Bonuses -- Are they worth it?

[UG]

Hello. My name is George, and I am a bonus whore. With the recent changes at Party Poker (and skins), I am here to ask a simple question (and more).

Is bonus whoring still worth it?

I'm not talking about Party Poker, they still have lots of players, and some nice average pots (although not as big as they used to be). Plus, being able to 8-table Party Poker, I'll be able to knock their bonus out in no time at all...

I'm mainly talking about the ex-Skins, Multipoker and Empire. Their average pots per table have been TERRIBLE recently..

When I'd clear a Multipoker or Empire bonus in the past...I'd usually be up double (at least, especially for the 20x's on Muilti) the bonus amount. I'd clear the $100 bonus, have $100+ in profits, and I'd walk away happy. Is this still possible? Or am I looking to just break even and get the bonus money?

Right now I have the 1000 hand bonus (for $100) from Empire staring me in the face. I have 970 hands left to clear on Multipoker for a $100 bonus. I cleared 150 raked hands today (for the Empire bonus) and was up a whopping THREE DOLLARS. Everyone is nut-camping (including me) and it just doesn't seem to be paying off...

I have a feeling that the Muiltipoker/Empire bonuses ARE worth it (at least for now). I mean, considering I only have 1000 hands to clear on each, I'm almost guarenteed to make money in the end, at least with how I play. I can 8-table them (four at each skin). Clearing 125 hands per hour (per skin), I'll finish each of them both in about eight hours. Meaning even if I BREAK EVEN, I'll still clear them at about $25 per hour.......

I'm just wondering, basically, because I am the ultimate bonus whore. With the recent changes, though, it just doesn't seem worth it (like it used to). It definitely doesn't seem worth it when I go to other sites with lots of fish and clean house at NL100/200....But as I always say, free money is FREE MONEY...so, is it still worth it?

So I dunno. I'd like some thoughts and actual experiences posted her on how things are going on these sites. Any info at all would be much appreicated.

[salsa4ever]

I'm a bonus whore. My poker skill is less refined than yours.

I think the PP rooms are even better than before... I'm absolutely killing them. But the skins are not worth it.

I just can't get any hands... noone paying off noone. I'm 1500 hands through my MP reload so i'm just going to bite the bullet and finish it off, but I'm not doing my empire reload.

if any1 wants it, they can have it. My time is better spent playing at Bodog, Stars (with its new bonus), heck even PokerRoom

[sinky]

It depends how good you are and what stakes you are playing.

The empire bonus will take me about 1600 hands to clear playing 1/2 Limit. That's aprox 3.1 BB / 100 hands. So the question for me is "Is Party 3.1 BB / 100 better ?". From what I have seen so far. Probably not.

[lolzzz_321]

Multi Poker 25NL is ROCKTASTIC, I've actually had to start bluffing all the 9/2 s.

[r8ed]

I 4-tabled party between 4 - 6 pm yesterday and broke even for the session. The tables seemed tighter - not looser than before. I usually play after 10pm so I don't know if it was the time but there were 42k people on PP at that time. I didn't really get great hands and when I did, they didn't get paid off that much. But, I was expecting to see some looseness not tightness. I guess if I hit a couple hands big it would have been different but between the 4 tables only 1 was consistantly over 30 VP$IP.

[dalai007]

Started to clear the EP bonus last night. Put in a 1 hr session from 5-6 pm pacific time. All four tables were very tight. $0.25 raises would take the pot more often than not. All nut campers which is fine cuz u know exactly what they have by how they bet. Finished up $25. Put in another session 1 hr from 7:30-8:30. Worst poker I've ever played. Kept getting great speculative hands and calling small-medium raises. Hit nada on the flop and then have to fold to a strong continuation bet. Then I get my AA or KK or finally hit a flop and raise all folds. Lost the 25 i won before plus 15 more. Two sessions each four tabling very diiferent playing styles encountered on each. Didnt change my style fast enough for the second session and it cost me . 700 hands more to go.

[ttanaka]

I tested out the waters on Empire last night, I actually had a pretty easy time of it. I thought I would be up against tough players but they were pretty predictable. I left up on all tables and took 2nd place in both of the 2 SnG's I played at Empire.

So, to answer the question, hell yes I think it's still worthwhile to play the skins and earn the bonus. I played there last night without any bonus to clear and did quite well (of course, I won't be continuing that, just wanted to see for myself how difficult Empire has become).

Now, what I haven't done yet is played at Party - that should be fun.

[EasyT]

You have to "play" more, but there's NO problem.

It's ONLY a problem if you want to 8-table and camp with the other campers. Raise any two in position (rocktastic! as Triptanes says). Half of them have already clicked the fold button.

It's a two edged sword.
Do you want to clear the bonus quickly but not make any money on top?
Or do you want to make your usual money on top, but take a little more time to clear the bonuses?

I'm tired of hearing complaints about the rocks already, and it's, what, day 3!!

C'MON GUYS...YOU ARE ALL GOOD ENOUGH TO WIN MONEY AT A TIGHT TABLE.

Other strats I've thought of if you want to avoid the rocks are:
1) Move up in stakes. You know you've been wanting to anyway (this means YOU, George).
2) Try 6-Max. You won't find campers there, but tight play still gets rewarded.

EasyT

[CrunchyNuts]

C'MON GUYS...YOU ARE ALL GOOD ENOUGH TO WIN MONEY AT A TIGHT TABLE.

Absolutly. Even I'm showing a profit at the tables, and I just started playing $25NL Sept 29th. Perhaps that's to my benefit 'cause I wasn't stuck in my ways. But regardless, if a chump like me can do it, so can you. Unless you suck.

[WhooFleuryScores]

I played Empire last night and won 12BB;today depositing to stack the PS reload I found a few loose .25/.50 tables;found some calling stations and fish as evidenced by a few suckouts I had.Never thought I'd be happy to see someone crack my Queens with J8o lol.

I also second the opinion that we are good enough to at least break even on tight tables and clear these bonuses.Free money is free money;if we haven't learned anything from FTR forum then we don't deserve to play poker for a side income;we might as well take it as recreational.

[UG]

Okay, so I was a little worried about nothing. It's going to be almost the same. There wasn't much difference between the last two nights of play on Multipoker and before...Yeah, there are more rocks per table, but that just means you've gotta change your game a little.

Last night I made 54BB/100 over about 500 hands at NL25. I was raising all over the place, especially in late position and in the blinds. If I saw a ton of limpers and I was in the SB or BB I'd jack it up to $3 and watched as everyone folded. I raised in late position a lot more and would scoop tons of pots preflop without a fight. I was raising absolute trash sometimes if it felt right. Again, I'd take it preflop or with a continuation bet on the flop...then show my trash and get people fired up. It's amazing how you can do that twice to somebody, get AA the next time and make your standard raise, and then they go way over the top of you with trash themselves.

Anyway...All is good in the neighborhood. Just a little different, that's all.