Building a free bankroll playing online poker

Many online poker sites offer promotional bonuses where they give players a certain amount of bonus money for making a deposit. Most of the times, they will pay out the bonus money after players have reached a minimum amount of hands at real money tables or in very limited occasions also playing SNG tournaments. This is also called “bonus clearing”.

This article explains the definition of bonus chasing and a guide to gain maximum profit traveling from poker site to poker site collecting bonuses on the way.

You need to have some average knowledge of poker. We suggest that you read the Texas Hold’em rules before starting and learn some of the most important poker strategies.

Remember that poker is all but the cards, and the most important thing to reach the point of pay out is patience.

Bonus chasing

Bonus chasing is the term used when you move your bankroll from poker site to poker site to collect promotional bonus offers.

  • Sign-up Bonus
    A sign up bonus is given to players when they register a (brand) new account at a poker site. Your bankroll will be credited with a given amount of bonus money.
  • First Deposit Bonus
    Some poker sites require you to make a deposit to qualify for a bonus. Most of the time they offer the best deals to players that register a (brand) new account. This is called a first deposit bonus.
  • Reload Bonus
    When players have previously registered an account at a poker site and made a deposit, they may be offered a reload bonus. This is done by poker sites to make existing players return and to reward loyal players.

What’s the benefit for Poker For Free?

Poker For Free receives a small fee from the online poker sites when a player (signed up using a link on the Poker For Free website) makes a deposit.

Since we put in a lot of effort, our partners reward us with the best bonus deals available. These top deals are only given to sites that meet certain requirements, as Poker For Free does.

Sometimes we may also offer limited deals that are restricted to Poker For Free, since these deals are accomplished after personal negotiation with our partners.

Rakes

Poker sites make their profit out of rakes. A rake is a small percentage taken out of a pot on real money tables. It varies per poker site how much rake is taken from a pot.

We advice you to read the terms and conditions per offered bonus carefully before making a deposit.

Playing save is the key to success

Now we’ve come to the most important part of this guide. You are chasing bonuses to collect them and of course to keep your initial deposit. Forget about making profit on playing poker if you are not an advanced poker player yet. You don’t want to risk loosing your entire bankroll and leave with nothing but experience (which may also be very valuable)!

We suggest that you play very tight and only be in hands that give you a high win percentage. Occasionally you can play a risky hand, if your position is favorable and opponents intent to be weak. Again, remember that you are here to play even, since the bonus in the end will be your profit.

You can reduce your risks by playing limit Texas Hold’em. We recommend you start by playing at a $0.50/$1.00 table if you are a beginning poker player.

Avoid getting on tilt. Tilt is a term used by poker players that defines a player when he gets emotional after a big loss, and is about to loose all, or a big part of his money in just a few hands. Be careful, at some point we will all suffer a tilt. Best way to avoid a tilt is to stop and leave the poker site instantly. Take a shot at it another day once you’ve cleared your mind.

Recommended poker sites

For now we suggest you take advantage of the free online poker money deals or poker bonus codes that Poker For Free has listed.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have questions regarding bonus chasing or any other service that Poker For Free is offering.