Slot tournaments - love them? Hate them? Don't care?

My wife and I did a VP tourament at the Flamingo around 8 years ago. We had to pay about $400.00 for the both of us. It came with rooms, show tickets and a awards dinner that was great. The dinner was like a wedding. Open Bar, good food , a band and we met great people. I came in 9th place and got all the money back we put out.I would do it again in a minute. I never received another offer again for one of these type tournaments. I will say My wife and I were 20years younger then the other players.
I also did a Blackjacj tournament at the Sahara about 4 years ago. It took a long time to get through the rounds and it kept us in the casino all day. Not the way I wanted to spend my last day in vegas. The people playing in this tournament appeared to be locals who do this every week because they all knew each other. This Tournament was open to anyone and it was $25.00 to enter and camme with a buffet coupond. did not win but made it to the final table. They set these up to keep you in their casiino all day. will not do anything like that one again on the last day of a trip.

Considerations?

1. Free entry or strong positive equity.
2. Reasonably short time between sessions. I don't want to spend half a day in one casino.
3. Decent prize pool and something not totally top heavy.
4. Reasonable size field.

Generally speaking and assuming the above criteria is met, I like them. I'm a bit biased; I won one and finished 2nd in another for $10k & $5k respectively last year at M Resort. I've also finished in the money at others with prizes ranging from $75 to $1,250. All of these were with no entry fee.

I don't consider myself a particulars lucky person. To some degree it's a function of numbers...the more of these you play in, the more likely you are to cash.

Dan

Wow, I thought I had thanked everyone for their replies, but apparently I hadn't, even though I had looked at the thread a number of times after posting. Thanks, everyone!

This subject came up for me a few days ago again, and thought I'd review my old post on the subject. Looks like most of the responses are the same as my own views on slot tournaments. I was curious, as I'm mainly a VP player, but my wife likes slots. All she's won in slot tournaments is an LED flashlight a few years ago from PH.

I enjoy them, but I like VP tourneys better.
As to if they bring me to Vegas, it depends on the casino offering them. I like GVR, RR & Sams Town the best.
Of course they have to be free with room comped.
Of the 30+ I've been in, have only been out of the money twice and in the top 5 nine times (#3 is the best I've done).
This weekend we're going because RR signed both my wife and I up for the tourney...first time we've both been able to be in the same tourney. The free rooms, free buffets and slot money helped make up our mind.

I'd rather play in a VP tournament than a slot tournament. I don't know how the pounding of the SPIN button got started....probably after a person won using that method.....but it's ridiculous. The wheels won't spin until it resets and the light comes on. I just try and time it to when the light comes on and saves my finger plenty of wasted pounds. They can hurt after a while.