Many people don't have the disposable income to maintain a bankroll strictly for poker. These people typically play with whatever money they have on them and very rarely track their results across sessions. However, keeping a separate bankroll and track of your wins and losses is an important element to becoming a winning poker player.

For those who don't have enough money to maintain a healthy bankroll, chasing bonuses is one of the most effective ways to build. There is a specific strategy to building a bankroll playing the lower limits chasing bonuses and I will give you the highlights of the best strategy.

The best strategy is one that adds dollars to your bankroll immediately. While some might argue that it is important to go after a deposit with the highest percentage because it translates to the most cash, this is not particularly useful to the majority of bonus hunters because they will go broke before they ever get the money.

This may mean passing on certain higher percentage offers in favor of a smaller return because the smaller return is more attainable. High percentage bonus offers usually require a longer amount of play before you get your money. The best strategy is to start where you can clear bonuses quickly with little risk. The money added to your bankroll will prolong the likelihood that you won't get cleaned out, assuming you stick to the lower limits and play carefully.

The sooner you get the bonus the healthier your bankroll will be and the greater likelihood you will be able to handle the swings of the game without going bust.

This assumes that you can play nearly break-even poker for a short period of time in order to clear the easy requirements. Game selection and patience is key during this period because a softer lower limit game is going to have less variance than a difficult one.

This means not playing over your bankroll. It is important to start out at the smallest possible level that still clears the bonus requirements in a reasonable manner when you are short stacked. I'm talking in the neighborhood of $.50-1 limit. The swings should be minimal at this level because the play is so terrible. Tighten up and play conservatively and you should be able to win a little money and clear the bonus in an hour or two of play.

The easiest site to clear bonuses is Party. For new customers they offer a 20% bonus up to $100 that clears with easy compared to most sites. Combine this offer with our exclusive offer and you can turn your $100 roll into $145 virtually instantly! Then do the same at Royal Vegas. For four hours of play you can increase your bankroll by 75%.

While other bonus offers may give you a 75% or higher bonus, I assure you that this offer of 75% will clear much faster rate than any other offer.

Any money you win at the table would go on top of this. Given the weak state of Party's lower limit tables and you could expect to win at least a little bit while clearing the bonus and built your roll even more!

Once you get a decent enough amount (250-350 B.B.) you can cash out your money and
start chasing the 100% bonuses offers at sites like Full Tilt. By that time you will be well on your way to being properly bankrolled for the lower limit games and you will be able to handle the swings of the game thanks to your smart investment strategy.

About the Author

Mitch Free runs ITBholdem.com and is constantly working to improve the state of Online Poker. If you are concerned about game integrity and making sure the game is fair, please visit his site.