Bits and bits

• My Seventeen Pedestals cache in Fife has gone missing. I need to replace it soon.
• No response yet from HighRollersLounge.com. I found a link to e-mail the casino manager directly (through CasinoMeister.com, a great watchdog site), and did so last night. I also initiated a withdrawal of the $125 initial deposit, just to be on the safe side.
• The new player bonuses are starting to get harder to find. Either the site is on CasinoMeister's or WizardOfOdds' list of casinos to avoid, the WR is too high, or they only allow higher-than-acceptable-risk games.
• I'm still waiting on my withdrawals from Prism and VegasStrip to show up. Prism says it takes 5-10 business days for the withdrawal to be approved.
• Yesterday, I ran an Excel simulation of 107 sessions of playing 0.50% house edge blackjack, given a 250% bonus on a $100 deposit, $50 a hand. In those 107 sessions, the simulation hit the goal of $800 58 times (54%), and busted out 49 times. Switching to 2.8% house edge War, the winning percentage dropped to just over 10%, reinforcing for me what a difference the house edge makes.
• Listening to the Poker Diagram podcast on the way in to work this morning reinforced that I really need to get playing poker again. The last time I played was at TMIB's bachelor party, and like PokerDiagram's Zog, I got knocked out in a race, holding on to a naked big slick post-flop knowing the other player had hit top pair.
• CDPoker.com is still spamming me, in spite of my multiple unsubscribe requests. My domain registrar now sends autoreplies from my custom CDPoker address and forwards the incoming mail into my spam collection address before it even hits my e-mail server. Stupid site.

Poker for kids

OK; I'm torn here. I've taught my daughter poker. I think it's a good way to learn probabilities. It's a great social skill. But I also wouldn't want her wagering away her allowance on a weekly basis, and if you think probability is hard to teach, try teaching bankroll management when the bankroll is $5.

From the MetroWest Daily News: Library hits jackpot with poker-playing kids

BELLINGHAM, Mass. -- It had many of the trappings of a typical poker night -- chips, pretzels, cheese doodles, even an audible belch coming from one table.

But there was no beer or expanding middle-age waistlines to behold during last night's "Bubblegum Poker" program.

That's because it was held at the Bellingham Public Library.

It was a Texas Hold'em poker night -- using bubble gum as the currency -- strictly limited to the younger set. Anyone from fifth grade to a senior in high school was welcome, and a group of about 20, evenly mixed between boys and girls from ages 11 to 15, turned up for the event.

HighRollersLounge.com takes my winnings; Vegas Strip softens the blow

It should be interesting to see how this turns out. Names changed to protect the parties:

You are now chatting with '[some rep]'
Your Issue ID for this chat is LTKxxxxxxxxxxx
Me: Hi, I made a deposit of $125 on June 19, using coupon BPBBE, got very lucky at War over the next half hour, met the wagering requirements, and requested a $400 withdrawal. It appears that the withdrawal was declined on June 21. Can you tell me why this was?
Rep: The money was taken out your account due to your gaming pattern..you can withdrawal your deposits
Me: I don't understand. Gaming pattern?
Rep: The gaming patterns are the patterns of bets which the casino do not approve
Me: I checked the terms before I played -- War wasn't on the list of prohibited games. Can you explain what I did wrong?
[waited a long time]
Me: I checked the terms before I played -- War wasn't on the list of prohibited games. Can you explain what I did wrong?
Me: I played $5 a hand for about $1800. I could have just as easily lost it all as won what I did. I wouldn't consider this a low-risk strategy violating the terms. Is that the implication?
Rep: The decision has been made and its final
Me: That's very discouraging. Can you tell me what I should have done differently?
Rep: sir the decision was up to management not me.
Me: Is there someone I could contact to find out? I might consider playing at one of your affiliated sites, but I'd certainly hesitate to unless I could learn what I did wrong so I don't make the same mistake in the future.

Rep: sir there is nothing more i can help you with.
Me: I'm sorry to hear that. Thank you for the information. Have a pleasant evening.
Chat session has been terminated by the site operator.

So, I sent an e-mail to the casino's Customer Relations Manager. He's management, right? So he'd be the one to know why the decision was made?

From: [Me]
Subject: Question for casino management
Date: Mon, June 26, 2006 9:11 pm
To: support@highrollerslounge.com

Dear Mr. xxxxxx:

Below is the transcript of a chat I had this evening with [Rep], your very pleasant customer service representative. In that chat, he indicated that casino management took the $275 I won because of "patterns of bets which the casino do not approve." I asked him what that meant, and what I could have done differently, but he was unable to find out.

Can you explain to me why $5 a hand for about $1800 at War is an unapproved pattern of bets? I'd like to avoid making the same mistake in the future.

Thanks in advance,

[signature]

However, I finished up my wagering requirements at Vegas Strip Casino, at $5 a hand, two hands at once, and ended up with a balance of $1,350. Taking away the sticky bonus of $275 leaves $1,075, but the maximum withdrawal allowed is 10x the deposit (10x $100 = $1000), so I'll end up withdrawing $1,000, which is +$900 after subtracting the inital deposit.

High Rollers Casino: reneging on their $125 match bonus: -$275.00
Vegas Strip Casino: $275 sticky bonus: +$900.00
Something-out-of-nothing to date: $3,315

The avalanche has started

The WSOP begins today. CardSquad reports:

Here is a quick look at what is coming up this week at the World Series:
Today: $500 NLHE Casino Employees
Tuesday: $1500 NLHE
Wednesday: $1500 Pot-Limit Hold'em
Thursday: $1500 Limit Hold'em
Friday: $2500 NLHE, 6/table
Saturday: $2000 NLHE
Sunday: $3000 Limit Hold'em

Looking good this time

I mentioned the list of Vegas Strip offers that rolled in last Friday afternoon, and on Friday night, I signed up for their "275% on $25 or more, max 10x cashout, sticky" offer (it's WR was 30x, not 40x like the 350% offers). It turns out "or more" means "up to $100,000", so it's essentially infinite. With numbers that high, the table limits would make achieving the playthrough pretty much impossible.

I bought in for $100, and got $375 to play with. 30x WR means I've got to playthrough $11,250. After a little bit of up-and-down at $50 a hand, my balance started going up, up, up, and I hit my target of $1000 at about $3500 of playthrough. Making up the difference of $7750 at $5 a hand would be quite tedious and time-consuming, so I kept playing at $50 a hand, dropped down to $650, then back up to $1012.50 at about the $6500 playthrough level. I then started playing $5 a hand, two hands at a time, and have fluctuated around the $1000 mark, down as low as $920, and up as far as $1200.

It got late, I got tired, and as I started to doze off, I watched myself stand on an 8 against the dealer's 10. Yeah, time to go to bed and finish up on Monday night. With about $1500 in WR to go, it's looking like I'll end between +$525 and +$1025.

Blacklisted again

I got another e-mail this morning, this time from Casino King, which I actually lost money at.

Our automated system has declined your request for a bonus. This may be due to abusive bonus activity.

Mind you, I didn't request a bonus, and haven't even fired up their software since I lost, but they're part of the same affiliate group that blacklisted me on Swiss and Kiwi, so this isn't really a surprise.

Maybe I should lose more often

As I mentioned in my last post, I lost $200 last night at Vegas Strip Casino, hunting for their sticky bonus. No biggie. It gave me a chance to watch the final three episodes of Doctor Who (thanks, LimeWire and Tivo!)

So this afternoon, I get the following array of offers in my mailbox:

• 50% on $500 or more, no max, non-sticky
• 80% on $25 or more, max 15x cashout, 75% sticky (?)
• 100% on $1000 or more, no max, no WR, non sticky (!!!)
• 200% on $50 or more, max 10x cashout, sticky
• 275% on $25 or more, max 10x cashout, sticky
• 350% on $25 or more, max 10x cashout, sticky
• 350% on $100 or more, plus 10% on all deposits since June 1, max 10x cashout, sticky
• plus a few others not worth mentioning (e.g., slots only).

In reality, almost all offers would have an upper limit, so as to what they mean by "or more," it's hard to say. Based on a conversation I had with Prism Casino a week or so ago, I'd assume it's far above my bankroll, though, maybe $10,000 or so.

That third offer in the list, 100% with no WR? it seems like a good deal, but I'm sure that if I were to drop $2000 in there and then try to instantly take out $4000, they'd refuse it, arguing "bonus abuse".

I'll probably drop another $100 on the 200% bonus tonight.

Bummer

Vegas Strip Casino is offering a 200% (max $400) sticky bonus, 30x WR. I signed up, logged on, paid my $200, and lost the full $600 in about 70 hands.

No biggie, though. My luck has been amazing; I only expected to come out ahead on about 30% of my stickies, and I've been doing a lot better than that.

Vegas Strip Casino: $400 sticky bonus: -$200
Something-out-of-nothing to date: $2,685

More on my getting blacklisted

I mentioned last Wednesday that Swiss Casino had locked me out, for what I'd guessed was a mistake regarding failed withdrawal attempts at an affiliated site, Casino Las Vegas. On Monday, I discovered that I was also locked out of Kiwi Casino, so last night I e-mailed Casino Las Vegas and Swiss Casino to find out if they could unblock me.

Swiss Casino replied first:

Thank you for choosing Swiss Casino.
...
I would like to inform you that your account was not locked due to your many failed withdraw attempts.

Also I would like to inform you that Kiwi Casino is also affiliated with us. For you to unlock your accounts you would have to call the respected casino security department and they can advise you on how to unlock your accounts.

The reply from Casino Las Vegas arrived this morning. Not exactly on point (I didn't request another bonus), but very enlightening:

Our automated system has declined your request for a bonus. This may be due to abusive bonus activity. The following is a statement directly from our "Terms of Use": "Casino Las Vegas reserves the right to refuse or rescind the Bonus for any reason including, but not restricted to, player abuse. In case of abuse, Casino Las Vegas reserves the right to discontinue player's membership and to prevent the player from accessing Casino Las Vegas in the future.

