Poker Bonus Hunting Poker bonus hunting is the process of signing up at poker sites with a goal of profiting from their signup bonuses. New players can build a bankroll by taking advantage of poker signup promotions.

Poker bonus hunting seems like a new form of advantage gambling, but traditional brick and mortar casinos have offered match play promotions and coupons for years. Online poker bonuses are easier to take advantage of because you don't have to travel from one casino to another. And poker signup bonuses change less often than traditional brick and mortar casino promotions.

Poker sites release signup bonuses according to different criteria, but these criteria always boil down to time spent playing at the table.

A poker bonus hunter who can break even at the tables can turn $50 into $2000 or more in 1000 hours at the table. But playing four tables at a time can be reduce this to about 250 hours.

$2000 in 250 hours only amounts to $8/hour, but if you're interested in becoming a pro online poker player without making a big initial investment, this is one way to achieve that goal.

A winning player can achieve a better hourly rate though. A winning $1/$2 player can win $2 per hour per table, which translates to $8/hour when four-tabling. So that $8/hour of winnings combined with $8/hour of bonus release becomes a total profit of $16/hour.

A losing player will achieve a lower hourly rate, depending on how much they lose per hour on average.

Casino Bonus Hunting

Casino Bonus Hunting Bonus hunting isn't limited to online poker play. Online casino players can take advantage of signup bonuses and show a profit, and so can online sports bettors.

Casino bonuses usually require that a certain amount of money is put into play before the bonus is released or cashable. Casinos also restrict which games apply toward these wagering requirements. Blackjack, which has a house edge of less than 1% when played with perfect strategy, is almost always a restricted game. Video poker is usually restricted too. And play at restricted games doesn't count toward the casino bonus wagering requirements.

Games with even money bets and high betting limits are usually restricted too. Online casinos don't want people to use a roulette table in order to take advantage of a signup bonus. Baccarat and craps present the same difficulty. A player could bet on both sides of a bet and almost guarantee a profit. For example, if a player bet on red and on black at the roulette table, the variance would be reduced dramatically

Slot machine games always count toward wagering requirements for online casino bonuses. But a player has no way to calculate the house edge or standard deviation on a slot machine game.

Most online casinos discourage bonus hunting. Almost all online casinos have disclaimers indicating that if they see a pattern of advantage play related to bonuses, they reserve the right to not pay the bonus or winnings.