculously steep requirements that you will likely never meet, and this is done by design. An offer of $50 free would have much lower (and achievable) requirements.
The last thing you want to consider is how the bonus is released. Some rooms will provide incremental releases, meaning that for a $500 bonus, when you earn 1/5 of the points required, you’ll get $100 in your account. When you hit the 2/5 required points, you’ll get another $100, and so on until you earn your full $500. The advantage of these partial payments is that if something happens that you only reach 890player points by the end of 60 days at room A, you’ll still earn $400. Had the payout be a single payment only once you obtained the total amount of player points, you would have ended up with nothing after 60 days.
Other than actual cash bonuses, a first time deposit will often provide other advantages. For example, some rooms will give you an instant cash bonus. For example, deposit $50 at Room C and they’ll credit your account with an extra $10 above and beyond the standard bonus offer. Some rooms will offer you freeroll tickets, access to tournaments reserved for first time depositors only, or some other kind of promotion. While there may not be a dollar value assigned to a freeroll ticket, what is it worth to you? If you have the choice of getting $50 in bonuses, and 10 freeroll entries VS just getting $100 bonus (all other requirements being the same), it’s a personal choice if you want to extra $50 or the 10 freerolls.
Some rooms like PKR poker will offer you various deposit bonus offers. Currently, PKR poker offers 6 options with bonuses ranging from a free $50 bonus to 100% up to $2000, and everything in between. Each bonus has their own clearing requirement and conditions. The great thing about these multi offers is that you can actually pick a bonus that is best suited for you. Every room should provide players with bonus options, most don’t.