My violation? Ending up +$210 on their network after meeting their WR, I guess. From last Wednesday's post:

I started at Casino King, and on June 12, lost $100. I then played at Casino Las Vegas, and ended up +$303, with a balance of $533 ($303 + $100 deposit + $130 bonus). ... I should have waited to confirm, but instead played another $240, ending up ahead another $7.

At least I got paid.

79 thousand pennies

Umm.. yeah. I won a boat full of money tonight.

Prism Casino's got a 250% sticky match bonus. I deposited $100, so started with $350, playing one $50 hand at a time. My balance got as low as $50 early on, but then took off, hitting $600 fairly quickly. My target was $850, and I still had about $4500 in WR to go, so I dropped down to $25 per hand, and started playing D'Alembert style. In spite of myself, I quickly hit $850, with $4000 in WR to go. I then flat bet $25 a hand, dropped down to $600, and D'Alemberted again.* At $875, I had about $2000 in WR to go, so dropped down to $5, two hands at a time.

Then the luck really kicked in. My ending balance? $1,140. No, there's no decimal point in that number.

Before making the withdrawal, I confirmed that I'd met the WR, and asked about the dozens of other bonuses available on their site. Surprisingly, the rep said that I'd be eligible to claim those bonuses, after my withdrawal was complete.

Subtract the $250 sticky, and the $100 deposit, and ...

Prism casino: $250 sticky bonus: +$790
Something-out-of-nothing to date: $2,885

*Yes, like all systems, D'Alembert is a long run losing proposition, and you should never use it when the bonus isn't sticky. But when you're fighting sticky bonuses, wild variance is your friend.

Yay! I got paid!

After a longer time than I would have expected, my withdrawals from American Grand and Casino Las Vegas both showed up in my Neteller account yesterday. Whew.

Quickest $275 ever

High Rollers Casino has a slightly different offer than most others. Wagering requirements are 7x for most games, except Blackjack games are 14x, and the standard four excluded games are excluded (baccarat, craps, roulette, sicbo). Minimum table bet is $5 per hand. Withdrawals must be less than the original deposit, or more than the original deposit+bonus.

I ran the numbers, and compared standard blackjack at 14x (0.58% house edge, expected final result $229.70, +/- $158.75) with War at 7x (2.88% house edge, $199.60 expected final, +/- $98.22). I decided to go with War, and it plays a lot faster than BJ does. After 30 minutes of play, I'd already hit my wagering requirement.

Maybe someone better with math than me can look over this "War" chart, but I think I ended up taking in more than two standard deviations more than expected.

- 2 SD	- 1 SD	Expected final	+ 1 SD	+ 2 SD
$3.16	$101.38	$199.60	$297.82	$396.04

I ended up with $400.

High Rollers Casino: $125 match bonus: +$275.00
Something-out-of-nothing to date: $2,095

Sticky? Not sticky? Time will tell

OnlineCasino.com is currently offering a 300% / $300 bonus, and their terms and conditions mention nothing about the bonus not being fully cashable. My spreadsheet had mentioned that their bonus was sticky (meaning I read in their terms last month that it was sticky), and older sites (bonusbug, flopturnriver) refer to their bonus as sticky, but it's not listed there now.

I called them yesterday morning and asked "Is the 300% signup bonus non-cashable, or is it fully cashable?" The operator's response, "it's cashable".

So, I dropped in $100, had $400 to play with, and proceeded to play single-hand Blackjack Surrender at $5 a hand. The WR is $8000 (about 1600 hands).

I started out by losing my first ten hands in a row. If I had been playing for a sticky bonus, I'd have been broke by this point. It turned around though, and by hand 61, I was back at $400. By hand 275, I was up to $500. The next 600 hands fluctuated, then turned south, and at hand 960, I was down to $385. I climbed back up to $500 at around hand 1400, end ended at $457.50 when I had met the WR.

Because I'd made $8000 in wagers, CasinoOnline comped me $8. I took the remaining 50 cents and dropped it into a 5 cent slot machine, making $5 on my last nickel.

So, if it's not a sticky...

Casino Online: $300 bonus: +$370
Something out of nothing to date: $1,820

Hey, I've got enough for a single table 6-player WSOP satellite! (Nope. Not gonna happen.)

(June 21 note: no, it wasn't sticky. The $470 withdrawal just showed up.)

I've been blacklisted

I've been blacklisted, and it's not why you'd expect.

As background, realize that Casino King, Casino Las Vegas, Swiss Casino, 50 Star Casino, and Magic Box Casino are all affilliated casinos.

I started at Casino King, and on June 12, lost $100. I then played at Casino Las Vegas, and ended up +$303, with a balance of $533 ($303 + $100 deposit + $130 bonus). I attempted to make a withdrawal of $533, expecting that the $130 sticky bonus would be removed, and I'd get $403. Instead, I immediately got an error message indicating that I hadn't met the wagering requirements. I contacted online support, who said I'd need to e-mail casino support. I did, and waited 24 hours for a response, which never came.

My "comp points bonus" was at 252 points, indicating that they thought I was at $2520 in wagers, short $240 of the $2760. I should have waited to confirm, but instead played another $240, ending up ahead another $7 (bad RulesLawyer, expected loss of -$2). I attempted a withdrawal again, which gave the error message.

I phoned up Casino Las Vegas, and discovered (after much trial and error) that my cell phone wouldn't connect to their toll-free number, but my landline would. In the process, I attempted withdrawls two more times. I finally spoke to the customer service rep, who checked and said that I had indeed met the wagering requirements, and should now be able to make a withdrawal. I tried again to make a full withdrawal ($541 now), and got the wagering requirements message, and a message that my account was locked. I e-mailed them back, asking for assistance.

Meanwhile, I created an account at Swiss Casino, and played around on their play money tables, waiting for the floor manager to make a bonus offer or for another bonus offer to show up in my mailbox. After two hours, no offer came, so I hopped back over to the real money tables to make a deposit. I attempted to log in, and got a message that my account was locked. I e-mailed support to ask why, and got a pretty generic message:

Our administration system is completely automated and has automatically closed your casino account.

The reason for this may be due to a number of reasons including (but not limited to) the following:

1. Previous activity in the gaming industry and/or affiliated casinos

2. Previous activity with regards to banking and/or credit card systems

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused, but our system will not be able to maintain your account. We are unable to further assist you, and we thank you for your initial interest in our casino.

Have a good day!

Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact Swiss Casino Support Team. We are available 24 Hours a day, 7 days a week.

(I like that contradiction: "We are unable to further assist you... please do not hesitate to contact us.")

Swiss' terms and conditions state that if a player is ever locked out of an affilliate's site, they are ineligible to play at Swiss. The five affiliated casinos all have similar terms.

My guess is that I triggered a security lock at Casino Las Vegas with my multiple failed withdrawals, which cascaded to their affiliates. Whether the lockout at Swiss is permanent, I don't know, but if it is, then that security lock will also cascade, making me ineligible to play at 50 Star and Magic Box.

(I received a response from Casino Las Vegas to my withdrawal question this morning, telling me to try withdrawing $411, which would be the withdrawal excluding the bonus. My account wasn't locked, and the withdrawal succeeded.)

Adding to the frustration, my $302 withdrawal from American Grand (attempted last Thursday) never showed up (they say it should take four days), and when I checked last night, it was back in my account. I called them up, and they said I was about $3000 short of the $9000 wagering requirements, thanks for calling, have a nice... but I interrupted before they could get me off the line, and pointed out that ($100 deposit + $200 non-sticky bonus) * 20 = $6000 WR, and not $9000 WR. The phone rep fell all over himself apologizing (calling me "ma'am" several times in the process; grrrr), and confirmed that I could make a full withdrawal. I did, and now need to wait another four days for the money to show up.

Casino Las Vegas: Playing when I shouldn't: +$7
Something-out-of-nothing to date: $1,450

Cha-cha-ching

I went for my third sticky bonus tonight, this time at Casino Las Vegas. Just like at Casino King, after I poked around for a few minutes, the floor manager IMed me and offered me an additional 30%. I took him up on his offer, getting a $130 sticky bonus for my $100 deposit. (If I'd have been checking my e-mail, I'd have seen a 200% offer in there.)

I started betting $50 a hand, started on a lucky streak, and hit my target of $500 after just $400 in wagers. I had $2760 in wagers to make, so I hit my target way early. I dropped down to $1 a hand, 5 hands at a time. By the time I got to $1400 in wagers, I was down to $415, so I went back to $50 a hand for two single hands, winning both, bringing me up to $515. I played the next $600 in wagers again at $1 x 5 hands, dropped down slightly to $501, then played the next 25 single hands at $10 each, bringing me up to $556. Back down to $1 x 5 hands for the last 400 hands, and I ended at $533. Subtracting out the $130 sticky and my $100 deposit...

Casino Las Vegas $100 + $30 sticky bonus: +$303
Something-out-of-nothing to date: $1,453

(shouldn't I be asleep?)

Papers, please

I'm surprised it took this long, but I got an e-mail tonight from Acropolis asking for a copy of my drivers license in order to process my withdrawal. I experienced the same thing two years ago when I was making my big withdrawal from Phoenician, so when I looked in my wallet and discovered my license was missing (I think it's on my desk at work), I was able to pull up the old e-mail and use that image.

I figured every casino would be asking for ID, but it makes sense that they only require it above a certain dollar withdrawal, I guess.

Sticky sticked me

Casino King has very similar terms to American Grand (100% $100 sticky), so I signed up there tonight hoping to do as well as I did on Thursday. I downloaded the software, and as I'm checking out the blackjack tables pre-deposit, I get an IM from the floor manager, offering an extra 50% if I deposit within 30 minutes. Sweet.

I make the $100 deposit, getting a $150 sticky deposit on top of it, and begin betting fairly big: $25 a hand, trying to get from my $250 balance to my $600 target.

No such luck. From the second hand, I started dropping, and finally, a third of the way to meeting the $3000 WR, I hit zero. The dealer was getting a lot of 6's, but wasn't busting on them. Ah, well. It's to be expected.

