A few thoughts on smart bonus whoring

[Greg J]

For a while there Empire and other skins were supposedly "trippin" about people taking advantage of their bonuses. I was worried about this, since I myself take advantage of most of the reload bonuses, especially on Party skins. The thing is, I never got an account closure, a threatening email regarding "suspicious activity," or the like. And I am convinced this is not a random event. Why? Well, I do it "smart."

1) I don't "hit and run." Do you deposit, clear the bonus, then leave, all in a few hours? If so, this is probably not a great idea. Deposit, and play for a while, then maybe log out and hit a rakeback skin. Play more hands the next day.

2) (Related) Leave money in yr account after you have cleared it. The guys are Pay pro are not, as we well know, the brightest bulbs in the box, but even they will spot a person who immediately after he clears, cashes out. After clearing a bonus, you should usually leave it in a stew a day or two. That is what I do. I mean, most of us have at least a few thousand dollars, so leaving ~$600 in a Empire account a few extra days won't kill you.

3) Vary yr play. Again, the guys at Party and Pay pro are obviously none too smart. Play a SnG or a MTT or something. It's good for a change of pace too (if you are all about the ring games), plus they are less likely to flag you for being a bonus hound. (Stay away from 5+1's though -- too much entry fee proportional to the prize pool. Play least 10+1.)

4) Use yr brain. A lot of gnomers on the bonus whores board and the zoo got skewered. They disserved it. To you guys with 3, 4, or 7 accounts from the same ISP... come on morans! I mean if a guy and his wife both play, okay that is believable, but past that you are pushing it. Once again, this makes it easy to catch people. Don't get greedy. It's already free money. Seriously, some of you guys can f up a wet dream.

I guess the overriding principle to this whole post is, when taking advantage of bonuses, use a little common sense. There is nothing wrong with whoring – the sites offer it, and we should take advantage. However, if they see they are being taken advantage of, then things like what happened with Empire start happening, accounts start closing, and maybe a little money gets taken. This could all be avoided if we all whored a little smarter and stayed under their radar.