Wher to play

I am really getting close to being able to make a deposit on one of the poker sites to play. I have never deposited on any site before and I am currently working on a bankroll from free bonuses and freerolls. Now my question is what site to go with:

If I deposit at some of these sites it would be a lot of money, but I would have to do the full amount to make the most of my money bonus wise. How hard is their bonus to clear? And what stakes will I have to play to clear it?

Full Tilt: Offers a 100% bonus up to $600.
Titan: Offers a 100% bonus up to $500.
Pokerstars: Don't know their bonus?

Anywhere else you can recommend from experience?

Stars only run occasional first deposit bonuses.

FT's bonus is a bastard to clear (but hey, it's 100% ), dunno about Titan.

Titan's is awful - i deposited $300, played for a week and cleared $20 of it. Depositing to clear a bonus is a mistake - you must treat the bous as just that - a bonus (n.b read the pokersite's websites for bonus detaisl!).

a newbie ? so the bonus is not anything? you can't make a 500 deposit.. and(cash out) pull out ur 500 any time in the near future? titan ? Are they all the same ? Still haven't made a money account .....YET... b-day present was a poker account only (card)

No, what Rob is saying is that he only cleared $20 of his bonus. The original $300 that he deposited is his. The "free" bonus money has to be cleared by playing the appropriate amount of raked hands.

still 2 new .. rake hands ? i guess i'll do a search on it .. u got 2 play so much for it 2 be good ...kind of like been a hi roll in vegas the more money u play win or lose frees up the bonus... free stuff ..think i understand

Hey polingpower, this is how to clear the bonus on full tilt. Most of the site are similar.

Here's how!


For each dollar raked from a pot, every player who was dealt cards for that hand will earn one point. You can earn partial points if less than one dollar is raked, and you can earn up to three points per hand.

Each point is worth $.06, so you can earn up to $18 per hundred hands.


For every dollar paid in tournament fees, you will receive 7 Full Tilt Points. There is no cap on the number of points you can receive.

The bonus amount will be automatically credited to your Bonus Account where it will be held and released to your cash account in increments of 10% of your initial deposit, or $20, whichever you earn first. So if you do a one-time deposit of $100, each $10 (10%) earned will be instantly released into your account. Deposit the full $600 and your account will get credited for each $20 of bonus earned. At three points per hand, each $20 increment can be earned in fewer than two hours of play at only one table.

You can see your cash total and bonus cash amounts in the Cashier window. You will continue to collect cash until you have received 100% of your bonus money. You have 120 days to earn your deposit bonus.

This offer is available to players making their FIRST deposit at Full Tilt Poker. You have until February 28th to make a deposit and still receive the 100% matching bonus.

See you at the tables!

Rob is right, a bonus should be treated as just that. Much more important to pick a site that offers the games you want to play at the buy-in levels you feel comfortable playing.

so it time to make the move to real money .. should i set up a couple of sites , which ones would u choose ..

If you want a hit list of sites that offer deposit bonuses, a quick google search on deposit bonus will return tons. Staying in the top of the results page nets you:
Ultimate Bet
Paradise
PokerStars
Bodog... just to name a few.
All are good sites.

When I first got started I created a Neteller account and deposited my original stake there. Putting money on a poker site from there is pretty easy as most larger sites (and alot of small ones) accept Neteller account information as well as debit cards. Typically deposit time to first hand is literally minutes.

Each site treats the bonus a little differently so to say this one and that one are similar is a nasty broad generalization, so I won't do that. Read their deposit bonus rules before you deposit to be sure you can live with how many hands, or how much rake you need to get your money out. Some of them are pretty easy to deal with.

Don't forget to watch your favorite sites for reload bonuses too. These are bonuses for putting money in your account when you've been cleaned out, or have withdrawn all your funds. Just about every site I've played on has these from time to time, and often they are even better than initial deposit bonuses.

You can stick $20 in the pot in 1 hand on 1/2 limit. 300 hands is a lot to play from such a tiny base.