[playersare]

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Like these guys said, get the rakebacks in place. It won't hurt your whoring and if you ever get tired of the bonus whoring you will still have a nice kickback for your play. Also there is several sites that give you some nice gifts for doing a site through them. Take advantage of this, it is usually worth about $50 - $60 a site.

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this is conflicting advice, though both sides of the argument are good in of themselves.

if one affiliate is offering you rakeback at one site and another affiliate is offering you a $60 gift at the SAME site, you will have to choose one or the other because of the way that the affiliates are paid.

affiliate #1 offering rakeback is paid by a percentage of attributed rake revenue that you generate during play (minus bonuses unless specified by the site's T&C). usually that commission is 30-40%, so then 25-30% is rebated back to you after each billing period.

affiliate #2 is paid a flat fee per signup (also known as CPA). this is usually around $75 per person, as long as the new player reaches a minimum number of raked hands - usually between 250-500. from the $75, the 'swag' affiliate offers you $60 worth of merchandise like a chipset, books and DVD's, or a gift certificate.

but you cannot get BOTH #1 and #2 when signing up at a new site. you have to decide in advance what's worth more to you based on how much rake you intend to generate to the site over time. if you're a recreational 50c/$1 player or bonus whore enthusiast, might make more sense to do the CPA deal and get something right away. on the other hand, if you're already 4-tabling $5/10 and are looking to earn serious rebate money every month, then obviously you'll get more out of the rakeback deal.