Casino King, $100 sticky + $50 sticky bonus: -$100
Something-out-of-nothing to date: $1,150

Bonus hunting at brick-and-mortar

Last night was my brother's bachelor party. We went to Happy Days Casino in Lakewood, with the intent of playing $1 blackjack until the midnight poker tournament. As a pleasant surprise, when we signed up for the tournament, each of us got two up-to-$10 match play coupons. The best bet in the casino was, of course, blackjack, and to get full value, we've gotta put $10 on them.

Two bets, two wins, +$40. Bill also was +$40. Trestin was 1-for-2, so broke even. Phil, using Trestin's money, was 0-for-2, -$20.

I'm not gonna count this +$40 in my something-for-nothing count, though. Partly because it was out of my real-life money fund, and secondly because I ended up otherwise -$15 at blackjack and ended up losing at the first level of the poker tournament (-$25), so broke even overall for the night.

(Side note: Starluck just gave me $5 free, which I failed to convert into $20.)

CDPoker: on my blacklist

Whenever I sign up for a casino account, they require an e-mail address. I use the name of the casino, plus my personal domain name (similar to cdpoker@ruleslawyer.com). That way, if I start getting spammed on one of those addresses, I not only know who to blame, but can also just direct that e-mail address into the trash.

I'm closing down my CDPoker account for two reasons. First, I've started getting spam to that address, even though I've used it nowhere other than my CDPoker registration. I e-mailed CDPoker two weeks ago, and they didn't reply; the spams just kept coming. I asked them about it in online chat, and their response was "e-mail the sender back and ask to be taken off the list." I checked their privacy policy, which lies as follows:

E-mail Addresses are NOT shared with any other organization for commercial or noncommercial purposes. E-mail addresses will only be used to provide our customers with information regarding new software updates, promotional material, and miscellaneous poker operations, such as deposits and withdrawals.

That's bad enough, but secondly, I've been working since late March to accumulate enough "points" to collect the $51 in bonuses I got from my initial deposits. To do so, for each 500 points I earn, I get $10 of my bonus money. At least, that's the way it was when I signed up. I'd gotten my first $21, and when I crossed the line for the next $10, expected to see it in my account. It wasn't there, so I checked the site. They moved the goalposts on me, now requiring 600 points for each $10. I complaned to customer support, and they graciously added $10 to my account, but said I'd have to earn points under the new rules.

So, for spamming and for changing the rules midstream, I'm taking my poker play elsewhere.

(Sure, it's easier to do this now that I'm collecing casino bonuses up the wazzoo, but it was the change in CDPoker's bonus requirements that led me to start looking at the casino bonuses to start with.)

My account there was also something out of nothing, starting with the freeroll I cashed in at Noble Poker, so I think it's fair to add it to my running total.

CDPoker/Noble Poker: 19th place in freeroll ($2) + PokerInside bonus ($20) + mad skillz: +$134
Something out of nothing to date: +$1,250

Local brick and mortar info

I've had to make some phone calls for my brother's upcoming bachelor party, and since there's nowhere online that seems to compile this kind of info on a regular basis, maybe someone surfing the search engines will find it useful. For brick and mortar casinos in the Tacoma, Washington area, as of early June 2006:

The best:
Happy Days, Lakewood: $1 minimum bets at blackjack, $3/$6 hold 'em, $20+$5 hold 'em tournament starting at midnight.
Emerald Queen, Tacoma: $3 minimum bets at blackjack, craps, and roulette. No poker available.

The rest:
$3 blackjack, $3/$6 hold 'em: Freddie's Club
$3 blackjack, $4/$8 hold 'em: Hawk's Prairie, Lacey
$5 blackjack, $4/$8 hold 'em: Silver Dollar, both Tacoma locations
$5 blackjack, $3/$6 hold 'em: Chips Casino, Lakewood
$5 blackjack, $3/$6 hold 'em: Muckleshoot. Roulette and craps available, too (probably $5).
$5 blackjack, $3/$6 hold 'em: Rising Dragon, Tacoma (manager says poker is slow, only offered if enough people)
$5 blackjack, $3/$6 hold 'em, full kill: Pt. Defiance Cafe, Tacoma. Evening tournaments begin next week.
$5 blackjack, no poker: Great American Casino, Lakewood
$5 blackjack, $5 craps, $2 roulette, $3/$6 hold 'em: Red Wind Casino, Nisqually

Silver Dollar 6th Avenue has a $45 buy-in tournament at 7:15 PM. No other tournaments after 3:00 PM on Saturday.

In case you're not aware, roulette and craps are available only at indian casinos; card games are available almost anywhere.

The Emerald Queen's Fife location only has slots and keno, making it the worst.

Another bonus collected

I had a strong late run at Acropolis tonight, ending up with an account balance of $453. Subtracting out the $110 sticky bonus, and my $100 original deposit, that leaves me...

Acropolis Casinos: $100 + $10 sticky bonus: +$243
Something out of nothing to date: +$1,116

(Dropping the 55¢ from the PlanetLuck withdrawal of June 3 -- turns out they only process whole dollar withdrawals.)

My First Sticky; setting targets

I signed up for the $110 sticky bonus (100% deposit match + 10% Neteller bonus, 12x playthrough) at Acropolis last night, and started playing. For an explanation of what "sticky" means, Acropolis has the clearest explanation I've seen anywhere.

I've been torn about what strategy to use -- bet it all then grind, bet big chunks then grind, or grind then bet it all -- but finally decided on the middle ground. By betting big chunks, then grinding away once I hit my target, I'd be able to either bust out quickly, or else have minimal WR remaining once I hit the target. (More on setting targets below.)

At least, that's the theory. I was too lucky. Starting with $220, I started by betting $25 a hand at Blackjack Surrender. I hit my target of $400 in about 20 hands, sitting at about $420. I was really surprised, since I'd expected to lose it all. I'd met only $500 of the $2640 WR, so it was time to start grinding away. Soon, at about $800 in WR, my account was down to $360, so I figured I'd do a couple more big bets, $25 a pop. About 15 hands later, I was back up to about $425, after a drop to around $325.

(Side note: on one big hand I was dealt 8-3 versus the dealer's 6. It's a clear double down situation, which I did and won. The words "Won $100" on the screen came as quite an adrenaline rush, though.)

Time to keep grinding away. I should have it completed tonight.

So why was my target $400? In the bonusbug.com forums, there's two popular formulas. The first was written by someone with a small bankroll trying to play conservatively:

Target = Bonus + [{ Sqrt (Entire Bankroll * Bonus) } / 2]

So the target should be the $100 bonus, plus half the square root of (my $800 bankroll times the bonus). That's about $242. After withdrawing the $100 sticky, that'd leave me +$142. This didn't seem like a big enough target.

The same person who wrote the first formula recanted it once he had a bigger bankroll and a higher risk tolerance, and came up with this revised formula:

Target = 2/3 Bonus + Sqrt(2 * Entire Bankroll * Bonus)

So my target with this formula would be $67 + Sqrt(160000), or $467. After withdrawing the $100 sticky, that'd leave me +$367. That seemed a bit too high, a bit too risky. $400 sounded about right, though.

Chickens, eggs, hatching

A few hours ago, I ran the numbers and mentioned that I felt comfortable that I wouldn't have to use a chancy system to reach the $300 withdrawal requirement. Promptly thereafter, my account balance at American Grand started to go downhill. At its low point, it was at $200, getting close to 2 standard deviations below expectations. When I finally hit the $6000 mark, I was at $235, so needed to make another $65 to make my withdrawal.

For some of the best odds in the casino, with minimal variance, you've gotta go with the banker bet in baccarat. It's never allowed for wagering requirements in any online casino I've been at, but it's available after those requrements are met. Plus, there's no thinking involved at all. I figured out how to play baccarat once, many months ago, but I don't remember, really. Put money down. Click deal. Collect winnings. That's about all you really need to know.

I marked up a page with the D'Alembert system, and started betting. A short time later, I was up to $302, and made my withdrawal.

American Grand Casino: $200 bonus match: +$202
Something out of nothing to date: +$873.55

A feeble attempt at rules lawyering

The first deposit wagering requirements at American Grand are written something to the effect of 9x deposit ($100) + 9x bonus ($200), and 20x deposit + bonus for blackjack. Roulette, craps, baccarat, and pontoon are excluded from the wagering requirements.

Another requirements page on their site says that for other promotions, wagering requirements are 30x deposit + bonus for all blackjack games.

So, since I was playing Carribean 21, and not true blackjack, I argued that the game should be included in the 9x requirements ($2700) and not the 20x requirements ($6000). They didn't buy it -- they say Caribbean 21 is blackjack. I'm not gonna fight them on it; I'm more than halfway there, and currently more than one SD ahead of expectations. As my brother pointed out, there's really no way to go after an online casino if they rip you off. Not that I expect Grand American to, but there's no need to tick off the golden goose.

I'm at currently at $407.50 at $3300 WR, which has moved my expected results from:

	- 2 SD	- 1 SD	Expected final	+ 1 SD	+ 2 SD
Initial	$37.63	$163.12	$288.60	$414.08	$539.57
Current	$151.40	$318.19	$402.37	$486.55	$570.73

One somewhat unique restriction to American Grand is that they require that you have less than your deposit ($100) or more than your deposit + bonus ($300) in order to make a withdrawal. I'm feeling more comfortable now about not having to end with a chancy 'system' to build back up to $300.

Caribbean 21 rocks

American Grand casino is offering a 200% $200 max match, with wagering requirements of 9x deposit + bonus ($2700), 20x for blackjack ($6000), Baccarrat, Craps, Pontoon, and Roulette excluded. I crunched the numbers, and they offer Caribbean 21, which has a microscopic 0.19% house advantage, and a standard deviation of 1.62. Expected results within one standard deviation are $163.12-$414.08. I'm about one sixth of the way in to the WR, and am sitting close to $400 (+$300).

