How to Win Free Money in Online Poker Games
Some new online poker players are hesitant to play. They're afraid of losing money. This is especially true for poker players who lack confidence in their poker skills. These players reduce their risks by playing in free poker games.
Free poker games are great. Free poker games provide poker without risk. But where there is no risk, there is also no reward.
Or is there?
There are two ways to win free money in online poker games.
- Take advantage of online poker bonuses.
- Take advantage of freerolls (free poker tournaments).
Online Poker Bonuses
Every online poker room offers "online poker bonuses". These are incentives offered to real money players to encourage them to download the poker site's software and make their first real money deposit.
Most online poker bonuses match some, all, or more of the money that a player deposits at the site. For example, Full Tilt Poker offers a $600 deposit bonus on your first deposit of $600. PokerStars offers the same signup bonus. Party Poker offers a $100 signup bonus when you deposit $100 bonus.
Some online poker bonuses require no deposit at all. PokerTime.eu, for example, offers $10 free to anyone who's willing to sign up for an account and try their poker software. Poker770.com also offers a no deposit required bonus, but their signup bonus is $7.70, rather than $10.
Someone who can parlay a no deposit poker bonus into a lot of winnings knows how to win free cash in Internet poker games. They're only risking a free bonus, but any money they win is real.
Even deposit match type bonuses are free money. Doubling your initial bankroll with a signup bonus allows you to play bigger games with less risk to your own funds. Play good poker, and you'll be on your way to winning funds at no cost in Texas holdem, Omaha, or stud games on the web.
If you're already a real money player at a poker site, then you can't
take advantage of a new player signup bonus. But most poker rooms offer
regularly-scheduled "reload" bonuses, where you get the same kinds of
matching funds on your next deposit as a new player would.
Be sure the poker site's URL is on your whitelist in your email program so that you don't miss any emails regarding these occasional promotions.
Online Poker Freerolls
An "online poker freeroll" is a poker tournament with no buy-in. Most freerolls pay out cash prizes and have no buy-in at all, so they're the quintessential definition of winning free money at online poker.
Some of the larger poker rooms offer generous prize packages for these freerolls, too. At the time of this writing, online poker site FeltStars.com has a $100,000 freeroll scheduled. That's a lot of prize money available for no risk.
Some poker sites offer guaranteed prize pools, and if you watch closely, you can find situations where the guaranteed prize pool is larger than the total amount of the entry fees. That's called an overlay situation.
For
example, if a poker site offers a $10,000 guaranteed prize pool, and the
entry fee is $50, the poker site needs 200 players to cover the prize pool.
If the tournament only has 100 players, then you're getting a huge overlay.
The extra $5000 in winnings is dead money, and even if you only play average
poker, you're getting a proportionally larger payout for your money risked.
This page about how to win free money in online poker games was last updated on May 2, 2010.