Bull's Sports Betting Journal

A sportsbook freeplay bonus is a wagering credit.  You can bet it just like cash, but only the profit is returned to you when you win, not the betting credit.  If you have a $10 freeplay and bet it on a +100 line and win, you get $10 in cash, but lose your betting credit.  If you were betting cash on that +100 line, when you win your $10 bet is returned as well as the $10 of betting profit.

You don't need to do too much digging to find an article explaining how to maximize your freeplay bonus.  Indeed, freeplay calculators abound on the internet to help bettors properly size their bets in order to gurantee the maximum betting profit. 

In a nutshell, the method has you put your freeplay money on the money line of a HUGE underdog, while simultaneously putting cash on the favorite at at another sportsbook.  When properly executed, this method can typically convert 80% of the value of the freeplay bonus to cash.  This is much better than you could expect to do by attempting to pick winners.

The problem is that this action of putting your freeplay on a huge underdog flags you at the sportsbook as a bonus exploiter.  As someone who has done a little reading and is looking to make smart plays.  The sportsbooks prefers to cater to suckers, not educated bettors.  Not bettors who probably have a big bankroll at another book.  You may have set yourself up to be watched.

An altrnative that should pay off at a similar rate, and may keep you at a lower profile is to use three-team parlays.  Three-team parlays typically pay off at 6-1.  Randomly picking 3 teams to win will show a profit one time in eight.  Getting paid off at 6-1 once every eight bets returns 75% on the total amount bet.  If you are a 55% handicapper your rate of retrun increases dramatically to 98%.  (If you're a 55% handicapper, you're not chasing a freeplay bonus, though.  You're making your living betting on sports.)

If you are working a sportsbook that offers frequent reload bonuses of the freeplay variety, it may be worth your time to mix in some parlay play with your "Big Dog" freeplays.  It could keep you out of trouble with the sportsbook and keep you eligible for those extra freeplay bonuses.

Posted by Bullajami at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Enjoying some positive variance this past week.  I played two 30-seat SNGs at Cake and won them both.  I am not sure that the math on the bounty tournaments supports them being a wise choice, but the play is so awful that I routinely make the money in them.

I am also still whittling away at the Collegiate Series of Poker first deposit bonus.  The level of play at the $50 NL tables is poor.  I can usually get 2-3 tables going at full ring, but the pace of play is usually slow.  Maybe 45-50 hands/hour.  The software is a little slow, but mostly the players seem to take more time than is needed to make their bad decisions. Lots of europeans on that site, so maybe they are more attuned to a slower pace.

That chase has been a roller coaster.  Currently way up with about 75% of my play requirement met.

Some big news seems to be brewing in online poker.  Poker Stars may be set to roll out a revenue sharing plan for affiliates.  Up 'til now PS would only pay affiliates a one time finders fee for new players - making rakeback impossible.  With revenue sharing rakeback becomes possible, although the word on the street is that Poker Stars will not allow it.  They can easily thwart rakeback by not providing affiliates with individual player stats.  If your affiliate is not told how much you played (and paid) there is no way for him to get you your rakeback.

There are some ways to circumvent the lack of player stats.  For marketing purposes many sites provide different "trackers" to affiliates.  That way the affiliate knows if his newsletter is generating more sign ups or the review he posted on the website.  You can get stats for each tracker - thus if you make sure each new player uses a unique tracker when they sign up, you can know the player's stats and provide rakeback.  Many Party Poker affiliates were doing this a few years back, and Party slapped them down when they figured it out.  It will be interesting to see how many "underground" deals pop up for Poker Stars if they allow revenue sharing.

Dog Daq is taking a beating this past week.  A miserable 1-5 showing of late.  We also had a shareholder vote on increasing the betting unit to 2%.  The majority wanted it, so we will be doing that as soon as I can verify that the couple of non-responders are not unhappy about the decision.

I continue to churn at Just Bet.  I am in no hurry now that busting looks unlikely.  They have a 60 day hold for cashouts if you take their 20% cash, so I have 6 weeks before I can retrieve that money anyways.

