Well one day I noticed the guy at the desk next to me playing a card game that I’d not seen before, thinking he had a new version of solitaire or hearts I asked for a link so I could play too. The link he sent me was to an online poker site, not one of the big sites we all know today, but a small UK-only site.

Curious now, I sat and watched him play for a while and asked him to explain the rules to me. He was playing a no-limit Texas Holdem tournament. An hour or so later he was at the final table, and soon the tournament ended, with him in 3rd place, and paid out over £100 for his trouble.

Well this Saturday was really dragging on, so I went back and looked at the link again, and saw a special offer “Sign up and deposit £10 and we’ll give you £10 free”. Well I was still bored, so out came the credit card, and a few minutes later I had an open account with £20 in it and was ready to play. I found a 5p/10p limit holdem game running, and sat in, after a shaky start and losing a couple of pots I started to get the idea, and a quick search on Google for a strategy guide got me on my way and by the end of the day that £20 had turned in £35! I carried on for a few weeks, playing a little poker during slow shifts, and the balance kept growing, until one day I came second in a tournament, and won £84, taking my total balance to over £200. I was amazed, this was easy money!

I then decided it was time to get serious, I spent some time researching online poker sites, and reading strategy books, and then withdrew my £200 and opened a US dollar Neteller account. I had quickly realized that there were loads of poker bonus offers out there, and that I needed a quick way to move money around without paying loads in bank fees and currency conversions. From then on it was easy, deposit at a site, play the required number of hands, claim the bonus, cash out, and move on to the next one! Soon my £200 ($400) was $1000, then it was $2000, and then I discovered casino whoring and quickly learned how to play perfect basic blackjack strategy (it’s easy there are loads of charts on-line, all you need to do is memorize the chart!) and then my bankroll really took off!

Today I still play poker, still lowish limits, you’ll usually find me at the $50nl tables, or $100nl if I’m feeling lucky and I still find a few poker and casino bonuses to play every month, and to date my records show that I have cashed out a profit of just over £20,000 ($40,000) - not bad for a £10 initial investment!

As fate would have it, and as you’ve already guessed, I stumbled upon a couple of no deposit bonus offers from two sites, Lucky Nugget Poker and Royal Vegas Poker (neither offer no deposit bonuses these days). Both were for $10. I tried Lucky Nugget first, and wasn’t very lucky. The $10 was gone in about an hour. A few weeks later, and after really digging into some poker strategy books, I took another shot with the $10 at Royal Vegas Poker. The first night I ran it up to about $50. The next night, $76 and change. Though my wife was screaming at me to withdraw it, I chose to continue playing.

That initial burst at Royal Vegas was late July of 2003. By October 2003, I had a little over $1000 in my cashier balance. This time, it was real money. This was all playing .50 / $1 seven card stud at Royal Vegas Poker.

Needless to say I was elated. I suppose my only mistake was depositing the minimum when I chose to make my first withdrawal in October. They required one real money deposit to make a withdrawal, so I deposited $20, not realizing that I would get a deposit bonus on my first deposit. Oops. I cleared my massive $5 bonus (D’OH!) pretty quickly, and withdrew $500 that first time. It didn’t really hit me that it was real until it was in my bank account and we actually spent it. That was a pretty memorable day for me.

Later in 2003, I taught my wife to play, and between the two of us we managed to pay many of our bills that semester of college via our poker earnings. Almost 5 years later, as of this writing, I’m still playing on the casino’s dime.

Poker is a recreational side income for me these days. I play up to $5/$10, and still mainly play 7 card stud. I’m proud to say that through solid poker play, bankroll management and taking advantage of timely promotions at the many online casinos (deposit bonuses, reloads, VIP deals, rakeback, etc.,) I’ve been able to support a hobby … through earnings from that hobby. Most hobbies are money sinks, but poker has been a money maker for me, and it all started with a $10 no deposit bonus. I consider myself very very fortunate!

In conclusion, I can’t promise you that you’ll take $10 to a grand and more. In fact, most people will no doubt bust out with free poker money, again and again. I can say that combining free money offers with a willingness to learn strategy and apply it, can truly show a great profit for you in the long run. I know that by experience. If you’re thinking of starting into online poker or casino games, the no deposit bonuses and free bankroll offers are a great way to get going, risk free.

So what if you just want to have fun? What can be more fun than experiencing the thrill of real money gambling, without risking your own cash? If you decide to make a deposit, free matching poker bonus and casino bonus offers abound. Regular visitors to Las Vegas know that if you hit the casinos a lot, and use your comp cards, you can get some great freebies. Many other folks spend hundreds and even thousands on going to ball games, hunting or fishing. If online gaming is your “thing”, taking advantage of the “online comps” is a no-brainer.

So best of luck to both the serious and the “just having fun” players. I truly hope one of our no deposit casino, no deposit poker or free bankroll offers turn into a thousand bucks for you too!