By comparison, standard blackjack has a higher house edge at 0.43% but a lower SD (1.2), with expected results at $181.25-$367.15. Caribbean 21 has a higher risk, but an even slightly higher reward.

Up and up again

William Hill offered another 100% $40 bonus for June, so I took them up on it, and met the $800 wagering requirement the slow and safe way: $1 a hand, one hand at a time. In the end, I ended +$39, with my low point only at +$32 and the highpoint at +$49.

I also received an e-mail earlier this week from PlanetLuck, indicating that they'd dropped $5 in my account to "bring me back". I already had $1.05 there from some kind of loyalty program. The WR for their $5 was only 1x, so using the Labouchere system, I was lucky enough to grow the free $6.05 into $20.55.

William Hill: $40 June bonus match: +$39
PlanetLuck: $6.05 free: +$20.55
Something out of nothing to date: +$671.55

Oh, and I've gotta give props to Bet365 casino -- my withdrawal from there showed up in just an hour or so, compared to most of the other sites which have taken 24-48 hours.

That darn variance

It had to happen sooner or later. Tonight, I went back to Intercasino, because they offer a new 100% $100 bonus every calendar month. I deposited $100, and took it and the bonus to a Pontoon table and its microscopic 0.17% house edge. However, the minimum wager is $5, but I figured I could handle the variance.

Nope.

The mojo that I had playing Pontoon back in late 2004 wasn't there, though, and $845 into the $2500 wagering requirement, my bonus and the original deposit are down to zero.

So...

Intercasino: $100 June bonus match: -$100
Something out of nothing to date: +$612

A bad run of cards, and I still come out ahead

Grinding through the $4000 wagering requirement (WR) at bet365 was going slowly last night, even though I was playing 5-handed blackjack at $1 a spot. I'd gotten about a quarter of the way through it, my high point was at $450 (+$250) and low was $380 (+$180), and decided that yeah, I could handle a higher variance, so I increased my bets to $2 per spot.

The path to the WR was certainly moving faster, but wow, what swings. At the low point, I was at $198 (-$2), and the high point after the low was at $389 (+$189). I finally met the WR with my account at $231, then played a bit more, bringing the final balance to $250 (+$50).

There was a point where for something like ten hands in a row, the dealer was showing a good card (like a 5), and then spiked something like 8,8 to hit 21, laying the smacketh down on my double down split aces.

Ah well. I like to think of this as +50 instead of -150, 'cause I really did end up ahead.

Bet365Casino.com: $200 deposit match, +$50
Something out of nothing to date: +$712

Grinding away

I started at bet365.com last night. 100% bonus, $200 max, $4000 WR. This will take a while to work off, but it's my first $200 bonus instead of $100.

I'm still thinking about that future state when I'm gonna have to start going after stickies, and what strategy to use:

A) all at once + small bets to reach WR, or
B) 15% plus a system + small bets once goal is met.

A third strategy I read about today is kind of an inverse of the first:

C) figure out what the WR would be for the strategy A, small bet to reach that, then do the all at once for the final push to the WR.

I've no idea which to use at this point. Fortunately, at this point, I don't have to.

Bonus again

I finished Intercasino's wagering requirements ($2500) last night for their May 100% $100 match bonus. At the low point, I was only +$29 (at $129), but ended +$76 (at $177, minus their surprising $1 Neteller withdrawal fee). Although the account there started at $200, after the first six hands, it was never above the starting point.

Intercasino: $100 deposit match, +$76
Something out of nothing to date: +$662

Reminder: if you're thinking about trying this, let me know and we might be able to split the referral.

(I think my poker's probably starting to get a bit rusty.)

Cash on hand, thinking about stickies

Maybe I've been fortunate, but the speed with which the my bonus hunting cashouts has happened has surprised me.

I hit my Starluck wagering requirements (WR) on May 24. They said to wait 24 hours before requesting a cashout, so 24 hours later, I requested it, and the money was in my Neteller account within four hours.

Planetluck, same thing. Hit the WR May 27, waited 24 hours, requested cashout, and it was in my account late May 28.

WilliamHill, hit the WR May 28, requested cashout, and it was in my account this afternoon.

My previous cashouts at 7Sultans and Breakaway also came through within 36 hours.

I'm now grinding away at InterCasino (offering a $100 100% match for May, 25x WR), and expect to hit the WR tonight or tomorrow. This is supposed to be a monthly promotion with a 90 day time limit, so once I finish this one, I should be able to re-sign up for another $100 100% promotion for June. They've got a 5-spot multi-hand table, and at $5 a round ($1 a hand), my variance will be up a bit. At $183/$2500 into it, I'm ahead slightly, but more importantly, I can now afford the increased variance for the benefit of shortening the time it takes to complete the WR.

Once these non-sticky bonuses run dry, then it's on to the stickies, which take a completely different strategy than grinding away at $1 per hand. Sticky bonuses are money you can wager with, and collect the winnings, but never the principal. They're frequently larger percentages (200%-400%), so if I buy in for $100 and get another $300 (a 300% bonus), I can wager with $400, but when I withdraw, $300 of my bankroll goes back to the casino.

There's two strategies I've read. The first is the simplest: bet all $400 on one hand. There's about a 49% chance of winning $400, and a 51% chance of losing $100. Mathematically, it's a no brainer if you have the $100 to lose. Emotionally, man... $400 bucks on one hand? Butterflies galore, and I'm just thinking about it at this point. If you win, you have $800, $500 of which you can cash out after you meet the remaining WR by playing low variance $1/hand.

The second strategy is to use one of the many long-term defective betting strategies out there (e.g., the Martignale), and start with betting 10%-15% of your stack, aiming for a goal of 1.5x to 2x of the starting bankroll ($600 to $800, minus $300). You'll get to the WR more quickly, and have a few more hands to withstand a down start.

Good luck at PlanetLuck and William Hill

At PlanetLuck, I ended up ahead $136, then signed up for WilliamHill.com's $80 match as I was waiting for PlanetLuck's cashout. I ended up ahead $182 there. So, to recap:

BetRoyal: $25 free chip, $0
Cirrus: $25 free chip, $0
ConnecTo: $40 free slots chip, $0
GamingClub: $25 free slots chip, $0
CaptainCooks: Free chip, $0
7 Sultans: $15 free chip, +$74
PlatinumPlay: Free $200 slots chip, $0
VegasVilla: Free $10 Red Dog chip, $0
DesertDollar: Free $10 Red Dog chip, $0
ClubPlayer: Free $65 slots chip, $0
RoyalVegas: Free $100 slots chip, $60, but need to make deposit and 20x $60 to collect.
Portofino: Free $15 slots chip, $0
WinnersOnline: Free $15 slot chip, $0
VegasPoker: Free $15 slots chip, $0
Breakaway: Free $25 chip, +$26
Colosseum: Free $15 slots chip, $0
GrandHotel: Free $12 slots chip, $0
VegasJoker: Free $10 slots chip, $0
Vegas7: Free $11 slots chip, $0
VegasCasino: Free $10 slots chip, $0
7Sultans (again): Free $25 slots chip, $0
Starluck: $100 deposit match, +$168
PlanetLuck: $100 deposit match, +$136
WilliamHill: $80 deposit match, +$182

My something-out-of-nothing to date: +$586.

This doesn't include the roughly $130 in something-out-of-nothing poker funds I've got in my CDPoker.com account.

Onward.

Caution; referrals

Two quickies:

1) Caution: At PlanetLuck, I was chatting with the customer service rep, and their $100 offer expires May 31. I fully expect that they'll renew it for another month (the rep accidentally said so), but I'll need to hit the $1600 by then. Shouldn't be a problem, but if I were trying this in a couple days, I'd be out of luck.

2) Referrals: If you're trying to do this, too, let me know ahead of time. Maybe I can leech a referral bonus out of one of the casinos.

Blackjack in Arizona and online: I'm just your standard deviant.

Yes, you too can make $45-$135 from the comfort of your own computer chair.

Knowing I had a limited bankroll ($70), I figured the likelihood that Casino Arizona had a low limit ($1/$2) table was pretty low. So, I've been boning up on basic blackjack strategy (not counting cards -- that's too much like real work), in case I was going to end up playing blackjack. I'm glad I did -- and it's not because I built my $30 buyin into $40 tonight at the $1 electronic blackjack tables (more on that later). No, it's because of this little bonus thing I found, thanks to a posting at FlopTurnRiver, salsa4ever's blog posting from last August (yay, google cache), a posting at bonusbug.com, and http://www.thewizardofodds.com.

On bonusbug, ScurvyDog writes:

You deposit $100 at StarLuck (http://www.starluckcasino.com) and get a $100 bonus, giving you $200. You have to wager $1,600 total. Betting the minimum of $1, that means you have to play 1,600 hands. Of those 1,600 hands, though, you’ll be splitting and doubling on some, so you’ll probably only have to actually be dealt 1,500 or so hands.

[With the StarLuck bonus,] your expected profit is $90. That never changes, no matter what the size of your bet is. If you bet the minimum of $1 per hand, your standard deviation will be about $45.00. Your results, on average, will be within 1 standard deviation of the expected profit about 65% of the time. So 65% of the time you’ll book a profit of between $45 and $135 when completing the bonus at StarLuck (http://www.starluckcasino.com/slcasino/links/65417.html)

Keep in mind that when we say 65% of the time we mean just that, nearly a majority of the time. Not always, not guaranteed, simply 65% of the time, and actual results can still fall outside that range of 1 standard deviation. Or, more simply, roughly one-third of the time your results will fall outside of 1 standard deviation, causing you to make less than $45 or more than $135.

I did it, and I've got a withdrawal pending for my initial $100 deposit, plus $167.50 profit. Yeah, I ended up a bit past the standard deviation on the positive side. Woot.

So, armed with 1500 hands of experience and a printout of the Wizard's blackjack chart, I head into Casino Arizona and look around. As expected, no poker tables. No shuttle, either. And bad news -- the lowest limit on the blackjack tables is $5. Pricey. After a bit of looking, though, I discover a bank of slot-machine like machines, five chairs to a side, in a 15 seat triangle. In the middle the triangle, facing each row, is a monitor representing the dealer. The lower limit is $1, but it doesn't round up, so you've got to at least bet $2 if you want full credit for your blackjacks. I ended up making $10, which offset my $10 loss on the slots.

