WOW !!! This thread is fantastic. I've learned lots of information through your log.
I'll be trying the Fortune Lounge bonusses and need help on how to clear the play through on these bonusses. The playthrough requirements are counted as follow:
Slots, American Roulette and Parlor Games 100%
Table Poker games, Casino War, Sicbo and all Roulettes except American Roulette 50%
Video Poker games, Craps, Baccarat and all Blackjacks except Classic Blackjack 10%
Classic Blackjack & All Aces Video Poker 2%
Noticed that you cleared the some of your bonusses which have similar playthrough requirement by playing French roulette but I've no idea on how this is done. Any help would be appreciated.
Some quotes from my future website are below. I didn't reformat the tables, so the tables did not come out correctly:
=========================================================
Microgaming Clearplay Bonuses
Introduction
Most Microgaming casinos use the "Clearplay" bonus system. Under this system, you can withdraw your winnings at any time, whether you have met the wagering requirements on the bonus or not. This makes the bonus like a sticky with no playthough, if cashed out early. The largest expected gain occurs, if you bet the bonus before playing through. This strategy carries a high risk. You may win big and you may lose your deposit. I gained ~$10,000 playing through the Clearplay Microgaming sign on bonuses with this higher risk strategy. The expected gain from all of the Clearplay sign on bonuses is near $2,000-10,000 depending on currency and strategy. Some Microgaming casinos offer other Clearplay bonuses to their customers that are similar to the sign up bonus several times per month. You can still make a gain at many casinos without higher risk bets. . If you have a low risk tolerance, I'd recommend either making a smaller deposit or playing through the bonus without betting it first (see "Playing Through The Bonus") section below.
The BIG Bet
Lets take a coin flip as an example. Imagine a coin flip where heads you get $200 and tails you lose $100. This is obviously a good deal. The expected return is (+$200-$100) / 2 = +$50. A Microgaming Clearplay bonus with a 100% match of $100 can be treated the same way as this coin flip. If you bet all $200 of it on a hand of craps or baccarat and win, your balance increases to $400 -- $300 cash and $100 bonus. If you withdraw the $300, your bonus disappears, and your gain is +$200. If you lose the bet, you lose $100. Again, the expected gain fo this bet is ~+$50. If you bet all of it a second time after winning, then 1/4 of the time, you would gain $600 and the other 3/4 of the time, you would lose $100. This increases the expected return to (+$600 - 3x$100)/4=$75. If you keep betting all your winnings over and over, you approach an EV of the bonus size. The obvious downside of rebetting over and over is you would typically lose your deposit. Most people would prefer a strategy where they typically win, and would forgo some of the expected gain to do so.
One strategy is to bet all of the bankroll on a hand of craps (don't pass), baccarat (banker), or french roulette (red or black). I'd recommend against blackjack. Blackjack has a lower player edge under typical circumstances, but without the option to double or split, the house edge increases to ~2.5%. An alternative is to bet a portion of the bankroll on a higher paying roulette option, such as 1-12 or a numbered bet. For example, you might bet 1/3 of your bankroll on a 3:1 bet like 1-12. This option can be useful, if limited by maximum bet size.
I like to bet half of my balance on a hand of Atlantic City Blackjack. I favor this strategy over betting all of my bankroll at once because I can choose to double my bet when the odds are in my favor or surrender half of my bet win the odds are against me; I like to be able to play more than one hand; and I am expected to come out ahead the majority of the time. Using this strategy, and stopping after a win above bankroll, you are expected to retain ~35% of the bonus and win ~2/3 of the time. If you bet half the bankoll a second time, the expected bonus retention increases to ~55% and win ~1/2 of the time -- roughly the same gain as betting all of the bankroll at once. I have had much better than statistically expected results with this strategy.
There are countless other alternatives. Choose a game, make large bets, then stop if you get far enough ahead. Games like VP and slots have a high variance, so you are likely to bust and lose your deposit. However, if you do win, you have the potential to gain more than with the low variance games.
