Even though this happened today at a California casino, I think it applies to all casinos.

At the start of each month I get one day where I can combine multiple free play offers at a casino including bounce back, weekly free play, and a daily bonus that comes along. Today was that day.

My offers totaled $660, plus I had a $100 dining credit. So... let's go to the casino for lunch.

First stop was lunch and the dining credit covered the entire lunch. Tip was out of pocket.

Second stop -- 8/5 Bonus Poker with an expected return of 99.17%.

I loaded the $660 of free play into the machine and instructed my lunch companion to let me know when ten hands are played... so I would cash out after each group of ten hands. That was to make "counting" easy so I wouldn't "over play" the $660 at $1 Bonus which was 132 hands.

The way it worked at this casino, when I hit the cash out button only the money "won" would pay out and not the remaining free play dollars. The player next to me didn't know this so as I was hitting the cash out and credits remained on the machine he asked me why credits remained.

I cashed out $605, which was 91.67% of the $660 of free play. Not too shabby.

I did not make any "mistakes" during the play, however, three times when I was dealt a small, non-paying pair and there was an ACE on the original deal, another ace came up on the draw. This always make you stop and think if perhaps instead of holding small pairs it is better to hold a single ace? I don't do that... but the thought persists.

Just for fun... I figured that if I had held the single ace instead of the small pair (the small pairs didn't improve in these three cases) and did in fact draw an ace all three hands for an extra $15 of pays, then my return on the session would have been 93.94%.

I don't know how significant 93.94% return vs 91.67% return is when only an original "bankroll" of $660 is involved? Anyone care to comment.