All-in Arizona bonus clustahs

It's been several days since my last blog entry. Here's what you've missed.

Good hands live in clustahs: Last Monday, at the 50¢/$1 table, I got quite a run of hands, five almost-in-a-row:
QQ - lost to AT offsuit when an A hit the board.
AA - lost to K7 suited when two sevens hit the board
AKs - lost to J4s and to J8o, who both made a straight.
T3 - folded
ATs - won $1.70 on a T95 flop
AA - won $4.40

All all in: At a $3+30¢ tournament, 160 players, the first hand of the tourney, I've got next to nothing at UTG+1, and I'm preparing to fold. The guy to my right goes all in, which makes my decision easy. I fold. UTG+3 folds, then the next player calls the all-in, as does the cutoff position and the small blind. Four players all-in preflop in the first hand of the tourney. They turn up their cards and show four pairs: deuces, sevens, tens, and aces. The board ends up JT5/4/J, so the pair of tens takes down the 4010 pot. Wacky.

Arizona plans: I still don't know which option I'm going to take on Wednesday in Phoenix. I'm leaning towards just playing blackjack for a while, but I should really just give the casino a call and find out about the poker room (and, while I'm at it, the blackjack rules, so I know what strategy chart to print out).

Bonus hunting: I stumbled across ttanaka's article on bonus hunting at FlopTurnRiver.com on Monday night, and figured I'd give it a try. It's not as easy as he makes it out to be, mainly because I want to start with nothing and build a bankroll risk-free. But I've spent a few nights trying it out, and in the 12 casinos I've tried it at, I've ended up actually receiving $26 (from Breakaway Casino), and have $74 pending (from 7 Sultans). That coincidentally totals $100, which is usually the amount that you can buy-in for to get a 100% bonus. That's for next week.

Practice reading terms and conditions has helped a lot. There's a lot of fine print. It also helps to not be afraid to pick up the phone and call the casino if you have questions. And thirdly, the fact that I've got a domainload of free e-mail addresses is nice, because I'll be able to auto-kill any of the addresses that the sites end up spamming me on.

The top ten best and worst hallmarks of the poker boom

The Poker Prof's just blogged Poker The Top Ten Best - And Worst - Hallmarks Of The Poker Boom. The best part? The best and worst lists are exactly the same.

More on Washington felony poker

I found two interesting posts yesterday, which I think explain the most likely reasons for the passage of the bill: heading off the possibility of Muckleshoot Online Poker, and the protection of B&M casinos

My take on the reason for this bill is twofold. 1) This was mostly a move to shutdown the Indian casinos from setting up domestic online poker rooms. Domestic online gambling is illegal but the Indian loophole would have allowed it…and they were working on it. If that happened we would have federal involvement quick and it would be a big deal. So the state forced through a quick bill to make it illegal to do in the state. The bill was created with no enforcement body named. Is that some sort of a tip off that they don’t care so much about the individual?2) And it does help local card rooms and keeps the money in state. Though for me they are actually reducing the influx of $ into the state since I a winning player online that spends my winnings here. Oh well. They assume most are losers (which is true).

http://www.washingtonvotes.org/Comment.aspx?ID=23282&ActionID=181551

[T]his new law is odd in that Washington has a thriving brick and mortar casino history. The sponsor of the bill, Senator Margarita Prentice, has been the recipient of several contributions from casino and gaming interests in the state and fellow Senator Jim Honeyford has been called by many pundits the greatest hope of initiating substantive regulation of the booming online poker and gaming industry in the United States. In the state of Washington, there are 65 casinos and poker rooms and residents of the state can also step across the border into Canada, where the province of British Columbia offers five more physical establishments as well. Is this new legislation a way for the state to ensure that people participate in poker and gaming in state taxed and permitted businesses? Isn’t this, in some form, a way that the state is officially sponsoring these outlets while banning participation on the Internet? And if this is true, wouldn’t this be a restriction of trade and perhaps offers a way for the law to be overturned by the State Supreme Court?

http://www.pokernews.com/news/2006/5/washington-state-online-poker-legislation.htm

This is a great final question that pokernews poses. Some have said it's similar to the laws regarding internet wine sales, which I've heard through the grapevine is goofily prohibited by several state laws, making it difficult for online wine clubs to get niche products to its members. I'd speculate that wine sales have been explored more deeply through the courts, and may spend some time this next week doing further research to see how analogous it really is.

Poker fever

I wasn't feeling great on Sunday night, and ended up down about $5. Monday I felt worse, left work an hour early, and skipped playing altogether. Tuesday, I had to force myself to go to work for a critical three-day meeting, as I still was feeling lousy. That night, I figured that my best financial move would be to read The Tipping Point instead of taking my chances at the tables.

Tonight, I'm feeling much better, and ended up ahead $5. Bummer hand was turning a set to my pocket jacks, only to lose to T9 which hit a jack-high straight.

Hmm... can I assume I'd have lost $5 on Monday and Tuesday, and consider myself ahead $10 for the week?

(By the way, The Tipping Point wasn't as good as the same author's Blink, which was good, but not as good as Freakonomics.)

Scary Poker and the Hors d'Oeuvres of Phoenix

The evening of Tuesday, May 23, I'll be arriving in Phoenix to speak Wednesday morning at the BFMA Symposium on MS Word as an E-Forms Design Tool. Thursday afternoon, I'm giving another lecture, Advanced MS Word E-Forms Design. Between the two talks, I'm considering participating in the BFMA's Wednesday night outing (.pdf) to Casino Arizona.

The trip to the casino isn't an optimal situation. The (free) bus leaves the conference hotel at 6, and will leave the casino at 11. As best as I can tell from my 'net searching, the casino that the bus takes us to doesn't have poker tables; the poker room is another couple of miles up the road. This is in spite of the PDF flyer linked above ("Guests will find ... 50 poker tables ... There's also a mahogany paneled high stakes poker room.") I wouldn't doubt that there's a shuttle between the two, but there's no guarantee. Net rumor is that the lowest limits are $3/$6 tables, and I've barely enough of a bankroll (maybe $100) to attempt that. The last time I tried that with a Benjamin, I was broke in 20 minutes. Net rumor is also that these are the toughest tables in the state.

Included in the casino trip are the bus ride, a free celebrity impersonation show (yawn), maybe hors d'oeuvres, but not dinner (which I can expense).

I'll have a rental car, if I want to blow this off and go elsewhere. There's other casinos in the area, but I've been unable to find any poker tables below $3/$6. That's not to say they don't exist -- on-line listings of brick and mortar casinos are notoriously outdated, and it's tough to find details on them among the avalanche of false hits on e-poker sites.

I'm seeing a handful of choices:

1) Go on the Wednesday night trip, blow off the show, catch the shuttle to the poker room, play until the money's gone or until I get tired, then catch the shuttle back to the bus by 11 (or catch a cab if the game's juicy enough to stay). Could be a quick trip.

2) Go on the Wednesday night trip, catch the show, play blackjack until the money's gone.

3) Go to the poker room on Tuesday night and test the waters. If the money runs out, then skip the Wednesday night trip and play online from the hotel room. If not, goto 1. (Drawback -- if I do really well Tuesday, I won't want to leave, and I'll have to give a groggy lecture at 8:30 the next morning. Bad move.)

4) Take most of my bankroll, get a tee time, and spend my money on a Wednesday round of golf at a local course. Then go on the Wednesday night trip and play penny slots for a couple of hours.

5) Something else.

Which one should I do?

Will I be a felon next month?

I don't know how I missed it, but the Washington state legislature passed Substitute Senate Bill 6613 (.pdf) in March, and the governor signed it. (See also, bill history.) What's it do? In relevant part, it amends RCW 9.46.240 to read:

Whoever knowingly transmits or receives gambling information by ... the internet... shall be guilty of a class C felony...

Sounds bad. I'll be as bad as a sex offender. Or an armed thief. But let's look deeper. What does "gambling information" really mean? For that, we look at the definition at RCW 9.46.0245:

"Gambling information" ... means any wager made in the course of and any information intended to be used for professional gambling. [I]nformation as to wagers, betting odds and changes in betting odds shall be presumed to be intended for use in professional gambling. This section shall not apply to newspapers of general circulation or commercial radio and television stations licensed by the federal communications commission.

It's strange at first that this only exempts newspapers and radio and TV stations, and not other media, but it was last amended in 1987, so that's why. I think the Seattle Times needs to open up an online poker room. Or PartyPoker needs to buy a radio station.

So if I send information intended to mean that I raise the betting $1, is that "intended to be used for professional gambling"? On to RCW 9.46.0269:

A person is engaged in "professional gambling" for the purposes of this chapter when... the person pays a fee to participate in [an unlicensed] card game, contest of chance, lottery, or other gambling activity...

Sigh. Doesn't look good. But wait -- is my buy-in a "fee"? The state gambling commission doesn't think that a home-game buy-in is:

Home poker games are permitted in Washington State as long as professional gambling does not occur. The Washington State criminal code defines professional gambling as occurring when a person pays or accepts a fee to participate in a card game (RCW 9.46.0269). No fees may be charged for arranging, facilitating, organizing, or for operating the card game.

Well, a buy-in isn't a fee. But the rake? Yeah, that's called a "fee" by the gambling commission:

If you learn that the [private] card game involves charging the players a fee to enter the game or taking a percentage from each hand (commonly called a “rake”), the game would be considered an illegal activity. However, card games may be played in a private residence as long as there is no fee collected.

http://www.wsgc.wa.gov/training/handouts/4-206.pdf

So the 10¢ piece of the rake that comes out of the pot I bet into might make me a felon. Of course, licensed restaurant/casinos can take my rake, and I'd be legal.

