20% Deposit Bonus on Stars
 

For those who haven't played at stars before, the players are supposedly tighter, but it is worth considering this for a few reasons.

First, the bonus never expires so whenever you decide to play there you can have this bonus waiting for you. If you have money sitting in your neteller account it's a free way to qualify for a bonus you may or may not ever use at a major poker site.

Second, they now store hand histories on your hard drive for full pt/gt+ support and pokerace also supports.

Third, bonus is cleared at 5x and can be cleared at .50/1.00.

Fourth sit and gos qualify for bonus clearing if you choose to go that route or want a change of pace - basically the fee is covered by bonus dollars.

http://www.pokerstars.com/depositbonus20.html

*Disclaimer: I have played very few ring game hands there so I can't speak to the quality of games myself. I am taking the "I'm sure I'll play there in the future so I'll get some free bonuses for then" route (same with UB - bonuses never expire there either).

Re: 20% Deposit Bonus on Stars
 

By 5x you mean it clears faster than Party's 7x?
Please elaborate, because I heard their bonuses took forever to clear.

Re: 20% Deposit Bonus on Stars
 

It's 5x in FPP's, not 5x in raked hands. You can have a raked hand, but not get an FPP. It's slower than party. Check Bonuswhores for exact clearance rate.

Re: 20% Deposit Bonus on Stars
 

Could you clarify? From the description on bonuswhores (which is the same as the one on pokerstars):

You will need to accumulate 5 FPP’s for each $1 in bonus money. An FPP is earned in the following way.
One (1) Frequent Player Point (FPP) is awarded for playing in each raked game when the rake reaches:
$0.50 for fixed limit games with stakes $0.50/$1.00 and lower
$0.75 for fixed limit games with stakes $1/$2
$1.00 for pot limit games, no limit games, and fixed limit games with stakes $2/$4 and higher

So to earn $1 I'd have to play 5 hands raked at .50 or .75 depending on limit, right?

And 600 hands raked at that rate would clear my $120 bonus?

Re: 20% Deposit Bonus on Stars
 

[ QUOTE ]
Could you clarify? From the description on bonuswhores (which is the same as the one on pokerstars):

You will need to accumulate 5 FPP’s for each $1 in bonus money. An FPP is earned in the following way.
One (1) Frequent Player Point (FPP) is awarded for playing in each raked game when the rake reaches:
$0.50 for fixed limit games with stakes $0.50/$1.00 and lower


[/ QUOTE ]

I think it's actually slower than this for .25/.50. I put in $50 during a reload a while ago, and it took almost 5000 hands to clear $10 when I had far more than that raked even if they only count raked hands where you were in the pot. It almost seems random how they distribute them.

Re: 20% Deposit Bonus on Stars
 

I think the concern is that you can have a hand raked less than minimum requirements, which doesn't count towards the FPP. Here's the rake table for Limit from PS for up to 1/2:

Number of players $5 Pot $10 Pot $15 Pot $20 Pot Max Rake
2-10 $0.25 $0.25 $0.25 $0.25 $1.00

So looks like a 1/2 pot needs to reach $15 to meet the FPP requirement, and .50/1 pot needs to reach $10. I haven't played there but on Party this would be less than 50% of pots in my experience. Any feedback from PokerStars players?

Re: 20% Deposit Bonus on Stars
 

[ QUOTE ]
So to earn $1 I'd have to play 5 hands raked at .50 or .75 depending on limit, right?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes.

As a side note, good timing by Pokerstars here. The party network has had connectivity problems lately, good time for them to capitalise on this.

The games at Pokerstars are a bit tighter than Party, but I love the tournament structure there.

Re: 20% Deposit Bonus on Stars
 

You will need to clear this at 2/4 or 3/6 if you are in any kind of hurry. 1/2 is slow. .50/1 is turtles [censored] in cold molasses.

Re: 20% Deposit Bonus on Stars
 

It means that you don't get a FPP unless the rake reaches that amount. Which means $10 pot for .5/1, $15 for 1/2, and $20 for 2/4+ and all PL or NL games.

Re: 20% Deposit Bonus on Stars
 

[ QUOTE ]
So looks like a 1/2 pot needs to reach $15 to meet the FPP requirement, and .50/1 pot needs to reach $10.

[/ QUOTE ]

Correct. This bonus clears rather slowly at .5/1. If you want to do this bonus I suggest playing at 1/2 or higher, it'll clear fairly quickly that way.