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The world of online poker is special because it not only provides players with a place to play, but it also provides bonuses in the form of free money. When you walk into a Las Vegas casino, they are not going to hand you any money. When you sign up with a poker site, they are more than happy to give you lots of free cash. There has to be a catch to this online poker phenomenon, right? The truth of the matter is that the "catch" is a very small one. Though it is true that you can't just your hands on the money right away, "clearing" your poker bonus is easier than you might think.

The way that it works when you play poker at any of the major sites is that they throw you a bone for depositing your bones into their site. You want to start playing poker tournaments, so they give you a little bit of extra coin to augment your bankroll. Usually, this comes with some sort of play requirement. How they handle this play requirement depends upon which online poker site you are using. Some of them will give you immediate access to the money, so that you can play poker and learn poker without having to wait on your bonus to fill in. Other sites will release your bonus incrementally after it has "cleared".

One of the first bits of poker strategy that you need to learn is that clearing that bonus is a must. Often times, the poker site will not let you withdraw your bankroll until you have met the requirements for the bonus. This might mean playing 100 cash hands or something to that effect. It is always best to know exactly what the requirements are for any bonus that you accept, and you need to know how long they can tie up your money if you don't meet these requirements. Likewise, you will want to figure out what the deal is for online poker sites that release your bonus in increments. If they are doing it based upon tournament play or cash play, then you have to get in there and start playing.

If the play requirement is simply a hands played mark, then you should go to the lowest limit possible and play as many hands there as you can. Most poker sites will use an amount raked standard, so you will have to play in decent sized limits to get ahold of their bonus money. What you should know is that most bonus goals are attainable, so you will probably see that money after a while of playing on the site.