Almost every online poker site allows you to play for real money.  One exception might by Zynga Poker, that took off on Facebook and now has a ton of play money players.  Most online poker rooms also have play money versions of their software that are meant to “teach” players how to play.  These are usually .net extensions.  For example, FullTiltPoker.net or PokerStars.net are play money versions of the poker rooms software.  These are mainly meant to allow the poker rooms to promote themselves on television in the United States because they can market themselves as an “educational” site, rather than a gambling site, seeing as online gambling is not exactly legal in the States.  This post will look at some real money poker sites and compare them to the play money counterparts.

The Main Differences

To compare real money poker sites to play money ones you first have to look at the goal of each site.  Real money poker sites want to make money by taking a rake or tournament fee from players that have uploaded funds in order to play for real money online.  Play money poker sites typically market themselves as educational and entertainment sites, when in reality they are trying to get the players hooked enough to want to switch over to the real money version.  Zynga is an exception to this rule because there is no real money version of their poker software, but I’m sure this will change in time.  The golden rule is every poker room online wants to make money in some way.  The majority make their money through the typical channel, ie rake etc.  But some make their money in other ways, I have even seen a poker room that gave players $10 to start, but there were ads running while you played and you would have to watch a commercial every few minutes in between hands.

Real Money Poker Sites Give Bonuses

This is an obvious difference, but it’s one I wanted to touch on quickly.  Real money poker sites are able to give bonuses because they know that they will earn this money back through rake and tournament fees.  Almost every poker bonus online is set up so that the poker room will earn at least double the size of the bonus in revenue from you before you receive the entire sum of your bonus for use at the tables.  Play money sites obviously can’t give bonuses because there is no guarantee they will make that money back off of you.  If you watch enough ads during the game then maybe, but overall play chip bonuses are still play chips.  To find poker sites with the best signup bonuses you should look for rooms that provide player friendly clearing conditions.  One way to look at this is tournament fees.  Check how many dollars of your bonus you clear for every $1 you spend in tournament fees.  If it’s above $0.40 that is actually a good bonus.  That’s how the poker rooms make sure they make money off of you even if you earn a large bonus.

If you are looking to play poker just for fun and don’t care about money at all play money poker may be right for you.  That being said play money poker isn’t even close to real poker.  It’s a totally different game.  Make an online poker deposit and try out some real poker before you choose what you prefer…..Even if it’s just a small amount.

We have yet to check out Carbon Poker’s bonus here on ComparePokerBonuses.com.  This post will do that and see if it is smart to take down Carbons bonus rather than continuing at the room you currently play at.

Carbon Poker offers a 100% up to $600 initial deposit bonus, which is pretty standard among online poker deposit bonuses.  You must use Carbon Poker bonus code UPTO600 in order to ensure that you receive the bonus after making your first Carbon Poker deposit.  The minimum deposit at Carbon is $10, but if you really want to take advantage of the bonus offer you should deposit $600 in order to receive the maximum bonus available.

Now let’s take a look at how you clear this bonus, which is the most important part when looking at any online poker initial deposit bonus.  The Carbon Poker bonus is released in $5 increments to your cashier every time you earn 375 Carbon VIP points.  This simplifies to $1 for every 75 VIP points.  Now that we know the VIP to bonus dollars ration we have to take a look at just how easy it is to earn these VIP points.

In tournaments you earn 10 points for every $1 you pay in fees.  For example, if you played a $30 + $3 tournament you would receive 30 VIP points.  In cash games you also receive 10 points for every $1 that you pay in rake.  The amount of rake you generate is determined by the portion of the pot that you contributed.  For example, if you contributed $15 to a $45 pot with a rake of $1.50 then you would be said to have contributed 1/3 of the pot and the amount of rake you generated would have been $0.50.  In this example you would receive 5 VIP points.

So let’s break this down further.  Doing some simple math determines that you are paying $7.50 in fees for every $1 of your bonus that is released.  This is not a very good ratio.  In fact it is about 3 times worse than Full Tilt’s clearing requirements.  The one good thing about the Carbon Poker bonus is that it only expires if you make a withdrawal before clearing the entire bonus.  If this happens whatever bonus was yet to be cleared is forfeit.  So if you were planning on playing at Carbon Poker anyways and you can combine this bonus with rakeback then it’s not such a bad thing.  Carbon is becoming a much better room by the day so it is possible that they improve their bonus offer in the future.

