Unlocking my FT bonus

I have been playing on Full Tilt for a few months now, and I noticed the other day that I am only 1/3 of the way through unlocking my sign up bonus (It is based on amount of play and full tilt points accumulated). The rate that I am going, I will be missing out on the full bonus by the time it expires (about 1 month left), and I am hoping to change that. I have already decided to play as much as I can during happy hour times to try and get their quicker, but I am very limited on the amount of time that I can actually play. So far I have been only playing 2NL (as that is all my bank roll will allow), and the odd 30 cent SnG.

I have a couple of ideas on how to get my bonus unlocked in time;

1. Play a higher limit (although my BRM does not suggest I should do this, it is an obvious way to get those necessary points, and as I have started to consistently win at 2NL, I am pretty sure I won't get too destroyed at 5NL).

2. Play more tables (I usually play 3 or 4 tables at a time, I have never tried much more than that, but playing 8 - 10 tables would get the necessary FT points a lot quicker).

3. Start playing some $1 SnGs. I was going to wait for the $2 SnGs, as you pay the same rake for both (25cents), seeing as my Bank roll is not at $45 yet (which is what I think I need for a $2 1 table SnG, I was thinking it may be a good chance to get famliar with the $1 games, regardless of the 25% fee involved).

I do have the means to re-deposit if I do end up destroying my bank roll doing this, and I think I would rather take a bit of a risk and re-deposit, than miss out on that bonus. Any advice is appreciated on how best to unlock this bonus the quickest. Also, which of the above ways (or any other ways), will be the less risky to my Bank Roll?

You can play more tables, just remember that if you lose more money it'll defeat the purpose of playing more. If you play the sit n gos and don't win you have to take into consideration the fee,as you stated. If you can win then great, but if you lose a few in a row you might end up shooting yourself in the foot. For what it's worth I didn't get my full bonus either.

How much was your bonus?

Does it really make sense to risk what you have + a redeposit to try to unlock a few extra $$???

Happy hour bonus FTP's don't count towards bonus clearing so forget that one for a start...

Would agree if I was "risking" what I have to unlock my bonus. I would like to see full value out of that bonus, and am contemplating some small risks to get the numbers that I need to unlock it. Regarding more tables - this is still within my BRM strategies, until I try it, I am not sure if my game will suffer that much or not. If you look at the going up a level, this is not currently within my BRM strategies, however, if I add in the value of the bonus's I could get, then they are within my bankroll.

I am not planning on risking my whole bankroll and if I find my roll drop by 10% or so, I will likely ditch the idea and go back to what was starting to work for me. Just would like to make the bonus if I can, and seeing as I am 1 month out from it expiring, I think I have a good chance of doing that.

I was wondering if anyone had any advice or experience on which strategy will allow me to reach my Bank roll the fastest, and which would be the next logical step for me to getting more hands played per hour.

More tables is probably less risky than higher limits but it will still be slow.

What is your current winrate?

It's only been the last 5K or so hands that I have managed to turn my game around. My winrate has averaged about 20BB/100 hands in that time, but seeing as it is such a small sample, I don't feel ready to move up a level.

I will try more tables and see how I go.

20BB/100 over 5k hands at 2nl is +40$, I'd say move to 5nl when you have ~75$ total (or are you waiting until $100?). Moving to 5nl will be alot less adjustment than doubling your tables and I think it would be more points/hr anyway. Maybe add a couple tables until you have enough for 5nl. Atleast Fulltilt awards bonuses in increments unlike pokerstars where its all $50 or nothing. As WVH said, don't make a big adjustment to chase a small bonus.

any an all happy hour events do count towards your sign up bonus. that is how i got most if not all of my bonus. gl on the felts

I didn't realise this before. Just tested it in one of Full tilts 3x FTP happy hours. Sure enough, the amount my counter to the next release went down was 1/3 of the amount that my FTP's went up by. Too bad, and here I was thinking I would unlock my bonus quicker with that, what a shame.

Events? Not sure what you mean, but happy hour points do not count towards any bonuses. Say there was a 3x happy hour, where you get 3x as many points as normal. If you accumulated 18 FTPs, only 1/3 of those count towards unlocking the bonus.

And to OP, how much is the pending bonus? It really doesn't sound like it will be worth trying so hard for if it means losing a good amount before winning the bonus. Especially because at 2nl, you're getting so little points per hand.

[quote=shayker5;1188944]How do the bonuses work at Full Tilt? Would you say that Full Tilt is one of the better sites to play on. I am a regular at PokerStars[/quote

IMO the bonus at FT is amazing. Its 100% up to $600 and is really not that hard to clear. 8-tabling 50NL at FT I unlocked $200 in bonus within about 3 days of playing. In roughly the same amount of hands at Cake poker I got a whopping $20 and at Bodog it was maybe $30. FT has by far the easiest bonus to clear. I wish I would have deposited more than $200 on my first (only) deposit.

FT deposit bonus up to $600 + rakeback > 50$ pokerstars deposit bonus

I actually don't see whats so good about pokerstars.

My pending bonus is about $25, not that much, but still I really want to unlock it if I can. I have done a mix of the above and am a little closer to unlocking it all, but I think no matter what I do, it just comes down to time on the game. I think I will make it, it's a good time for me to be trying more games as if I do drop down on my win rate a little, it will be compensated by the bonus that I will get.