Poker Free Bonuses and Unscrupulous Practices

 

Unfortunately, when it comes to unscrupulous people, both players and site owners should be aware and try to prevent unfair practices.

 

What do we mean by that? There are some players who systematically sign up into many different online poker sites and make their first deposits with the sole aim to collect the more and more generous registration bonuses offered by online poker rooms. 

 

What have online poker rooms’ owners done to counteract those unfair practices on the part of some of their new players? They have implemented strong terms and conditions policies regarding the withdrawal of funds for new gamblers. Thus, they force players to do a little run of their money by making them play in a certain number of raked hands before they are actually allowed to cash out.

 

What are “rake hands”? They are part of a system where sites take a little cut, called “rake”, every time a new player plays for real money whether they win or not. After the site has collected enough, the player funds are released and they can cash out. This practice is pretty common in freeroll poker tournaments as well, and players know that it is a way for the site to compensate the lack of an entrance fee.

 

Whether a player likes it or not, rake hands after getting a free signup bonus are here to stay. The thing is that some sites set extremely strong rake policies - on the verge of unfair practices – to prevent unscrupulous players from signing up just for the free bonuses. Moreover, some sites have taken that policy to an extreme and set a series of clauses that most players are not able to fulfil, with the aim to force them to get from the player as much money as they can.

 

But what online poker players resent most is that many times, although they have fulfilled the hard site’s terms and conditions, they get a series of never-ending excuses when it comes to actually cashing out.

 

Unfortunately, there are just a few entities in charge of auditing online poker or casino sites. Besides, in some countries, there are no auditing organisations at all. In consequence, all efforts should be made to prevent scams, so it is strongly advisable to sign up into well reputed online poker sites only after reading their terms and conditions policies thoroughly. Some online gaming experts also recommend playing in online casinos and poker rooms based in the player’s country, so that they may have a certain degree of protection against scams and other unfair practices.