Best game for an online Bonus?

[Sentry]

Ken, I've been working my Poker game much more than Blackjack, thanks to your BJT back door tournaments, I started playing in the online freerolls on Interpoker. With my tiny tournament winnings, I have built up a little bank of over $200, but in order to cash it out, I must first make a deposit. The complication is, they offer some bait- a $100 matching bonus and I'm temped to go for it. I understand is smarter to play the bonus at their Intercasino instead of at Poker, due to high raked hand requirements. At the casino, Baccarat, Roulette and Craps are ineligible for the bonus, so I suppose that leaves me with a choice between Blackjack and Video Poker. Here are the wagering requirements:

"Players must wager an aggregate total of 25 times the bonus in the casino before they can withdraw the free money, e.g. Deposit = $100, Bonus = $100, you must then wager an aggregate total of $2,500 in the casino before you can cash out the bonus money and its winnings. "

The house edge of the games are such that I would never play them except coupled with the bonus. I'm not even sure what is a realistic expectation for the bonus and its wins or losses. I'm pretty green with online gaming- what do think is the best way to go?

Sentry

[KenSmith]

You'll have the best chance to cash out a winner by making lots of small bets at blackjack. This bonus at Intercasino is actually one of the best ongoing monthly bonuses available. I play it pretty much every month.

I usually use the single deck blackjack game to do my wagering requirements, but that's much riskier because of the $25 minimum. If you don't mind the time to do the wagering in smaller increments, the regular blackjack is the way to go. If you play the multi-player game, they deal about 2 decks of 8 before shuffling. If you happen to be by yourself at the multi-player table, you can force a shuffle by leaving the table. However, at Intercasino, you'll rarely be alone at the table.

It's also worth noting that this is one of the places that carries forward wagering requirements. If you bust out before finishing the requirements for a bonus, you'll still need to finish them as well before cashing out a future bonus. No big deal, but worth knowing about. If you play small-bet blackjack, you shouldn't have that problem anyway.

[Sentry]

You've given me much to think about. I didn't realize the single deck was only at $25- too steep for me, but worth considering if I build up a nice win at lower limits first. I'll give it a try and report my results.

One more question- How do you keep up with your progress towards meeeting the requirement? A notepad, or is there something on the site?

Thanks for your your speedy reply!

Sentry

[KenSmith]

I use a hand-held click counter to tally every $10 in wagers I make. It's quick and easy. Without that, I would recommend making a tally mark on a notepad in a similar fashion.

If all else fails, the cashier at the Cryptologic casinos won't show your entire balance under 'Withdrawable balance' until you complete the required wagering. Once you complete the wagering, the full balance shows up as withdrawable.