What's the Best Strategy for Free Play?

I read that at Golden Gate, they're giving out free play to "apologize" for removing all the table games. I get some free play from time to time, not much, but enough to wonder about the optimal strategy for playing it off. Is it better to go for broke on a high-denom machine? Or nurse it as long as possible?

The best strategy in terms of maximizing your long-term result is to play the best schedule. The denomination comes into play for other reasons. Playing 5¢ 9/6 Jacks or Better has the same expected return as $500 9/6 JoB, but there's a tradeoff in terms of variance and time spent.

If you play a higher denom, your fluctuations will be greater, meaning you could lose a big chunk of the free play on the play-through. You'll also win more if you run well or hit a big hand. Playing a lower denom reduces the fluctuations, making it more likely that you'll wind up closer to the total of your free-play by the time you're finished.

The other consideration is the amount of time required. Playing a higher denom will get you through the free-play stake much more quickly. Sometimes that's an important factor. If it's a large amount of FP and you're on a schedule, the higher denom might be your best, or only, choice.

One more point. Assuming the schedules are the same, your decision will be based mostly on the tradeoff, but holding out for the absolute best schedule isn't that important. Playing 9/6 JoB perfectly results in an expected return on $50 FP of about $49.80, while playing 8/5 Bonus Poker is $49.60, and even 6/5 BP is $48.40.

Most important is to make sure you play it somewhere.

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Comments

Kevin Lewis Oct-07-2025

Conversion

My strategy is to turn the FP into $$, so I tend to play lower denom VP with a low volatility game. I just don't want to wind up converting $50 FP into $7.50.

jstewa22 Oct-07-2025

Options

For small amounts of FP and therefore a small number of pulls or hands, the variance will be more of a factor than the EV,so there are two possible approaches. The best option is to aim for long-term gains and not worry about any given session, so the strategy will be to play the highest EV machine, period. Maybe lower denominations to smooth out the variance. The more satisfying solution for many people is to aim for a higher likelihood of cashing most of the FP. This will involve sacrificing EV for lower variance. I have a friend who likes this option, he often plays off FP on crappy video blackjack, which usually pays even money on naturals so he's giving up about 3%, but the variance is much lower than even plain old JoB.

jstewa22 Oct-07-2025

What do most people do?

And I bet the average yield from FP is zero, I think most people's idea is that it's the casino's money and they'll just see how long they can have fun with it before it's gone.

O2bnVegas Oct-07-2025

On VP

Play it on Video Poker.  It adds up in your "Balance" regardless of winning pulls or not.  Once you reach the total of your "bonus play", cash out.  If you started with $100 FP, you end with $100 TITO.

Candy

Randall Ward Oct-07-2025

fp

Ultimate X for me, I just play until it's gone. Even at 5 cents denom it's a substantial bet.

sunny78 Oct-07-2025

"free"

Nothing is free. It's earned from spending.

Joseph Oct-07-2025

jstewa22

In video BJ ties count as a bet. Are you including that in your 3%?

jstewa22 Oct-07-2025

Joseph

Joseph, I hadn't thought of that, good point. 3% was just a rough guess based on naturals paying even money.

jstewa22 Oct-07-2025

Joseph

Although if you're trying to cash out FP, I guess a push would be a desirable outcome for any negative EV game.

AZmaddog Oct-07-2025

Depends on what you normally play

Do you play a lot of video poker? If so then just use the free play doing your normal play. Just be sure to stop play after you have exhausted all of the free play. If you don't play much video poker, I think your best bet is to play at the smallest denomination possible to stretch out the play and reduce variance.

Michael Oct-07-2025

VP

My wife and I like to play $1, $2 or $5 video poker. Goes fast, but if you hit a 4oak, especially aces on DDB it's pretty exciting/profitable.

David Miller Oct-07-2025

The Problem

 The only problem, as I see it, is that the Golden Gate has downgraded and/or removed ALL of their once playable video poker.

Question of the Day - 07 October 2025

Comments