Chasing Poker Room “High Hand Bonuses” -- Is It Worth It?

High Hand BonusesLow-stakes poker players in casinos love promotions, which allow them, if luck is on their side, to take home a lot more money than they could expect to win through straight poker.

I wrote for PokerNews a basic, introductory guide to the operation and rules of the most common types of promotions here. That guide, however, does not discuss how the presence of a promotion changes the dynamics of the poker game, and how one should alter strategy accordingly. That’s what I’d like to start addressing in this article.

Perhaps the most common promotion, at least in the Las Vegas card rooms, is a high-hand bonus. Typically if you have four of a kind or a straight flush or royal…