I am trying to clear my last bonus on Poker Stars. I decided to play 3 tables of 50NLHE during their double FFPs hour on Friday afternoon.

I did so and cleared a TOTAL of 16 FFPs. I know that this is an anamoly and they were kind enough to send me an audit. Their figures were correct.

I did the same thing this evening playing 4 tables and cleared 32 FFPs.

I must conclude that I am playing the wrong limit to clear this or any other PS bonus.

I have taken advantage of each of them as I do of Partys and the other major sites. I can clear a max bonus at Party in ONE day. It will take me 2 weeks to clear the PS bonus. it is for $120 and I need to clear 600 FFPs. In the past week I have cleared 350 FFPs in 16 hours of play and netted $145.

I am not real comfortable playing the 100NL tables, but played one of those for an hour and cleared 13 FFPs in the hour.

I do not play limit. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Well, FPP earn in NL when the pot reaches enough for a $1 rake - so a $20 pot is needed. How often will you hit that high of a pot at a $50 table. My suspicion is not very often. If you want to clear it faster, you will either need to a) move up or b) switch to limit for clearing or c) switch to another game.

Personally, I play limit, so I have little trouble clearing the bonus. I also play Omaha and Stud which tend to have higher pot averages than Hold'em. For instance, I generally get in 50-65 hands per hour per table in Omaha Hi/Lo. I generally get 40-60 of these raked. At hold'em - you're number of raked hands (with a high enough rake), is going to be much lower than this with the equivalent number of hands. However, I would play at Pokerstars even without the bonus (in fact I often do), so I'm not real concerned with how fast it releases.

I don't recommend increasing the limits unless you have the bankroll and are ready for the inherent increased variance.

Pokerstars is one of the few sites that allows you to work off a bonus playing SnGs...not that it is the fastest way, but I enjoy them.

You can run 2 or 3 at a time and you will get through it....and if you do not mind the turbo formatted ones, you can work it off even faster....

Yeh PS bonuses are awful to release even at NL$100.

You need to go as high as $200NL to free them up at a decent rate.

You will earn more FPP's/hr playing $6.50 Turbo SnG's than $50 NL..

I never seem to do well chasing bonuses at PS anyway... I should learn my lesson and stick to Party, Crypto and UB..