With so many poker rooms offering sign-up bonuses as incentives to all new players, a new breed of poker player has evolved; the bonus whore. These players will jump from room to room, picking up each deposit bonus and then moving onto the next immediately after they have been redeemed. This is becoming quite popular as time progresses and as more people become aware of this scheme, but how profitable can it be, and what do the poker rooms think of the bonus whores?
It is perfectly possible to earn a decent amount of money from collecting all of the sign-up bonuses. The fact that there are literally hundreds of poker rooms out there offering bonuses means that there will never be a shortage of bonuses available, even to the veteran bonus whore. The bonus amounts will vary from room to room, but the size of the bonus is not always the most important factor to the regular bonus whore. The most important characteristic of a good sign-up bonus is the requirements that the room sets before the bonus can be redeemed.
As you may already know, sign-up bonuses are not immediately given to the players and put in their playing accounts. The bonus money will often be held by the poker room and be given to the player after they have met certain requirements. This will typically be to play X amount of raked hands, which is so that the poker room can reduce the amount they lose by offering out the bonus, as the player will be generating a substantial amount of rake before they receive the bonus. Therefore a good bonus will have easy clearing requirements, which is what the bonus whores are always on the lookout for.
Most online poker rooms are aware of bonus whores, but they are not necessarily a bad thing for the rooms overall. It is obvious that the rooms would prefer the players to stay at the room for a longer period of time, but although they are only there to take the bonus and leave, they will still be making a profit from each of these players via the rake they generate. So a poker room would make more money by having a bonus whore pay them a visit, rather than not have a bonus whore come along at all. So even though the rooms frown upon bonus whoring, they do not go too far out of their way to try and prevent it.
This idea of playing at a room and moving on after absorbing the bonus may seem like a new idea to a few of you reading this article, but you will be joining a long list of players doing the exact same thing if you decide to give it a try. Don’t be to concerned that it is unfair, as you are just being an opportunist and taking advantage of a few good offers. Furthermore, by singing up to a number of different rooms, you can choose the one that suits you best when you are done.
