Don't remotely disable the network card

We had issues late today with a web server we administer, and the guy who was the expert on such things was out of the office for the day, so it was up to me to try to figure out what was going on. Pinging the full domain name... timed out. Pinging the IP address of the machine... timed out. Pinging the machine on the network... worked. Huh?

I called someone who knew more about these things than I did, and he checked the same thing. We remoted into the machine, and it has two network cards in it, with two IP addresses. One IP address returned pings, and somewhere along the way, the other one started returning pings, too.

One IP was dynamic, the other static. "What building are the servers located in?" the network guy asked. I told him. "That IP address doesn't sound like it belongs in that building." I checked with my team lead -- yup, that's the right building. "How long has it had this IP address?" I checked the properties of each. Four days plus. "Maybe disabling and re-enabling the dynamic IP network card will get it working again."

I clicked the disable button. Nothing appeared to happen. Clicked it again with no response, not even a button press.

It was at this point I realized I'd been sawing on the branch I was sitting on. In a cartoon, this would be the moment just before I realize I'd walked off of a cliff, but gravity hadn't taken effect yet.

The remote connection closed. Gravity took over. "Connection failed."

Road trip to the server building. Checked in -- and the server wasn't there. Wrong building. That's why the IP address didn't sound right.

Road trip to the other server building. Wait 20 minutes to be checked in. Find the server, click to enable. Remote access reactivated.

Note to self: don't do that again.

Winning 66 BB/hour sounds impressive, but...

Back to poker last night, I spent about an hour at two simultaneous 1¢/2¢ $5-max no limit hold em tables at Poker Stars, ending up $1.32. The best hand:

I'm dealt AK in early position. I raise to 8¢ scaring out most of the table, but with two callers.

The flop is 2KA rainbow. Beauty. I check. Middle position checks. Late position puts in 10¢. I merely call -- I want to keep these two players in. Middle position sadly folds.

The flop is a 5. Obviously, there's almost no way this put the other player ahead, unless he's holding 34 (unlikely as heck at this point). He's got about 85¢ left in his stack. If I go for all of it, he'll fold, I'm sure. I toss in 20¢, which implies that I think the 5 helped me, a lot. Or I'm trying to scare him out. He takes the bait and calls.

The river's a K, giving me a kings-over-aces full boat. I put him all in. He thinks about it for a while, pushes his last 65¢ in, and shows A5, "wow, nh, nh, thx".

Omaha hi/lo: fried brains, please

I've been reading up on Omaha hi/lo strategy, but my mind's just not getting it.

In my final hand tonight, I'm in middle position in a 25¢/50¢ limit game, and I'm dealt 3♥ 4♥ 4♣ 3♣. Nice? No -- my strategy chart tells me this is a crap hand, and to fold it.

I don't fold it. I call the 25¢ blind, the guy to my left raises, I call, leaving four of us to see the flop.

T♣ 9♣ 6♣.

I've hit my flush on the flop. The big blind checks, the guy to my right puts in 25¢,I raise to 50¢, the guy to my left and the blind fold, the guy to my right re-raises to 75¢, and I call. He's representing that he hit the flush, too, and if he did, he hit it better than I did. I don't believe him, though.

The turn is 3♦.

I've got some kind of a full house possibility going on here now, although my well-cooked brain isn't able to figure out exactly what it is. My opponent bets 50¢, I raise, he re-raises, and I call all-in with my last 45¢.

The river is 4♠.

My opponent shows A♣ 5♣ 9♦ T♦. He's got an ace-high flush to beat my ten-high flush. I've got no full house. I've also got no low, so he takes that with his A,3,4,5,6. He brings in $6.50. I close out down $20 for the night.

Loss, win, loss

Not much to add, other than it's getting harder to find decent bonuses. On Thursday night, I played Europa casino's 100% $100 match, and customer support offered me another $50, with total WR of $2850. Blackjack is ineligible, so I played War. At the $1450 WR mark, I was down to zero.

At the home poker game last night, I ended up ahead $15.25. Good times.

