Investigating the Party Poker Welcome Bonus
Party Poker is currently the second largest poker room online now that Full Tilt Poker has closed its doors. It is a significant distance behind PokerStars, but Party Poker is a valid option for players from outside of the United States who are looking to play poker online. This post will investigate the Party Poker bonus, looking at it’s size, clearing requirements and expiration.
Party Poker Bonus Size
Party Poker currently offers all new players a 100% matching bonus up to $/£/€500. Of course the £500 is the highest amount so if you can deposit with £’s then that would be advantageous. You should enter a satisfactory Party Poker bonus code in order to ensure that you receive this size of bonus.
Party Poker Bonus Restrictions
The Party Poker bonus is initially placed in a pending bonus account and is released in increments of 10% of the bonus total. For example, if you go for the entire $500 bonus then you would receive $50 increments of the bonus, while if you only deposit $100 initially then you would receive ten $10 increments.
We mentioned earlier that depositing in pounds sterling or even Euro’s may make more sense and this is true if you want a bigger bonus. However, the clearing requirements for these currencies are more strict than that of the US dollars. In dollars you must earn 6 times the bonus amount in Party Points, while with Euro’s you must earn 8 times the bonus amount and for pounds sterling you must earn 9 times the bonus amount.
Party Points are earned by playing in cash games and tournaments at Party Poker. In cash games you earn 2 points for every $1 that you contribute to the rake and in tournaments you earn 2 points for every $1 that you contribute in rake. There is no way to earn extra points with the contributed rake model that Party Poker uses. But if you are an aggressive player you will generate Party Points faster.
When we look at this based on the American dollar deposit this means that every $1 you contribute in rake or as a tournament fee you receive $0.33 in bonus dollars. For example if you are set to receive the full $500 bonus then you must earn 300 Party Points ($150 in rake) to receive the first $50 of your bonus. The $0.33 on the $1 is a pretty average clearing requirement.
Party Poker Bonus Expiry
Whatever amount of the bonus you have not cleared after 60 days will be forfeit regardless of the currency.
Analysis
The Party Poker matching percentage and maximum bonus are on the low side when compared to most other online poker rooms, but the clearing requirements of approximately $0.33 in rake is fairly average within the industry. The 60 day expiration is quite short, so you should make sure to play enough in the first two months at Party Poker in order to get the most out of your bonus.
Tags: Bonus, Party Poker, Welcome Bonus