As regular readers of mine know, I play somewhat regularly at Harrah’s Cherokee even though it is more than 2,000 miles away from where I live. The primary reasons are: $5 NSU, daily Next Day Bounce Back (NDB), and significant monthly mailers if you play there enough. The mailers usually include monthly cash, weekly cash, a $200 spa credit, and some food credit.
Other sizeable promotions they periodically have are: NDB multiplier days, Tier Credit multipliers, and Reward Credit multipliers. Bonnie’s and my trips usually last 10 – 14 days or so and we typically get one or two of these periodic promotions during our trip.
Our trips are usually scheduled so we cross weekly or monthly time periods. On one Sunday each month, you will receive free Reward Credits for swiping at a kiosk. The beginning of the weekly benefits sometimes begins on Mondays, so we might begin our trip on the last Sunday of one month, and stay long enough to still be there for at least the first Sunday of the next month. That gives us two monthly rewards and a few weekly ones as well. It also gives Bonnie two separate $400 spa days during the trip, and food for several days each month.
During each week, the casino usually has two or three “piddly” promotions — such as play 250 points between noon and six p.m., swipe your card at the kiosk, and collect $25 in free play — or spin a wheel at the kiosk — or collect a gift card — or $20 food credit, or something else relatively small.
There is no way that I would make an extra trip to collect one of these small rewards, or even come one day early or stay one day later for a gift that small. But if I’m already there, I make sure I pick them up.
Playing at the Caesars Sports Book while I’m there is also a “If I’m already there . . .” situation. I’m not a sports bettor per se, but betting there is a fairly efficient way to convert Reward Credits to cash. I could convert those RCs to free play in the casino at a 50% rate, but doing so by betting sports does it at a 95% or so rate. And Bonnie and I each receive a free monthly $150 bonus bet in North Carolina in addition to collecting one each month in Nevada.
As I write this, next Saturday is a “Hot Seat” promotion where every 15 minutes between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. two players are rewarded with free play. The amount of free play ranges from $250 if you are a Gold member to $1,000 if you’re a Seven Stars member.
While rewards like this would be nice if they’re collected, there will probably be between 500 and 1,000 players playing during the promotion, so the chances of an individual player being called are pretty small. I suspect that if you multiply the size of the prize by the probability of collecting it, this promotion isn’t much different EV-wise than one of the piddly promotions discussed above.
But since I’m already going to be there and I play more than three hours daily, I’ll plan to be playing at a machine during that promotion. I don’t expect to be called this time, but over an entire career, I’ve put myself in these positions hundreds of times and sometimes have collected.
Our “normal” dinnertime when we’re in Cherokee is 6:30 p.m. But that Saturday we’ll eat before or after the Hot Seat promotion times. Bonnie and I are flexible enough in our schedule that eating at different times on different days is no big deal.
The following Saturday is some kind of Christmas show for which we have tickets. There will also probably be a drawing in the casino where they call names every 15-30 minutes between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Bonnie and I will both have more than an average number of tickets in the drum because we’ve played a lot for several days before the event. We might be in the casino playing (and listening for our names) until 6:30 p.m. or so and then go to the show. Even when they’re giving away $10,000 or bigger prizes, multiplying that times the probability of being called gives us a small EV. Not negligible, and actually higher than most of the other players there, but still small.
Taking Bonnie to the show provides me with more value than sticking around for each drawing. She’s a really good sport for accompanying me while I’m “living my dream life” and when there’s something to do that is enjoyable to her, I try to find a way to do it.
I don’t know if they still have it, but on Friday afternoons between something like 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. they used to have a Seven Stars “meet the hosts” mixers with decent enough food and free drinks. This is similar to an “If I’m already there . . .” moment, but the inclusion of alcohol makes it slightly different.
If I’m done with my play for the day, I might well enjoy the food and have a glass of wine or two. Or if I’m not done for the day, I might have a glass of wine, watch a movie in the room, and go to bed early — and then get up at 3 a.m. to finish my play before the casino day ends at 6 a.m. For me, this is a perfectly acceptable plan. But playing $5 NSU immediately after having a drink or two is not an option for me.
Most of my readers are not $5 NSU players at Harrah’s Cherokee, but other casinos have their own “If I’m already there . . .” promotions periodically. Having a plan on what to do with them is part of a successful gambling career.
Bob, Happy New Year. Love reading your posts. Always something new to learn.
Waiting to hear if you are going to try the “session method” of keeping track of winning and losing, and taxes. For this method, how do you keep records? Every pull? Every hand? Number of hands VS credits in and out? I would think you have to keep records of every pull or hand. My accountant is going to look into it to see how it could be accomplished. Keeping records on each hand or pull will be very tedious and slow down the hands per hour. Maybe record the session and note the records afterwards? Lets hope they kill this 90% limit this year.
Bob: I have respected and admired you ever since I first met you in the early/mid 1990’s. I look forward to, read, and enjoy every one of your weekly blogs. I have been interested in all your activities, gambling, professional, and even personal. Last week, I posted a question to you in order to help me better understand what you might be, or going to be, doing since a 180 turn of gambling as stated in that blog. I did that only so I could more easily see and understand that. Your answering post seemed to say that I was asking for personal advice, for myself. I was not. In your responding post, you implied that I was requesting unwanted, possibly professional, possibly unethical, perhaps even immoral advice which could not be further from the truth. Sadly, I greatly resent the implied tone of your accusatory post. Especially the last sentence.
Lucky — probably not going to use the session method. Accountant recommends something else for me.
Henry — Sorry you felt disrespected. That was not my intention.
Lucky and Henry both — I’m probably done posting about taxes for a while. I’m not an expert and everybody’s situation is different.
If you want to talk to Kondlin or other competent gambling tax professional, he’ll be able to answer your questions with a lot more expertise in the area than I will ever have.