I continue to investigate cashiering options as well.  The slow turn I am taking on that ought to be an indication of how it is going - frustratingly.  The lone stand out seems to be PIC club, who at least has had fantastic customer service, even if they want a cavity search before activating your account.  More on that to come...

Happy Chasing!

Posted by Bullajami at 07:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Very dramatic title, eh? 

It wasn't quite like that.  I was hired on there almost 2 years ago to help the ITH team find and promote poker bonuses.  Since the UIGEA has drained off much of our bonus chasing capability, ITH could not afford to keep me on any longer.  My time is valuable, so I have a minimum wage rate that I won't take less than.  I suggested to Matthew that he either find something for me to do for ITH that was worth my salary (as promoting bonus chasing no longer was) or let me go.  He let me go.  As a website operator myself, I know it was the right move for him to make.  We are still friends, I am still on at ITH as a forum moderator (volunteer) and I will meet up with him at Las Vegas during the WSOP in June.

I had a great run at ITH and I hope things turn around in the online poker world.  If they do I may be back there again some day.  Until then I will be haunting the forum if for no other reason than to torment nsidestrate and BernardDogs.

I also plan to use the time that I used to spend working for ITH figuring out the best ways we can beat the online poker rooms, the UIGEA and Uncle Sam out of more money than they want us to have,  Poker bonus chasing is not dead - but it is very sick.  If there's a way to get it healthy again, I am going to find it!

Posted by Bullajami at 08:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

...if you can.  Very profitable stuff.

My website has been having some issues of late.  I may have been hacked or it may just be a glitch.  Either way, it's a bummer to figure out and fix.  It's up and running again, but it's not 100%.  Grrrrr...

I am 3/4 done with the WR for my recent casino bonus chase.  I am up $105 at blackjack, so looking good to finish positive.  KNOCK WOOD!

I am killing, just killing, the $50 NL tables at Everleaf Network.  There are usually 2-4 running at peak US hours, so getting 3 tables up and running is rarely a problem.  The players are simply horrible.  I have been called down repeatedly by players who cannot beat A high.  How cool is that?  I have been playing through the ill-named Collegiate Series of Poker room.  Nice 300% bonus that clears as 12X points.  Points are earned on a contributed raked model.  It works out to 86% rakeback.  (90 days, so don't bite off too much.)

Just Bet has some great MLB dimeline opportunities, but their software continues to stink.  I encourage everyone to phone their bets in if using Just Bet.  The line moves online are too annoying.  They really need to fix their software and server issues.  I need to fix my "split 1-1 every time I make two MLB bets on a weekend" issues.

I have signed up for several cashiering options over the weekend.  Looking to be able to provide some advice on how we can move some money around if we want to chase a bonus.  Keep checking here and on the forum for updates.  I will likely also post a cashiering section on Bull"s Betting Information once I have the other issues worked through there.

Happy Chasing!

Posted by Bullajami at 08:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Still scalping at Just Bet.  I took the Red Sox there last night and, of course, they won, so I'll be scalping there for a while I suspect.

I had $85 at Intertops.  They put an affiliate payment in my player account.  I tried to bet it out, and ran it up to over $500.  .  Now I am trying to get a cashout from them via QuickTender.  If that goes smoothly it'll be a happy ending as I wanted to get some cash into Quicktender anyways.

I played quite a lot of NLHE last night.  Three-tabling $50 NL sitting with short stacks.  I was hitting on all cylinders and made about $60 despite losing an AA vs QQ all-in pre-flop.  I wrote about why I like to play short-stacked in the forum.  I think it is a good strategy choice as long as you know why you are doing it.

I am seriously considering going home early today so I can mow my grass.  My son is too busy with baseball to do it during the week and it is supposed to rain on the weekend.  I haven't mowed my own grass for at least 8 years.  Hope I remember how!

