Common Poker Bonus Problems and Withdrawal Restrictions

Online poker bonuses can be really thrilling and even lucrative for new online poker players, but they do come with some withdrawal restrictions. These restrictions can seem unfair to new poker players, yet they are mostly unavoidable. While certain criteria have to be met for a player to access his earned bonus, a number of means do exist for meeting the criteria and getting to the bonus faster.

Online Poker Bonus Withdrawal Restrictions

The withdrawal restrictions surrounding online poker bonuses center around a key fine print clause in the sign up and deposit agreements with the various online poker outfits. This clause is the one that more or less states that a certain number of frequent poker points must be obtained for a bonus to be cleared, or releasable, to the player concerned. Until this clearance level has been fully met, no bonus monies will be permitted to be withdrawn by the player.

Many online poker rooms concede that this threshold of minimum frequent player points can be a high mark for a new player to be required to attain. Because of this, they have come up with a system of partial bonus clearances. This means that with a lesser amount of frequent player points, a part of the bonus, in often $10 or $100 increments, can be cleared for release to the player. This way, a player does not have to play thousands of hands of online poker before he or she sees even a penny of their poker bonus money.

The Best Means of Clearing a Bonus

The truth remains that clearing a player's bonus will require him to engage in a certain number of raked hands. Raked hands are poker games in which the house gets a percentage of the winnings. The good news is that a variety of methods do exist for assisting the player in reaching his goal quicker and with less difficulty. Below are listed a few ideas to get the player started working on that bonus release target.

#1 - Larger Can Be Harder

In general, a bigger bonus will be harder to clear. For a player who is not interested in putting in many hours at the virtual tables playing hand after hand, he is probably better off working towards a more reasonable bonus. These are often in the $50 to $100 range. However, now that a number of the bonuses are paid out in smaller dollar increments along the way, smaller-stakes players can get away with chasing slightly larger bonuses.

#2 - Read the Rules Carefully

A player most of all needs to be keenly aware of how long that he has to release his bonus. This matters hugely for any person who is seriously interested in potentially getting to all of the bonus dollars. An individual must consider carefully the bonus date of expiration. The player should think over seriously how many hands of poker that he is willing to put in during that time frame.

One helpful development is the concept of Happy Hour poker room specials. Some of the online poker rooms currently feature these specials where a player is able to bank two times the number of normal frequent player points at certain times throughout the day or week.

#3 - Pick Out the Bonus That is Most Appropriate Personally

As many different kinds of poker bonuses exist nowadays, it is a good idea for a player to select one that is appropriate to his playing style. Elements that ought to be contemplated are the amount of frequent poker points needed to release a bonus, the time until expiration of the bonus in question, how hard it is to earn frequent player points, and if a bonus is paid in increments or only in a lump sum amount.

As a real life example, $500 lump sum bonuses are not much help to players who will never approach the required five thousand or more frequent player points necessary to release the bonus. Many players are honestly better suited to accepting a no strings attached, immediate bonus in the $5 to $10 range.

#4 - Put in the Necessary Time

The truth is that earning free cash requires effort. A player has to be willing to get into games and play poker. Something that will help the player to determine where he is with the frequent player points and where he is headed with them is the FPP total. Frequent player points' totals are commonly tallied somewhere in the cashier tabs on the majority of online poker sites. Some of these rooms will even display the person's frequent player points in actual time.

By leaving open this window, the individual is capable of watching as the points grow while he is playing the games. This allows the player to have some concept of how quickly he is gaining the necessary frequent player points.