I am seeing a few offers about getting software for free by using promo codes.

For example, Holdem Manager 2, which is a very popular piece of software.
http://www.holdemmanager.com/store/g...oker-site-id=4

You can get it free if you sign up using a promo link. When you complete a certain number of points required, you get credit to use to buy software to the value of $100.

As I understand, while you do that you are basically paying for the software with rakeback.

Even more, after you have played enough to get the credit to buy the software, you are at loss, because you cannot gain anything at all.

What I mean is, compare this to having signed up with a rakeback offer. After you would have made the points required to get credit for HM2, you would KEEP getting rakeback INFINITELY, right?

As far as I know, this is not possible, and the option to make this deal can only be made ON THE FIRST SIGNUP. Unless it is possible for a player who is already signed up at a site to start getting rakeback somehow? Is that the case?

1) So, in conclusion, it seems that anyone who wants to stay long term on any poker site had better NOT sign up to get software for free because they will miss out on a lot of money in the long run. Ironically, one is buying something like HM2 exactly because THEY WANT TO PLAY LONG TERM! So it is a very bad deal - unless you want to sign up for a site only to get the software and then run off somewhere else.

Am I right to say that?

2) What happens to the rakeback for those who signed up for such an offer, and for all those who did not sign up for any rakeback offer at all? Am I right to say that they are simply missing out on a lot of free money, just because of getting free software, or because they did not enter a code at signup? And isn't it a bit harsh that you get ONE chance to sign up for a site for all your life, and you'd be doomed to be playing on other sites forever if rakeback matters?


PS. This is nothing against HM2 and the sales offer in particular, I just used it as an example because this is a very popular piece of software and it is not the only one who is doing the same kind of offer.

Long-term offsite rakeback (via affiliates) is being phased out on the networks that still offer it, so new players should probably focus on a short-term offer. (Recent example: William Hill has decided to stop paying rakeback to affiliates for sign-ups that were made years ago. Stars did this some time ago. The industry is currently more interested in new player acquisition than player retention.)
If you can get some sort of instant bonus deal for signing up to a site that has its own rewards program, that's probably better for you, because there's no guarantee that offsite rakeback will even exist in a year or so. You also don't even know if you'll still be interested in the game. About 80% of people who make their first deposit today will have found a new hobby within a year.