Poker Bonus Hunting Guide
Chapter 13
Hunting for poker bonuses is an art form. Some but not all online professionals who now play $5/10 games and above say they started out bonus hunting. A useful tool is our poker bonus calculator for bonus hunters. It comes in handy sometimes and we are always adding to make it more accurate and comprehensive. The latest launch of the Poker Stars marketing code on our bonus page is the most popular at the moment.
This guide will show what poker sites are best for bonus hunting along with release rates. All the rooms are Mac compatible. If you already know the ABC’s of bonus hunting and have a neteller account then begin the bonus hunting guide by clicking here to go to middle of page. If instead you were looking for online casino bonuses we have that too.
What exactly is bonus hunting?
A bonus hunter is someone who hops from site to site discharging initial sign up bonuses. Because the online poker market is so competitive poker sites will bribe players with large incentives. Sign up bonuses are most common.
Online poker players take advantage of all this incentivized money going around by doing what was informally named “Bonus Hunting”. New poker sites offer more bonuses like what we’re seeing with the Carbon poker bonus that was released not too long ago.
This bonus hunting guide is Mac compliant as well as Windows. Every poker site listed in this bonus hunting guide is Mac compatible. We go in depth as to what Mac poker sites have the best and fasting releasing bonuses.
How Much Can I Make? Is Bonus Hunting for Me?
This guide will show you how to make $1,130 plus a few free tournament tickets. Bonus hunting is for players who usually break even and play low to mid stake poker. Mid to low stake poker is the $.25/.5 – $.5/1 tables. Stakes below this will make releasing your bonuses very tedious and time consuming.
When bonus hunting you won’t have to risk more than $100 at a time but will need to deposit more than $100 to get bigger bonuses. Poker bonuses work in percentages. The more you deposit the more bonus money you get. In order to get the money released you have to play raked hands at the poker table. We calculated all the raked hand requirements and formulated it into easy to understand time schedules.
Bonus hunting is a patience game. Poker players who bonus hunt have a tight and risk adverse style. They get in and out with their bonus money hoping to either break even or make a couple bucks at the tables. Their real profit comes from the bonus money they release at the end. So if you got the patience and desire to make modest amounts of money then bonus hunting might be something you should try.
LET THE BONUS HUNTING BEGIN
1. First Step – Sign up for Neteller
Neteller is an important phase of bonus hunting. Neteller is an electronic funds handling site. They bypass all the credit card problems that you encounter at most poker sites. If you play online poker you are going to need a Neteller account period. It just makes things so much easier and quicker.
To sign up for neteller go to www.Neteller.com and begin an application. You will be required to sign up with your bank account or credit card information. Don’t worry it’s as safe as can be. They work very similar to paypal if you are familiar with them.
Signing up will take about 15 minutes. When you first open up a Neteller account they require you to verify your banking account. To do this they deposit ten or twenty cents into your savings/checking account and you verify it by telling them the exact amount. You’ll see what I mean when you register. That part takes pretty long because the small deposits can take up to 3 days to hit your bank account.
A. Funding your Neteller account is done using three options.
- By using Credit Cards such as Visa or MasterCard
- Electronic Funds Transfer from your bank account.
By using the InstaCash option. This method is extremely quick and deposits hit your account within a couple seconds. Both option two and three require you to register your bank account.
B. Watch the Fees
Once you deposit watch out for the fees. There is a charge for credit card and instacash deposits to your account. Hopefully you will only have to deposit once. I always keep plenty of funds in Neteller to avoid their fees. When you move money around from poker room to poker room or cashout there are NO fees involved.
I. LET’S HUNT FOR INSTANTLY RELEASED BONUSES
These bonuses are out of date but you can get a general idea of how bonus hunting works.
Sign up Bonus Code – None needed. Use link
Pacific Poker’s initial bonus is released into your account upon depositing. You can play with the bonus money until you lose it or earn enough points to cash out the money. Raked hands are necessary before you can cash out the bonus.
As you will soon find out the players are horrendous at Pacific Poker. Play tight poker and you will release your bonus money for cashout and come out with a positive gain from the table play. The requirement to officially cashout the bonus money is to wager $2,500 at the poker table. No problem there.
Bonus Information
- Deposit Amount – $200
- Bonus – 50% up to $100
- $.25-.25NL low stake – Play hours to cashout $100 bonus = 31hr 15 minutes
- $1-1 NL mid/low Stake – Play hours to cashout $100 bonus = 7hr 44 min
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2. Pitbull Poker (site closed)
Pitbull Poker is another instantly releasing bonus. The upfront cash bonus is $30 and you need 200 Comp points before you can cash out the bonus money.
There is no chance in hell to release this bonus in a reasonable time frame if you don’t play the $.5/.5 table or higher. Trust me the bonus structure doesn’t suit low stake games. If all else fails you are at least playing on the house while building your bankroll.
