Trying to Figure out How Many Hands = Bonus Release (FullTilt)

So I made my deposit a while ago at FT, saw the lovely 100% bonus and was thinking, gee that's cool hopefully I can unlock that.

So I play microstakes, $10nl and $25nl. In about 1.5 months I've unlocked ... only $20 of the bonus! It made me think what it would take to unlock the HUNDREDS still available. So I just decided to do out the math to see what it would take. Maybe it'll help those looking at bonuses to put it in "real" terms.

Hopefully my math and approximations are right ... I'm a little woozy today.

FullTilt gives you the "rake credit" if you are dealt a hand. (you don't have to be in the hand)
FullTiltPoker says that for every $1 rake = 1 FullTilt Point
1 FullTilt Point = $0.06 in bonus

The rake is approximately 5%, yes?
Typical Rakes I saw:
$1.10 pot = $0.10 rake
$0.85 pot = $0.05 rake
$3.25 pot = $0.15 rake
$8.00 pot = $0.40 rake
$15 pot = $0.75 rake

Anyways, so I did some calculations, hopefully my numbers are on...

At .05/.10 Stakes, the average pot is about $1.50 thus the rake per hand is $0.10, meaning it would take you 3,333 hands to unlock a $20 bonus.

At .10/.25 Stakes, the average pot is about $4 thus the rake per hand is $0.20, meaning it would take you 1,667 hands to unlock a $20 bonus.

At .25/.50 Stakes, the average pot is about $6 thus the rake per hand is $0.30, meaning it would take you 1,111 hands to unlock a $20 bonus.

Taking that further ...

If you played 200 hands a day ....

It would take you 16.7 days to reach a $20 bonus at .05/.10

It would take you 8.3 days to reach a $20 bonus at .10/.25

It would take you 5.6 days to reach a $20 bonus at .25/.50

Lets say you had $200 to unlock ...

It would take you 167 days (More than 5 Months!) playing 200hands/day at .05/.10 to get $200 in bonus money.

It would take you 83 days (2.5 months) playing 200hands/day at .10/.25 to get $200 in bonus money.

It would take you 56 days playing 200hands/day at .25/.50 to get $200 in bonus money.

Lets say you are hard core and decide to play 400 hands per day:

It would take you 83.5 days playing 400hands/day at .05/.10 to get $200 in bonus money.

It would take you 41.5 days playing 400hands/day at .10/.25 to get $200 in bonus money.

It would take you 28 days playing 200hands/day at .25/.50 to get $200 in bonus money.

~~ Looks Like I'll be playing 200 hands/day for the next 2 months ~~~

4 tabling 25NL for ~2hrs/day I clear $20 in about 4 days. Clearing bonuses at a single table is nearly impossible without playing all day.

One of the things I like about the most recent FT update was the new bonus screen. Knowing how many FT points you need to release your next bonus is nice.

Thanks WVHillbilly, I think your numbers at least give a nice close guess that my theory is on the right track. At a single table a conservative estimate is about 50 to 60 hands per hour. I don't feel like plugging in all the Hands/Hour I see but let me just take a sample of some tables (66, 57, 69, 80, 61, 74, 77, 66, 55, 66, 92, 60). That's an average of 69.

4 tables * 69 hands/hour * 2 hours = 552 hands per day * 4 days = 2208 hands to unlock a $20 bonus. Unfortunately that rate is a little WORSE than what I was theorizing.

I just 2 tabled it for a little more than one and a half hours (105 minutes exactly) at .05/.10 and "unlocked" $1.55 of bonus bucks. (you only get paid in $20 increments). Fortunately I made $9.60 during that session haha.

^^ Key consideration. At most sites (not just Full Tilt), it takes an awful lot of play to release bonus. Be sure and choose a game and limit where you have a high expectation of winning.

Otherwise, you lose more than you generate in bonus, which is pretty pointless.

A tip - if you can play Omaha to a reasonable standard, it can be easier to clear bonus at the PLO tables. Omaha generates large pots more frequently. Therefore, more rake and more player points.