Easy Poker Bonuses for Online Poker

Finding the easiest bonuses to clear for online poker can give you an excellent opportunity to boost your poker bankroll. However, not all bonuses are equal in terms of the criteria for clearing them or the rate at which they clear. This guide to the easiest bonuses to clear for online poker will first show you how to quickly and easily assess a poker site’s bonus offer – then show you three examples of easy to clear bonuses.

The most common way that online poker bonuses are offered is a percentage match on your first deposit. This can be anything from 10% to 200% with the bonus amount from $50 to $1000’s. Simply choosing the biggest percentage or largest dollar amount can often leave you with a bonus that is virtually impossible to clear. There are 2 further criteria that need to be looked at before we even get to the details of the clearance rate itself.

Time

Firstly you need to be aware of whether your bonus is ‘time limited’. Some bonuses do not have a time limit at all, while others last for only 30 or 60 days. The second criteria is whether your bonus is released in one lump sum or released gradually – for example in $10 increments. With a combination of time limited, hard to clear and ‘lump sum’ bonus you may find that the chances of receiving any cash at all are actually very low.

Amount of Points Required

Clearing your poker bonus will usually involve accumulating points. These are awarded for raked hands in cash game poker or based on the fee paid to enter tournaments (or sit and goes). The key factor in determining which are the easiest bonuses to clear for online poker is to know how quickly these points convert into cash.

To do this you need two pieces of information. Firstly, for cash game players, what are the criteria for being awarded a ‘raked hand’. Secondly, how do the betting limits at which you play affect the accumulation of points, in addition to the actual amount of rake. The definition of a raked hand varies from site to site. At some online poker rooms you need to contribute some money to a hand in order for it to count – even if you later fold you are then awarded points based on the rake. At other sites simply being dealt into the hand will give you the points, whether or not you choose to play any particular hand.

With the above information in mind, it should be clear that the biggest ‘headline’ bonus rate does not always correspond to the easiest bonuses to clear for online poker. The examples below look at 3 bonuses available to show you how to correctly work out how good the bonus offer is.

Poker Stars – 100% match on your first deposit up to $50 with marketing code PAWSUB378.

• The number #1 poker site offers a low bonus, but one of the easiest to clear. You have 180 days to earn 10 Frequent Player Points for each $1 in bonus money (500 for the full $50). For tournaments (including SNGs) 5 FPPs are awarded for each $1 in fees, the equivalent of a 50% fee reduction. Cash game hands require only being dealt cards (not actively contributing), points are awarded depending amount of rake taken from each hand. At $1/$2 and below 1 FPP for 40c in rake, a second for $3 and a third FPP for $5 rake.

Full Tilt Poker – 100% match on your first deposit up to $600 with bonus code HUP

• The generous $600 sign-up bonus from Full Tilt lasts for 120 days after deposit and is cleared in increments – 10$ of your deposit or $20 (whichever is lower). To clear this you need to collect Full Tilt Points (FTPs) which are worth 6 cents in bonus money each. 7 points are awarded for each $1 in tournament fees (a 42% reduction) and a single point is earned per dollar in rake for cash games – up to a maximum of 3 FPPs per hand.

Party Poker – 30% Boost to your first deposit up to $150 with bonus code OPBC30.

• While the match is lower than some sites at 30% - Party Poker make up for this with a fast clearance rate and also regular reload bonuses. Clearing this involves collecting ‘Party Points’ over the 30 day bonus clearance period, the bonus is released in one lump sum. 4 points are required for each $1 in bonus cash, and with 4 points for each $1 in tournament / sit and go fees you will be playing ‘rake free poker’ while clearing this bonus. For cash games points are earned for each 20 raked hands at various betting levels. These range from 1.25 point per 20 at 2c / 4c No-limit to 12 points per 20 hands at $2 / $4 – making this one of the easiest poker bonuses available.