And tonight, I played at Club Player, who advertises a 350% bonus up to $700, with a WR of 50x (really, really high). I deposited $199 (it wasn't clear that $200 would count), which gave me $895.50 to play with. I began playing blackjack at $50 a hand. After 120 hands, I was down to $795.50, and bumped up to $75 a hand. After another 120 hands, I was up to $1020.50, and bumped up to $100 a hand. But 44 hands later, I was down to zero.

Europa Casino: 100% bonus: -$100
Club Player Casino: 350% bonus: -$199
Something-out-of-nothing to date: $4,217

Money from the Ho

Yesterday evening, after playing at DrHo888 for a few days, I finally hit my wagering requirements. Near the end, between hands, and during a particularly long shuffle, I brushed up on card counting strategy, and wrote myself a VBA card counting doc. In the final shoe, the count turned slightly favorable three times, enough to bet twice my normal wager ($20 instead of $10). Two out of those three times, I won.

DrHo888 100% match bonus: +$156
Something-out-of-nothing to date: $4,516

Slow Ho; go, Smo; oh no!

Slow Ho: For the last couple of days, I've been playing at the awkwardly named Dr. Ho 888 casino, based out of Macau. The name kind of makes sense, once you realize that 8 is some kind of lucky number in China, and that owner Stanely Ho, nicknamed "The King of Macau", is the worlds 84th richest person.

They offer a 125%/$125 20x non-sticky bonus, with no restrictions on the games to be played (other than prohibiting even money bets, or unreasonably safe bets such like red and black in roulette).

They offer games with live webcam dealers, but I'd heard that those games run pretty slow. They also offer what looks like Playtech software-run games, which is why I signed up.

Unfortunately, I didn't check it before I paid my money, and the Playtech tables are down. So, I've been playing simultaneous blackjack and baccarat, at the shockingly high minimum bet amount of $10 a hand. It's really slow, about a hand every minute or so. The dealers are decent to look at -- a few scuds -- but they've got that fake plastic "I'm on a webcam" smile, which really means, "Yay, I have all the dullness of being a dealer without the human interaction. When's my break?"

Because we're looking at real cards from a real blackjack shoe and real shuffles, I'm thinking that this has got to be a prime opportunity for card counting (normal online blackjack shuffles after each hand).

Go, Smo: At our irregular home game on Saturday, my cousin Smokey mentioned that he wants to try bonus hunting. I wish him the best of luck. I fear that he might be the kind of person who thinks that the roulette wheel has some kind of memory, or that a certain craps roll is "due", which will doom his efforts, but I wish him the best of luck.

If you're reading this, Smokey, a few more notes:

• It took me 20 casinos offering free chips to get the $100 I started with. The list is on my May 28 blog entry. Truthfully, playing with these free chips are good training for the play that you'll do later at the non-sticky casinos.
• Don't forget to read FlopTurnRiver and BonusBug.com's postings.
• Acropolis Casino has a good bonus, but an even better description of what a sticky bonus really is.
• The forums at CasinoMeister are a good source of opinons on the various casinos; so's his Rogue's list. The Online Blackjack Guide is another resource, but much less useful.

Oh no!: I was playing super loose at the home game on Saturday. While Bill was urging himself with the mantra, "Don't play crap cards. Don't play crap cards," I was taking hands like Q♠9♠ and paying to see the flop with them. I lost my first $10 fairly quickly, then rebought another $10, winning a few small pots, then ending up decently ahead with a monster bluff against Phil. I was playing 8♣3♦ and missed the board entirely, but my large bet on the river, representing top-card-top-kicker, prompted him to fold.

Eventually, though, the TV came on, playing a doumentary outlining a conspiracy to cover up the events of 9/11. I could have cared less, but three other players at the table were deeply into it, making each hand last 3-8 minutes long. Frustrated, and ready to go, I started playing my hands even stronger. I dropped back below $20, but eventually, I got pocket aces -- and ran into a straight on the river. A few hands later, I'm dealt A3 with a flop of A39, and bust out to an A9. $20 for five hours of poker, though -- not a bad evening.

