The bonus is a credit from the casino; it is not cash. The bonuses are used for wagering, but are never cash redeemable. When you play in the casino with your own money, you will notice that you have two separate balances running. One is the cash you deposited and/or won during gameplay and the other is the bonus. If you play, the wager amount (stake) will be taken from the bonus cash and, if you win, the amount used as the stake will be placed back into the bonus balance while the winnings will go to your real cash balance.

Now that you have some winnings, understanding the regulations regarding withdrawing the money can be a bit confusing. If you play with bonus money there is a cash wagering requirement that must be met in order to be allowed to withdraw. If you deposit $50 with a 100% bonus, you are given a match of $50 to make your bank roll $100. If the bonus multiplier is 20x on the game you’ve chosen to play, your wagering requirement is $2,000. That is the $100 bank roll multiplied by the 20x multiplier.

Some games will give you different percentages of the wagering amount. Slots may be 100% while games like Blackjack and Video Poker may only offer 10%. For example, if you play Blackjack then only 10% of the wager will count towards your requirement. In other words, if you want to meet the requirement of $2,000 you will actually need to wager $20,000 in total. This is tricky to understand and casinos can try to lure you with impossible-to-meet requirements like a 200% deposit bonus with a 100x bonus multiplier.

In this scenario, if you were to deposit $50, the casino would give you $100. The multiplier is 100x on a $150 bank roll; it is $15,000. Now take into consideration the game multipliers; you may only be playing at 10% (or lower) and the requirement becomes $150,000. You will not be able to reach it before you must stop depositing unless you happen to have $150,000 extra just lying around.

I have been playing poker seriously for a decade. One of the worst bad beats I can remember was only for about $200, but it still hurt. I was playing in a cash game at Foxwoods. I was having a conversation with the guy next to me all day long. He seemed pretty cool. However, a hand came up where I had two pair and I bet $115 on the turn

because I knew he had an inside straight draw. There was no way he was going to call $115 on an inside straight draw with only one card to go. But, sure enough, he called. And, sure enough, the river was the card he needed – a jack. Nine times out ten, I win that hand. He made the wrong play and still won the hand. I did the right thing because I bet big to get him off his draw. You can never let your opponent draw out on you for cheap. If you do, you won’t only lose, but you will be seen as a soft player. You need to create a strong table image. Even if you lose a big hand or two early, it’s important to be aggressive in these situations right away. This way, people will be more hesitant to call you going forward, which will lead to more winning pots.

Bad beats aren’t always bad. Most live casinos offer bad beat jackpots. This means that if you suffer a bad beat – usually if you lose with Jacks-full or better – you will win 50% of the bad beat jackpot. The winner of the hand will usually win 25% and all the other players at the table will split the remaining 25%. These jackpots can easily reach over $100,000. If you win one, remember to tip the dealer. Some people play at live poker rooms just to have a chance at the bad beat jackpot. They will fold all day until they have a chance at winning it all. Not a bad strategy.

If you are fairly new to online poker or have perhaps been playing with play money on a site, and are entertaining playing for real cash, this should help. So at the site, you see this “Deposit now and get a 100% first time Bonus up to $1,000”. What they are telling you is this.

If you deposit the minimum amount up to (in this case) $1,000 they will give you 100% in your account as a bonus for depositing now. Whoa, don’t immediately run off and make that deposit! Their offer is completely correct, but you do not have all the details yet.

In order to get that 100% matching deposit bonus, there are terms. Let us say in this example, you want to put the whole $1,000 in

the site and get a matching bonus of $1,000. Yes, they will do that. Hold on! You want to jump over there and put that money in for the matching bonus, don’t you? It is not quite that simple.

Once you have deposited the money, there is usually one little ‘hoop’ you have to jump through to get the matching money. That ‘hoop’ is that you have to play so many hands first to begin receiving your bonus and you only have so much time to get it done.

