[Mudcat]

VIP.com has put $500 in my casino account. I've never played at an on-line casino before. Looks like I'm going to have an excellent adventure (probably on Monday when I have more time).

30x rollover, the e-mail says.

What shall I do? I have certainly been to real casinos many times. I used to be able to count cards and grind out a profit at blackjack. Mind you, that was the better part of two decades ago and I'm not going to put in the effort to polish up my card-counting over a $500 freeplay. I don't even know if on-line casinos use proper multi-deck games or how that works.

I think what I'll probably do is gamble a bit. Place a few big crazy bets early and see if I can get lucky and double or triple up. If so, then I'll switch to blackjack and play some basic strategy and grind things out so there should be something left to shift to the sportsbook at the end of the rollover.

If I lose, I lose fast.

Any tips are welcome.

In any case, I am anticipating an adventure which can only be described as, "excellent."

[Yoshi]

I´d play high amounts in the beginning too, $50 or so...
30x ro would be too long and boring for me to start small.

[Illusion]

I never had any real luck playing blackjack online. I always seem to do well with the stud poker. Try messing around with that.

[Mudcat]

Well isn't this exciting.

After I would guess about 5 rollovers (mainly $100-$200 per hand on blackjack) I am at $1085.

I think there must be a big losing streak right around the corner.

[Mudcat]

Don't that just figure. I cut my bets back from $100 to $25 and I get two blackjacks in a row.

Sitting at $872 after about 10 rollovers. Long way to go. Too bad it doesn't have a rollover tracking display.

[Mudcat]

This really is an excellent adventure. I must have done 15x rollover by now and sitting at $1022. Maybe I'm over-estimating on the rollovers but I'm starting to believe I can come out of this with a few bucks.

Taking a break.

[Mudcat]

That seemed too easy. I can't help but think, 'What's the catch?'

I got as high as $1700 but finally completed the rollover with $910 in my casino account. Turned it into cash (i.e. moved it to the sportsbook).

All I did was play basic strategy at blackjack (other than one quick $100 shot at red on roulette and a few hands of video poker). I've played a lot of blackjack and I know the game. You can have hot streaks but if you play a lot of hands (and aren't counting cards), you inevitably piss away your money. But in this case I played a lot of hands and the cards stayed so lucky, it almost felt like the game was rigged in my favor.

Not only that, playing all those hands earned me ~10,000 Rewards Points which are basically more cash.

What can I say? If anyone from VIP happens to be trolling around the Private Forum here, thank you. Now I wish I had've put this thread somewhere more prominent so they could get proper recognition.

[Illusion]

How long (in hours) did it take you to complete the rollover? BTW, nice going on completing it and turning a nice little profit.

[Mudcat]

Thanks Lou.

At first I was playing $100/hand. 5 hands = 1 rollover so the first ~5 rollovers just took a couple minutes. After that I switched to $25/hand (20 hands = 1 rollover). I was rusty and I couldn't remember every detail of optimum basic strategy so I kept stopping to refer to a chart on a website.

It probably took me an hour of total playing time, maybe 1:15.

[Illusion]

This is a great topic, so I am moving this to the Players Talk.

[JoshW]

Must be fixed. When people lose it is always fixed. So when you win must be fixed too. Nice score.

[Formula]

It's not possible to win at online casinos, Mudcat. You were either cheating or you are lying to us all. Everyone knows that they let you get up a lot of money and then right before the rollover is done they take it all back.

On a serious note, though...I'm glad to see that you chose to play blackjack. With proper play VIP was essentially giving you $450 in cash and you managed to double it up.

[ronald]

I remember the old days of casinos.....3-4 years ago. You could get a 100% match with only a 3X rollover. It was easy easy easy money. Just playing basic strategy and you could make a nice living. Unforuntately, I got in a little too late.

[jjgold]

betting red and black at the same time sporadically throughout a day is the best way to complete casino rollovers.

[kdmfox]

As in most gambling ventures, Lady Luck is always nice to have on your side ... Keep whacking em.

[BuddyBear]

congratulations Mudcat....

[tacomax]

betting red and black at the same time sporadically throughout a day is the best way to complete casino rollovers.

That's probably the worst way there is. But good try.

[justbet]

and since for most casino bonuses roulette is not allowed to clear the rollover, that is especially good advice

[TheGambler]

well i'm glad to see someone is winning from VIP. I just got my account suspended for winning too much. All I did was follow Pags11 plays for the last few weeks and put about 3K on each one. I collected about 19K and then Joe the linesman got on the phone and said I was a sharp. Thanks Pags11 for getting me kicked out!!!!

[Mudcat]

I was watching some poker soon after this experience and it was odd. I had to totally re-orient myself.

Like someone would have a 4,7 as his hole cards and I would be all excited for him. It would take a moment to remember that's crap in poker.