Prism's too slow; SportsInteraction's too fast

Geez, Prism Casino does seem to be pretty sluggish. I sent this e-mail to Prism's accounting manager today:

Good afternoon, Chris. I've had multiple chats with Alex and Gabie regarding my recent withdrawal, and they recommended I contact you. I tried to reach you via chat multiple times, but you were either in meetings, you'd already left for the night, or you were out sick (hope you're feeling better today!).

My issue has to do with a withdrawal that was approved, but which never showed up in my Neteller account.

On June 21, I made a withdrawal of $1140. After the $250 non-cashable bonus was taken out, the remaining $890 was approved for withdrawal on July 1.

Last week, Mandy said that it should be done "any minute", probably on Monday, July 9. The $890 hasn't shown up in my Neteller account yet, and it's been two weeks since the withdrawal was approved.

Can you look into this for me? I'm thinking perhaps your staff may have mistakenly mistyped my Neteller account number. It's xxxxxxxxx802.

Thanks in advance for your help,

[signature, userID, e-mail]

To my pleasant surprise, I received a reply two hours later.

I do not see any problem with the withdrawal request. Our accounting department is just really backed up right now and they are trying to get all of these processes as quickly as possible. I will see what I can do to get this sped up for you.

It's been 24 days since I initiated the withdrawal. That's a heck of a backup.

Secondly, I played blackjack at Sports Interaction today (130%, $130 bonus, 20x WR). A couple times I got close to zero, and bounced back up, but in the end, a few hundred dollars short of the WR, I bottomed out. Ah well.

SportsInteraction.com 130% bonus: -$100
Something-out-of-nothing to date: $4,360

Off topic note: The image above is the cover for Richard Cheese's Sunny Side of the Moon. I heard about it on Coverville earlier this week. Good stuff.

H.O.R.S.E. in the WSOP

In case you haven't heard, for the first time ever, a HORSE tournament is part of the WSOP. As best as I can tell, rounds cycle through Hold em, Omaha, Razz, Stud, and omaha Eight or better. With a $50,000 buy in, many observers (myself included) believe that whoever wins this tournament is truly the best all-around poker player.

Card Player is live-blogging the event, and is posting (and graphing) up-to-the-minute chip counts.

I hope ESPN shows most of it. I'd love to see razz on TV.

Clueless stud player

I played 7-card stud on five simultaneous tables for a few hours tonight. A podcast I listened to this morning said that the best strategy is to wait for three high cards, or a pair of jacks or better, otherwise fold. Using that strategy, and deviating from it more than I should have, I lost $13.41. I'm sure I did a bunch of things wrong. They say that if you don't know where you are by fifth street, get out, and only once I knew that I had the best hand.

I'm the clueless stud player you want at your table.

Quickest withdrawal, like, evar

Last night's winnings from Club USA are already in my Neteller account. Wow. Rumor is that most casinos that run Real Time Gaming software do things really slowly, but this was less than 12 hours. I'll plug them here, even though their $10 table limits make true bonus hunting a challenge.

This compares very unfavorably to:

• Prism Casino. The withdrawal took ten days to approve, and I'm still waiting for the money 11 days after that.
• Vegas Strip Casino. The withdrawal was approved after 13 days, it's two days later and there's no money yet it arrived two days later.
• High Rollers Lounge. See my previously documented battle with them; the remaining $275 showed up yesterday.

Prism and Vegas Strip, plus Silver Sands (an RTG that says up-front that there's a seven-day delay), account for about $3000 in outstanding funds.

As a point of reference, Most other casinos have taken 3-5 days.

Edit: Vegas Strip's withdrawal came in three hours after I posted this.

The terms, they are a changin'

In my big spreadsheet of casino bonuses, I had Casino USA listed as a 100% $100 10x sticky, which didn't allow baccarat, craps, roulette, blackjack, or pontoon to meet the WR. 10x is still pretty good if you can find a game to play (maybe war?) so I checked it out again today.

