Advice on Deposit Bonuses/Rakeback

Hi everyone. I've been thinking of getting into online poker for a while now, as the chance to play a game I enjoy and make money at the same time is too
good to resist, but I want to get as much information and resources as possible before starting.

I've read up on what online poker is like and I think I'm ready to get my feet wet, but I still have some questions regarding a few things, in particular deposit bonuses and rakeback.

After searching around some I've found quite a few sites that offer an index to rakeback and deposit bonuses, (bonuswhores etc) but what I want to know is, which site gives me the most current information? There seem to be literally hundreds of offers and bonuses flying around, and to be honest I'm quite bewildered.

Some things I'm not 100% clear about, even after searching on the sites themselves :

1. Are you eligible for rakeback as well as reload/deposit bonuses at the same time?

2. If you register for one promotion, (for example, a no deposit bonus) does it disqualify you from the others? Or is this site dependent?

I'm also concerned that I may be going about this the wrong way...I don't have a lot of money to spend on online poker at the moment, so my current plan is to grind it up from the microlimits as well as gaining experience that way. Trouble is, I'm not sure if getting the no deposit bonus on certain sites would disqualify me from getting any other bonuses (hence the question above) and I don't want to screw myself before I've even started.

I have searched about some trying to find more info, but as you can probably tell I am kind of new to this, so any advice from more experienced players would be very much appreciated.

You sound intelligent. Please stick around and help fight the good fight for the sane people.

At most sites, yes. However, it depends on your rakeback affiliate.

If you sign up using one affiliate or bonus code, you cannot use another affiliate. Affiliates get kickbacks for recruiting you to a site.

I wrote a little post for beginners not too long ago. I think its worth a read.

5 Rules for Beginners who want to Make Money Playing Poker

Pretty much what c9 said. To add a few things:

If you plan to play at a site long term, get rakeback as it will outweigh any deposit bonuses or promotions that are mutually exclusive to rakeback. If you plan on taking the game seriously, rakeback is the only thing that will affect your bottom line on a site a significant amount.

About the deposit bonus and rakeback, for the most part, deposit bonuses will be partially or completely deducted from your rakeback. This is entirely dependent on the site/affiliate.

How do you get rake back? By playing cash game or tournaments? or both of them count?

It depends on your rakeback affiliate.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=rakeback

Since you are going to start at micro limits and grind from there, it may be in your best interest to accept an offer from one affiliate that is non-rakeback, and then switch to a new poker site and accept a rakeback offer when your roll is high enough to warrant the move.

For example, by using the CardsChat affiliate codes for Titan or Party Poker, you receive entry into a $1,000 freeroll every month limited to other players that used the same code (seems to usually be around 100-200 players in these). That is a much better deal than any rakeback you will get playing micro limits.

Later when your bankroll has grown enough to move up to bigger limits, you can cashout from site #1 and move your money to another poker room so you can enter a new bonus code (one that offers rakeback).

As several people have already stated, for a medium or high stakes player there is really no better long-term deal than a rakeback offer.

No. Plus most rakeback sites offer these freerolls.

Sorry about the long wait, my Net connection went down for some time...

Thanks a lot for all the great replies to the thread, they're been really helpful. (Especially C9! I've taken a look at your thread, lots of good info there too)
I think have a better idea of what to do right now.

Is there any site that anyone would recommend right now to get started? I've heard people talk about Titan and Party Poker as good sites to start playing microlimits at. What do you all think?

It depends on what you want to play, where you're from (some sites don't accept US players), how much you're going to deposit, and how long you're planning to stay.

A site like Carbon has 1 table hold'em SnG options, and they have small stakes hold'em cash games. They have a few smaller tournaments as well. But they're probably not a very good long term home, and they don't have very many large tournaments (which in my opinion is a good thing, but some of you may not). Also, if you're playing at non-peak hours the traffic can be pretty slow.

A site like Bodog has no rakeback, and only limits you to 3 tables. And it doesn't have that many microstakes games. Its not a bad place to chuck in $250, clear a bonus, and get out of. But its a pretty crappy place to make your home for an extended period of time.

All the other sites have little intricacies as well, so if you want to know about them, you just have to ask.

I know Party Poker & Titan don't allow US players.

Just a note that actually Bodog does offer rb, but they don't allow it to be advertised. You'll have to sign up with an rb provider and then they can offer it to you. Strange but it's Bodog's way. 25% of contributed if you're curious.

I'm not from the US, so I think that opens up the number of sites I can play at.

I'd be interested in something that has low level limit poker, as well as some turbo SnG's outlined in the guide. Essentially, I'm looking to get my feet wet before moving on to anything more serious. I would stay at any given site if the rate of returns was good, but right now I'm looking at bonus clearing as my main source of "income" (as I want to stay safe while learning more about online poker)

Are there any sites that fit that bill? Or will any of the big sites suffice?