Anyone employ the martingale strategy when clearing casino bonuses?

[KKbluff]

Does anyone employ the martingale strategy when clearing casino bonuses?

Personally I use an agressive martingale strategy for casinos that are tougher to clear, but only until I see a good balance that I know will clear with the wagering requirements. I know I am submitting myself to a higher risk of ruin, but I think ( I could/probably be totally wrong) that I have a higher chance of clearing my bonus with a higher EV.
My thinking (also probably flawed) is that even though occasionally I will bust out before I even really get started on my bonus, most times I will start my bonus with a good chunk of my wagering req out of the way and have some extra padding for clearing the rest of my wager req.

I have not tried this with sticky bonuses (not sure if I should or not)

flame away

[Ojo_Rojo]

Theres nothing wrong with doing it this way, but youre are increasing your variance by quite a bit, and you are not infact increasing your EV at all using this or any other system.

The martingale system is more appropriate for sticky bonuses, where you want to hit a target or bust.

Ojo_Rojo

[JTrout]

I do close to the opposite when clearing a wagering requirement.
e.g.
Bet 5. If I win, bet 10, if I win bet 15 or 20, etc...
If I lose, bet 5.

It adds a little excitement to it, and clears it in a decent amount of time.

[pzhon]

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Theres nothing wrong with doing it this way, but youre are increasing your variance by quite a bit, and you are not infact increasing your EV at all using this or any other system.

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Yes, you are increasing your EV by busting out early some of the time. When you bust out, you don't have to pay the house advantage on the rest of the wagering requirement. This is a very useful strategy if you can accept some variance and the wagering requirements are large.

Imagine you are playing a game with a 1% HA, and you have to wager 100 times the bonus. If you grind it out with tiny bets, you will give up the whole bonus. If you bet everything on the first hand, then grind it out if you win, you will get to keep a little bit less than half of the bonus on average.

I rarely use a martingale. To increase the chance of busting out early, I usually flat-bet a large amount. This has some side benefits, as some casinos send me nice reload bonuses if I bust out quickly.

[Ojo_Rojo]

Ok, thanks for your explanation.

So, effectively we can treat not-so-generous (ie. <=0 EV) cashable bonuses as stickies, making them actually worthwhile to clear?

Ojo_Rojo

[Rah]

No. You can't increase EV of a cashable bonus by doing it as a sticky.

[Benholio]

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No. You can't increase EV of a cashable bonus by doing it as a sticky.

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If you look up a few posts, Phzon describes very clearly that you can:

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Yes, you are increasing your EV by busting out early some of the time. When you bust out, you don't have to pay the house advantage on the rest of the wagering requirement. This is a very useful strategy if you can accept some variance and the wagering requirements are large.

Imagine you are playing a game with a 1% HA, and you have to wager 100 times the bonus. If you grind it out with tiny bets, you will give up the whole bonus. If you bet everything on the first hand, then grind it out if you win, you will get to keep a little bit less than half of the bonus on average.


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