Playing High to Reach Another Tier

Best advice ever on a LV message board: don't play for comps. Since reading that, ?last century?, I have learned there is no love ever for red chip betters. And 25c vp grinders are usually non gratis. Chet is insane; no sense to how they market. Hosts, as player 'development' workers, have a job: when they can or get told, nudge you into higher play/losses. Some joints actually admit when you've won from them, the comps you're used to can be taken away. I'll stand down after quoting fritz= 'don't fall in love with the upholstery." Good luck!

We are 25c vp grinders, and we get all of the perks that I mentioned above. We play because we like to play, and hopefully to break even, or sometimes, to win.

We have fun together. We laugh a lot.

The comps just happen, and we certainly are not going to ignore them.

We do not like or use hosts (well, since Johnny left), but I have never had one push us to play higher stakes.

- bcc

You're doing it exactly right. Play as you would normally play and whatever comps you do get are gravy.

to tonycc- I am intrigued. THe sams gold card is available to quarter grinders? I would be willing to make a run at that, given I already secured diamond thru spring of '15. Can you give me a clue how much coin in, & in your experience, at what game, gets gold? I have tried tricking some joints by finishing a long 9/6 JOB grind with a twenny through a slot and seen some increase in cashback, but I haven't catalogued where this works with accuracy. Any help appreciated and Good Luck!

re. previous post...I don't know if there is an easy answer to that...we gave up trying to figure out casino marketing a long time ago.
we avg. 18-20 nights a year at sam's town.
I'm within 30,000 points of emerald level, play mostly $1 VP, have generated some serious coin through, but generally limit my play to machines that ret. 99% or better.
My wife, on the other hand, could care less about pay schedules, plays a LOT longer than I do, and would qualify as a 'quarter-grinder.'
But for the last 10 months of 2013, and at least through Jan. 2014 she has received a gold card offer every month with $75 in free play.
I generate the standard 3 free nights, $25 FP offer.
We give Sam's Town the bulk of our gaming dollars for a number of reasons, one of them certainly because the gold card is a nice perk.

all good info, and thanks to all the posters. I have a few days in LV next month, and grinding on a 8/5 JOB at 25c for an hour is my trial. will post the outcome. Good luck!

I will be doing this very thing next week. I am a quarter vp player who does not live within 100 miles of a CET casino (Cinci with little vp is closest) who goes to Vegas a couple of times a year. Therefore I have always been gold and have never given a higher level a thought. However I accepted the total rewards visa card which gave me Platinum status until 3/14. The wife and I stayed at the Rio in August for some swimming and I was surprised when I was allowed to check-in at a special vip place and enter the buffet through a special vip door with no line. In addition the resort fee was waived. My brother-in-law and I are going to Vegas in January for a bowling tournament at the Gold Coast. We will stay 6 nights at the Rio (5 free pay for one) so I will again get the vip check-in and waived resort fee. My Platinum status has saved me a lot of time and money and I want to have it for another year. Therefore I am going to Horseshoe Southern Indiana next week for one day to earn myself up to 5K tier credits. I currently have 3170. I need to earn 1000 in one day (will be doubled to 2000) to get to the 5K as no more trips will be made in 2013. I have determined that the time needed to earn the 1000 in one day playing quarter vp is about 12 hours (vp is 1 tier credit for $10 played) and I am not willing to play anywhere near that long (I am 70 years old). Therefore I will need to play 50 cent vp. Horseshoe SI has one bank of 8/5 BP and I can play that game close to perfectly so my return is about 99%. I really want to be Platinum for at least one more year. Should I do this or not? Give me your thoughts. Try to talk me out of it if you feel my thinking is in error. Please hurry as I am going next Wednesday.

Thanks all for not talking me out of it. I earned 1040 tier credits playing 8/5 BP at the 50 cent level (and a little DW when I got bored). I must have hit a dozen four of a kinds (aces twice) and three wild royals while playing DW. My net profit for the day was about $400. In addition I had a $10 free play coupon that was not good on the VP machines so I stuck in a penny slot and having no idea why I won cashed out $55. Further my room fee was $29 as I could not get a comp on-line being alone but when I checked in the clerk noticed I had previously been comped at Horseshoe SI so she said "As a one time courtesy I am comping your room." Finally since it was Wednesday and I was over 55 I earned $20 in free food after 70 tier credits which paid for dinner. For future reference I noticed that Horseshoe SI had 9/6 Bonus Poker Deluxe at the 50 cent level (only 8/5 for quarters). I have been to most Midwest casinos and 8/5 BP and 9/6 BPD is as good as you will find.

I can't figure out how casino's offer comps. I play 4 x's as much as my wife does(money) & she gets free room offers & I get nothing. I play minimum $10 B/J for 1-3 hrs/day & VP @ $.50. Can anyone explain to me why she gets offers & I don't. Sapphire player @ B-connected & she is a Ruby player

What is your wife playing? If she is playing just Slot Machines, then she's getting the comps because she is running more money through the machines than you are and at a quicker rate since she can likely run through (play through the machine spin after spin) more money in a minute than you are able to do in a minute at the table -- expecially since a Blackjack hand [depending on how many people are at a table] can take a lot longer to play through, complete and then get paid on (or have your money collected by the dealer if you lose the hand) as opposed to someone who plays on a machine. And furthermore, she is playing this game (if it is just slot machines) while facing a higher casino advantage than you are and so they'll offer her more stuff than they will offer you.

As for your Blackjack play, actually basically the casino advantage for that game is relatively low and so you're probably not going to get much comps out of them. Compwise, VP is the better play than Blackjack (but please do walk a very fine line when you play because chasing after comps can end up becoming very costly). Also, playing Blackjack at a $10 Minimum Bet might be too low for them to either rate you at or give you much of any comps from.

And so at least as far as I know, what casinos are looking for is the combination of how much money is being played through in what amount of time in plus what the casino advantage is of the game that is being played. Then the casino at its discretion may send back to you a percentage amount (such as for example anywhere from 10% to 40%) of this amount in comps.

RecVPPlayer