Bonus Information
- Deposit Amount – $100
- Bonus – 30% up to $30
- $.5-.5NL Low Stake – Play hours to cashout $30 bonus = 11hr 30 minutes
- Running Total – $130
- Low stake Running Hours Total – 42hr 45 min
- Mid/Low Stake Running Hour Total – 19hr 14 min
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Now you ought to have some risk free cash in your bankroll to start the bigger bonus hunting. It is recommended you play $.5/.5 or above at this point.
II. BIGGER BONUS HUNTING & TICKET HUNTING
1. PokerRoom
Sign Up Bonus Code – None needed. Use link.
Now is when we bonus hunt for money and also free tournament tickets. PokerRoom has an awesome free bonus and loyalty program. This bonus hunt will land you $200 in bonus money, a starting tournament ticket, and a $10 and up special tournament ticket by using your points when finished.
When you sign up to play you are not required to have a for the 40% up to $200. You may want to check their promotions page before you deposit for possible montly deposit bonus codes which are different from promotion codes.
Starting tournament tickets are offered when you first deposit with no requirements.
Bonus Information
- Deposit Amount – $500
- Bonus – 40% up to $200
- $.5-.5NL Low Stake – Play hours to release $200 bonus = 40 hours
- Running Total – $330 + 2 tourney tickets
- Mid/Low Stake running hour total – 59hr 46 min
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A. Skin Hunting
Now that we’ve used up the deposit bonus at PokerRoom let’s do some skin bonus hunting. PokerRoom has dozens of sites that look exactly like it. They pay royalties or something like that to become part of the PokerRoom.com Network. The sites are similar but you still get the sign up bonuses.
1. Holdem Poker (This site has been removed)
Sign up bonus code – CPMAC
Holdem Poker is the first skin where we will hunt for bonuses and tickets at. This site has on hand percentages during all-in situations. Not too many sites have that.
Bonus Information
- Deposit Amount – $100
- Bonus – 100% up to $100 & tourney ticket
- Average Release Time – average
- $.5-.5NL Low Stake – Play hours to release $100 bonus = 30 hours
- Running Total – $430 + 3 tourney tickets
- Mid/Low Stake Running Hour Total – 89hr 46 min
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2. EuroPoker
Sign up bonus code – CPBONUS
Once again it’s just another skin and part of the PokerRoom Network.
Bonus Information
- Deposit Amount – $100
- Bonus – 100% up to $100 & tourney ticket
- Average Release Time – average
- $.5-.5NL Low Stake – Play hours to release $100 bonus = 30 hours
- Running Total – $530 + 4 tourney tickets
- Mid/Low Stake Running Hour Total – 119hr 46 min
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III. FINAL BONUS HUNT
Sign up bonus code – CP600
Full Tilt is the mother load of bonuses. Don’t let the size fool you. The full bonus is actually pretty easily released. The bonus is pushed out in increments of $60 by earning points which is advantageous. The points you earn for release of the bonus can be used for freerolls or full tilt gear.
The bonus code doesn’t expire but it is always smart to check our Full tilt referral code page for newer bonus codes. Bonus size stays pretty high at Fulltilt.
Bonus Information
- Deposit Amount – $600
- Bonus – 100% up to $600
- Average Release Time – High
- $.5-.5NL Low Stake – Play hours to release $600 bonus = 104 hours 10 minutes
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TOTAL HUNTING HOURS – 223hr 56 min
TOTAL BONUS – $1,130+ 4 tourney tickets
Well if you made it through the full guide then congratulate yourself. You are officially a bonifide Bonus Whore.
Just by taking a quick look at this guide you can see that you can make great money bonus hunting. Even the fishiest of fishy poker players should be able to at least break even on the tables. Still can’t make money even when bonus hunting? Well Jesus if that’s the case you really need to learn proper strategy with our free online poker ebook.
Bonus money is only a small percentage of what you will win at the tables. Spending just over 223 hours playing at these mid/low stakes tables should have netted yourself about $2,000 in cash plus the $1,130 in bonus money for a grand total of $3,130.
More Tips for Bonus Hunting
- Play more than one table at a time.
- When you have a good bankroll and feel comfortable then move up in stakes. The bonuses will be released light years faster.
- Playing tired, bad, erratic poker just to release you bonus isn’t exactly smart! It defeats the purpose.
Final Thoughts on Bonus Hunting
Once you’re done with this guide I think you’ll find yourself an improved player. To bonus hunt properly your style should replicate that of a tight solid player. After bonus hunting choose the poker site that rewards loyalty. Also pick a site that has some bad players.
We started you out at PacificPoker.com because of the great bonus but that isn’t the only reason. They’ve been rated in polls to have the worst poker players around.
PokerRoom could be another top poker site to stick around because of loyalty reasons. They offer reload bonuses and also let you cash in Player Points for tournament tickets.
Well you’re done. Congrats.
