Merry Christmas +1

So the holidays weren't too bad, all in all. The in laws stayed with us, but they're pretty good in laws (except for having recently found Jebus, but that's another story) so it wasn't too stress inducing. I was a good monkey and played no poker or blackjack at all while they were here. They're pretty happy with me in general but they really don't like the fact that I "gamble" at all, to the point that we basically just don't discuss it.

It's funny to suddenly realize that I've passed the magical child/adult Christmas present line, where I give many more presents than I receive. My wife made out like a bandit this year, largely due to the benevolence of online casinos. Thank you, casino monkeys, from the bottoms of our hearts.

I did get some Home Depot gift cards, as well as a new electric razor, a couple of Xbox games, and a telescope from my mom. So I guess I'm not entirely old and boring and grown up. I also bought myself some computer innards to get a spare workstation up and running that my brother-in-law had sitting around, which he gave to us. I was going to use some gambling profits to buy a larger, nicer monitor to make multi-tabling easier but I think I'm going to the opposite route and just set up another PC with side by side monitors. A wee bit of a cludgy solution but then I can clear Party/Party skin bonuses much faster (8 tables total, 4 on each monitor) and have a dedicated PC for harvesting PokerTracker data. It'll take me awhile to get used to the Rain Man act of working two mouses simultaneously but I think I can handle it.

Yes, I know, I'm beyond hope.

So I got back on the sticky bonus horse today, depositing $300 into Club Dice, getting an immediate $500 bonus to start with $800. I immediately lose six $50 blackjack hands in a row, dropping down to $500, kicking myself, repeatedly. I claw my way back to even, hang around, get up to $1,100 or so, almost cash out and run with a $300 profit, but don't.

Then I immediately get slammed back down to $600. Visions of my USA Casino debacle are running through my head. I start betting $100/hand and win a few hands. And then a few more. And a few more. Every double down comes through for me, every split. I tell myself I'll stop and cashout when I lose a hand, not counting pushes. Except I keep winning.

When I finally lose a hand I'm at $2,274. I just sat there and stared at the monitor for a few minutes. Then I cashed out. Giggling. That's about a $1,500 profit for 20 minutes or so of work. Or, you know, $4,500/hr.

Honestly, though, what happened there is a freak of nature and sticky casino bonuses are really, really risky (read my previous post about busting out completely at USA Casino for a good cautionary tale) and my ridiculous luck today isn't the norm at all.

But hey, I'll take it. Thank you Gambling Claus for the slightly delayed Christmas gift. Now if I could just not get sucked out on anymore trying to clear the damn Gaming Club bonus I'd be a happy camper.