They'd changed their terms. Blackjack is now allowed, but the WR has increased to 15x ($3000). I signed up, redeemed the 100% match coupon, but just before I made my deposit, I checked the table limits.

Every single table game allowed under the rules has a max bet of $10.

I nearly left. I probably should have, seeing that the best strategy for stickies is to bet 15-25% of the account value until you reach a pre-determined target. That wouldn't be possible here.

However, I chatted with online help, and they confirmed that yes, indeed, they keep the limits low initially to weed out bonus abusers. Fair enough. I should have left at this point, but was in a playful mood after yesterday's big win, and didn't mind if I ended up down a bit. Carribbean 21 was available with its 0.19% house edge, so I made my deposit anyway.

It was a decent night. I never dropped below $170, hovered around $260 for most of the WR, but hit $300, then $400, as I crossed the $2000 WR line. When I hit $3000, I was at $402.50, so I tossed the $2.50 into a slot machine, where it quickly vanished.

The $400 withdrawal was more than I expected to make.

Club USA Casino 100% match: +$200
Something-out-of-nothing to date: $4,460

Read this, go to jail, do not collect $200

Today, we've got two columns from the Seattle Times about the ludicrousness of Washington's new anti-online gambling law (which I'll refer to in the future as the Muckleshoot Protection Act).

The first column highlights a case where Bellingham-based IntegrityCasinoGuide.com is shut down: This column may be illegal (June 15):

The first casualty in the state's war on Internet gambling is a local Web site where nobody was actually doing any gambling.

[A] former Wal-Mart worker in Bellingham ... started a casino review called IntegrityCasinoGuide.com. He worried about the new law but figured he'd be OK because his site has no actual gambling.

Not so, said the state. Writing about online gambling in a way that seems promotional can earn a cease-and-desist order, and potentially, a criminal charge. Boutte learned this when a Bellingham Herald article featured state officials saying his site was illegal.

[Even the] Seattle Times may be afoul of the law because we print a poker how-to column, "Card Shark," by gambler Daniel Negreanu.
...
"My suggestion to you is to remove from your paper any advice about online gambling and any links to illegal sites," [says Rick Day, director of the state gambling commission].

So even this column could be illegal?

The state's gone from trying to control gambling, which is legit, to trying to control people speaking about gambling.

It's hard to take coming from a state that bombards us with pitches for the biggest sucker's bet of all. You know, the one they call the lottery.

And from last Sunday, your subscription to Card Player may be in jeopardy. Are ESPN blackouts of the WSOP next? Read this while it's still legal:

On July 3, Harvill, an affable operations manager for Sprint PCS near Spokane, got the following letter from the publisher of two magazines he has subscribed to for years. "It is with deep regret that we must inform you ... " it read, "we must cancel all subscriptions to Washington State."

The magazines are "Casino Player" — a monthly review of U.S. casinos and hotels — and "Strictly Slots" — a guide to one-armed bandits, video poker and other mechanized means of gambling.

Hardly classic literature. But Harvill liked them. And now he can no longer read them, thanks to a twisted reading of the state's new law against Internet gambling.

The state says placing bets online is against the law. Fine. But the state goes on to say that even writing about Internet gambling in a way that's promotional is "aiding and abetting" an illegal industry.

So now two print magazines consider themselves banned in this state. It's not clear whether the publisher pulled them on his own or was asked to by the state. The letter vaguely cites "new state laws regarding the legality of online gaming."

Amazing.

(Thanks to the Card Club at Lord Admiral Radio podcast for pointing out the June column.)

A few close scrapes, but another big win

Silver Sands Casino is offering a 200% $200 bonus, 75% sticky, 30x WR ($9000). I deposited $100, and with the $300 in my account, started playing blackjack at $50 a hand. Target: $850.

Sweetest moment: dealt a pair of eights versus a dealer ten. Split them. First hand, got a 2, then a ten, for 20. Second hand, got a 7, then a 5 for 20. Dealer shows a 7, for 17. Plus $100.

Worst moment: Dealt a pair of twos versus dealer six. Split them. First hand, got a 9, doubled, got a 3 for 14. Second hand, got an 8, doubled, got a 5 for 15. Dealer shows a 3, then draws a 10 for 19. Loss of $200. Wacky.

Three times I was down to zero with $50 on the table. Three times I won. Eventually, I hit the $9000 WR, and was back up to $725. I dropped back down to D'Alembert out the last $125. It worked, and I ended with $860 in my account.

I talked to customer support, and they confirmed I met the WR, and that $150 of the $200 bonus was non-cashable, but would stay in the account for future play. I made the $710 withdrawal, which should take "about seven business days."

Silver Sands 200% $200 bonus: +$610
Something-out-of-nothing to date: $4,260

Oops. That was sticky. And red.

Casino Elegance offered a 100% $50 match, which I took them up on, and then proceeded to play for an hour, $2 a hand, until it shrunk down to zero. Just now, I realized that it was a sticky bonus, which I should have played much more agressively, at $20 a hand or so. Oops.

I played two tournaments at PokerStars tonight, and got knocked out of the both. The second one I went out on the bubble, nothing notable about it.

The first one, a 180-player $4 + $0.40 NLH tournament, I was on the button holding K♣ J♣. With four other players in, the flop came 7♥ K♥ 8♥. The other four players checked, so I put in a pot sized bet, thinking that I'd scare out those who would think I was on a flush draw (or had already made my flush), and limit the field. Almost everyone else folded, except for a player who had either gone all in or bet more than 10x the big blind whenever he had anything resembling a hand. From the hands I'd seen him play, it looked like he was in on any single face card. He put me all in.

This didn't surprise me, from him, and I put him on a king plus a low card, maybe a flush draw in there, but not a flush.

Indeed, he showed K♠ 5♥. I've got him dominated, right?

Well, the turn was J♥, giving him the flush. The river, 8♠, didn't help. Afterwards, I punched it into the CardPlayer.com odds calculator, and it turns out I wasn't much of a favorite at all, only 49% to 44%, with a 6% chance to tie.

Oops.

HighRollersLounge.com makes good

Back on June 27, I posted a blog entry describing how HighRollersLounge took my $275 in winnings because of a betting pattern that they did not approve of. On June 19, I'd bet $5 a hand, for $1800 WR, on War.

On June 26, I'd chatted with online support ("sir there is nothing more i can help you with."), and e-mailed the casino manager, Oliver Curran, through their support e-mail address. On June 28, having received no response, I sent him a private message through the Casinomeister forums.

When I'd still no response by July 3 (not even "we're looking into it"), I opened a case with Montana Dispute Resolution, which is the dispute resolution service for the casino software provider, Real Time Gaming.

Today, I received the following:

Dear Travis,

The casino confirmed that they made an error and wish to apologize for that. We have confirmed that $125.00 has already been paid to you and the balance of $275.00 has been credited to your account. Please proceed to either initiate a withdrawal or play with that balance.

Thank you,
The Player Dispute Team

I've initiated the withdrawal.

High Rollers Lounge Casino: Reversing the $275 reneg: +$275
Something-out-of-nothing to date: $3,650

I've got concerns now about my Prism Casino withdrawal ($890), but that'll wait until they actually say no.

Fall asleep. Win hands anyway.

The game is Omaha Hi/Lo, 2¢/5¢ pot limit. I'm dealt A♦ T♦ 3♣ 2♣. The board is 4♣ Q♠ 9♠. I'm liking the four, because if a 5, 6, 7, or 8 hits, I've got the nut low. A five gives me the wheel straight (A2345). The spades scare me a bit, but I raise from early position and get a few callers.

The turn is 7♦. I've got the nut low, so I try to figure out what I can bet to not scare others out. I go in for $1, and get one caller.

The river is 9♦. No flush possibility, so I bet the pot, $3.12. As the other player considers what to do, I come back to reality, and make the stark realization:

I don't have the nut low. I've got crap. A board of 4Q979 doesn't have a low possibility, and -- duh -- I can only use two cards from my hand, not the A, 2, and 3.

He decides I must have hit a full house with the last nine, and folds. I collect $3.12 and exhale.

It's time to start paying attention, lawyer boy.

Several hands later, I'm in late position, and get 2♠ J♠ T♠ 3♣.

The board comes A♦ K♠ 4♣. Again, I'm going for the nut low, one card to go, but this time, I'm awake enough to realize that I'm only using the 2 and 3 to get it. No, I'm not just one card away from a spade flush, I realize that. I make a minor raise to run off the riff raff.

The turn is 7♣, so I've made my nut low. I bet the pot, and have one caller.

The river is a safe looking Q♥, so I bet the pot again -- maybe I'll scare him off -- and he calls. I show the nut low, and he shows two pair, so we split the pot.

Except we don't. I get the whole pot. What the heck?

Yeah. That J♠ T♠ that I spent my whole hand ignoring? The queen on the river gave me broadway. Scooped pot of $3.17.

Wake up, lawyer boy. Wake up. Up $2.10 for the night.

Where we're going, we don't need... limits

Ahh... back to the stress-free poker life. I'm taking a break from bonus hunting until my outstanding withdrawals show up. I've filed a complaint with High Rollers Lounge's software provider, and will follow up with their licensing jurisdiction if I don't get satisfaction there. For now, it's back to the comparatively stress-free poker tables.

With a bigger bankroll, though, I can afford bigger risks, so after my meager 70¢ win on Monday night, I decided to play at the 25¢/50¢ no-limit hold 'em tables. If you look back through all of my old posts, you'll see that the online poker game I've played almost exclusively is limit poker.

Three simultaneous tables, $10 buy-in at each, +$21 overall. The hand I feel the worst about was when I held pocket red queens, and two other players started raising each other $1-$2 a shot when the board came T93 with a couple of clubs. I laid my queens down after throwing my first $1 in there, because I was pretty sure that one of them had hit their set, and another was on a flush draw. A third club came on the turn, one player went all in, the other called, and after the river, the calling player wins with... a ten for top pair? WTF?

But even more fun (but less profit), I simultaneously played Omaha 8-or-better at two 5¢/10¢ limit tables and one 5¢/10¢ pot limit table. If the play is as bad at the higher limits as at the lower, I definitely need to move up. I ended up ahead about $3 after an hour's play, but I'd bet that higher limits don't necessarily equate to better play, at least for the lower levels.

Want to make money online at O8B? Here's the three step process:

1) Google for omaha better "starting hands"

2) Only play those starting hands.

3) Profit!

Yeah, it seems to be that easy.

On a related note, the Ante Up podcast seems to imply that another good way to make easy wins is to learn and follow good basic Razz strategy (see Super/System), then play the Razz tables at Full Tilt. I'll give that a try one of these days.

A night at PokerStars means free toast

Yep -- back to poker. How rusty am I? Well, after making a $100 deposit into my never-before-used PokerStars account, I dropped 50 cents as the missed blind on a .25/.50 table, just before I had to leave to eat dinner. Stupid move.

Then I placed somewhere around 160th out of 180 in a $4 + .40 SNG tournament, losing to a set of fives.

But then I sat down at a $3 + .40 turbo, and placed second out of 10 players, earning $9.

This placed me up 70¢ at PokerStars for the night. W00t! That's about the value of a piece of toast from the company cafeteria. Yum.

Bad pontoon, no biscuit

I accepted InterCasino's 100% $100 12.5x WR again, and just like last month lost it all at Pontoon, $5 a hand at a time. This time, it was at the $925 WR level, so I lasted 16 hands longer.

-1 standard deviation would end me at $34.75, so I'm not sure how to account for this double drop. A double failure will happen about 10% of the time. If it happens next month, that's a 3% chance (although at this point, it's really 31%, since the first two failures have already happened.)

InterCasino's monthly $10 match: -$100
Something-out-of-nothing to date: $3,375

Uncharacteristially impetuous

Another month, another reload at William Hill (100%, $40, 10x playthrough, non-sticky). At $1 a hand, I played 137 hands, and was up $12.50, but the slow dialup connection I was using, along with my own impatience, led me to start betting $2 a hand, then $5 a hand. Three times, I was down to $20, and bet $10, pushing me back up to $30 or $40. On the fourth time, though, I lost two in a row, ending at zero.

Plenty of other reloads have come in, too. Casino Elegance and Everest Casino have both offered 100% $50 15x stickies, and InterCasino has again offered their monthly 100% $100 12.5x non-sticky.

William Hill monthly $40 match: -$40
Something-out-of-nothing to date: $3,475

Bet it all on black

So I had my $100 "sticky type II" bonus, which I can play with, but can't withdraw, but which stays in my account until I lose it. Without doing a ton of research, I decided on French Roulette with a house edge of about 1.3%. Blackjack has a better overall house edge, but part of that edge is from doubling and splitting, so it's hard to tell what the house edge on one hand would be.

I'm glad my two brothers were here -- they urged me to go the winning way each time, and I'd have lost if I'd decided to bet on the color/oddness/range I'd originally planned to.

First bet: $100 on black.
Hit: Black 13.
+$100. Cash out $100.

Second bet: $100 on odd.
Hit: Black 15.
+$100. Cash out $100.

Third bet: $100 on 19-36 (high)
Hit: Black 29.
+$100. Cash out $100.

Fourth bet: $100 on black.
Hit: Red 23.
Balance: $0

Casino Elegance: $100 sticky II bonus: +$300
Something-out-of-nothing to date: $3,515

The $400 lunch break

After Thursday night's loss of $500, I took my lunch break on Friday to try and win it back. I signed up with Casino Elegance (100% $100 bonus, wagering requirements (WR) of 15x = $3000), which has a slightly different kind of stickiness to its bonus. You can play with it, and lose it, and like regular stickies, you can't withdraw it. However, if you still have it, it sits in your account and isn't removed with your withdrawal.

This didn't change the way I played -- $25 a hand until I got to $300 (at the $775 WR level), then $50 a hand until I built it up to my target of $600 (which I reached at the $1325 WR level). Then down to $2 a hand, 3 hands at a time, which I did until I had about $400 in WR left. I was at $521, and had fallen pretty far off my target, so I started to use the D'Alembert system. It seemed to be going nowhere, so when I had $100 in WR left and was at $550, I jumped back to $25 per hand, one hand at a time. And lost. And won, and lost, and lost. At $500, I jumped up to a $50 hand, and lost.

At $450, I play my final hand, betting $50 (you can tell this is gonna be good), and am dealt 3-3; the dealer shows a 2. Proper strategy says to split, so I do. The first hand is 3-8, which I double, and get a 7 for 18. The second hand I get a 5, then a K for 18. I've now got $150 on the table and only $300 in my account. The dealer turns over his hole card, which is a 9, giving him 11, and I nearly come unglued... but he draws a 6, for 17. I win $150 (plus my bets back), have hit my $600, and make my withdrawal.

So, for the last 24 hours, I'm only down $100, and I've still got $100 in the account to try and win with. Today's project: bet it all on one hand, and withdraw any winnings.

Casino Elegance: $100 match bonus: +$400
Something-out-of-nothing to date: $3,215

Make that three in a row

Just not my night...

Everest Casino: $100 match bonus: -$100
Something-out-of-nothing to date: $2,815

Losing twice

I started playing at Casino Extreme tonight (sticky 100% match of $200, 15x WR), and lost all $400 in less than ten hands. The first hand, I'm dealt A7 versus the dealer's 4, and double down, losing when he gets to 19. The very next hand, I split 88 versus the dealer's 5, and he hits 21.

After losing, I went to Imperial Casino (also sticky 100% match of $200, 15x WR), and got up to $700 on the way to my target of $850, but then fell back down to $150 at the time I crossed the $6000 WR line. I kept betting $50 a hand, and a few minutes later, after hitting $0 and bouncing back a few times, I finally lost for good.

Casino Extreme: $200 match bonus: -$200
Imperial Casino: $200 match bonus: -$200
Something-out-of-nothing to date: $2,915

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.