The main purpose of this poker bonus strategy guide is to get into the nitty-gritty nuts and bolts of taking maximum advantage of poker bonuses. For the purposes of this strategy guide I'm going to assume that you're familiar with how they work (the differences between initial signup bonuses and reload bonuses, what raked hands are, what deposit method to use, etc.) and are looking for a comprehensive, solid strategy for getting the most value from them, as well as avoiding trouble sites that might derail you. I'll cover some general principles first then give you a specific strategy for players starting with a bankroll of $100.

The other big assumption I make in this guide is that you're at least a break-even poker player, skill-wise. Or even a marginal loser, as the bonus money will be enough to overcome that. If you're losing money hand over fist, well, you have my sincere apologies, but no bonus strategy guide is going to help that. Yeah, I know, we all suffer through bad streaks, but this guide has some fallback plans for that, to get you back to the bankroll level you need to move forward with bonuses. Bad luck can be overcome but bad play can't. It's just the way it is. If you're constantly losing money you need to stop and re-examine your game, not chase bonuses.

In general, I think poker bonuses are pretty invaluable to most players, and definitely worth the effort of pursuing. It may seem like a lot of hassle and that it's easier to just play at your favorite site that you're used to, but in the end, poker is poker is poker, and you should always be playing with a bonus overlay if possible. Given the boom of poker and the number of sites offering bonuses, always playing with a bonus pending is really, really easy. Not only is it free money, but it can be invaluable to helping you build a bankroll (or even just tread water) when you're just starting out, learning, polishing your game. Bonuses can speed up the process greatly, especially as far as building the necessary roll to move up in limits much, much faster than you would normally be able to.

There are two key factors to consider when chasing poker bonuses: 1) what maximum deposit is required and 2) how quickly will the bonus clear.

(Notice that I don't include what the total value of the bonus is. That's a mistake a lot of people make, assuming that the larger the dollar value of the bonus, the better the bonus is. While in many cases that's true, it can be very misleading and the real issue to pay attention to is how quickly you can get your grubby hands on the bonus money. A $50 bonus you can clear in two hours is much, much better than a $100 bonus that takes you twenty hours to clear.)

1) Most of the better bonuses are initial signup bonuses given when you create a new account and deposit money. You only get one shot at these. Be sure you always deposit enough to get the maximum bonus. If it's a 20% bonus match, up to a maximum of $100 in bonus money, always deposit at least $500. Always, always, always. Never leave bonus money on the table by depositing less than the maximum. You can always build your bankroll by grinding on sites that offer constant reload bonuses (more on this later). For now, repeat after me: I will never, ever get less than the maximum bonus for an intial signup bonus.

2) Always understand the terms and conditions of bonuses, especially in relation to what you need to do to receive the bonus money. Different sites have different systems, some requiring you to simply participate in a certain number of dealt hands, some requiring you to participate in a certain number of raked hands, and others requiring you to accumulate points under their own unique system. These requirements will determine how quickly you can get a bonus on a site, and how quickly you can move on to the next site and the next bonus. The real money in poker bonuses comes from clearing many of them in a month, as no one site offers truly large bonuses. Make sure you have a firm grasp on how a particular site's system for clearing bonuses translates into actual hours at the tables.

Those are the two key principles that you must keep in mind, which dictate what a “good” or “bad” bonus is, and what order you should pursue bonuses in. In addition to those principles, though, are some other related factors to keep in mind:

* How many tables can you successfully multi-table? How many tables does the site allow you to simultaneously play? This is very important, as you will clear bonuses much, much faster when multi-tabling.

* What is the general player makeup of the site? Is it tied to a casino site, with lots of loose, bad players? Does it aggressively advertise in the mainstream media, thus attracting fishy players? Is it only frequented by tight, rock-like players chasing bonuses? This obviously has nothing to do with the bonus itself, but affects what you can expect to make from your own stellar poker play while at the tables.

* How long does the site take to process cashouts? You'll be moving money from site to site fairly regularly and the last thing you want is to have dead time, where you want to play poker but have your bankroll tied up on one site. To get the most value from bonuses you'll have to plan your attack so that you never have any wasted dead time.

* How comfortable are you playing on sites you intuitively don't like? You'll be playing on many sites, some with interfaces you may not like, for whatever reason. This is just a fact of life and something you'll have to get used to.

* What limits do you normally play? For the most part, the optimal limits for clearing bonuses are $1/2 and $2/4. $.50/1 is also fine, although it'll take you slightly longer. If you typically play at limits below or above those, you may find chasing bonuses to be counter-productive. Either the amount you'll make from a bonus won't be worth it or you'll be playing at limits that either bore or scare you.

With all that out of the way, let's get to the meat of this strategy guide. I'm going to pretend that you only have $100 to start with, so the order of sites will be dictated by that, to some extent. Many people like to start chasing bonuses as an experiment with less than their full bankroll, keeping most of it on their favorite site, which is why I'm working under the assumption of a $100 bankroll. If you have at least $500 to start with, you can basically start anywhere you like on the list. I'd recommend following the general order, by and large, but if you really want to play on particular sites on the list, knock yourself out.