Playing Through the Bonus
The bonus becomes cashable in $10 increments as you meet a portion of the wagering requirement. Game selections are weighted such that the player is expected to lose the bonus at a higher rate than it becomes cashable. The most common setup is being required to playthrough the bonus 30x with the games weighed as follows. If you played only slots, you'd have to play through the bonus 30x before it became cashable. If you played only Video Poker, you'd have to play through the bonus 300x before it became cashable.
Slots, American Roulette and Parlor Games
100%
Table Poker games, Casino War, Sicbo and all Roulettes except American Roulette
50%
Video Poker, Craps, Baccarat and all Blackjacks except Classic Blackjack
10%
Classic Blackjack
2%
Expected bonus retention for a variety of games with this system is listed below:
Game
Wager
Expected Gain/Loss
French Roulette
60xB
+0.2xB
Atlantic City Blackjack
300xB
-0.1xB
Jacks or Better VP
300xB
-0.15xB
Slots
30xB
-0.5xB?
American Roulette
30xB
-0.6xB
Pai Gow
60xB
-0.7xB
Casino War
60xB
-0.7xB
Baccarat
300xB
-3.2xB
A few groups weight the games higher towards wagering than listed in the tables above. The Trident Group's System is listed in the two tables below:
Slots; Progressive Slots; American Roulette; Keno; Scratch games; Red Dog; Sic Bo & Cyberstud
100%
Video slots; Roulette; Paigow Poker; Poker Pursuit & progressives games
67%
Craps; Blackjack; Video, Power & multi-hand Pokers; 3-Card Poker; Casino War & Baccarat
33%
Expected bonus retention for a variety of games with this system is listed below:
Game
Wager
Expected Gain/Loss
Risk of Loss
Atlantic City Blackjack
90xB
+0.65xB
High
Jacks or Better VP
90xB
+0.55xB
Very High
French Roulette
45xB
+0.4xB
Medium
Red Dog
30xB
+0.1xB
Very High
Baccarat
90xB
0xB
Very High
Traditional Slots
30xB
-0.5?
Very High
American Roulette
30xB
-0.6xB
Very High
Pai Gow
45xB
-0.7xB
Very High
Video Slots
45xB
-2xB?
Very High
Under the common Microgaming weighhting in which only French Roulette has a positve expected gain/loss, obviously the best game to choose is French Roulette. Under the more favorable Trident Lounge game weighting, there ar more choices. I'd strongly recommend against video poker due to the high variance. You have a much higher risk of busting than with BJ or French Roulette. BJ has a higher expected gain. The downside is a larger variance due to the higher wagering and a larger risk of a loss. Completing the wagering requirement will also take longer due to the larger wagering and slower hands. For both roulette and BJ, Microgaming offers an autoplay feature and a quick hand/spin option. This makes such a large wagering requiement practical.
To minimize risk in French Roulette, you may be tempted to bet on both red & black; or bet $36 on red, $36 on black and $1 on zero (all game results return same value). A few Microgaming casinos have rules against this strategy in their T&C. However, the more typical result is to pay the player as expected. After paying the casino, may later ban the player from receiving further bonuses. If you have made a big win with a large bet, I'd recommend against betting on both red & black, and giving the casino an excuse not to pay you.
Remember that under the Clearplay bonus system, you do not have to play through the bonus. After winning with the big bet, you may wish to stop there or just play until reaching the first $10 portion of the bonus is converted to cash. Gaining an extra 0.2xB may be a small amount compared to your win.
Cashing Out
I'd recommend not cashing out immediately after a big bet. Play some minimum bet hands or minimum value slot spins. This reduces the risk of being labeled as a bonus abuser and being banned from further promotions within the group. For similar reasons, you should not cash out all of your balance at once. I cash out my deposit, wait for it to be received in Neteller, then cash out my winnings or a portion of my winnings. Microgaming tend to pay out winnings quickly. 24-48 hours is typical.