Ultimate Bet recently rebranded to UB and this post will take a look at the new and improved UB.com focussing primarily on the bonus.  We will look at the bonus details including the amount, the percentage, the clearing requirements and if a UB referral code will earn you a larger bonus.

UB currently offers new players a first deposit bonus up to a maximum of $1100!   This is one of the biggest bonuses in the industry.  The matching percentage is 111% which is a little bit stronger than the standard 100% and adds that little extra amount for whatever your initial deposit amount is.  So to break this down, in order to receive the full $1100 you must make a deposit of $991 or more.  The majority of UB’s deposit options will accept deposit amounts of this much, so if you are planning on playing at UB regularly it would be smart to take advantage of the entire bonus.

Now let’s take a look at how you can clear this bonus and actually use it in your account.  Every online poker room requires players to play through their bonus so they don’t just come online make a deposit and leave with the cash.  UB is no different.  If you are a new player you must earn 20 STATUS points for every $1 of your bonus.  The bonus is released in $5 increments every time you earn 100 STATUS points.  That doesn`t really tell you a whole lot.  First you need to understand how much you must play to earn a STATUS point.

In tournaments (both sit and go and multi-table) you earn 1 STATUS point for every $0.30 you pay in tourney fees.  So for a $10 + $1 tournament you will earn 3 STATUS points.  That extra $0.10 is then carried on to your next tourney, so you don`t lose out on STATUS points just because they don`t divide evenly.  This means that if you`re a tourney player you must spend $6 to earn 20 STATUS points and unlock the $1 of your bonus.  That`s not a great ratio compared to many other online poker rooms.

In ring games it`s a little bit different.  Depending on the limit you are playing you earn a STATUS points for every number of raked hands that you contributed to the pot in.  For example at $0.25/$0.50 tables you earn a STATUS point for every 10 raked hands you participate in.  At $1/$2 tables you earn one point for every 2 raked hands.  This is probably the better way to clear your UB bonus, but it still isn’t the most friendly of clearing requirements.

You should use UB bonus code UB200 when depositing in order to make sure you get this bonus.  If you are planning on playing at UB anyways then the size and percentage match of the bonus are great selling factors.  And the fact that the bonus is released in increments is great because even if you don’t clear the entire bonus within the 60 day timeframe you will have some of your bonus in your account.

Video Poker is another form of poker that is popular on the internet.  If you are looking to receive a bonus while playing video poker, you are looking for an online casino bonus.  Today we are going to compare the PKR Casino bonus with the Bodog Casino bonus because I feel that these are the two best casinos online to play video poker.

PKR Casino Bonus

PKR Casino offers new players a 100% matching bonus up to $200 on their initial deposit.  In order to qualify for this bonus you must deposit a minimum of $25.  The deposit + bonus amount must then be wagered at least 25 times for the bonus to be released into your account.  That means that to receive the full $200 amount you must first wager $10,000 at the Bodog Casino.

PKR Casino is a great place to play Joker Poker online.  There are great graphics and of course the 3D software does not let you down!

Bodog Casino Bonus

Bodog Casino offers new players a 10% matching bonus with no maximum that is instantly placed into your account and available for use.  The minimum deposit to receive the bonus is $20.  The bonus + deposit must then be rolled over 15 times prior to any withdrawal request.  If you request a withdrawal before the rollover requirements are met you will lose the bonus amount plus any money won using the bonus, so there is really no reason to withdraw prior to completing the requirements.

Bodog Casino is one the most reputable online casinos in the business because it is backed by a very successful sportsbook and poker room.  The Bodog brand is one of the most recognized and trusted in the gambling industry.  You can play Deuces Wild or other video poker games at Bodog.  There are a wide variety to choose from.

Video Poker is a perfect way to clear online casino bonuses because the house edge is so small that you can actually make a pretty decent profit jumping from casino to casino collecting your bonus.  Just make sure that the casino does count video poker wagers toward the rollover requirements because some online casinos have very strict regulations regarding this.

