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!

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.

Full Tilt Poker

At Full Tilt you earn 7 FTP’s for every $1 in tournament fees you pay.  Every FTP you earn is worth $0.06, which means for every $1 in tournament fees you pay, you earn back $0.42 back in cleared bonus amounts.

Use Full Tilt Referral Code – THEFULLTILT when signing up at Full Tilt today to start clearing your bonus.

Cake Poker

Cake Poker is the same as Full Tilt.  You earn 7 FPP’s for every $1 in tournament fee you pay and every FPP is worth $0.06 of your bonus.  This means that, just like Full Tilt, every $1 in tournament fees you pay, you earn $0.042 back in cleared bonuses.

Use Cake Poker sign up code – CAKEBC500 when signing up at Cake Poker today to start clearing your bonus.

CD Poker

At CD Poker you earn 15 CD Points for every $1 paid in tournament fees.  Every 10 CD Points you earn is worth $0.08 of your bonus.  This means that for every $1 paid in tournament fees at CD Poker you only earn $0.12 of back in cleared bonus amounts.

Use CD Poker coupon code – THECDBONUS when signing up at CD Poker today to start clearing your bonus.

PKR

At PKR you earn 100 PKR Points for every $1 paid in tournament fees.  If you get the 100% up to $600 bonus then every 225 PKR points you earn is worth $1 of your bonus.  However, if you choose the $50 fixed bonus you must earn 7500 PKR points to clear the entire bonus, which works out to only 150 PKR points for every $1 of the bonus.  Therefore, if you get the 100% matching bonus up to $600 at PKR every $1 paid in tournament fees earns you $0.44 of your bonus.  Whereas, if you take the $50 fixed bonus then every $1 paid in tournament fees earns you $0.67 of your bonus.

Conclusion

From this information you can easily conclude that CD Poker is the worst poker room to clear bonuses at through tournament play.  PKR’s $50 fixed bonus is the easiest to clear with $0.67 of your bonus being cleared for every $1 in tournament fees paid.  The problems with the PKR bonus is that the bonus amount is only a maximum of $50 and you do not receive increments of the bonus, but only the lump sum once the total amount of PKR points is accumulated.  Also, if you aren’t able to clear the bonus in 90 days you lose the entire amount and all the PKR points you have up to this point were pointless.

The Full Tilt Poker and Cake Poker bonuses are both fairly easy to clear from tournament play, with each clearing $0.42 of your bonus for every $1 in fees paid.  The Full Tilt bonus is a little bit better though, just because you have 120 days to clear instead of the 90 days that Cake Poker offers.

In conclusion, if you don’t have a lot to deposit and are just looking for the easiest to clear and best value poker bonus to build your poker bankroll, without the size of the bonus really being of concern I would go for the PKR $50 fixed bonus which you can get by entering PKR bonus code PKRFREE50 when making your first deposit at PKR Poker.  If you are looking for a larger bonus that is still easy to clear through tournament play, go with the Full Tilt bonus, by entering Full Tilt referral code THEFULLTILT when signing up as a new player at Full Tilt Poker.