Perhaps the best thing to do then, when the cops come knocking on the door, is to tell your attorney that you assumed the gambling site was licensed.

And get ready to share a cell in Walla Walla with Bubba.

(Thanks, Wil Wheaton, for the heads up).

A streak, then a run

It's nice to have a big hand, finally. I haven't won a big one in more than a week. Three of my last six nights have been net losses. And I'm still bruised from my $58.25 loss on April 23, and a $34 loss last Friday. It's been a bad streak, punctuated with bad play and few good hands. Perhaps tonight marks the beginning of a new winning phase?

Tonight's first 8 hands at the 10¢/25¢ table:

5♠3♠ (BB, checked to the river, fold to Q42/K/T rainbow board)
J♦5♣ (SB, folded)
K♥T♠ (button, flopped straight, split $5.60 pot with Q♥T♥ rivered stright.)
K♠5♣ (cutoff, folded)
K♠J♥ (middle position, limped and called preflop raise. Board was Q♦9♦7s/K♣/4♥; My KKQJ9 beat Q♠5♣, 9♥2♦, and J♣J♠).
A♥K♦ (middle position, lost to Q♣T♥ straight.)
A♦Q♠ (middle position, scared off the final better on the river to win $3.15 pot with A-high)
K♦K♥, my monster hand of the night. Won a $14.47 pot. Here's the details.

In fifth position (nine-handed), UTG and UTG+1 fold to me. I raise to 50¢. Johnny calls, the button calls, and the big blind calls. The flop is A♥Q♥T♠. I'm pretty sure at least one of them has an ace, so I figure I've got six outs: the four jacks and two kings. Runner-runner hearts would give me the nut flush, but that's a slim chance. Make it 6.5 outs, a 14% chance.

The big blind bets 25¢, making the pot $2.10. The pot odds are 12%, but implied odds make it worth it. So call, or raise? I can't explain why, but I raise. This was probably a bad move that turned out well. Johnny calls, the button re-raises, the big blind calls, and I call. The pot is now $5.10.

The turn is a shocking A♣. With two aces on the board, I begin to wonder if someone really does have an ace. Maybe I'm facing a flush draw. Maybe I'm facing a set of queens. Maybe a straight draw. The big blind checks, and I bet. Johnny calls, the button raises, and the three of us call.

The river, the glorious river, is K♣. I've got a full boat, and only AA, AK, AQ, or AT can beat me. I bet, get a caller, a raiser, and a caller. I re-raise, can get an all-in and two callers. My hand stands up, for KKKAA, beaing Johnny's Q6 (AAQQ6), the button's A7 (AAAKQ), and the big blind's A9 (AAAKQ).

Yeah, I got lucky. Really lucky. And ended up with my best night in two weeks.

Sunday night slowness

To paraphrase Doyle Brunson, the best thing about online poker is that there's always a table full of players, ready to play any game you want. Whether it's 8:00 Thursday night or 2:00 a.m. Sunday, it's always game time somewhere. (Yes, I read his Online Poker. And yes, it's as bad as the Amazon reviews make it out to be.)

So imagine my surprise last Sunday, when I hop on to CDPoker to play at about 10:00 PM PDT, and there's nobody in the 25¢/50¢ rooms, and nobody in the 50¢/$1 rooms. No problem, I just played $1/$2 instead. You'll remember how badly that went.

So after losing half my bankroll last week, I took a break for a few days. It seems that when I go into a game thinking that I'm hardly qualified to play at that table, I tighten up, bring my "A" game, and do OK. It's when I'm feeling confident -- maybe even cocky -- that I have the worst nights. The couple of days off would give me time to sulk and get down on myself. *grin*

Last night, I hop online at about 10:00 PM, and -- again! -- nobody at the 25¢/50¢, nor the 50¢/$1. Having learned my lesson, I decided the only winning move was not to play.

I stood in the waiting list for the 50¢/$1 tables for about half an hour, but only one other person joined the list.

In the meantime, I ended up +$4 playing blackjack. Silly Ruleslawyer.

I've still got $30 in bonuses waiting, but they're really of no use if I can't play the games to get the points to claim them. I'm seriously thinking of moving to a busier network.

$20 gone in 32 hands

$20 gone in 32 hands? That'll happen, when the hands include the following:

Hand	Position	$ to see flop	Result
6♦5♦	7th of 10	$0.50 to make pot $2.25	Missed flop in $3 pot, folded to bet
4♦3♦	6th of 10	$0.50 to make pot $2.25	Hit middle pair 9♠2♠4♣, checked, called one $0.50 bet, folded to $1 bet when K♥ came on turn
6♦5♦	7th of 9	$0.50 to make pot $2.25	Hit middle pair 8♥6♥4♣, called $0.50 in $3.50 pot Hit open end straight draw on 3♥ turn, called BB’s $1, button raises $, BB folds, I call, pot is $11 Missed when 9♥ on river, checked, called $1 to try to win $11.
3♥2♥	SB	$0.25 SB, plus $0.25 to make pot $2	Missed flop, folded to 2 bets
2♠2♦	5th of 8	Call $0.50, all fold, except SB, who raises, I call, $2.50 pot	Missed flop (Q♦9♣8♥), SB bets $0.50, I raise to represent strength, SB calls Turn is A♣, SB checks, I bet $1, SB checkraises to $2, I fold.
8♦7♦	5th of 10	Called $0.50, called $0.50 raise to make pot $4.75	Missed flop, checked, folded to bet
A♦3♦	BB	$0.50 BB, plus called $0.50 raise to make pot $3.50	Missed flop (K♦Q♥2♣), folded to $1 raise.
K♣K♦	6th of 10	Slowplay: called $0.50, called $0.50 raise to keep 2 players in.	Scary flop of A♥J♥4♦. SB best $0.50, I raise to get info, other two players call. Turn is A♠, SB checks, I bet, last player raises, I call. Pot is $10.50. Bet $1 on T♠ river, player raises, I call my last $1 all-in. Lost to A♣9♥.

Edit: added a lot more detail

Critique my mistakes, s'il vous plait

This post will be a bit long, but I'd appreciate your take on one or more of the following hands. My specific questions are in blue. I've looked at the hand history from last night, and see about $22 worth of mistakes I made in six hands of the 74 I played. The other -$36 was just bad luck, like holding AQo when four-to-a-flush come on the turn, never pairing an ace, and missing my open ended straight draws. These tables are full or nearly full; I'm omitting pre-flop folders for clarity:

Hand 4: Calling a bet with two overcards to the raggy flop: -$1
I don't know if this was such a bad bet. I've got A♠9♠ in the cutoff position, and I call a single raise preflop. I'm last to act of the three players who see the flop: 4♥2♦5♠. Brandywine checks, CSparrow bets $1, I call, and Brandywine calls. My question to you: did I play this one right? Should I have folded these two overcards here?

Ending: The turn is 9♥, CSparrow bets $2, and I fold top pair top kicker. Brandywine calls, the river's J♥, and wins with a Q♥5♥ flush, over CSparrow's K♥K♠. I'd have had the worst hand.

Hand 19: Calling on the turn facing two bad possibilities: -$4
On the button, I'm dealt T♠T♦. Brandywine and CSparrow call $1 each, and I raise to $2. They call. With $8.50 in the pot, the flop is 9♠7♠K♦; an overcard, and a possible flush draw. Brandywine checks, CSparrow bets $1, and I conclude there's only one way to know if I'm facing a higher pair or a flush draw: I raise to $2. Both players call. (With a 35% chance of hitting the flush by the river, it's correct for someone to call on a flush draw with a pot this size.) I've got my info: I'm probably beat.

The turn is 3♠. Brandywine checks, CSparrow bets $2, and I... call (?!). This was a clear mistake, even with $16.50 in the pot. I generally figure there's a 10% chance that another player is bluffing, so the pot odds weren't right for this call.

Ending: Brandywine also calls, and the river's 5♦. The other two players check, I bet $2, Brandywine calls, and CSparrow folds. Brandywine's wins, beating my tens by pairing the king with her T♥K♠.

Hand 24: Trying to buy a small pot on the river with ace-high: -$2
Nothing much to this one. The flop checks around, one player calls my $2 attempt to buy the pot on the turn, and at the river, the pot's $7.25, with a board of 4♠3♥4♣/4♦/7♠. I've got A♥6♥ and am first to act. I try to buy it for $2, get called by raygo24, and lose to his 2♥2♠.

Hand 73: Not letting go of AKs when I know I'm beat: -$4
I'm in the big blind, and get A♥K♥. Four callers, and I raise to $2. The four callers re-call, and the flop comes A♣9♣8♣. I've got to scare the players out who are drawing to a flush, or find out if someone's already made it. The small blind checks, I bet, get two callers, and CSparrow raises on the button. The small blind folds, I re-raise, two folders, and CSparrow calls.

The turn is Q♣, the pot is $18. Crap. My only chance of winning this one is by representing a high club, so I come out betting $2. CSparrow raises me back. The pot is $24. It's worth $2 if there's a 10% chance that he's bluffing. Would you call, fold, or re-raise here? Bluffers don't tend to do so by raising on the turn, right? I called, and think I made a mistake doing so. I'd bet to get information, I'd bet to represent, and I'd learned from both bets that I was beat. I should have folded.

Ending: the river's Q♥, I bet, CSparrow calls, and he wins with his K♣T♠.

Hand 74: Betting with insufficient pot odds: -$6
The very next hand, in the small blind, I get low end suited connectors: 5♣4♣. Brandywine and Done4 call, I call, and the big blind checks. The flop is 3♠K♠2♣. I've got an open end straight draw, and if an ace hits, there's a good chance I'll have someone on the hook for a juicy pot. I bet $1 into the $4 pot (side question: should I have folded here?), the big blind folds, Brandywine calls, and Done4 folds. The turn is 7♠. I'm facing a possible flush, which will beat any of my eight outs. Assuming I'm not facing a flush draw, there's a 17% chance that I'll get a card I need on the river. I bet $2 into the $6 pot (my mistake), and Brandywine calls.

