Date: 03/26/2009
There are two ways that you can sign up with a new online poker site. You can go to the site directly or you can go to an affiliate site that may offer a number of online poker rooms to choose from.
In most cases, you will want to sign up with the affiliate site, for a number of reasons, as discussed here.
Affiliate Sites Offer More Options
If you go directly to an online poker site, you will be signing up with that site. It may not be the best site for you, but you’ll never know, because it’s the only site you have to choose from. When you go to an affiliate site instead, you’ll usually find a number of online poker sites to sign up for.
More options may increase your chance of finding the perfect online poker site for your needs.
Better Bonuses
Online poker sites are in the business of hosting online poker. They do offer online promotions but they are primarily concerned with the play at the tables. On the other hand, affiliate poker sites are in the business of getting business for online poker sites.
This means that the deals that they will offer are likely to be a lot bigger, since once you sign up with the online poker site, they profit. For this reason, affiliate sites may be offering match bonuses of 100 percent or even more for signing up with a site, which means lots of extra money for you.
Maybe Rakeback
If you plan on playing at a certain site over the long term, especially if you are a winning player, you will love rakeback. When you sign up with a rakeback affiliate, the affiliate essentially pays you to play at the online poker site.
Every time you enjoy the poker games online, the amount of rake that you are paying is calculated. At the end of the month, a percentage of that rake is returned to your poker account.
You can only get rakeback through an affiliate site.
Resources: Casino News Online Casino Advisor