Best Online Poker Bonuses: How to Redeem Poker Bonuses Online

The most common poker bonus deposit offer is a match bonus. For example, Everygame offers a 200% match of up to $1,000 on your first deposit.

TIP: Deposit bonuses generally do not hit your account immediately in poker. Unlike sports and casino bonuses that are often awarded instantly with a certain wagering (or rollover) requirement, poker deposit bonuses are unlocked in increments (usually of $5 at a time) as you play.

Any bonus funds that you don’t unlock before your welcome offer expires will be forfeited. It’s important to understand the terms of your deposit bonus before you accept, as you want to be in the best position to earn as much value as possible.

Some online poker rooms offer promotional credits on deposits that come after your initial deposit, which are referred to as “reloads”. These poker bonus deposits generally work the same way as welcome offers. You will have a set amount of time to unlock your bonus funds before they are forfeited. Reload bonuses tend to be matched at lower percentages and for lower amounts than welcome bonuses.

A tournament ticket is a prize awarded by a poker site that gives you entry into a free poker tournament. These tickets may be for specific events or for any tournament at a designated buy-in range.

Tournament tickets may be given out as rewards for hitting certain rake levels in a set period of time, or they may be offered as something that you can trade your rewards points for.

If you ever receive a tournament ticket for an event you can’t play, contact customer service to see if they will replace it with a ticket to another event or a different promotion.

Freeroll tournaments are poker tournaments that are free to enter but deliver real money prizes. The awards may be credited directly into your account as cash or could be awarded in the form of bonus credits or tournament tickets for real money tournaments.

Some freeroll tournaments are open to anyone, and others are delivered as online poker promotions, such as Ignition’s weekly $2,500 crypto depositor’s freeroll.

Anyone who makes a crypto deposit of $20 or more receives an entry into this event. Freerolls are one of the best online poker promotions because you don’t have to risk any money to win prizes.

Rakeback is a poker promotion where players receive back a certain percentage of the rake that is collected on their hands. For example, Everygame offers a 36% rakeback program. This means that for every $1 you pay in cash game rake or tournament fees, you will receive $0.36 back.

Many sites do not offer a rakeback option but have something similar in the form of loyalty programs.

Loyalty programs, rewards, or VIP clubs are all different names for the same concept. This online poker promotion allows players to earn points by playing in real money games and to receive additional perks based on the number of points they receive.

Every poker site has its own loyalty program perks. Some poker rooms allow you to trade in points for tangible awards like cash and tournament tickets. Others give you added benefits, like earning points at higher rates when you hit certain tiers.

If you plan on playing online poker for a while, we recommend taking some time to study the VIP rewards offered at the poker rooms you are considering. Bovada has an easy-to-use rewards store where you can spend rewards points on tournament and jackpot sit-and-go tickets.

Referral bonuses, also known as refer-a-friend poker bonuses, allow you to earn poker credits when you refer other players to the site. As an added benefit, the friend you refer will also have the opportunity to cash in on the same poker sign-up offers that you got on your first deposit. This way you can both benefit from the offer.

A no deposit poker bonus gives players some bonus credits to try out the site before making a real money commitment. To cash out potential winnings on a poker bonus without a deposit, you must play long enough to meet the listed wagering requirement. Unfortunately, the poker no deposit bonus is quite rare, and it isn’t currently available at any of our recommended poker sites.

A bad beat jackpot occurs when one player loses with a super strong hand to another player holding an even stronger hand. For example, at BetOnline, a bad beat jackpot is triggered if one player has a full house of aces full of kings or better and loses to a four-of-a-kind or straight flush in No-Limit Hold’em. When these rare hands occur, everyone at the table who was dealt a hand gets a portion of the prize pool.

Other stipulations must be met, including a minimum number of players must be dealt into the hand and each player needs to use both of their hole cards. It’s also worth noting that only specific tables on BetOnline are eligible for this promotion, and these tables collect additional rake on every hand.

If your online poker room offers a bad beat jackpot, ensure you are clear on the rules for triggering it.

Super Short Expiration Times – 30 days is the industry standard for unlocking the funds on your poker bonus deposit. We recommend staying away from sites that try to give you less time than this to cash in on your welcome offer.

Very High Wagering Requirements – Some online poker bonuses look good on the surface but are actually impossible to collect due to very high rake requirements. Review the wagering requirements to make sure they are reasonable before signing up.

Unfair Release Rates – The top online poker offers release bonus credits in $5 increments. Sites with higher release rates make it more difficult to earn your funds and leave you with a higher chance of forfeiting bonus credits you didn’t have time to collect.

Unclear Language In Terms & Conditions – Terms and conditions should always be clear and easy to understand. If a poker site uses confusing language, strange conditions, or unclear poker bonus codes, you may not get the offer you expect.