Worth trying to get rakeback at 2nl?

[thejesusfish]

After just 1k Hands ive produced 25$ in rake. Would i be able to get some rakeback deal for this? Or are the stakes too low?

If its possible, how do i sign up for it?

FTP

[daven]

ok, more information is required here.
What site/s are you playing right now? already have accounts?
Bankroll?
Where are you based (US or non-US?)
Are you clearing a bonus already?
etc

Do not open a Full Tilt account until you have $600 to max out the first deposit bonus.

[TonyB73]

You could go to Full Tilt, but at 2NL you have no hope of clearing the $600 first deposit bonus.

I'd wait until 10NL and do some bonus whoring (especially if you're not American).

[thejesusfish]

Ok, sorry im a complete newb. Im british with a midget bankroll (40$) and ive just made an account on full tilt so i guess ive messed that 600$ bonus up. Is there any way to delete that account later when i can play higher stakes and then make a new one to get the bigger bonus?

I have an account at Pokerstars (my friend said these were the best two sites so i just set up accounts on each). At the moment it says im clearing a deposit bonus and im 1/10th of the way there.

[WillburForce]

ruh roh! Here comes Willbur telling on UK players to get the f*ck off Pstars and Fulltilt!!!

Jesusfish - as you're a Brit you have acess to some nice fishy Eurosites. Plus you can get rakeback at most of these.

I play at Betfair mainly and have a rakeback deal, plus I've got some other bonuses going on. I do also play at Pstars for some of the bigger tourneys, which the small sites can't compete with. But for cash games, Eurosites are just so much better for building a roll.

And even better - most nights (but espicially ay weekends) the tables are full of drunken Brits who can't play poker!

I think the lowest tables are $4nl, but if you've got a half functioning brain, these can be easliy beaten. The rakeback will be minimal, but $ is $.

and you can't delete accounts. but really you should only switch back to Pstars etc when you have a big roll.

I hear that Party Poker has some good deals on though, might be worth looking at.

if you do wanna sign u pto BFair PM me first.

[chatzilla]

I'm in a similar position. I'm an aussie and play 2nl on stars. Should I wait until I have a BR of 600 and go to full tilt? or go to a small site? or stay at stars?

[daven]

Ok, sorry im a complete newb. Im british with a midget bankroll (40$) and ive just made an account on full tilt so i guess ive messed that 600$ bonus up. Is there any way to delete that account later when i can play higher stakes and then make a new one to get the bigger bonus?

I have an account at Pokerstars (my friend said these were the best two sites so i just set up accounts on each). At the moment it says im clearing a deposit bonus and im 1/10th of the way there.

ok, finish clearing the $50 first deposit bonus on stars while learning to beat 2nl. Build your balance up to $150 and ask again.
Re Full Tilt, if you haven't made your first deposit into full tilt then you haven't messed up the first deposit bonus. Don't deposit there. In the meantime you should e-mail them about getting rakeback installed on the account you have created - it should go through before you have a BR worth depositing there.

There are a bunch of sites with good first deposit bonuses etc, once you're a winning player at 10nl with a $250 roll you can really boost your roll quickly by clearing these.

Don't open any more accounts without first posting a thread in the online poker section of this forum asking for advice etc.

I like raketherake as a rakeback affiliate, they're never going to disappear and I have never heard a single complaint about them. There are other options too though, I don't know too much about them.

chatzilla, your situation is about the same. Ask me about in IRC if you want, but first step is to clear the stars $50 and don't open any new accounts without asking for advice. I don't know what the bonus offers look like right now, but a while back going in this order made a lot of sense:
1) stars
2) empire
3) pacific
4) party
5) Full tilt
etc.
Bonus whores gives a lot of advice on bonus clear rates - there are many first deposit bonuses that sound good but are about impossible to clear.

Also, it may be worth finding a kickback that gives you HEM or PT3 for free - but only if you do it through some smaller site on a major network so that you won't kick yourself later for abandoning the prospects of rakeback/races/whatever.

Before that you should be using the free trial version of HEM or PT3 anyway

For what it's worth, I ground up from a $200 bankroll a while back and first deposit bonuses were a great tool at the time... pretty sure it's linked into the first post of my current op/blog if you're interested in how it worked.

[r9453]

Thanks daven, really good post that's relevant for me as well.

[Hawk]

FTP

not that I want to cost FTR any moniez, but signing up through that link will not get you rakeback.

Also, when you do sign up, have someone send you a referral. <winkwink>

edit: didnt see you already had an ftp account...

[TonyB73]

Nice work Daven.

As Daven said, at 2NL you're best off grinding PokerStars while clearing their $50 deposit bonus. It will take you a few months to clear it, but its valid for 6 months so there's no hurry, and you need to build your roll to take advantage of the other bonuses.

Once you've grinded (ground?) your way up to 10NL, then the first deposit bonuses and kickbacks start to become clearable. Daven's list is a bit old now, but I'm happy to give some advice as the resident bonus whore. I started doing it when I reached 10NL with a $200 BR in October last year, and in the last 9 months I have made about $3K in bonuses and RB over only 90K or so hands at 10NL, 25NL and 50NL.

FYI, I haven't touched Full Tilt yet - its really a 100/200NL bonus, and you don't need the 27% RB while you still have so many bonuses to clear at much better rates.

JesusFish - you have almost an open book of options. Just build your roll to 10NL first, then let me know and I'll help you find the best deals.

Chatzilla - as an Aussie you have access to almost all the sites that the Euros do, except for Betfair, Centrebet, Paddy Power and most of the Merge network. Those sites have registered gambling operations in Australia and under Australian laws are prohibited from offering online poker games to Australian residents. The good news is that there are dozens of other good bonuses out there that you do have access to.

