The Hidden Cost of Tilt
Played some Absolute $3/6 and took a beating, but later made most of it back. Highglight at that point was when my AA pocket saw a AA4 flop, and the BB was holding 44. 
Decided to slink back over to InterCasino and see if I could do my favorite thing: double up the monthly bonus at blackjack before clearing it at poker. I should probably elaborate:
InterPoker and InterCasino are part of the Cryptologic Network. They have a unique arrangement in that you can get $100 every month as a bonus in the casino or in the poker room, but not both. Several of the Crypto poker rooms offer £25 bonuses in the poker room and another £25 in the casino - but not Inter. It's one $100 monthly. However, you can clear it with a combination of casino and poker play - which is what I like to do. Here is my methodology: start at blackjack and attempt to double the bonus amount. When I am $100 ahead at black jack, it shows as a pending $200 bonus. At that point I like to go finish clearing the now engorged bonus at poker, where the variance is lower and the reward for playing the tight Crypto tables is much higher.
That's what I did last night. I had played blackjack a few nights ago, and finished almost dead even after half my wagering requirement was completed. Last night I started out on fire, and had doubled to $203 in pending bonus with 65% of my wagering requirement complete. Bing!
I switched over to poker. There were several $1/2 tables looking juicier than the $2/4 tables, so I sat in at $1/2. As usual these days, I ate it hard. The coup de grace was when I limped in with T8s on the button. Flop came QT8. BB bet and I raised, folding everyone else. Turn was a blank and BB check-raised me. I called. River was my 8, and when he re-re-re-raised me to make it 5 bets on the river, I just called. He showed QQ. That put me into a tizzy and I closed all my tables.
In a lather I checked my bonus status. I had $108 in cash and $203 in pending bonus, 75% complete. I took all $311 back to the blackjack tables, determined to clear this bonus off and show a little profit for the night. First hand, dealer shows 5 and draws to 21. Second hand, dealer shows 4 and draws to 20. Third hand, dealer show 6 and draws to 21. Fourth hand I double all my bets, dealer has a blackjack. Fifth hand I lay $25 on 5 hands, dealer has a 19, and I am down to $27. Back to $5 bets, I finally hit a string of wins, driving my stack back up to $119.
But what has happened? As soon as I dropped below $203, my pending bonus money started evaporating. When I had hit $108 going down, it was all gone - and it doesn't come back. I didn't even realize it was gone until I stopped for air at $119. I traded $11 in cash balance ($108 to $119) for $203 in bonus money that would have cleared in another 125 MPPs. I totally screwed the pooch on that one.
Pick Bull out of the jackass line-up below.
As my CyberBuddy Fumseck says, "Crash and Learn!" Hopefully I will learn from this one and just go have some ice cream or something next time.