Here's an upcoming promotion at a new Playtech-powered online casino called Sky Kings Casino. Here's the mention from their newsletter: Sounds good to me!
More details I asked for more details from my contact at Sky Kings. Here's what I got: So, the extra money on all your blackjacks will be credited as bonus money within 24 hours of the promotion expiring. Then, you'll need to wager it 12x, and when you withdraw, you'll only have any profits over and above the bonus available for withdrawal.
Play Blackjack Switch? If I understand the promotion correctly, we should play blackjack switch. We are going from 1:1 to 2:1 payout on blackjacks.
Yep Not only that, you'll also get more blackjacks at Blackjack Switch. The Wizard of Odds has a good page showing the appropriate strategy, here: http://www.wizardofodds.com/blackjack/bj_switch.html
Blackjack Switch will mean that 50% of payout is bonus, right? Or am I understanding this wrong? Rather than winning $15 in withdrawable money we would win $10 in cash and $10 in bonus which we cannot withdraw but could potentially bet. If this is the case is it not better not to play Spanish 21?
No In Switch blackjacks only pay even money, this way you still get even money plus the extra as a bonus.
My experience... Well, I played the game for about two hours. I lost $375 play $10 per hand. Maybe it was the losing streak, but the game did not feel right.
Similar experience thus far! I never put together a winning streak at all. I played $1 and then $5 a hand went up $10 and then lost $200. Still got 60 left, lets see.
Even Both my Netteller and Prepaid ATM accounts are messed up so I couldn't send any money over. After reading the last few posts I guess it happen for the best. All of you that get to play, here is wishing you nothing but Aces & Faces!
Blackjack Switch 2:1 So I played basically low dollar bets so as to maximize my blackjack bonus before busting out my payroll. At $2 a hand or $4 a round my payroll of $250 has dwindled to 0 albeit after many hours of play. The cards seemed to be falling strangely though. There was a blackjack for me or the dealer (before the switch) every 12 hands on avergae. There wasa dealer blackjack every 10 hands. Also, I don't know the frequency with which this should happen, but there were similarvalue first cards or second cards in 1 out of 3 rounds which seemed excessivley high. This negated any decision making or value to the switch. I played with a window open to the switch calculator and strategy table Ken gave the link to. Oh well, maybe just bad luck.
Land based vs. online I have not played Switch online before, but I started playing it when it first came to the Four Queens in LV. I actually meet the inventor the first week it was put in (Geoff Hall from England). I hear all the time that it is a carnival game and players ask me why I play it. Well I keep winning end of story. With this 2 to 1 blackjack online promo it sounds like a great deal, but so far all that has been posted is losses. I think I may hold off the online game until Ken and some of the others give it ago.
An update I started playing this morning, betting $50/$50 at Blackjack Switch. I've played 106 hands, with $11650 total action. I'm down exactly $500, though almost all of that happened in the last 10 hands or so. I've been up as much as $400 so far. I've had 6 dealt blackjacks, and I switched to make 9 more, so I'll have (6+9)*$50 = $750 in bonuses coming so far. The dealer has had 5 blackjacks so far. I'm playing the Wiz strategy, except I switch whenever I can make a blackjack, which is usually correct anyway. I figure with the extra bonus it's always correct. I'll keep you posted.
Afternoon update After 395 rounds and $43,400 in action, I'm down $1150. I have earned $3000 in bonus money. I'll probably keep at it until I get to $5K in bonus money. So far, dealt blackjacks=36, switched blackjacks=24, dealer blackjacks=16.
Final? update I think I'll quit here. After 759 hands, and $83,150 in action. I'm down $1250. Dealt blackjacks=76, Switched blackjacks=43, Dealer blackjacks=39 I pushed with 5 blackjacks, so I'll probably get $5700 in bonus. Now the fun part will be trying to get some value out after I get the bonus.
Strategy for "Sticky" Bonus So, how are you going to "play-off" that $5000 in bonus? Since my bonus is ONLY in the hundreds, I am thinking about going all-in on one hand. If I win, then, I can play normally until the WR is met.
