I have been wondering lately about what really makes for good bonus, both in terms of good for the play and also non-crippling towards the site.

There are several different types of bonuses offered out there.

Party has the "raked hand" bonuses which are straight up usually 7X-12X, where as little as 5 cents counts as raked, meaning at the micro limits this is actually costing the site.

Prima and Paradise has the "raked hand" bonuses as well, with a minimum .25$ required to count. These can be between 5X and up. Again the 5X and 10X bonii cost the sites money.

My problem with these ways is that it really encourages people to stay at the lowest limits, These bonuses clear the fastest usually at 1/2 limit, or NL50-100. These to me doesn't encourage people to move up and may be costing the sites more money than the potential gain.

B2B and Absolute have raked hands, but have a slightly higher minimum it needs to be .30 euro or .50$. These have the same problem as the other raked bonuses. Also Absolute has rakeback, if someone plays 1/2 full there they will be making about 130% RB counting the never-ending bonuses this is a big negative for the sites.

Pokerstars has a similar point system, the system works great as it encourages people to move up beyond 1/2 and NL100. This may be one of the better systems since it actually gives the players the maximum return on their bonuses at the sweet spot for the site making the most rake (3/6 and 5/10 Limit). They don't offer many bonuses overall yet it doesn't seem to effect their numbers.

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Sites that use proportional based points

Tribeca, Fulltilt and Ongame (pokerroom and skins), They all use a proportional system. Where the more that is raked the more points you get, fulltilt and ongame have it where you just need to be dealt, and Tribeca is directly proportional to your share of the rake. Personally these systems encourage players to play higher limits/stakes to increase the sites profits and increase the rate of bonus clearing. These proportional systems can't produce negative returns for the site, which may be better for the long term of online poker.

Ongame really screwed the pooch with their retarded rake schedule, but I think they got it right their bonus/points system.

Tribeca has a unique bonus structure as it rewards the loose players with more bonuses which should serve to chum the waters for the better players.

If you guys have thoughts on what structures are best for the long term both for players and sites, please add to this thread.

Obviously Party has the best balance - simply because it works...But they have big numbers and truely awful players (many of whom get nowhere near clearing the bonus.) I don't think bonuswhores actually make any diffrence to party. I know that I was costing Empire about $20 a month at one point but that was a winning player doing nothing but whoring on the site.

The start up trick with B2B ($500 @ 5x for a few weeks) seems to get in traffic.BUT B2b isn't what it was - the NL tables have died..and with it the value of the bonus.

Prima always had tight play because of the bonuses and the TV thing which tends to refine ppls game

Bonus whoring I feel is getting harder. The bonuses are there but good ones attract good players. To BW effectively you need to multitable - and finding enough tables on Prima is hard at NL. On Party you can do ABC poker on 5 tables - on Prima the standard of play is high enough to make ABC breakeven by the time you put in boredom induced mistakes.

I'm getting to the point where I think it is better to have a range of sites and look for VERY soft games at higher limits. knowing that I stand little chance of clearing in a set time period (Bodog,Crypto, WPT are OK for that- good bonus soft tables but long time period to clear).

I am also doing high overlay tournaments at the moment. B2B is VERY good for these. Lots of them not well advertised. The gui is beginning to make me sick though.. Crypto isn't too bad either..

Allo this is at European time of course (ubertight)..Canadian time might make this inapplicable........

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You make some good points Deme, but for players like myself and probably you there is a major flaw in the Party system. Because of the strict timelines that often accompany them I am forced to play more tables than I would usually and I usually drop down a level or two in order actually get more raked hands (Usually I play 2/4 or 3/6 limit but need to play 1/2 in order clear the bonus quickly), or like I did the last couple of times is I 9 tabled NL25.

Also I feel like their bonuses which I assume they offer to keep the fish from busting too quickly, are not really funnelling down to the fish. They don't know about the promos like TopBucks or the countless other screw ups that have been made ever since they went to their "account specific" bonuses.

I am not really complaining about them just stating that they really aren't helping out the majority of their players, and are in fact encouraging people to play lower stakes.

Since party nuked the skins last fall they are no longer concerned about other bonuses offered by the skins, nor the lure of real rakeback. The prima sites and I assume the B2B sites have major problems with this because of the number of skins around, dividing up a medium/small sized player base.

I think the Cryptos going to the MPP system instead of raked or hourly bonuses is alot more sustainable than their old money losing systems, not sure it is going to make the games any fishier but at least they wont drive the sites under.