Online Gambling

How to Make Online Casino Bonuses Work for You

If you are an online casino player who has never bothered to look into online casino bonuses, you could be costing yourself a considerable amount of money. Online casino games have a house edge that guarantees that the player will lose over time unless he has some kind of outside edge that the game has not taken into consideration. The online casino bonus is that edge.

How the Online Casino Bonus Defeats the House Edge
In a typical casino game, the house edge varies from around 0.5 percent to 20 percent, depending upon the game and the strategy you use. If you play a game with a five percent house edge, you can expect to lose $5 out of every $100 you wager. This does not account for any kind of bonus. If you wager $1,000, you can expect to lose $50. However, if you are playing on the site with an online casino bonus of $100, you have gained $100 and lost $50, for an expected profit of $50.

Challenges to Using the Online Casino Bonus to Defeat the House Edge
You must be able to make the wagering requirement before the house edge eats away at your casino bonus. For example, if you need to wager $1,000 to clear your bonus of $40, you can expect to come out behind, since your expected loss is greater than your bonus. Be sure to find a bonus with a wagering requirement that will still leave you ahead.

Low House Edge Games
The best way to clear an online casino bonus is with low house edge games. This exposes the least amount of your bankroll to risk while knocking down that wagering requirement. Not all games qualify for your online casino bonus-wagering requirement, so check with the site before beginning. Here are some games that you might want to use to clear your bonus if it is permitted.

Pai Gow Poker
Pai Gow poker is a great game for clearing a bonus because there are so many ties. If either your five-card hand or your two-card hand beats the dealer’s, no one wins. However, you still get wagering credit. If both of your hands win, you get money, although you have to pay the house a five percent commission. If both the dealer’s hands win, you lose. However, this shouldn’t happen significantly more often than either of the other two possibilities.

Baccarat
In Baccarat, you can bet on either the player or the banker, so you know the edge can’t be too great. The banker has a slight advantage, which is why you have to pay a small commission when you win a banker bet.

Video Poker
Video poker is one of the lowest house edge games there is, with a 99 percent or better return in some cases. However, to get this low house edge, you need to play perfectly, which is why you should get a strategy guide and keep it handy before sitting down to play online video poker.

Use Correct Strategy
The house edge is calculated assuming the player uses correct strategy, so if you deviate from correct strategy your results may not be as hoped. Even if you play correctly, variance is higher over a small number of trials so you still may not end up coming out as far ahead as you expect. On the other hand, you may come out further ahead. Finally, once you have met the requirement and made your money, you cannot continue to play on the same site or you will eventually give that money back.

About the author:

Adam Darwin runs the Casinotoplists.com website - an online casino guide for Internet gambling. The site provides objective casino reviews, on line casino rules and strategy, as well as offering exclusive casino bonus deals:
http://www.casinotoplists.com

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