Beating The House contains all the information and resources I have learnt over the past 4 years as a full time gambler.
It also contains links and ratings to all the Casinos and Bookmakers I have used during this time and details my cash out experiences.
I never play without an edge and I have made well over £200,000. Thats £50,000 a year - Tax Free!
Online casinos offer first-time deposit bonuses to attract new players. This is a practice which works for them - it gets recreational customers who like to gamble hooked on their games, and most of them will eventually lose back the deposit bonus plus a good chunk of their own funds. Very few players will stick to the lowest house-edge games and play them optimally, while using a sound money-management plan. For the few customers who are disciplined enough to do this, the deposit bonuses are easy pickings and the casino simply writes it off as part of their cost of doing business.
A few of the better online casinos regularly offer reload bonuses as well. These are additional deposit bonuses available from time to time after you are a customer (some of them are a set monthly amount). What all these deposit bonuses amount to is a bet against your discipline. The casinos are willing to bet against your having the presence of mind and determination to just play for the deposit bonuses and then cash-out while you are ahead.
In order to cash-out the bonuses you must meet the minimum wagering requirements. These differ by site and are typically anywhere from 20 times to 60 times the bonus amount. For example, before you can withdraw a $200 bonus (plus any other winnings) you might have to wager a total of $8,000. This sounds impossible right? Not if you know the correct strategic decision to make based on your hand and the dealers card.
You wont win every hand - that would be impossible! But you should on average per 100 hands played only lose 0.3%.
This is by no means a guarantee but is a mathematical average. Results often will fall either side of this, meaning that sometimes you will win more and sometimes you will lose more. This is to be expected and is referred to as variance.
Variance is the term used to describe the swings in the game - you will have both winning and losing streaks while playing. Variance can be controlled to a degree by your bet size. The smaller your betsize the smaller the swings will be. For example, by always making only the minimum bet (usually £1) you keep the effect of variance to a minimum and are almost assured of being able to cash out most of the bonus as a profit.
As I have been advantage gambling for some years now I have built up a large bankroll which allows me to bet at larger stakes and complete offers quicker. This also exposed me to larger swings - but I have the bank to handle those swings and I know that over time the variance will equal out and my results will come into line with the expected value.
Standard deviance is the term used to show the effects variance can have on your profits. It is a mathematical term and is used to show what results you can expect should you finish a bonus offer above or below the expected return.
For example, a casino offers us £100 for playing £3000 worth of Blackjack. We calculate that as Blackjack has a 99.50 % return or 0.5% House edge we should make £85.00. However we finish the offer with only £30 profit.