[chatzilla]

whoa, thanks a lot for the great info guys! I guess I'll focus on clearing my stars $50 bonus and then carefully approach my other options.

FTP

not that I want to cost FTR any moniez, but signing up through that link will not get you rakeback.

Also, when you do sign up, have someone send you a referral. <winkwink>

edit: didnt see you already had an ftp account...

it's a filter :/

[Hawk]

FYI, I haven't touched Full Tilt yet - its really a 100/200NL bonus, and you don't need the 27% RB while you still have so many bonuses to clear at much better rates.

bolded is untrue. The bonus clears pretty easily at 25nl 6m, still too high for OP, but it's nowhere near THAT hard to clear.

[bjsaust]

I didnt read all the other responses. Short answer is that rakeback is pretty pointless at 2NL, better and longer answer is that rakeback is a great idea for any new site you sign up for, regardless of what level you play. For instance if you signed up at FTP you're going to get hardly anything in rakeback (although anything is better than nothing), however if you signed up for FTP without rakeback, then when you're playing 50nl+ you're going to be kicking yourself for not having gotten rakeback while you could (almost no site will give you rakeback unless you signup initially through a rakeback provider).

[TonyB73]

FYI, I haven't touched Full Tilt yet - its really a 100/200NL bonus, and you don't need the 27% RB while you still have so many bonuses to clear at much better rates.

bolded is untrue. The bonus clears pretty easily at 25nl 6m, still too high for OP, but it's nowhere near THAT hard to clear.

Depends on your volume.

Perhaps I should have been more specific.

To clear the full $600 you need 10K points, which means being dealt into hands that rake a total of $10K. At 25NL 6max that would have taken me something in the order of 75K hands.

First, thats a lot of hands. I for one wouldn't play that many hands in the 4 months before the bonus expires. At 100NL its more in the region of 20K hands, which is much more reasonable.

Second, for a non-US player there are PLENTY of bonuses out there that clear at much better rates. For 75K hands at 25NL you could easily earn $1,500+ at other sites (although in reality with that much in bonuses you've probably moved up to 50NL or even 100NL by then and have earned even more for the same number of hands - as I said above, I've managed close to $3K in around 90K hands starting at 10NL). It means moving sites more often, but thats the definition of a bonus whore, no?

Therefore, for a non-US player using a well-researched bonus whoring plan, I think it does really end up being a 100/200NL bonus.

[daven]

although in reality with that much in bonuses you've probably moved up to 50NL or even 100NL by then and have earned even more for the same number of hands -

Therefore, for a non-US player using a well-researched bonus whoring plan, I think it does really end up being a 100/200NL bonus.

any player who moves to FT to clear the $600 bonus at 100nl without being a comfortably winning player at the same stakes on other sites is in for a shock...

[Raoni_Poker]

The replies here are very useful, thanks all.
Currently, I'm playing micros SGs to clear a 50$ bonus, but I'm considering moving to 5NL (2 tables). Actually, I'm playing SGs to improve my game, rather than to clear this bonus (it would take 2000 games to clear it).

Moving to cash games is a possibility, but to clear this bonus I have to generate $400 in rake to the site. Is it feasible starting from 5NL? Should I deposit more money in addition to the $46 and play at a higher limit?

I dont have a deadline to clear this bonus...so, I wonder how can this be done in a fast (and safe) way. After clearing this...I'll do some bonus whoring and I'll also ask for advice.

At this moment, only 3% of this bonus was cleared...so...it will take a while.

[bjsaust]

Chatzilla - as an Aussie you have access to almost all the sites that the Euros do, except for Betfair, Centrebet, Paddy Power and most of the Merge network. Those sites have registered gambling operations in Australia and under Australian laws are prohibited from offering online poker games to Australian residents. The good news is that there are dozens of other good bonuses out there that you do have access to.

Carbon poker is (or was unless something changed) another site Aussies cant play on, which always sucked as it had great welcome bonuses.

[TonyB73]

The replies here are very useful, thanks all.
Currently, I'm playing micros SGs to clear a 50$ bonus, but I'm considering moving to 5NL (2 tables). Actually, I'm playing SGs to improve my game, rather than to clear this bonus (it would take 2000 games to clear it).

Moving to cash games is a possibility, but to clear this bonus I have to generate $400 in rake to the site. Is it feasible starting from 5NL? Should I deposit more money in addition to the $46 and play at a higher limit?

I dont have a deadline to clear this bonus...so, I wonder how can this be done in a fast (and safe) way. After clearing this...I'll do some bonus whoring and I'll also ask for advice.

At this moment, only 3% of this bonus was cleared...so...it will take a while.

I don't think you should be playing 5NL with only $46. You're barely rolled for 2NL at that level.

If you're talking about Stars, FYI, I cleared the $50 bonus in about four months and about 30K hands, starting with a $50 deposit and playing 2NL. I had moved up to 10NL by the end.

I think the only way to do it quicker in cash games would be to deposit more and play higher, if you have the money and you're confident you can beat the higher level. But I reckon most people would be better off grinding their way up.

[TonyB73]

Chatzilla - as an Aussie you have access to almost all the sites that the Euros do, except for Betfair, Centrebet, Paddy Power and most of the Merge network. Those sites have registered gambling operations in Australia and under Australian laws are prohibited from offering online poker games to Australian residents. The good news is that there are dozens of other good bonuses out there that you do have access to.

Carbon poker is (or was unless something changed) another site Aussies cant play on, which always sucked as it had great welcome bonuses.

Yep, Carbon is part of the Merge network. Last time I checked this out I think there were about 20 skins on Merge, and only 3 allowed Australians to play - BetEd, Walker and G2G.

The reason is that Merge Gaming is headquartered in Brisbane, so if they offer online poker to Australians they're in breach of the legislation and presumably risk getting shut down.