The river pairs me, with a 5♥. I compound my mistake by betting $2; Brandywine capitalizes on it by raising to $4, and I inexplicably call. Brandywine shows her A♦4♠ for a straight. I never would have put her on that hand (playing that in middle position?), but I shouldn't have been at the river anyway.

Hand 75: Tossing away the rest of my chips: -$4
I'm then dealt A♦Q♠ on the button. Done4 calls, Lucky555 calls, BabblingFool checks (he posted BB in the cutoff), and I raise. All three call, and with $9.50 in the pot, we see a flop of 4♣K♣7♦. The three players check to me, I bet $1 to buy the pot, and only Lucky555 calls me. 9♠ comes on the turn, which shouldn't help him, so I bet $2 to try and buy it again. My chip stack is down to $4, and Lucky555 sees it, because he raises. I'm pretty sure at this point that he's got a king, and the $17.50 pot should be below my 10% bluff estimate, so I should fold. I've lost two good hands in a row, though, and I don't plan on rebuying, so on a bit of tilt, I re-raise all-in. He calls, and wins the pot with A♥K♠.

Give me back my booty

I ended up ahead $28 on Saturday, but got my butt handed to me (down $58) on Sunday. I guess I shouldn't move to higher limits ($1/$2) when I'm not feeling well, although I don't recall any bad plays that I made. I've downloaded my hand history and will be analyzing it tonight to see where I went wrong.

I suspect that it was just a run of bad cards, and the few times I got good cards, they never hit (e.g. A♥K♥ lost to pocket deuces), or worse, ran into trouble (e.g., A♠Q♠ ran into K♠K♥ and A♦K♣).

Paris bets away £100k Bentley

Paris Hilton: the whale who's a fish: Paris bets away £100k Bentley

It's Tiggerific

It's been a bouncy week in online play.

4/15/2006	+$5.28
4/16/2006	+$17.50
4/17/2006	+$8.95
4/18/2006	-$13.98
4/19/2006	+$8.29
4/20/2006	+$7.85
4/21/2006	-$4.28

Add the $10 bonus achieved on 4/16, and I'm up just under $40 for the week.

No monster hands lately; just a lot of top-pair top-kicker, or flopped sets.

Edit: fixed dates

Test post ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ test

♣
♠

♥
♦

Throwing money into the wind

Bah. Yesterday... not so good.

First, I went to pokerinside.com to check my rakeback balance, and discovered that the CDPoker.com bonuses are offset against the rakeback, so with my $10 bonus payment last weekend, my rakeback balance is below zero.

Then, I played two simultaneous 50¢/$1 tables last night, and at my worst point was down $36. Some bad cards, some bad beats, and some seriously bad play.

For example, I'm dealt pocket fives under the gun. Lots of limpers, a raise, I call, and the flop comes 4-6-7. I bet, a couple callers, a raiser, and I re-raise and get a couple callers.

The turn's a K. I'm distracted at the other table now, so I bet, get raised, re-raise, and get called. I've still got an open ended straight draw (8 outs) and two more fives in the deck (2 outs). Of course, if I hit another 5, then anyone with an 8 beats me, so those aren't really outs.

The river's a J. I bet, get raised, re-raise (with second lowest pair? WTF?), get capped, and call. I lose something like $7 to J6, which had me beat since the flop.

I did, however, end up "only" (sheesh) down $14 for the night, because I won $17 on one hand. I'm dealt AKs in the big blind, and after capping the betting pre-flop, have two opponents left.

The flop comes K8K. Nice. If I bet from the big blind, they'll have a good read on me. I check instead. The player to my left bets, the other player calls, and I smooth call, trying to set the hook.

The turn's an J. I check again. My opponent bets, and I check raise. He re-raises, and I cap.

The river's a beautiful A. I bet, we go back and forth, and it's capped. I show my KKKAA full boat. He shows his Q8 for two pair. Chomp.

Ninjas and knights run amok in Pierce County

Apparently, the Tacoma City Council is afraid of swordfish wielding martial artists, because their weapons of choice are available at the local Qwik-E-Mart.

HOW BIG A PROBLEM?
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department tracks assaults that involve weapons. Here are statistics from 2003 and 2004. Detailed information from the Tacoma Police Department was not available.
• Swords 50
• Machete 20
• Brass knuckles 18
• Daggers 11
• Nunchaku 11
• Blow guns (darts) 7
• Other martial arts 22

Full story at the News Tribune. Man, Pierce County's a fun place to live.

AAAAhhhh...

There's an old hold 'em saying about AK: you'll win small hands with it, but lose big ones.

So what about AQ?

If it's me at the 25¢/50¢ table tonight, I hit quad aces on the turn.

In the (small) money

It's notable (to me at least) that I placed second in a six-person $1 + 10¢ SNG last night, too. It's the only tourney of the last seven that I've played where I ended up in the money. I wasn't getting any good cards for most of the game, but hit a few lucky double-ups at the end, like when my AT all-in beat my opponent's K8 all-in, hitting a ten on the flop. Mostly, I just sat back and let the other five players knock each other out.

This win gave me a $1.80 prize, +70¢ for the tourney.

Bonus, rakeback, and whining for action

I passed another milestone last night. At CDPoker, for each hand you're dealt, if the rake is 25¢ or more (meaning the pot is $5+), you get a point for each 25¢ of rake. Get 500 points, and you get $10 of your signup or deposit bonus paid out. As further motivation, your bonuses expire after three months.

I hit 500 points last night. +$10. The points have been coming a lot faster now that I've been playing 50¢/$1 tables.

Only about 2000 more points to go to collect my remaining $41 in bonus money. It's unlikely that I'll hit that by the end of June, unless I jump up to the $1/$2 tables, and I don't plan on doing that until my bankroll is at around $200.

FWIW, I also signed up through a rakeback site (tell 'em TravisL sent you), which will pay out 30% of the rakes I contribute. For example, for a hand at a 10 person table resulting in a $10 pot resulting in 50¢ of rake, I'd have contributed 5¢, meaning I'd get a 1.6¢ rakeback. The rakeback gets paid out once it hits $25 (minus a 15% fee), but if I wait until $100, the fee is waived. Micro money, but it's still a positive flow. I'm at about $5.

At the tables themselves, yesterday was an up-and-down kind of day. I played before noon yesterday, and after being down $15, ended up down only $5. After the Easter festivities ceased, I played more last night, and came across the fishiest 50¢/$1 table I've seen in a long time. Very generally speaking, you can tell how good a player is by how many chips they have in front of them. If someone buys in for $20, I figure them for an average player, like me. A lot of times, a newbie or weak player will buy in for the minimum, $5, which isn't enough to ram-and-jam the pot if they flop quads to their pocket aces. Most of the time, the 50¢/$1 tables have two or three people below $20, and the other seven above, some up at $60 or $80. If the table's all above $20, I tend to look for easier pickings -- no sense in being the small fish in the pond.

So last night, I check the tables, and at a full table of ten players, the biggest stack was $12. C'mon get in the boat, fish. C'mon get in the boat fish fish.

So even given my -$5 for the morning, I ended up +$17, plus the $10 bonus.

I also discovered a great psychological strategy. I got dealt KK in the big blind, so raised pre-flop. The next few players folded, so I whined, "gimme some action". The button did; I'm sure he thought I was bluffing. I rammed-and-jammed, and he called me from the raggy flop through the rainbow river with middle pair. Bwah ha hah.

I did the same thing with pocket aces at another table 20 minutes later, with the same result. Reelin' 'em in. Tasty.

Mine your step, avoid depression

The Seattle Times is reporting that an old mine in Issaquah is slowly reopening, leaving a deep hole that "a stray animal or unwary hiker" could fall in to.

"The growing size indicates the debris used to seal the mine shaft 50 years ago has deteriorated. Anyone stepping into the depression to get a closer look at the hole could fall through the thin crust of dirt overlaying the mine opening."

Bobbi Wallace of King County Parks "worries about mountain bikers and geocachers — people who take part in scavenger hunts using handheld Global Positioning System (GPS) units.

"In their eagerness, they often go through the underbrush instead of staying on designated trails, she said."

Mind your step. "There isn't an emergency crew in the county that can rescue you if you fall into an old mine."

That's deep.

Edit: adding Snakes in a Mine. And line breaks.

Puggy Pearson, 1929-2006

Puggy Pearson, who was one of the seven players in the first WSOP, and who won the 4th WSOP in 1973, passed away yesterday. Stories at PokerNews and CardPlayer.

Bah. Stupid deck.

Down $12.70 last night. Just couldn't get two big cards all night, except for AK once, which lost big to AA. Bah.

Connectors suit me well

Two major barriers broken in one hand tonight.

I'm dealt 5d6d in middle position, call 50¢, then call a 50¢ raise, get a flop of 9d2sJd, and hit the Jd on the turn, winning an $11 pot against a guy who couldn't let go of his AhKc, even when a 9s hit the river.

This pushed me over the $100 mark in my online account, but more importantly (from a psychological standpoint) it put me back in the black for 2006. My 2006 online bankroll* plus my 2006 home game winnings have now surpassed the $150 I lost on my four trips to the Commerce and Bicycle Club casinos in LA.

I was thinking I was going to hit this mark yesterday, but I lost a few races in sit-n-go's, and made some bad plays at 50¢/$1, but did come back from a $17 deficit to only end up down $3.77 for the night.

So... In terms of payoff, my two biggest online hands of the year both came following questionable bad calls of pre-flop raises in middle position (today's 65s, and Sunday's QTs). That's kinda strange.

* My current bankroll, minus the $8.72 I started the year with.

Wonderbug, Doctor Who, Lake Steilacoom, and Mint Julep

Yeah, I know Wikipedia's been around for a long time, but I think it's reached some kind of tipping point recently, because I've been using it a heck of a lot more in doing some basic research.

I've found it helpful enough that I started to feel that I should start contributing to it, so I have, thanks in part to Thornkin's dare to create a Wonderbug entry.

