What's a Poker Bonus Code

Put simply, a poker bonus code is a way for online poker players to receive perks. Brick & mortar casinos give loyal players free dinners, free rooms, discounts for shows etc.. Online poker rooms can't shove a lobster through your computer, or book you a night in the conference room at their office, so they give you money instead. In some cases, they'll give you a lot of money - up to $2,000! Bonus codes are used by the poker rooms to encourage new players to play at their rooms. It's their way of getting players 'in the door'. As a player it's great, you get free money for doing what you were going to do anyway - play poker. It's great for the poker rooms, because they sign up new players. A bonus code is sometimes referred to as a 'promo code' or a 'referral code' as well.

A bonus code is a combination of letters and/or numbers that players use during the registration process at an online poker room. When you see the bonus code for the room your interested in playing at, write it down so you have it available when the registration process asks for it. For example, our bonus code for Ultimate Bet Poker is TPB1100. The online registration form will ask you if you have a bonus code. If you do, enter the code in the corresponding text area to receive your bonus.

With all of this said, every link on our site has our bonus code embedded in them, meaning that even if you forget to write down the bonus code you'll get the bonus anyway. So, why use the bonus code also? Well, really we just suggest that everyone use the bonus code for redundancy purposes, a reserve parachute if you will. If for some strange reason the link didn't automatically record your bonus, the bonus code is a backup plan. Some poker rooms don't offer a bonus code, and only provide bonus code embedded links. At ThePokerBonus.com, we provide the bonus code for every room that offers them, to give our visitors that backup plan whenever possible.

I don't plan on playing for real money, why do I need a bonus code or bonus embedded link? Well, you don't need one, it's just smarter to sign up with one than it is without one. Have you ever changed your mind? If you do change your mind at some point, and decide to make a deposit to play for real money, your bonus code will be waiting in your account. Bonus codes or bonus embedded links must be used during the initial sign up process in order for a player to get a bonus. If a player signs up without either of them, then decides to make a deposit at a later date, he/she is ineligible for the initial sign up bonus. The idea behind a bonus code or a bonus embedded link is to encourage players to sign up. Once a player has signed up at a room, the rooms don't feel they need to offer bonuses in order to get existing players to make deposits. Once a player is comfortable playing at a particular room, they are more likely to make a deposit at that room than they are at a different one. So, use the bonus embedded links and bonus codes, you have nothing to lose by using them, but potentially a lot to lose if you dont use them and decide to play for real money sometime down the road.

All bonuses are earned, meaning they have play-through requirements. The more you play, the more bonus you can get. For more details read our Easiest Bonuses to Clear, and Biggest Poker Bonus pages.