Here are the most recent sign-up and redeposit bonus codes for the sites I list on my Where to Play page.  Be sure to read that page first to find out which site has the most favorable bonus clearing requirements for your level of play.  Scroll down for general strategy on bonus clearing.
 
   SIGN-UP BONUS CODES  REDEPOSIT BONUS CODES
Party Poker ACTION1
Gets you $25 bonus on a $50 minimum deposit

ACTIONFLOP
Gets you 20% bonus up to $100
(deposit $500 for maximum $100 bonus)		 None currently (usually one a month)
Poker Room No code, click here for 20% bonus up to $200
(deposit $500 for maximum $100 bonus)		 None currently (usually one a month)
Pacific Poker No code, click here for 25% bonus up to $100
(deposit $400 for maximum bonus)		 None currently (very rare)
Gaming Club No code, click here for a $50 bonus
(minimum $50 deposit)		 None currently (very rare)
InterPoker No code, click here for a $100 monthly bonus. No code necessary
Ultimate Bet No code, click here for 20% bonus up to $100
(deposit $500 for maximum $100 bonus)		 None currently (usually one a month)
Paradise Poker FIRST25, click here for 25% bonus up to $50
(deposit $200 for maximum $50 bonus)		 None currently (usually bimonthly)
     
 
Many beginning players have questions about collecting sign-up or redeposit bonuses.  Regularly doing so on multiple sites has come to be known as "bonus hunting" or "bonus whoring."  There is nothing wrong with this practice, and it can be quite lucrative for those playing low-limit or for those with small bankrolls.  Here's my strategy for maximizing these bonuses.
 
1. If your bankroll is less than $1,000, play at one site until your bankroll is at least $500.  This may take a while, particularly if you are playing $0.50/$1 or $1/$2.  Once you reach $500, you will be able to claim the maximum sign-up bonus on most sites.  Pacific Poker requires only $400 to give out its maximum sign-up bonus, but its bonus is more difficult to clear than other sites'.  InterPoker is a good option for small bankrolls since a $100 deposit will get you a $100 bonus.  It will be tempting to claim a bonus less than the maximum, but try to resist if you can.  A key to maximizing your profits at low-limit is to claim the maximum sign-up and redeposit bonuses.
 
2. Withdraw all but a dollar or two to your Neteller account.  Sign up at another reputable site and claim the bonus there.  Some sites give you more time to claim your bonus than do others, and some have easier requirements to meet.  Go to my Where to Play page to do research.  I've cashed out at all of the sites I list.
 
3. Once you have a bankroll of about $2,000, you should have enough to claim bonuses at multiple sites.  If you use Neteller, all of the sites listed above allow you to deposit money to claim a bonus (sign-up or redeposit), then immediately withdraw those funds.  You can then use the same money to claim a bonus on a different site.  This is a good way to claim bonuses at sites whose bonuses have no expiration dates, then use the money at sites that require to you clear a bonus within a specified period (see #4 below for details). 

Recently, I tried to deposit and withdraw at Ultimate Bet to claim the bonus without playing a hand.  In the past, this wasn't a problem, but this time I received an email denying my withdrawal until I provided an explanation or played in a real money game.  I was mildly disturbed by not being able to withdraw money that was mine, but I played a couple of dozen hands and was able to withdraw my money after that.  Poker Stars requires you to wait 72 hours after a deposit before withdrawing any of it.
 
4. Keep track of how long you get to clear these bonuses.  Ultimate Bet, Paradise, and Poker Stars are the most generous: there are no bonus expiration dates.  Poker Room gives you plenty of time: 60 days.  Party gives you 30 days for sign-up bonuses, but they are more strict when it comes to redeposit bonuses (usually one week).
 
5. Some sites will allow you to "stack" your bonuses--to have more than one active bonus at a time, that is.  I've stacked bonuses at Poker Room, Party Poker, InterPoker, and Poker Stars.  Poker Room will only display one active bonus at a time, but the others will appear once the active bonus is cleared.  Paradise Poker and Ultimate Bet do not separate bonus amounts by promotion; instead, these sites pool all of your bonus money together.
 
6. It's not a bad idea to keep some of your bankroll sitting in Neteller.  Sometimes you have only a few days to get money into a site to claim the bonus (Paradise is notorious for this).  The time it takes to cashout at a site and get the funds into Neteller can cost you a good bonus.  If you sign up for IGMPay with Party, which links your poker account to your bank account, you do not have to worry about this problem for these two sites (as long as you have sufficient funds in your bank account).  Also, Poker Room "eats" the fee for using Neteller's InstaPay option, so you don't have to wait for funds from another site or your bank to be transferred to your Neteller account.  Pacific provides this service too, I believe, but the fee is refunded to you as part of your bonus (you must play raked hands to claim it).
 
7. It's usually easier to clear a bonus at $2/$4 and higher (one big exception, see below).  At $2/$4 and above, most sites will rake a pot after it reaches $20.  Based on the thousands of hands I've played at $2/$4, you can count on about one out of every two hands being raked under this system.  This means that if you need 500 raked hands to clear a bonus, count on playing 1,000 hands total.  At most sites' $3/$6 tables, about 60% of your hands are raked.  Lately, some sites have changed their rake structure to rake a higher percentage of pots at these limits.  Poker Room and InterPoker rake every pot if a flop is seen.

An odd exception occurs on Party, where it is easiest to clear the bonus at two of the lowest-limit levels: $25 buy-in PL/NL and $1/$2 limit.  On Party, games at these limits will be raked about 70% of the time, meaning that you need to play only about 700-750 hands total to reach that same 500 raked hand total.  These are numbers to keep in mind if you play both these limits and are trying to clear a bonus as quickly as possible.
 
8. Recently, there has been some discussion of poker sites closing the accounts of "bonus whores": people who deposit money and play only when a bonus is offered, then leave the site once the bonus is cleared.  This has not happened to me, but it would not surprise me if poker sites took some kind of action to reduce bonus whoring.  A good bonus whore can nullify the money a site makes on that player through the rake.  Keep an eye on this developing issue, and search the Usenet newsgroup rec.gambling.poker for player experiences.
 
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