Bonus clearing techniques, need some advice.

[stanny]

Hi all,

I am new to the world of online casino bonuses and I was just wondering what kind of techniques do you guys use to clear a bonus?

Let's assume it's 100% up to $100 and they don't allow a full bankroll bet. The wager requirements would be 30x the bonus received and follows the standard % of games towards wagering requirement (slots 100%, casino war 25%, blackjack 5%, etc) so obviously flat betting blackjack won't clear the bonus with a positive expectation. So what kind of techniques do you use to clear bonuses while still maintaining a positive EV? It would be great if you can give two examples, one for the casinos which require you to play-through before any withdrawals and one that doesn't.

Regards,
Stan

[happygobrokey]

anti-martingale. press your bets when you win and back off when you lose. if you can get five wins in a row and make more than 50 bucks or whatever, "cash" that win and start low again and then you'll have a cushion for everytime you lose a hand and have to begin the cycle anew. this way you clear a lot of wr with minimal hits to your stack since the wr will be massive.

i'm not going to endorse this betting system, nor have i really tried it, but given the obstacle in question of fully clearing a wr and given that flat-betting expects to lose money over the playthrough, it seems only logical to put more on the table when you're ahead and conserve when you're losing money. try to maintain the original balance and if you get some good runs, bank them and stay ahead of the game.

there's no sure way to win, but does anyone agree that this strategy might be useful for this player's scenario?

edit: and if you can withdraw without meeting the wr (and have any semblance of an adequate bankroll to speak of), then just sticky it up and bet half your balance every hand until you are broke or have a nice win (bearing in mind the bonus funds would be forfeited). repeat this at four or five other casinos to cover any losses, and with luck you'll have a tidy profit. (this is how real gamblers do it, cowboy up)

another edit for extra credit: you say the "standard" % contribution to wr of certain games. there are quite a few places who offer 100% to $100 and similar bonuses with 15xb to 50x(b+d) and all games count 100% (intercasino offers it at 30xb for bj, 18x for table games, and does this every month). so for bj: your microgaming casino with its 5% contribution (or play 20x as much) gives 20x30x100= 60000 wr (table games not much better at 25% or 4x30x100= 12000, at a much higher house edge than bj). inter's 30xb for bj 100% is 30x100= 3000. even a place offering 50x(b+d), you still have 50x200= 10000, one sixth of the requirement for the bonus of which you speak in your post. my best advice to you is to go play some better cashables until you have enough money to make the mg clearplay bonuses lucrative using the sticky strategy.

i won't be a huge name dropper but beating bonuses or casino bonus pages give good leads on the best offers to take up.

and one more edit for the A+: i see you're from malaysia. i just saw today in the terms and conditions of a playtech casino, that malaysians face certain restrictions with respect to bonus. so i advise you to read carefully wherever you consider playing. good luck!

quality control: was this advice of use to you? if not, request cleanup of article. if yes, reply with praise and toss a thanks. have a nice day!

[Zoozie]

Like Happygobrokey, I assume you are talking about MG clearplay bonuses.With MG clearplay bonuses you can most often withdraw at any time
and just forfeit the bonus. (check the T&C)

I always withdraw if bankroll/bonus >=10 or even sometimes >=8 if I have a huge bankroll. The is the only good thing about the clearplay bonuses since the wagering is way too high unless you play slots.

Zoozie

[aka23]

Let's assume it's 100% up to $100 and they don't allow a full bankroll bet. The wager requirements would be 30x the bonus received and follows the standard % of games towards wagering requirement (slots 100%, casino war 25%, blackjack 5%, etc) so obviously flat betting blackjack won't clear the bonus with a positive expectation. So what kind of techniques do you use to clear bonuses while still maintaining a positive EV? It would be great if you can give two examples, one for the casinos which require you to play-through before any withdrawals and one that doesn't.

There are some tables in the Clearplay link of my signature, showing the average gain with various strategies.

I'd recommend choosing a high variance strategy such that you will either win big or bust before wagering enough for the house edge to make a large cut into your average gain. For example, you could make large bets on a favorite slot game until you either bust or reach a target gain. Alternatively, you could play a negligible house edge game like classic BJ... again continuing until you either bust or reach a target gain. If you like video poker, 3-card poker, or some other game; you could play that instead. There are countless alternatives.

If you win big and can cash out, then do so. If you must play through the bonus after winning big, then choose a low variance strategy, such that you are likely to complete the wagering. With the weighting you listed, you likely have the best chance of completing wagering on the game American Roulette (assuming American Roulette is 100% and French Roulette is 25%). With typical game weighting, French Roulette is a better choice than American.

[stanny]

When you guys say bet big until I hit a nice target, how big is big? And what would be a nice target? Can you provide some specific examples? Say 100% up to $100, so I have $200. Can I flat bet $25 a hand on classic BJ until I reach $400? Would that be a nice sized bet and a nice sized target? What kind of bet and target do you set usually?

Also for clearing wagering requirements if before any withdrawal, you need to play through, I understand that french roulette would be the best. But what kind of bet techniques do you use? Would really help alot if you can be specific with the actual ammount to bet and on what.