Wow what a run!!! So I went ahead and deposited another $100 and got $100 in bonus since it was my 3rd deposit. I started with $5/$5 and slowly increased my wager consisted with 40x my bankroll. This run had me put in about $5000 in action, so total about $7000 in action for my total deposits of $220, and total bonus payout of $215. I am currently upto $700 and withdrew my $600 cash. So that puts me at total of $220 invested and $600 taken out or $380 profit. My bonuses should come at $1000 (my records are not as good as Ken's) I've called them a few times to make sure I don't screw myself out of the blackjack bonus and it seems its all good. For the sticky bonus, I'll probably go in $15/$15 until I get near my wagering requirement. Then I'll go bigger and see if I can turn that bonus into $400-$500. For now I'm going to continue betting $5/$5 til midnight with the last $100 in bonus money I can't withdraw or until I lose it.
Nice comeback sims! I'm glad to hear things turned around for you Simms! Nice going! Prospect, betting it all on one hand is a good strategy for these types of bonuses. There are a variety of unusual characteristics of these 'phantom' bonuses. The more likely you are to go broke, the higher the EV! Sounds strange, but it makes sense when you consider what these bonuses actually are. They're loans, and if you don't put them at risk, there's no value at all. I hate to give up the doubles and split for blackjack, so I often play these types of bonuses by betting half my bank until it either becomes to small to bother, or I've reached an arbitrary profit goal. If it's small, I just go all-in. If I reach my goal, I use small bets to complete any wagering requirements that are left. Because of the doubling/splitting concerns, there may be better games than blackjack for this purpose. Many places are so paranoid about baccarat and craps that I rarely use them, though they would probably be the best choice. For this scenario, and the large amount I will have, I won't have the luxury of being able to bet a substantial chunk of the bankroll in one bet. I'll probably go back to Blackjack Switch and play table max $300/$300 until I meet the wagering requirement. I'm also considering using hi-denomination VP instead.
Newbie finally doing a little thinking! My head hurts. :laugh: Anyway's, I'm wondering if this promotion was as great as it seemed. If I end up with $1100 in bonus and $600 in cash tomorrow. I'm a mildly concerned that by the time I wager $12000 it is really possible that I lose all $600 cash I have in there since the real money is what is lost first. So the question becomes would I deposit $600 in a casino offering a 200% first deposit bonus and a 4x wagering requirement. (1200 bonus and 600 cash would need to be total wagered 7200) Are these good odds? Any strategy ideas? Should I cash out, or is this a great opportunity. Any help would be appreciated. I figure I won't withdraw til tomorrow anyways to make sure I don't lose any bonus.
It's confusing all right You've got a good grasp of the situation. I'm pretty sure a withdrawal prior to the crediting of the Blackjack Bonus will eliminate it. Is it a good deal? I think so, but definitely be aware that you're risking $600 in this situation. If you never risk the part of your bankroll below $1100, there's no actual effect, but that doesn't mean it was valueless. (Was your car insurance valueless last year because you didn't make a claim?) Table limits will prevent you from betting $1700 on the first hand (whether at blackjack, casino war, or whatever). If you could do that, it's obvious that you are getting value then, since you're risking $600 to win $1700. If you doubled up, you could do it again, risking $2300 to win $3400, etc. With the table limits, your edge is not so clear, though it still exists. Consider this angle. Play video poker, until you go broke, or hit a royal. You're nearly three times as likely to succeed as a normal $600 deposit would accomplish. You're likely to zero out of course, but that's where the value lies... risking the extra money. I'm considering that for my situation, since my bonus dwarfs the table limit. I may play $2 video poker to shoot for an $8000 royal. My bankroll after tomorrow should be $1950 cash + $384 of bonuses I've gotten so far + $5700 BJ Bonus. If my off-the-cuff calculations are correct, I should have about an 80% shot at hitting the royal before I go broke. Of course, it's worth a lot less if I hit it when I'm almost broke. Jeez, now MY head hurts. Edited to add: I knew that 80% didn't sound right when I posted it. It should be around 55%. See probability of hitting a royal in the Free For All section.