Posted by Bullajami at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I went to bed last night satisfied that my one scalp bet, a -1 on Philadelphia vs Houston, was a loser.  The hapless Phillies had yet to score going into the ninth inning, and I saw no reason to miss any sleep over seeing them get shut out.  I got up this morning and checked the scores and apparently I missed a scorcher, as the Phillies scored 4 in the bottom of the ninth to win it.  Yay Phillies!  Yay My Matchbook Balance!

I had the perfect plan.  I bought a domain name that would rank high on search engines for rakeback for a certain poker site.  I arranged with the poker site to give me a rakeback tracker.  I had the plan worked out in my head how I was going to offer people I know a higher % rakeback than they could get elsewhere.  Then ePassporte crapped out as the only realistic method Americans could use to get money in and out of that poker site.  Really took the wind out of my sails.  (But if you're not an American, contact me and I will hook you up.)

They brought my son, Dawg, into the game when it was two outs, bases loaded, down by 1 run situation in the 4th inning.  He got the out in 3 pitches: strike, strike, pop-up.  Then another pitcher was put in to start the fifth inning.  I do not understand this coach.

I am chasing a casino right now.  Damn blackjack is boring!  I had forgotten how much.  Also, I am up $75 and I am still convinced that it is rigged against me. I lost "20" 11 times last night in about 500 hands.  Chasing casinos is just work - but at least it is still paying well.  I will post the specific casino later when I get an affiliate deal with them.  Its a 100% to $500 at 20X for blackjack, though, so its not too bad!

Peace.

Posted by Bullajami at 03:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I played at Cake and at a small room on the Everleaf Network this weekend.  Finished even at Cake and up significantly at NLHE at Everleaf.  The quality of play at the $50 NL tables at Everleaf is abysmal.  Be aggressive when you have made a hand.  I was called down several times by players who could not beat ace high.

I am quite unhappy at the loss of ePassporte over the weekend.  lack of a universally accepted eWallet makes bonus chasing very difficult.  I am playing around with eWalletXpress and UseMyWallet to see if I can get anything useful out of them.  Not looking good so far, but I have not yet given up all hope.

In sports betting I got a deposit down at Just Bet last Thursday and had decent lines to work with in MLB all weekend.  Not as good of results as I hoped, but good lines.  MLB is hard to scalp.  The best teams win 60% of their games and the worst teams win 40% of their games.  You're going to get a lot of mixed results scalping in those waters.

We got another depositor at the DogDaq, pushing our betting unit up to $17.  I wrote up an explanation of DogDaq and posted it on the Bull's Betting Information website.  On a personal note, its cool that people trust me with their money. 

Saturday morning I ran 4 miles - tha farthest I have gone all spring.  That afternoon I went to my son's baseball game, and even though it was cloudy I got a sunburn on my head.  I was really feeling it in the late afternoon, but we went to my friend Bubba's for his birthday party at dinner time.  I started drinking beer and soon forgot about my fatigue.  I got home around 11:30, feeling pretty good after 9-10 beers.  Not real drunk, just nice and relaxed.  I popped open another beer and got in my favorite chair with my laptop.  I woke up at 5:00 with about two sips missing from that beer, and my laptop still sitting on my lap.  I don't remember even starting to nod, I just went out like a light swich!  I must have been beat!

Posted by Bullajami at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By the time I was done, though, I was wishing I hadn't. 

Well, not entirely.  I played well enough, even if I was possibly a bit TOO aggressive on the later streets at my $2/4 FRLH table, given the crowd assembled.  I hadn't played FRLH at Cake for a while, and I forgot that someone at your table will be calling down with middle or bottom pair. 

I also had a bit of bad luck with the board pairing on me when I didn't want it to twice. 

When my stats show that I am 0-4 at showdown, I am probably not enjoying my results at the table too much.  I had started out at another site I am experimenting with, and was doing well at $50 NL.  I should have stayed there.

