All online poker sites offer a variety of bonuses to new and returning players, such as sign-up bonuses, referral bonuses, and reload bonuses. These bonus dollars, once released into a player's real money online poker account, can be used just like cash to buy in to cash games or pay tournament entry fees.
Poker.org is privileged to codes for a variety of additional bonuses from numerous online poker rooms to the benefit of poker enthusiasts. Before signing up for an online poker site, it is highly recommended that players read about these bonus codes that will provide larger rewards from the online poker site of their choice. Some of these codes are to be entered during the sign-up process, while others can be utilized while making a deposit.

Note: It is important to first clear the browser cache before visiting any of these online poker sites. Instructions for deleting the browser cache in Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari are provided at the end of this article.

Bonus dollars are available to players who are making their first deposit at an online poker site. In order to become eligible for an online poker sign-up bonus, the relevant bonus code must be entered at the time of performing the first, initial deposit. Online poker sites may also furnish enhanced welcome bonus codes through third parties via Coupon Codes that result in larger bonuses or cash rewards for those who bother to make use of them.

Generally, a bonus code input box will be provided at some point during the first deposit process. Simply input the code, exactly as shown, into the bonus code text box. The pending bonus dollars earned will typically be shown in the Cashier window of the user's online poker client. Once the welcome bonus has been cleared according to the guidelines set by each individual online poker room, the pending bonus dollars will usually be transferred to the player's cash account. An email will often be sent to the player confirming the updated status of the player's account.

Online Poker Sites thrive on referrals from third parties - websites and online poker players who bring their friends to the site - and offer rewards to both the referrer and the referred in the form of extra bonus dollars or even cash. These online poker bonuses can be claimed by any new player via Marketing Codes, or Referral Codes, supplied by third parties. Generally, these codes are requested for input during the registration process.

To utilize a Marketing Code or Referral Code, be sure to have the code at hand when filling out the registration information. At some point, users will be prompted to provide an answer as to how they found the online poker site. When using a marketing code provided by a third party website, one may or may not be asked to provide the website's URL when entering the code. It is important to enter the marketing code exactly as it appears on the referrer's site; copying and pasting the code will prevent mistakes. Referral codes are essentially the same as marketing codes, though may be expanded to include a friend who is a member of the online poker site who has referred the user.

In order for bonus dollars to be of any use, they must first be cleared according to the specifications of the online poker site. Each site has their own, clearly defined guidelines, however they all tend to follow the same basic structure for releasing bonus dollars into players' cash accounts.

Online poker sites, for the most part, employ some manner of point system in which play at real money online poker cash games and tournaments are rewarded with points. These points are generally useful for a number of perks provided at the online poker site - one of which is the release of pending bonus dollars.

As a certain number of points are accumulated, bonus dollars are typically released in $5, $10, or $20 increments as specified by the relevant online poker site. Some online poker rooms release bonus dollars on a weekly basis, instead, relative to the number of points earned each week. Once enough points have been earned, the bonus will be fully cleared.

There is typically a time limit imposed, requiring each bonus to be cleared within a predetermined numbers of days. This can range between 30 and 180 days, depending upon the online poker room, and how quickly the average bonus will normally take to clear.

In Internet Explorer 8 the browser cache can be cleared by clicking on the Tools menu, selecting Delete Browsing History, and then checking Temporary Internet Files before clicking the Delete button. Conversely, one can press Ctrl-Shift-Del all at once to bring up the browsing history option window.

The same command works in Firefox 3.5 and up (Ctrl-Shift-Del), in which the user is prompted to select the time range (choose Everything) and details (check Cache), then click Clear Now. For older versions of Firefox, select Tools > Options (Edit > Preferences on a Linux operating system), then click the Privacy tab. Under Private Data, click the Settings button to customize the information to be deleted (be sure to select Cache, and click OK), then click the Clear Now button under the Settings button to clear the cache.

To clear the browser cache in Safari on a Mac OS X, click on Safari in the upper menu, then select Empty Cache and click Empty. Alternatively, selecting Reset Safari instead of Empty Cache will provide additional history deletion options, such as cookies. For Safari on Windows, choose Edit > Empty Cache, then click Empty. Safari 5 users will click the tools icon on the right of the upper menu to open the general options menu. Select Reset Safari, tick the Empty Cache check box - and any other items to be removed - then click the Reset button.