Hi guys, i been reading the Newsgroup now for a long time but never actually even posted a Msg, so here it is my very first question here....
I Got a small Bankroll $800 and i been thinking on doing some bonus whoring, i like the Party Skins ( my account is actually at Empire ) i read around a post where someone recommended to sign up in all the Party Skins, isn't that illegal? don't they freeze your accounts if you do that? or i can just go around and have an account in each different skin ( Empire, Party, PokerNow, Etc... ), also because as far as i know i will have to use the same name and mail on each account so i got no problem using my firepay or NETeller account.

Thanks.
Alex.

Unfortunately, the Golden Age of Bonuswhoring is coming to an end, if not already at an end.

The Crypto sites have stopped giving money away at profitable rates. Interpoker, which was the favorite, has raised the raked hand to a buck. Playing at less than $2/$4 is nearly impossible to clear it. All the others have raised their requirements higher than in the past.

Absolute gives the best, but they are extremely slow to clear and they have far fewer games than other sites.

The best sites have no bonuses to speak of.

Now, I guess we have to learn how to actually play winning poker, without the safety net of a nice little bonus to cover losses.

CJ

AJ
Hmmmm---I'm confused----
So you think rake backs are OK, but chasing bonuses "doesn't work out"?? If you are a winning player over time, I'm not sure how it "doesn't work out"....
Needless to say, having both rakebacks and bonuses help the bottom line...

I can't whore the Cryptos because I don't play $100 NL or higher. Same with a bunch of other sites. If I played limit, I'm sure I could clear more bonuses.

I just started playing bodog. Unlimited 20% bonus and some mad fishy players.

I plan to deposit to bodog every time there's no other reload bonuses being offered, and then take the money out after I clear it if there are other bonuses available. (If no other bonuses available, deposit more to bodog and repeat.) Wait a week or two and repeat.

Other people have maybe mentioned this, but if you play tournies at bodog they actually give you 200% of your tournament rake fee back in bonus dollars!

Deposit $100, get $20 in bonus dollars. Play 5 $20 + $2 tournies (total rake $10) and you have cleared the $20 bonus dollars. Sounds pretty sweet to me.

Crypto made it harder for you to make something for nothing. The bonuses are now designed more so to reward loyal players, which I guess was their purpose all along.

They are still extremely profitable and generous, however, if you can be bothered converting the £ to $ on the UK sites. I make thousands every year from Crypto bonuses, though I play a lot there so I feel it's kind of my "due", rather than the traditional idea of "whoring".

Cactus, in what way have Crypto stopped giving away money at profitable rates??? The only difference seems to be that Interpoker have stopped people making 100 bucks a month by playing tiny stakes holdem, but limit holdem isn't worth the bother at Crypto anyway (unlike 2 years ago, when it was the best site EVER in the history of online poker for limit, quite literally, with 15+BB average pots most times of the day at the low limits for nearly all tables - I even once saw a £1/2 limit game with a £65 average pot, fancy that!). All the other cryptos still give away money at a reasonable rate. So long as you're winning at the games any bonus is "profitable".

Bonus whores, in the traditional definition of the term, are responsible for killing YOUR games and making online poker less profitable. Serious players who take advantage of bonuses, well, that's different. Sites like bonuswhores.com, whilst informative, are increasingly filled with penny-pinching buggers who are reducing lower limit holdem games on a multitude of sites (and, to a much lesser extent, online poker in general) into an unprofitable and equally penny-pinching nut peddling exercise. I think it's perhaps a bit sad that new players are being put off poker because they sit in a 1/2 game (such as the ones I used to enjoy at Crypto) and find 9 players playing AQo upwards, ripping into anyone who catches a draw in the chat window, and splitting as soon as they clear their bonus. In the end I think that sort of player hurts internet poker as a whole, and, in future, hurts their own winning potential in the game.

A controversial view perhaps, and certainly not intended to offend anyone here, but I think this is something that a lot of players don't think about. In a game like poker, I certainly don't think anyone should think of anybody else than number one, and I can't blame anyone for trying to grab something for nothing (as a player myself, that's exactly what I'd do myself if I didn't have the roll or for some other reason couldn't play in more profitable games, and what I have done where possible in the past). But, that said, perhaps the poker community in general should realise that the bubble won't float on a sea of free dollars forever and the low limit players, poker sites, and potential new players/bonus whores should consider these implications and perhaps the sites themselves should find a way of keeping online poker affloat in the next 2 years as it inevitably loses the acceleration of popularity that's turned it into such a cash cow. I for one would hate to see the online tables decimated, and the tightening-up of both the players and some of the sites which has occurred over the last 18 months to continue at the same rate.

I'm hopeful that Crypto are trying to do this, and I am very much in agreement of any efforts to prevent the games going under, although I do agree to some extent that many of the changes they've made to their site in the last couple of months have been horribly misguided (anyone else HATE sites opening up lower and lower $ tables and introducing those %^*$&ing "BET POT" buttons???) I think trying to keep poker steadily buoyant by trying to discourage the never-ending stream of folks looking for something for nothing is to some extent a reasonable idea. As long as sites keep giving a $ or two to regular customers as a kickback on the money that the site makes off them, I think I'll be happy with the money available online.

I'm still going to be mighty pissed off with one of the sites mentioned here if it doesn't solve a VERY serious error with my account there, however

Monk
xxxxx

PS If you want to use different party skins and patronise each one they won't have a problem with you doing it, though you need to clean your computer. PM me if you require a walkthrough to delete the relevant registry keys. However, if you try to establish multiple accounts on one site for bonus whoring purposes they will (with, I guess, some justification) freeze your accounts, especially Empire and Party who are particularly hot on that front, so don't do that!

I guess that I am actually not a "bonus whore" in Monk's sense. I play any site that will give me bonuses that I can clear at a reasonable rate playing the games I like to play, but I will play the hands I play in order to win money. I play exactly the same whether I have a bonus coming or not. The point is to get better at poker! I think of bonuses as just that -- bonuses -- something extra to help improve my winnings.

I haven't noticed people nut peddling at the sites I play, that's for sure. People are there to gamble. Maybe it's different at limit Crypto games....