Online poker bonuses should play a factor in deciding, which poker room to play at, but that shouldn’t be the only factor.  If you aren’t comfortable with the online poker software and gameplay then you will likely just end up losing all of your money and you won’t even be able to clear the desired bonus.  There is a very simple and easy way to test out the software, gameplay and features of any online poker room that you are considering depositing at.  Simply go to the poker rooms website and click the download poker or play now button that is usually prominently displayed.  By downloading the online poker software you can test out and become accustomed to the room by playing for fun, using play money with other players who are not yet ready to make their first deposit.

Many online poker rooms have very different software that you must learn in order to feel comfortable with real money at the tables.  For example, some rooms have an all-in button that is directly beside a raise button.  For someone who is not familiar with the software, this button can cause problems with all-in plays occurring when they are not your intention.  Simple things like this can drastically affect your profitability at the online poker room.  Another example would be the emotions a player can display at the table.  At PKR for example, players can make their players do a variety of things at the table.  For a seasoned PKR players how other players use these emotions can become tells that these veterans will pick up on.  If you download PKR you will see what I mean right when you sit down at a play money table with your character.

Downloading smaller online poker rooms is also a great way to test the waters and see just how legit the room is before taking advantage of their huge online poker bonus designed to lure new players to their room.  Just make sure all of the features work correctly and their are no bugs.  It’s always good to see for yourself and make a judgement call as to whether the online poker room will be around long enough for you to play through your bonus requirements and make your withdrawal from the site.  Riva Poker for example is a relatively new site, but they actually give all new players a free $10 to try out their room at the real money tables prior to depositing.  Now that’s a poker room that is confident in their product.  Download Riva Poker and see just how far your free $10 will take you.

To summarize, the online poker software and gameplay are also very important in determining which online poker bonuses you should attempt to clear.  Download the poker rooms in order to become comfortable with the software so you don’t blow you deposit prior to clearing the bonus!

This post won’t be about comparing the poker bonus of two different online poker rooms.  Instead we are going to be looking at how you can win a trip to the NHL awards in Las Vegas, courtesy of PokerStars and the Dallas Stars.  Just before you get reading to far into this post, this promotion is only for American residents (I know it’s rare that poker is only for Americans and not the other way around).

How To Qualify

Freeroll Route

Every Monday – Friday at 8pm EST you can play in a freeroll qualifier to a semi-final.  The top 90 players in each of these freerolls will qualify for the semi-final, which takes place every other Sunday until March 28th.  In these semi-finals the top 50 finishers will qualify for the grand final on April 4th.  There will also be Dallas Stars gear as prizes for the top 10 finishers in each of these qualifiers.

Buy-In Route

Every Tuesday and Thursday at 7pm EST there will be a $1+$0.10 buy-in tournament with the top five finishers qualifying for the grand final on April 4th.

Grand Final

The Grand Final is set to take place on April 4th at 9pm EST.  The winner will take home the NHL awards prize package, while the top five finishers will all receive Dallas Stars merchandise.

The Package

The prize package consists of tickets to the NHL awards, airline tickets, accomodation and spending money for you and 3 of your friends.

Conclusion

If you are a hockey fan and have some time then you should definitely try your luck at these PokerStars freerolls.  The easier route is definitely the $1 buy-in route, but even if you don’t have money in your account you can qualify for the trip!

PKR has decided to give an early Christmas present to each and every one of their current players.  Any player that makes a deposit between now and December 31st will receive a 100% matching reload bonus up to $600.  In order to receive this bonus you must use PKR bonus code MXAS09!

This reload bonus will clear at a rate of $1 for every 250 PKR points earned.  The reload bonus will be released to your account as a lump sum once you have earned the required number of PKR points.  You have 60 days to clear your entire bonus, so you should make a deposit amount that you are confident you can clear or you could be left with nothing.

This offer is only available to existing players.  If you are a new PKR player than you can receive the new player initial deposit bonus of 100% up to $800 with the use of PKR bonus code NEWBONUS.  If you have a rakeback account you are still eligible for this bonus, but the bonus money you earn will be deducted from your gross rake for the month.

