When you first create your account at a poker room to play online there are several steps you need to go through in order to play for real money. Downloading the software and creating an account are pretty straight forward. But before you can play, you need to add money to your account to play with. This should be pretty straight forward but there are a few critical items you should know about before adding money to your account.

1 – Add money to your account with the same method you want to withdraw it.

This may not seem important to begin with but most sites will only allow you to withdraw money to the original method you added money to your account with. This may seem illogical but due to anti-money laundering rules a lot of rooms will only allow you to take money out by the same way you put it onto a site.

This means that if you made your first deposit with a visa card, any money you take out of the room will be put back onto that card. So it really can be a huge advantage to research the best way to add money to your account, then setup the necessary accounts to make this happen. For most players, using a credit card is a very convenient method of adding money, so they don’t mind taking a bit out and putting it back on the card.

If you find your self in a situation where you will need to withdraw larger and larger winnings, find a payment solution that works best with your room and yourself, then setup an account. Most rooms will have you make another deposit with the new payment solution before you can withdraw to it. If you have any questions, make sure you contact the poker rooms customer support to avoid any headaches and wasting your time.

2 – Find a first deposit bonus offer

Once you make your first deposit, poker rooms will not allow you to go back and find a bonus code. So it’s critical that you have the best offer lined up ready to go so when you do add money to your account, you have either a bonus code ready or have clicked through on a promotion that will tag your account with the correct information.

It can pay to dig for current promotions that are above and beyond the standard offers so spend some time to research offers before completing this step. It can literately pay off to find a better offer that one that is published on the rooms homepage.

3 – Understand the bonus offer fine print

Some rooms will only credit a bonus on your first deposit, some will credit a bonus to your first 5 or 6 deposits while others on all deposits made during your first month of play. You really need to understand this as it can make an impact on how and when you deposit.

A trap some players fall into is only making a minimum deposit of $50 or so the first deposit, then adding a larger amount in a week or so once they get comfortable playing on the site. What has happened to many players is that the room they signed up with only credits the bonus on the first deposit, the $50 smaller amount, but not on the second larger deposit.

This has made many players frustrated as they then lose out on a bonus they should have gotten had they known about the bonus rules before making their deposits. It is very important that you fully understand the bonus rule and terms so you can maximize the bonus on every dollar you deposit.

In the rush to sign up and start playing, a lot of players don’t take the time, or know to consider these two hugely important items. Once you commit to a room and sign up you can’t do it again so take the time to research and know how you will add money to your account and that you are getting the best bonus offer currently available. Even though it can take a bit of extra time to do these, it is worth it, and the games will still be running after yous sort these out and finally add money to your account.