Let’s say at our imaginary site you get your bonus money back at a rate of 10¢ on the dollar played. So in that case you would have to play $10,000 dollars worth of hands to have earned the $1,000 bonus you signed up for. Now that’s not too bad with one little exception. There is almost always a ‘time limit’ on how long you get to accomplish this feat. Let’s be generous in this example and say it is six months. At the end of the time period, you get to keep what you have earned in points for your 10¢ on the dollar, and that’s all, it is over.

Once you have earned the money, it is yours. You can withdraw it anytime you like under their rules. But many players are disillusioned with the limitations to getting the bonus. Most people will not make the 100% due to the time limits.

On the other side of the United States, the World Series of Poker Circuit visited Atlantic City, New Jersey , & provided not just their standard main event, however the 2nd regional championship of the tour’s year. Chris Bell improved to his current extraordinary season having a win during that event while climbing star Andrew Frankenberger completed 6th.

In Australia, Daniel Negreanu has been performing at his finest to come back & dropped a little short. He completed 9th at APPT Sydney & witnessed as Jonathan Karamalikis grabbed the $454,304 grand prize.

Besides these events, it had been a non-eventful month within the the poker world as card-players invested time with their families during the holiday season. All will transform come January, when the largest destination tournament of the year, the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, starts 2011 having a gigantic, forty eight event poker festival.

As for the standings, it has been the norm at the top as anticipated. Phil Ivey & Jason Mercier are not going anywhere soon, however at the 3 position we have Tom Marchese, the 2010 Card Player of the Year. Marchese has continuously climbed up the standings during 2010 Following making his first appearance within the poker world in February sitting at a final table during the Borgata. Marchese joined these standings during October & carries on to inspire the panel with his break-through year.

Climbing up 3 positions this month is Vanessa Selbst, & she has earned it . Seblst started the year as a part time player studying at law school, however Following winning the NAPT Mohegan main event, her effort carried on & provided a 2nd significant win during November. In all, her $2 .8 million has her 6th on the 2010 $$ list & a well deserved 5th on our list.

The 2010 Bluff Player of the Year Sorel Mizzi is the solo addition to the lineup this month, who made an additional long rally during a World Poker Tour event, which has been sufficient to put him into the standings for the 1st occasion in 3 months.

Now that you have some winnings, understanding the regulations regarding withdrawing the money can be a bit confusing. If you play with bonus money there is a cash wagering requirement that must be met in order to be allowed to withdraw. If you deposit $50 with a 100% bonus, you are given a match of $50 to make your bank roll $100. If the bonus multiplier is 20x on the game you’ve chosen to play, your wagering requirement is $2,000. That is the $100 bank roll multiplied by the 20x multiplier.

Some games will give you different percentages of the wagering amount. Slots may be 100% while games like Blackjack and Video Poker may only offer 10%. For example, if you play Blackjack then only 10% of the wager will count towards your requirement. In other words, if you want to meet the requirement of $2,000 you will actually need to wager $20,000 in total. This is tricky to understand and casinos can try to lure you with impossible-to-meet requirements like a 200% deposit bonus with a 100x bonus multiplier.

In this scenario, if you were to deposit $50, the casino would give you $100. The multiplier is 100x on a $150 bank roll; it is $15,000. Now take into consideration the game multipliers; you may only be playing at 10% (or lower) and the requirement becomes $150,000. You will not be able to reach it before you must stop depositing unless you happen to have $150,000 extra just lying around.

Referral poker bonuses are self-explanatory. If you refer a friend to a poker site, you will be rewarded. This reward usually ranges anywhere from $50 to 20% of how much money your friend deposited. In most cases, you will receive 5% to 10% of how much money your friend deposited.

Loyalty poker bonuses refer to being rewarded for playing on one specific site. This is a tricky situation. You want to play at several sites to improve your bonuses, but this will also have a negative impact on your loyalty bonuses. The solution is simple. Weigh the loyalty rewards of your favorite poker site vs. how much you would make by spreading out your play and receiving other types of bonuses.

Freeroll tournaments are great. Every online poker site has them and they cost absolutely nothing. It’s possible to win merchandise, cold hard cash, and even an entry to the WSOP.

If you take advantage of all these opportunities, you will be well ahead of the game, which will make a psychological difference on the virtual felt.