Smart Ways To Clear A Poker Bonus

Clearing a poker bonus can be one of the more frustrating aspects of playing online poker. You can see that money just sitting there waiting for you, but you can’t seem to get it into your account fast enough. If you’ve been struggling with clearing a bonus, here are some tips on the smart ways to do it.

Cash Games are Faster

If you’re a tournament player and that’s all you do, that’s fine, but if you have a choice, when clearing poker bonuses, go for the cash games. Points towards clearing bonuses in tournaments are earned based on the tournament entry fee, and you can only earn that fixed amount for playing in the tournament, whether you are in it for hours or are knocked out on the first hand. Cash games, in contrast, give you bonus clearing credit for every single raked hand you play. Given the nature and speed of online poker, you can get in a lot of raked hands in a session.

Patience is a Virtue

I know you want to get that bonus as fast as possible but playing recklessly, at higher stakes than you are used to or at a schedule you are not used to is a recipe for disaster. You may end up overplaying and going broke, and then you won’t be able to clear your bonus at all unless you deposit more funds. You don’t want to lose $500 chasing a $50 bonus. Also, don’t try to raise your limits too fast – moving from free texas holdem games to mid-stakes will rarely work.

Keep Your Eyes on the Prize

If it’s driving you crazy wondering when that bonus will come through, it doesn’t have to be a mystery. There should be a page you can navigate to at your online poker site which will tell you exactly how many more points you need to earn to clear that bonus and how much time you have to do it in. Most bonuses give you several months to clear them, so you shouldn’t have to worry about that, but if you notice you’re down to your last few days, you may have to step up your efforts. You don’t want to lose that bonus entirely.