Couple that with the fact that I was watching the Jays on MLB.TV, and it was not going well.  I could normally care less about the Jays, but I had a big scalp on the game and I needed them to win.  Suffice it to say they screwed it up.  They left runners in scoring position in the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th innings.  Frank Thomas hit a foul ball 500 feet in the 9th, and then struck out.  BUMS!  I was getting really irritated.  When I am yelling at my TV and my laptop, its time to take some melatonin and go to bed. 

At least the DogDaq bet won! 

My son, Dawg, has baseball games all weekend.  I may get tired of it eventually, but not yet!  The season is still fresh and new!

Posted by Bullajami at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I almost played poker last night.  I attended a conference during the day that wrapped up at about 1300.  That's right on the line of being early enough to go back to my office and try to get some other things done there, or just go home.  It was not a close decision for me yesterday - I just went home.

I answered my e-mail and perused the forums.  I ran the early betting lines and then I opened yet another sports betting account and called them to get the details on how to make a MoneyGram deposit.  I have it in my head again lately to do some casino bonus chasing, so I looked up QuickTender (usable at some casinos) to see how to send them a MoneyGram also.  Come to find that they no longer accept MG deposits, and the only method I can use is a credit card - with a 5% vig.   Grrrrrr.

Then I got the idea to load a sportsbook that takes QuickTender from MoneyGram and then do a cashout to QuickTender.  The only place I have ever deposited with QuickTender is CaribSports, so I called them to get the MoneyGram details.  I got the Grand Inquisition on the phone as to why I wanted to reload when I had money in my account, and why I wanted to use MG vice QuickTender.  I answered all the questions and they eventually agreed to let me deposit via MG, but I could smell nasty business on the wind if I tried to do a cashout to QuickTender any time soon, so I never made the deposit at Carib.  While I was on the phone with CS I opened their flash blackjack game and bet $1 on a hand.  I won and then closed the flash blackjack player.  Teach them to screw with me!

I did make the deposit at my new sportsbook, and so far so good.  The software and interface is horrible, but the lines are average and the bonus is good.  Hope I can get a quick bust out.

When I got back from depositing I had some more e-mails and then started to have laptop problems.  After screwing with that for an hour I had to settle for going back to a Restore Point in WinXP.  Then it was time for dinner.

After dinner I was watching the Pirates game, which was distracting.  I ran the lines a few more times and got a few scalps and a DogDaq bet.  Then I started looking into eWalletXpress.  I had used it once over a year ago, but I was noticing that some casinos were now taking it for deposits.  I re-activated my account there.  I investigated a few online casinos to see if I could play them and if it was worth my effort.  I read a little about SEO and website content development and suddenly it was 2100 - too late to start playing poker (given my bed time).

So, I almost played poker last night...

Posted by Bullajami at 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So is running a website, working for another website, doodling in some other online projects, researching new sportsbooks and poker rooms, doing some sportsbook bonus chasing, helping some newbies learn sports betting, scanning several other books for DogDaq bets, playing some online poker, and trying to keep up with my two (or four) favorite forums.  Oh, did I mention that I have a 50-hour per week day job and two kids still at home? 

Yeah, poor poor pitiful me, right?  I love it all, that's why I make myself crazy with it!

Sadly, I wrote this all up yesterday, then hit "publish" on my way to a staff meeting, only to return and find that the network hiccupped and my writing was lost.  Bummer.

In poker I have been mostly experimenting with some new and small rooms that seem to have good bonuses.  It also gives me a chance to work on my NLHE game, as you can't get limit tables at the small sites.  Also playing some $2/4 and $3/6 at UB.  Table selection is usually not good, but given the crappy turn their bonus clearing took in March, the level of play is pretty bad - which I enjoy.

Researching some new sportsbooks as well, and hope to get a few new ones rolled out at Bull's Betting Information.  I like to play them myself, first, before I recommend them to someone else, so it takes me a while to develop new offerings.

DogDaq continues to do well.  We are up 9.5% after 48 bets.  I remain convinced that the system we are using enables us to get bets above market value, and this will continue to produce profitable results.  Only a few thousand more bets and we'll have conclusive proof.

Posted by Bullajami at 06:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)