Stay-at-home-dad grinds diapers and bonuses

**JarnoV** · 12-02-2008 20:36

I'm a programmer, sort-of, who decided to stay at home for a paternity leave with our two kids. I had glanced over asikainl's original blog few times, but in January this year I decided to give it a shot. The result was pretty much what I expected. Pretty boring, but easy money.

My official net income per month right now is something like €400, of which some is dedicated for our household's common finance, though I haven't actually received any money yet as it takes some time for our beloved KELA to process my application. So, I fall into the category of casino bonus players whose income this thing could really affect. Well, has already, but anyhow.

I've done some "phone consulting" for my employer, but it's just a fancy term for them making me work, because IT projects are always late. I don't enjoy giving this sort of consultation and I'm thinking of rejecting them based on the fact that they pay me less than the EV I would get by grinding some casino bonus.

I've had numerous blogs, in English and in Finnish, so the threshold to make another one isn't terribly high for me. I don't expect this one to be anything too entertaining or deep, but it doesn't need to. This one is for anything related to casino bonus grinding.

So far I've cleared around 15 bonuses and I have no idea how I've run EV-wise. Couple of bustos and couple of results over EVs so I guess it's something like neutral EV. Though it always feels like you're running bad. Just like in poker.

**JarnoV** · 12-02-2008 20:42

First practical tip:

Do you have a wife, partner, girlfriend, boyfriend, or what-have-you, who's sometimes a bit annoyed about you "playing all the time"? Here's an idea: make her play your "cover play" period, with perhaps some sort of 50-50 deal for potential big wins. She has no risk with this deal, she will probably have some fun gambling, you might even win some money, and she will be less annoyed about your gambling.

Win-win proposition, I'd say!

**JarnoV** · 12-02-2008 20:54

Yeah, and I do play poker also.

Too little time, not that great skills, couple of bigger downswings, and I'm still grinding at basically microstakes. Mostly fixed limit $1/$2 and $2/$4. So it's not like it's going to provide any significant boost to my personal incomes.

But I'm fine with that. I enjoy playing, even those sessions where it seems impossible to win any significant pots. Right now, I'm more into developing my understanding of the game. Trying to understand stuff like The Mathematics of Poker and such. Which is kind of pathetic given the stakes I'm playing, but like I said, I'm fine with that.

**JarnoV** · 12-02-2008 20:59

Oh, and I actually lied about my official net income per month. We're going to move from Helsinki to Tampere in a month or so and my income drops something like at least €100 per month. There's this Helsinki-bonus for those that stay at home taking care of their kids.

**Natcracker** · 12-02-2008 22:21

Originally Posted by JarnoV

First practical tip:

Do you have a wife, partner, girlfriend, boyfriend, or what-have-you, who's sometimes a bit annoyed about you "playing all the time"? Here's an idea: make her play your "cover play" period, with perhaps some sort of 50-50 deal for potential big wins. She has no risk with this deal, she will probably have some fun gambling, you might even win some money, and she will be less annoyed about your gambling.

Win-win proposition, I'd say!

More these. Tough I solved this one about a month ago. I showed her my Neteller balance. After that no nagging about online gambling...

And ofcourse the bonus. Promise to buy new sofaset when I've won enough to buy new TV and TV-tray. (Is that one proper word?)

-Nat-

**JarnoV** · 13-02-2008 07:06

Casino bonus grinding is better than poker, because ...

... you don't have to feel the least bit of guilt for snapping off money from casinos. Whereas in poker, you might be taking some poor bastard's last pennies.
... you don't get insulted by the opponent if you happen to run bad.
... you might find a long-lost friend's email from your spam folder as you have to to plunge through it searching for casino promotions.
... you don't have to waste time wondering whether you're doing a service for the economy in large. Because you aren't, and you're fine with that.
... you get to spend time with your true passion (during the cover play period): high variance -EV games.
... you don't have to fill your bookshelves with strategy guides that you don't have time to read.
... you (usually) don't lose day's profit for a single miss-click.
... you don't have to to run to the toilet if you have to take a leak.
... you don't have to take notes about your opponent's play. The dealer is always your straight-forward ABC BJ player.
... you develop a good habit of actually reading the terms & conditions of your contracts. (At least you should.)

(In case you wonder about the time of the day I'm writing this. Yes, it's early morning. But it's also the "moomin time." The rare moment of the day that I have few minutes for myself and a coffee cup.)

**samib** · 13-02-2008 13:13

wov.. Now I really got some reasons sticking to casino gambling

Nice list.

**JarnoV** · 13-02-2008 14:09

Originally Posted by Natcracker

And ofcourse the bonus. Promise to buy new sofaset when I've won enough to buy new TV and TV-tray. (Is that one proper word?)

Yeah. That's one approach.

It's surprisingly difficult to just explain the concept. People seem to be extremely sceptical for schemes that promise "free money."

**JarnoV** · 13-02-2008 17:01

I came up with a better definition of this blog: this is the exact opposite of the blog of tiltez. I'm not a degenerate, I'm not exactly a gambler, and I'm certainly not a degenerate gambler.

Just kidding, I'm sure tiltez isn't a degenerate.

But to celebrate my non-degenerateness, I went for the aggressive method with Betfair's bonus. Didn't succeed with that bonus, but I don't mind. It happens.

I figured that I wasn't going to grind it the safe way ever, so I might as well try the aggressive method with it as I still have plenty enough of a bankroll to go back to safe grinding for other bonuses.

And even though it's never fun to lose, I was glad that I didn't have to grind that bonus with the safe method. The software being slow and all.

**JarnoV** · 13-02-2008 17:29

And to stay completely on-topic, I bring you a link to a fascinating article about diapers:

Malcolm Gladwell, Smaller -- The disposable diaper and the meaning of progress.

Thread: Stay-at-home-dad grinds diapers and bonuses

LinkBack

Thread Tools

Display

Stay-at-home-dad grinds diapers and bonuses

The Following User Says Thank You to JarnoV For This Useful Post:

Ten reasons why casino bonus grinding is better than poker

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions