"after reading your 'blackjack grub' post last month i started doing the casino whoring and am already up $585 after going through lucky nugget and golden tiger.... thank you so much for this advice. i'm poor, and free money means a lot to me :)"
-- d.h.

While everybody and his brother seem to be casino whoring on 2+2, remember to look at the big picture. Think of it as one long session. If you lose at one or a couple casinos, it's surely disheartening. Particularly if you lose part or all of your initial deposit. Variance and swings in blackjack can be huge and you'll swear the software is rigged (I do on a constant basis), but let mathematics take care of the long run. Don't let a small loss get you down: there are plenty more casinos to make up for it. Standard deviation is ultimately your friend.

With any of these, there's risk. You should only embark on this sordid journey if you can afford to lose that deposit.

Just don't tilt and bet bigger (like me), or else you'll wind up losing all of it (like me).

Like poker bonuses, casino bonuses are well worth the risk because as long as you don't lose sight of your reason for crossing to the dark side, you'll soon find yourself sitting on a bankroll large enough to sustain your current level, buy in to a few big tourneys, or take a shot at a higher limit.

The goal is not to win big at the casinos but to take back most of the bonuses with the least variance, and parlaying that into fattening up your poker bankroll.

Unless you're also in it to have fun.

Which in that case, if you're looking at settling on one casino, my preference is Lucky Nugget. Not only do they offer a good loyalty program where every month they give you some money to play with and give you a 100 percent match bonus offer (this month their bonus is $750 for a $750 deposit), but they also offer an auction site Bucks to Bid, a fun little site that's pure bonus -- you still retain prior bonuses, this is just icing and fun.

By registering a Lucky Nugget account, you won't be automatically registered, so you'll need to sign up separately to Bucks to Bid. Once you do, they'll give you 20 bid bucks to start you off, then you'll earn 1 bid buck for every $10 you wager at Lucky Nugget. After working off the regular bonus (waging requirement $5,000), that would net you a cool 520 bid bucks.

These bid bucks can be used to bid on the various auctions they have, from CDs to DVDs to big-screen TVs to Dom Perignon to collectibles like signed balls and bats. Some are wildly overbid; others are bargains.

I've won half a dozen auctions so far, and most come directly from Amazon, complete with receipt (if you'd like to return it for Amazon credit). What's more, there's no shipping charge.

Last week they offered a Vegas package. Flights there and back for two people with limo service, a deluxe suite at Caesar's for two nights, dinner and breakfast, and two VIP tickets to the Celine Dion show. This went for 23K bid bucks, which was 2K less than the winning bid on the digital camera (which could've been purchased for $200).

Unfortunately, I didn't have 23K bid bucks to wield, but I'm slowly building 'em up, in hopes of snagging another cool package no one seems to be interested in. How could anyone turn down a trip to Vegas? After all, you could scalp Celine (the tickets, that is)...

§
(XakyrieG, I emailed you about your $25 win from Hand #6 but didn't hear back from you. Party doesn't allow transfers of under $50, so I will mail it to you if you shoot me your address.)

Grubby's Hand of the Week #7
for Monday, June 7, 2004

Prize: $20
The first person to correctly guess my opponent's hand before noon on Thursday wins. Suits may or may not matter. One guess per person, please. Winner will be declared here at some point before the next Hand of the Week. If there's no winner, the prize will roll over to next week plus $5.

If you're signed up to Empire Poker or Absolute Poker through me (use those links to sign up), the prize is doubled for you.

You can leave a comment as Anonymous without registering through Blogger, but do include your name so I know whose guess is whose.

If you don't include contact info and you're the winner, email me after the quiz is over.

Good luck and good skills,

---

Intertops Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind t100 (9 handed) converter

UTG+1 (t1328)
MP1 (t2720)
MP2 (t506)
grubby (t2886)
CO (t3628)
Button (t3169)
SB (t1088)
BB (t2515)
UTG (t514)

Preflop: grubby is MP3 with Q Q
UTG raises, 2 folds, MP2 calls, grubby 3-bets, 2 folds, SB caps, 1 fold, UTG calls, MP2 calls, grubby calls.

Flop: (17 SB, t1700) 7 T 9 (4 players)
SB bets, UTG folds, MP2 bets t106 (All-In), grubby raises, SB 3-bets, grubby caps, SB calls.

Turn: (13.03 BB, t2606) 8 (3 players, 1 all-in)
SB bets, grubby raises, SB calls t88 (All-In).

River: (16.47 BB, t3294) 5 (3 players, 2 all-in)

Final Pot: 16.47 BB (t3294)
Main Pot: 10.09 BB (t2018), between MP2, grubby and SB.
Pot 2: 5.82 BB (t1164), between grubby and SB.


Intertops is a skin of Party. As is usual with the tourneys on this site, not many showed up (shhh... don't tell, they have terrific overlays). It was $50+5 with a $2500 guaranteed pool, and 32 people signed up. The day before I had won a $5+1 freezeout for this seat (a 9-person SNG, which took two hours to complete). Players are above-average compared with your typical Party player. Though there are some loose cannons.

Remember this is a limit tourney. Top 5 cash and we're down to 14. An early hand I had with SB was when it was checked around to me on the button. I raised with A9s. He reraised from the BB.

Flop (xxx): Check-check
Turn (Q): Check-check
River (x): Check-check

He took the pot with KQs. Clearly he was waiting to check-raise me twice on the turn and river but failed.

We've just passed the second break, and the above hand comes up.

I didn't have a read on MP2, other than he was shortstacked and perhaps throwing in the towel.

Let's focus on SB, though. What did SB have? Be the first to correctly guess MP2 as well, and the prize is doubled.

(By the way -- to the person I shared this hand with, you're disqualified -- sorry!)