What is "bonus hustling"

For on line blackjack playing, there is an item called:"bonus hustling". What does it mean and how to do it?

Generally, it means that you sign up to play at a certain casino intending only to play long enough to keep some or all of a bonus they offer when you sign up. In other words, you never really intended to keep on playing there for a long time. You're just there because of the bonus.

Also, it implies that you're not really playing on-line BJ intending to beat the game. Your goal (as I said before) is to retain some or all of the bonus. That may mean that you actually lose a portion of your original investment, but (hopefully) what remains of the bonus more than makes up for it.

For example, suppose you sign up at an on-line casino that offers you an additional $100 when you put your own $100 into your account there. In order for you to claim the bonus, the casino requires you to wager 5 times your original investment of $100. So, you play the smallest wager they allow until you've wagered $500. Once you've reached that milestone, the $100 bonus is yours to keep.

Now, suppose the casino's advantage in the game they offer is 2%. You wager $1 per hand for 500 hands to satisfy the bonus requirement. You lost on average two cents per hand you played (the 2% disadvantage). That means you'd lose approximately $10 of your original $100 investment, but you get to keep their $100. You've come out $90 ahead, and you close the account and move on to the next casino.

Apparently, there are still plenty of people who don't understand the power of bonus hustling. They just keep playing until all of their money (and the bonus) is gone. If more people understood as much as you now know about bonus hustling, the on-line casinos would have to stop offering them.

The example I gave is somewhat simplistic, but I think it explains the general concept. Norm Wattenberger (a frequent contributor here) has studied and played the on-line casinos extensively. Hopefully, he'll chime in.

Thank you for your answer. I have a question, there is a casino which offers $100 for $100 deposit, the bottom line of winning bonus back should be less than 50 times wage of deposit, that is $5000($5000x2%=$100), am I right?

1) Variance (You will not run out of money right on schedule. Few people do).

2) Doubles,splits and sidebets will affect your lossrate.

3) Your figure assumes you're betting $1 a hand, I think. I have no idea if that's a requirement of the casino. Maybe you know.

4) A "fair" game. By that I mean that you have no real way of knowing with certainty that thelong-term hous advantage is really 2%.

I'd suggest you keep good records for each casino you visit. Also, try to identify the software each one uses. I'm told several of them use identical software. Over time, you may be able to get a good handle on just how fair each software package is.

First,I found a casino that offers $100 for $100 deposit,but I have to wage 16 times of $200, that is $3200, to claim the bonus, if I bet minimum $1 a hand, according to your theory, I will lose $3200x2%=$64 on average when I claim the bonus as much as $36,therfore,if I win $37 after I wage $500 or $1000 or any amount before $3200, should I cash out without claiming the bonus?
Second,a math question,is it same when I play $1 and $5 minumim a hand,I mean, if I play $5 a hand, I will reach the required wage five times faster comparing to $1 a hand.?
Thank you for your patient and kindly answer.

It seems to me that if you bail out as soon as you've won $37, you've chopped off all outcomes having very good positive EV, while accepting all other outcomes. In other words, there may be times when you lose the $100 after wagering, say, $2500, but if you always cash out with a $37 win, you'll never have an occasion when you "would have" won $100. You should probably shoot for an "average" loss of 2% times number-of-hands-played. By capping your wins at $37, your average lossrate will actually be worse than 2%.

Everything I've read about bonus hustling suggests that you should always bet the minimum wager. I assume that it's because of volatilty, but I could be wrong.

Probably the single best tip I can give you is to never address questions to one particular post-er here. By doing that, you're essentially saying you're willing to forfeit the chance to hear from more knowledgeable people. One-on-one correspondence is best reserved for e-mail (and I've told you all I know). I've never played on-line BJ myself. Everything I've passed on to you here is just recollections of things I've read on boards like this one.

I'm not trying to put you down. You post intelligent questions, and you're more than pleasant and polite. You sound like the kind of player whose success I actually root for.

I wish you the best of luck. Be sure to post your results here. I'm sure lots of people would be interested in hearing about your experiences and results. :)