Thanks alot

[happygobrokey]

bet more than $25/hand with $200 in chips to start. bet 50-100, and if you win it, bet 100-200, and keep pressing. you want to reach your target in the fewest hands possible since flatbetting 25 would require 8 overall losses to bust but take 12 overall wins to get up to 500. you are much more likely to win 4 half-your-balance bets overall then try to build it up by 25 at a time. this is why these bonuses really put your balls to the wall and you should really have enough excess gambling money that losing your deposit won't affect you for more than a second. take whatever big win you're willing to play for. some will stop when they can cash out three times their deposit, other won't stop before ten times d, or they just press to a certain total like $1000 or $1500. but of course you are going to miss the target more often than you hit it, and the higher your target, the more you risk, since you're betting a large chunk (25-50%) of your stack on each hand using this strategy. i would have enough bankroll to do at least four of this style bonus so you can multiply your chances of cashing out.

as for doing french to grind out a bonus, bet the minimum on either red or black, set autoplay for the required number of spins to meet wr (or the max number of spins if there's a lot of play left), then go have some sex, make a sandwich, open up another casino or poker client, browse the meister forum, exercise, watch tv, read a book, play video games, go shopping (maybe browse for something to buy with your win), drive out to the beach, call your mother, go to the library, return some videos, go have a pint at the pub, download music, research your next casino, and after you do all that, reset the spins if there's wr left, if not then organize the withdrawal and crack a celebratory brewskie.

whatever you do, don't bet more than the minimum, since that will only make it twice as hard to keep your balance intact. ideally you are trying to come out even money playing french this way, so a larger bet would just help you to lose more quickly while offering little to gain. since it ain't you spinning the wheel or placing the chips, who cares if you spin 4500 or 9000 times. you minimize variance doing a min bet with more spins.

edit: very cool random fact! apart from antarctica, ireland is the only place with no snakes that are dangerous to humans... wild eh?

[EasyRhino]

Personally, for clearplay or sticky bonuses, I bet the largest amount I can as long as it doesn't cripple betting options. For blackjack, this is usually a half-bankroll bet.

For instance, deposit $100, get a $100 bonus. Starting chipcount is $200. I'll play a $100 hand of blackjack (preferably a single deck kind with a low edge that only allows splitting once). The half-bet is for in case I have to split or double. I usually just stick with this bet amount if I win a few hands.

Set a target for your high-risk wagering relative to your starting chipcount. For a starting point of $200, this should be at least $400. Or you could go with $600 or $800. However, there is a large element of risk here, since you will be losing everything between 50% and 75% of the time. The rule of thumb is you want a few thousand dollars before you max out the aggression with 4x targets.

In casinos with crappy weighting requirements, I just request a withdrawal after I reach the target, if it's allowed.

And as aka already mentioned, if you are playing at a place that gives 50% or 66% weighting to french roulette, you can play it for a very minor theoretical profit, so I'll usually do that with the min bet method.

[KasinoKing]

Hi all,

I am new to the world of online casino bonuses and I was just wondering what kind of techniques do you guys use to clear a bonus?

Just switch between different games, trying to quit ahead on each one!
(Works for me )

Personally I think grinding out a WR with low-risk BJ or Roulette to end up with a tiny fraction of the bonus money is rather sad really.
You might just as well deposit without a bonus, try to increase your bankroll by 15-20% & quit.
Much easier & less stressful!

[happygobrokey]

Personally I think grinding out a WR with low-risk BJ or Roulette to end up with a tiny fraction of the bonus money is rather sad really.
You might just as well deposit without a bonus, try to increase your bankroll by 15-20% & quit.
Much easier & less stressful!

you don't mean to say you think turning 100 into 120 is easier than making 200 into 120?

mike skinner aka the streets once rapped "in spread betting it's easy to make a small fortune, just start with a big fortune and lose till it's a small fortune," doesn't quite apply but it came to mind!

on the good starting out bonuses one usually stands to retain 80-95% of the bonus grinding min bets at optimal strategy on decent games like pontoon or other liberal bj formats.

[aka23]

When you guys say bet big until I hit a nice target, how big is big? And what would be a nice target? Can you provide some specific examples? Say 100% up to $100, so I have $200. Can I flat bet $25 a hand on classic BJ until I reach $400? Would that be a nice sized bet and a nice sized target? What kind of bet and target do you set usually?

If the Clearplay bonus is cashed out early (without completing the first chunk of the playthrough), then the average gain is bonus * risk of bust - average wagering * house edge. Classic BJ has a low enough house edge (0.09% with optimal strategy), that average wagering * house edge is roughly the same with $25 bets or larger bets of up to half bank roll. The difference is with $25 bets, you'll likely play many hands. While with half-bankroll bets, you'll quickly bust or make your target gain. I'd recommend larger bets with baccarat, roulette, pai gow, or just about any other lower variance game. But with Classic BJ, bet size makes little difference.

Target gain depends on your risk tolerance. If you attempt to double your bankroll, then if average wagering * house edge is negligible, you'll fail a little more than half of the time and your average gain will be about half of the bonus. If you attempt to triple your bankroll, you'll fail a little more than 2/3 of the time, and your average gain will be about 2/3 of the bonus . If you can handle busting and losing your deposit most of the time, then a higher target is the way to go. If you'd rather win most of the time, then a lower target and lower average gain is the way to go.

Personally, my target depends on the bonus and my mood. If I am risking a large portion of my own funds with a 50% offer on a $200 deposit or similar, my target will be low, perhaps only 1.5x initial bankroll. If I am risking little of my own funds with a 200% offer on a $50 deposit or similar, my target will be high, perhaps 4x initial bankroll or more. There are times I've gone as high as >10x initial bankroll and successfully cashed out with an incredible gain. If I have busted with a lot of bonuses recently, I tend to set a lower target. If I have cashed out a lot of bonuses recently, I tend to set a higher target.

Also for clearing wagering requirements if before any withdrawal, you need to play through, I understand that french roulette would be the best. But what kind of bet techniques do you use? Would really help alot if you can be specific with the actual ammount to bet and on what.

I bet on a 1:1 pay option (red, black, 1-18, 19-36, odd, or even), then turn on autoplay and quick spin. Note that French Roulette only returns half your bet when 0 is hit on outside bets (not on numbered bets).