Razz

After listening to episode 39 of the Ante Up! podcast, I was intrigued enough to download the Full Tilt client and tried out the Razz play money table last night. What a simple, odd, yet intriguing little game. In short, it's 7-card stud, lowest hand wins, straights and flushes don't exist. A2345 is the best possible hand. Hey, it's good enough of a game that TJ Clouter got a WSOP bracelet for it in 2004.

Two hands, two wins, $22

It's been a bad few days at the online tables, with losses Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and getting my very large stack booted from a freeroll tourney when I went all in after the flop with an over pair, getting called by an low pocket pair that hit a set on the turn.

Today, however: mmmm... toasty.

Playing two simultaneous tables (a 25¢/50¢ and a 50¢/$1), I'm sitting about even for the day. I hit quad fives for a nice chunk o' change, but just got my aces cracked by an all-in suited connector that hit runner-runner for the flush. Because he was all-in for $1.05, I didn't lose much, but I wanted to give the impression that I was steaming. Maybe I was, a little bit, because the next hand I'm dealt QTs under the gun, and as I click "call" for 50¢, and then call the big blind's 50¢ raise, I'm thinking that I shouldn't really be in this hand with these weak cards.

Four players: big blind, me, middle guy, and a guy who just posted the big blind to play.

Here's the flop: TcTsKh. I've hit a set, with a really good kicker. Only pocket kings are beating me now.

Big blind bets. I raise to $1. Middle guy folds. Posting guy raises to $1.50.

Big blind calls. I cap it at $2. Posting guy and big blind call.

The turn is Jd. AQ or 9Q or JJ or KK all will beat me, but I don't think many of these drawing hands would stay in, except maybe KK or AQ.

Big blind checks. Is he trapping me? I bet $1. Middle guy raises to $2. Posting guy folds. Big blind calls. The AQ or KK possibility worries me, so I call.

The river is a beautiful Qs. Anyone trying for a straight has hit it, but my full house will now beat them. Big blind checks. Nice -- he doesn't have it. I bet $1. Middle guy facing a $1 bet into a $16.75 pot... folds?!?. He's worse than a 16:1 dog? Unless he's got absolutely nothing, I always figure there's a 10% chance that someone's on a complete bluff. Big blind calls, and shows Qd4s, for two pair (QQTTK). I bring in the $17.75 pot.

My other big hand isn't nearly as cool -- just pocket nines facing a board of 866/2/J, facing A8 and K8. Another $6.80.

[Edit: added the fact that posting guy folded on the turn. Minor detail.]

Wal-Mart Bingo cards

It's been more than a year since I first came up with the idea, but I've finally come up with my Wal-Mart Bingo cards (Word .doc).

I'm not a programmer in a real programming language, but I've used Word VBA enough to come up with this working Word document. You'll need to have macro security set to medium and macros enabled for it to work. If you want to build this in a real program, my code follows.

Rules: print out as many cards as you want, then go to Wal Mart. The game starts when you lock your car. The first player with five in a row and back to the car wins. You can't use the same person for more than one box.

Private Sub cmdGenerateCard_Click()

Dim collSquares As New Collection
collSquares.Add "Screaming kid"
collSquares.Add "Screaming adult customer"
collSquares.Add "Screaming WalMart employee"
collSquares.Add "Customer with > 4 piercings"
collSquares.Add "Physical violence against an SO"
collSquares.Add "Physical violence against a child"
collSquares.Add "Physical violence against oneself"
collSquares.Add "Traffic accident"
collSquares.Add "Parking lot road rage"
collSquares.Add "Expired license tabs"
collSquares.Add "Customer wearing Nascar logo"
collSquares.Add "Customer wearing alcohol logo"
collSquares.Add "Customer with excessive bling"
collSquares.Add "Customer wearing pro wrestling logo"
collSquares.Add "Defective WalMart TV Network monitor"
collSquares.Add "Pregnant teenager"
collSquares.Add "Teenager supervising 2+ kids"
collSquares.Add "Broken car window"
collSquares.Add "Morbidly overweight customer with bare gut"
collSquares.Add "Plumber's crack"
collSquares.Add "Drunk"
collSquares.Add "Senior citizen trying to look rich"
collSquares.Add "Customer with a mullet"
collSquares.Add "Employee with a mullet"
collSquares.Add "Customer visibly missing multiple teeth"
collSquares.Add "Employee visibly missing multiple teeth"
collSquares.Add "A mohawk"
collSquares.Add "Unnaturally colored natural hair"
collSquares.Add "Customer with loud floral print shirt"
collSquares.Add "Liquid bodily fluids, outside the body"
collSquares.Add "An employee flailing like a panicked Sim"
collSquares.Add "A customer flailing like a panicked Sim"
collSquares.Add "Someone talking to themself (no cell phone)"
collSquares.Add "Someone with a missing limb"
collSquares.Add "Pants with crotch stain"
collSquares.Add "Inappropriate use of the store intercom"
collSquares.Add "Transvestite or cross-dresser"
collSquares.Add "Profanity"
collSquares.Add "Excessive body odor"
collSquares.Add "Assault with an electric cart"
collSquares.Add "A customer singing"
collSquares.Add "Verbal racism"
collSquares.Add "Someone injured in the store"
collSquares.Add "A cowboy hat (worn)"
collSquares.Add "A midget"
collSquares.Add "Excessive tattoos"
collSquares.Add "An employee with a lower back tattoo"
collSquares.Add "Hearing a foreign language"
collSquares.Add "A yelling customer"
collSquares.Add "A yelling employee"
collSquares.Add "The 'Ding! Fries are Done' guy"
collSquares.Add "Someone with Ozzy Ozborne's linguistics"
collSquares.Add "Five or more kids in one family"
collSquares.Add "Aggressive dog"
collSquares.Add "Someone wearing a wifebeater"
collSquares.Add "A customer with more makeup than Tammy Faye"
collSquares.Add "An employee with more makeup than Tammy Faye"
collSquares.Add "Misuse of grammar"
collSquares.Add "Misspelled handwritten sign"
collSquares.Add "A frighteningly large scar"
collSquares.Add "A Red Hat lady"
collSquares.Add "Cowboy boots(worn)"
collSquares.Add "Goth"
collSquares.Add "Woman with a mustache"
collSquares.Add "Blue bag tumbleweed (in parking lot)"
collSquares.Add "Car with duct tape repair"
collSquares.Add "Car with more than 5 bumper stickers"
collSquares.Add "Toddler alone"
collSquares.Add "Homeless advertising (e.g. 'will work for food')"
collSquares.Add "Someone buying chewing tobacco"
collSquares.Add "Someone religious (e.g., w/cross necklace), acting non-religiously"
collSquares.Add "Nose picking"


For x = 1 To 24
    RandomNumber = (CInt(Rnd() * collSquares.Count))
    RandomResult = collSquares(RandomNumber)
    ThisDocument.FormFields("Bingo" & x).Result = RandomResult
    collSquares.Remove (RandomNumber)
Next x

End Sub

Private Sub cmdClearCard_Click()
Dim ff As FormField
For Each ff In ThisDocument.FormFields
    ff.Result = ""
Next ff
End Sub

007 can't play poker

Expert Imported to Teach Bond How to Play Poker:

Daniel Craig, the British actor who will play 007 in the upcoming James Bond title "Casino Royale", was reportely so bad at poker that film exec's had to fly in an expert to teach him.

John Duthie, U.K. poker player and commentator, was brought to a hotel in Berlin to coach Craig (right) before filming of several crucial scenes revolving around poker.

One insider told England's The Sun newspaper, "Daniel could not play cards. It was so funny. It is a critical part of the film, where Bond shows how cool a customer he is, but it was frustratingly ridiculous how long it took to teach the cast how to play or behave at a poker table."

This comes as the latest contrast between the 007 character and Craig, who reportedly admitted that he hates guns and can't operate the Astin Martin DB5's manual transmission.

Data track of my poker balance

I've been keeping track of my daily balance for a few months now, and I'm feeling pretty good about the last couple of weeks. With the $20 bonus I got from pokerindex.com, I'm up almost $80 in online play. Combined with being up in home game play but down in B&M casino play, I'm almost even for the year.

The fickle KQ: good, bad, and almost bad

On Saturday, I placed 14th out of 97 players in a freeroll, just 4 places out of the money. 10th place would have paid $20. KQ let me down again. Ah well.

A bunch of friends came over for poker, and in spite of being down $15 early, I ended up ahead $17 for the night. Four out of five times, Shrek isn't going to have that K that he's representing, and I'll successfully get his all-in. I also got to see Bill turn a 10¢ chip-and-a-chair into $2.50. KQ won 2-out-of-3 times for me. Saturday was a good day.

Sunday, I made the mistake of playing online (25¢/50¢) in the middle of the day, with all the distractions that it entails. I found myself trying to scare people off with my two overcards, which almost never works, and the overcards almost never hit. Down $16.15. It was a bad day.

Monday night, I played online again, and dropped down $10 over the course of about two hours. A series of brutal hands did me in:

1) In the big blind, I'm dealt Q6o. The board comes AQ6/4/T. I lose $2 to a KJ rivered straight.

2) Two hands later, on the button, I get 99. The board comes A48/5/8. The other player isn't playing like they had the A. They had TT instead, and take $1.75 from me.

3) The next hand, I get 88. The board comes 53K/5/6. I fold on the turn, because I've put the other guy on a 5. Nope -- but he had JJ. Down another 75¢.

4) The next hand, I get AJo. The board comes J9A/Q/T. I'm expecting the other guy to show his K straight, but no, he's got 65, but I've only started with $1.90, and can't get value for my cards.

I rebuy for another $10, and although I realize I've been getting some bad and semi-bad beats, I think I could also make do with playing two simultaneous tables. That'll keep away the temptation to play A6o.

About an hour later, I'm still about even on both tables, and the run of good cards finally shows up. The best hand had me raising like a madman on the turn and river, when my KQ hit a 8JT/9/9 board (a K high straight), against two other players with queens. +$11.50 on one hand, but down $1.90 overall for the night.