Rakeback V's Bonuses
You may find this surprising, but there's actually just one well defined difference between poker rakeback and the sign-up bonuses all online poker rooms offer these days. That's right, the sign up bonus is basically just another form of rakeback, one that unlike a square rakeback deal, is limited in time. Here's how a sign-up bonus works: the player creates an account and makes his first deposit at the poker room. The bonus (let's say it's a 100% match on his deposit, up to $200) lands in his bonus money account. In order to have that money transferred into his real money account (from where he can cash it out or take it to the tables) the player needs to redeem his bonus. Redemption rates vary from one room to another, but most of them are based on poker points or frequent player points. The player needs to generate a given number of PPs or FPPs to unlock a given batch of his bonus. Let's say he has to generate 100 FPPs for every $10 batch of his bonus.
The bonus is transferred to his real money account $10 at a time. This too is important because bonuses which are transferred in a one lump sum format are more difficult to redeem. This way, securing the bonus in $10 increments, the player gets the chance to take the unlocked money right back to the tables and to use it to unlock even more of the bonus. So, with that in mind, it's clear to see that the bonus redemption is a
direct function of the FPPs that players generate through real money play. Going even further, you'll see that the FPPs are in turn directly dependant on the amount of rake the player generates. Poke rooms will give a direct conversion rate too, something like: for every $1 raked of cash game pots, players get 1 FPP. This way, it becomes obvious that the bonus redemption is in fact a direct function of the rake players generate. While playing to redeem your bonus, you will in fact get a percentage of the rake you generate back.
The only problem with this setup is that the bonus expires after a while or it gets redeemed entirely. After that, you won't be getting any more of your rake back. Square rakeback deals like the full tilt rakeback (or some of the poker prop deals) never expire. If one were to call a rakeback deal a sign-up bonus which has no maximum cap or a set expiry, he would be 100% right. That doesn't mean though that you'll have to give up rakeback deals in favor of sign-up bonuses or viceversa. Some poker rooms offer rakeback deals and sign-up bonuses and they don't even subtract your bonuses from your rakeback.
By Steve Larson
*Steve Larson is an online poker player from Canada. Visit his site for more useful tips.
