For players that are starting with a limited bankroll, poker bonuses are one of the best ways to add money into your virtual pocket. Poker bonuses are basically free money that online poker sites give to their players as an incentive to remain loyal to that particular online poker site.
One of the big differences between playing at an online poker site versus playing at a land based casino is the poker bonuses that players can receive.
Most of the online poker sites give players a one time bonus with their initial deposit. Some online poker rooms offer poker bonuses for more that one deposit. Bodog Poker is the only online poker room that I know of that offers poker bonuses to players with ever single deposit they make; players there get a 10% bonus on each deposit. While that may seem low to most players, those players that deposit large amounts benefit the most from this poker bonus deal. There are also some online poker sites that offer poker bonuses without depositing. So basically you are playing with the poker rooms money, but in order to cash out your winnings, you have to make a deposit. On Bet365.com players can deposit $10 and get up to $500 free.
Generally speaking, when a player gets poker bonuses, there are certain terms and conditions that apply before the poker bonus amount is released into the players cashier account. Most online poker sites have a point system that lets players know when and how much of their bonus is ready to be used just like regular cash. You usually have to play at raked tables that are at a limit set by the online poker rooms terms and conditions. Make sure that you read those very carefully before you decide to accept any poker bonuses.
Poker bonuses vary greatly from site to site. Some online poker rooms offer players 100% of their initial deposit up to a certain amount of money. For example, at CarbonPoker.com you can get a 200% initial deposit bonus up to $500 by using the bonus code Drawdead600. Whereas, some offer a flat monetary amount no matter what the initial deposit amount is. But whatever the rate of deposit to poker bonus is, remember that essentially it is still free money.