Take advantage of this reload bonus and enjoy your Christmas at PKR!  This bonus can be cleared easily by playing in the variety of Christmas Cracker tournaments running at PKR.  Don’t wait, get your free money today.

Doyles Room Bonus vs Aced Bonus

In this comparison we will look at two relatively small, up and coming rooms and compare their new player bonus offers.  Doyles Room recently joined the Cake Poker network, whereas Aced is a new room on the Merge network.  Both rooms are relatively small, which means they are trying to attract new players and initial deposit bonuses are a great marketing tool for this.  Let’s check out, which room you should choose for your next poker bonus clear.

**These rooms are both much smaller than pokerstars.net, but unlike PokerStars, both of these sites offer internet casinos for USA players.

Size of Initial Deposit Bonus

Doyles Room’s first deposit bonus is a 110% matching bonus up to $550.  This is a pretty typical size, with the industry average being between $500 and $600, so Doyles Room is spot on.  To get the full bonus at Doyles Room you need to deposit $500 and you will receive the full $550 sign up bonus.

Aced offers a 100% up to $500 initial deposit bonus.  This is still pretty average, but as you can see it’s a little worse than Doyles Room.

We will have to give Doyles Room the point from this category, by an edge.

Player Friendly Clearing Conditions

The Doyles Room bonus has very fair clearing requirements.  At Doyles Room you must earn frequent player points to release your bonus.  In ring games you earn one point for every $1 that is paid in rake from a table you were participating at and seven points for every $1 that you pay in tournament fees.  Every point you earn is worth $0.06 towards clearing your bonus.  This means that you clear $0.42 of your bonus for every $1 that you pay in tourney fees.

Aced Poker, on the other hand, has horrible clearing conditions for their bonus.  At Aced you must earn VIP points to clear your bonus.  In Aced tournaments you earn 10 VIP points for every $1 that is paid in fees and you need 1250 points to clear $5 of your bonus.  This means that every $1 that you pay in fees only clears $0.04 of your bonus.  This is probably the worst ratio in the industry.

It is clear that Doyles Room wins another point from this category.

Pay Increments

Doyles Room pays the bonus in $10 increments every time a player earns 166.67 FPP’s.  Aced Poker pays out in $5 increments every time a player earns 1250 VIP points.

The Aced increments are small, which is nice, but a player could clear $100 at Doyles Room before the first $5 at Aced.  For this reason we will not give Aced a point here.

Expiry

At Doyles Room, you have 90 days to clear as much of your bonus as you can.  At Aced you only have 60 days to clear your bonus.

Point Doyles Room.

Conclusion

The Doyles Room bonus is far and away better than the Aced bonus.  The Doyles Room bonus is solid and is definitely above the industry average.  Whereas, the Aced Poker bonus is probably the worst the industry has ever seen.  Doyles Room also offers 33% Doyles Room rakeback, which can be combined with their great bonus offer!

PayPal has always had a strict no gambling policy, but it seems like more and more online poker rooms are starting to accept PayPal as a deposit option.  There are of course restrictions, like in order to deposit with PayPal players must reside in only a handful of European Countries, such as Denmark, Finland and Spain to name a few.  Also, there are only a few poker rooms that are currently being dubbed PayPal poker rooms because they are one of a few that accepts the convenient payment option.

Some of the poker rooms that do accept PayPal as a deposit option include Ladbrokes Poker , Pacific Poker, Betfair Poker, Paddy Power Poker, William Hill Poker and Party Poker.  One correlation that you can immediately see for these poker rooms is that they don’t accept US based poker players.  This is likely a very big reason why Paypal has decided to work with them and allow the deposits to their gambling site.

Poker rooms aren’t the only ones adopting Paypal as a payment option though.  There has also been an emergence of PayPal casino and PayPal bingo rooms as well.  Some rooms that fall into these categories include Paddy Power Casino , William Hill Casino, 888 Casino and Betfair Casino, Ladbrokes Bingo, William Hill Bingo, Paddy Power Bingo and Tombola Bingo.

It is great to see ties emerging between Paypal, one of the best e-wallets online today, and many of the best poker, casino and bingo rooms for European players.  Hopefully this trend can continue and the Paypal gambling relationship can continue to branch out giving more players the easy Paypal deposit option.

Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars are the two online poker rooms that constantly draw comparisons because they are the biggest and best poker rooms online.  PokerStars has the most traffic in online poker and Full Tilt Poker is a not so distant second.  The third most traffic belongs to the iPoker network, but this network has all kinds of rooms so you can’t really point your finger at one and compare it to Full Tilt or PokerStars.  So since, these two poker rooms are running away with the online poker industry we are going to do an in depth bonus comparison.

Size of Initial Deposit Bonus

PokerStars initial deposit bonus is only a 100% matching up to $50 which is one of the smallest initial deposit bonuses in online poker.  Some say that PokerStars keeps the bonus this small because they don’t need a big bonus to attract players, while others say that it is part of PokerStars strategy to attract new players who aren’t planning on depositing any more than $50 anyways.  Then once these players play at PokerStars they enjoy it so much that they decide to stay.

Full Tilt’s initial deposit bonus is a 100% up to $600 matching bonus which is much larger than the $50 max at PokerStars.  This bonus amount is pretty much the industry standard that all other poker rooms try to match or exceed.  The amount is solid because players will rarely deposit over $600 anyways.

Point Full Tilt Poker

Full Tilt definitely has the better size of initial deposit bonus.

Player Friendly Clearing Conditions

PokerStars initial deposit bonus is very easy to clear.  To clear your bonus you must earn PokerStars frequent player points by playing in Stars cash games or tournaments.  Each frequent player point you earn is worth $0.10 of your bonus.  In cash games you earn 1 point when $0.40 or more rake is taken from a $1/$2 or below cash game and in bigger games 1 point is awarded for rakes of $1 or more.  A second point is awarded when 6-max tables reach $2 in rake or when full tables reach $3 in rake.  Then a third point is awarded when the rake reaches $5.  In tournaments you earn 5 points for every $1 you spend in tournament fees.  So this means that you clear $0.50 for every $1 that you spend in tournament fees.  Partial points are not awarded.

Full Tilt Poker’s initial deposit bonus is also very easy to clear.  You must earn Full Tilt Points by playing in cash games or tournaments to clear your bonus.  Every FTP you earn clears $0.06 of your bonus.  In cash games you 1 point for every $1 that is raked from a cash game hand.  For example if the rake is $0.50 you earn 0.5 FTP’s.  This means that if you are playing a 9-max table and $1 is raked then you earn 1 point which clears $0.06 of your bonus.  On average you would have contributed $0.11 to the rake for each point you earn at a 9-max table which means that you clear about $0.55 for every $1 that you pay in rake in Full Tilt cash games.  In Full Tilt Poker tournaments you earn 7 FTP’s for each $1 that you pay in fees, which equals out to you clearing $0.42 of your bonus for each $1 that you pay to the house.

Therefore, it is safe to assume that if you are cash game player it is easier to clear Full Tilt Poker’s bonus because you receive points regardless of how much rake was taken each hand and it is much easier to earn multiple points in the same hand.  If you are a tournament player then PokerStars bonus is slightly easier to clear because you clear at a rate of $0.50 per $1 paid, which is better than Full Tilt’s $0.42 per $1 paid.  Therefore this category is a tie.

Pay Increments

At PokerStars you don’t receive any increments; instead you receive your full bonus after you have cleared the entire amount.  At Full Tilt Poker you receive increments of either $20 or 10% of your bonus whichever you reach first.

The Full Tilt Poker pay increments are better because you will receive at least a portion of your bonus if you don’t clear the entire amount by the deadline.

Point Full Tilt Poker

Expiry

PokerStars gives you 6 months to clear your bonus whereas Full Tilt Poker gives you 120 days.  Both of these time frames are very long and are much longer than the majority of online poker rooms.  However, since PokerStars is long they receive the win.

Point PokerStars.

Final Tally.  Full Tilt Poker 2 – PokerStars 1

We have proven that Full Tilt Poker’s initial deposit bonus is better than PokerStars’.

Make sure you sign up at Full Tilt Poker using Full Tilt referral code “THEFULLTILT” in order to receive your initial deposit bonus.