The Wisdom of Bonus Whoring

[caffiend]

Bill Rini has a couple of critical articles on bonus whoring that make for interesting reading. I'd been thinking along similar lines for a while before stumbling over them on google. A lot of the popular bonuses are on sites you'd have to pay me to play on. I'll spend as much time finding tables some places as actually clearing the bonus. What's the bonus getting me?

According to the most optimistic clearance rates on bonuswhores, playing a single table of 1/2 I can get a steady stream of about 2.5 BB/hr bonuses. The ones with higher hourly rates will burn off too quickly to have a long term effect, and the slower ones are next to worthless. If you can pick up 1 BB/hr in a softer game, 1 BB/hr from a different bonus, and .5 BB/hr from not struggling to fnd a good table you're already back to where you started. But, you also have a better chance at running hot for a big win.

[biggle10]

I think people underestimate how soft second tier sites can be and overestimate how loose big sites can be. Then again, its been a long time since I put in a lot of hours at Party or Stars.

[goofyballer]

You play at Absolute, right? How's that?

[mattaca]

You play at Absolute, right? How's that?

Lots of rocks and lots of soft players wih the occasional solid player. My only beef is that there never seems to be more than one full 2/4 table going at any one time. Haven't played oo much NL cash games there but am assuming they would be pretty soft as well.

[nickstam]

My opinion on bonuses is if you don't go out of your way to clear a bonus it shouldn't be that much of a distraction. If you 4 - 6 table $25 NL rings games on Party during a weekday evening when 80,000 people are on, the bonus, in my opinion is just icing on the cake. I don't think i would go out of my way to open an account on a low volume site to grind out a bonus. But on Party, it seems like easy cheese.

[velar]

I understand his point on learning to multi-table to clear bonuses vs. learning to play better.

But what is wrong with breaking even and making bonus money? Some people just can't learn or won't play higher stakes and there's a lot of money out there...it may not be free, but you can still pull off a little better rate than what's stated in his article.

And even if I have "moved on" past the whore stage:

Latest Party bonus: 5.5 hrs of play, +$132 at the 1/2 LHE tables, +$100 bonus. Try that at a paper route, jackass.

Then again, maybe I make so much 'cause of all the other bonuswhores at the table? Heh...bonuses attract whores, and whores attract Velar. Does that make me a bonuswhore whore?

[beezee]

Latest Party bonus: 5.5 hrs of play, +$132 at the 1/2 LHE tables, +$100 bonus. Try that at a paper route, jackass.

Holy shit. You made money at 1/2 LHE at party? you're my new idol!

[realyreal]

Thanks for the link. I enjoyed the article. I agree that one of the negative aspects of bonus chasing is the fact that you lose PokerTracker stats when you open a new account at a new site. This assumes you use PT.

Bonuses are just partial rakeback, so on the surface, playing for a bonus is always +EV, right? Bill points out that people sacrifice a lot to chase bonuses. Multitabling, loss of PT data, etc, can turn an apparent +EV move into a -EV one.

I partially agree, which is why I don't multitable any more than I normally would when chasing a bonus. I don't change my game style one bit, and I don't chase bonuses that would require me to do so.

But I might play at a different site, which is like playing at a different casino...you need to learn to play against people you've never met before. This is a skill that needs to be developed like any other in poker. PT data is great, but reliance on it may cause problems with your overall game if you decide to play out.

However, bonus chasing has been IMMENSELY helpful to me as I begin to learn the game and build a bankroll. Bill mentions this, but I don't know if he sees how useful it is, probably because he's never done it himself. Chasing bonuses is a great crutch when you are micro-bankrolled, and still a developing poker player. So, THANK YOU to caffiend, mj, and the rest of the crew here that have sketched the path out! I probably would have lost my $50 investment a long time ago (rather than build it into something much larger) had I not followed the bonus hunting/poker training strategy.

Maybe Bill is worried that bonus whoring is allowing new players more room to hone our skills

[biggle10]

Lost PT Data???

[barrin6]

Here's my simple way of calculating if bonus whoring is worth it or not without all that mumbo jumbo. Add up all the $$$ made from Site A that has no bonuses. Change that into bb/100. Now do the same for a different site that has bonuses.

Calculate and compared.

IMO I think what people call soft or hard is just really different type of players. Just because a certain site is aggressive and filled with TAGS, it doesn't mean it's impossible to win money there, you just have to adjust your playing style.

TAGS have leaks too, everything has a weakness.

And yes I play at absolute, and I'm winning more than I win at party.

[realyreal]

By lost PT data, I mean to say that you won't have access to the player statistics in Poker Tracker (assuming you use the software) if you move from site to site. At the level I play, there are so many damn players at Party that I rarely get to use those stats anyway, but I guess it makes more sense for Bill.

So I agree with him there, but I think you can chace bonuses without becoming "results-focused" or making multi-table mistakes. Just continue to play your regular game, and if you hit the bonus, it's bonus