Author: Bob Dancer

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Comparing Total Rewards with Total Rewards

On a recent broadcast of Gambling with an Edge, our guest (Mark Anduss, www.markslasvegas.markanduss.com) compared Total Rewards, the player’s club of Caesars Entertainment (formerly known as Harrah’s) with MLife, the player’s club of the MGM Mirage family of casinos.

Recently Bonnie and I traveled to Harrah’s Cherokee for three days and then immediately on to Harrah’s New Orleans for three more days. Both casinos belong to the Total Rewards system, but there were LOTS of differences in the way they did things. I want to point out some of these differences.
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A Trip to Cherokee

I received an offer from Harrah’s Cherokee Casino for $1,000 in free play, $500 in travel reimbursement, $250 in casino food credit, two rounds of golf, and two concert tickets — valid anytime between early April and the end of June. I also received an even bigger offer from Harrah’s New Orleans which was available for approximately the same time period. Since Bonnie had never been on a casino trip with me, it seemed a no-brainer for her to join me on back-to-back visits to both casinos where we would pick up the goodies. Continue reading A Trip to Cherokee

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Playing for an Entry

I received an email from someone named Al asking about slot and video poker tournaments in which you have to play to earn an entry. He wanted to know, basically, whether or not it’s worth it to participate.

An example of this type of contest is the Thursday senior slot tournament at the South Point which has a prize pool of $5,200. If you are at least 50 years of age, you receive one free entry. Earning 250 or 500 points entitles you to one or two additional entries. Continue reading Playing for an Entry

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Holding All Five Cards

A friend of mine, I’ll call him “Dan,” was playing Ten Play Jacks or Better and was dealt AAAA7. Dan held only the four aces and hit the deal button. Since Jacks or Better is not a kicker game, he received 125 coins for each of the 10 lines. While this is a nice score, it pales in comparison to being dealt the same hand in Double Double Bonus, which Dan also sometimes plays. He noted that he received two kickers and, therefore, would have received (8 x 800) + (2 x 2,000) = 10,400 coins playing DDB rather than the “mere” 1,250 credits he received playing Jacks or Better. Dan didn’t hold the fifth card so that he could see how many “kickers” he would have received had he been playing Double Double Bonus. Apparently Dan has a small streak of masochism and wanted to know just how badly he should feel for NOT playing Double Double Bonus. Continue reading Holding All Five Cards

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There’s Something About Mary

Longtime readers of mine have read several dozen articles that at least mentioned my wife Shirley. Shirley and I are no longer married. We divorced five months ago, due primarily to her health. She has severe COPD (a lung disorder) and couldn’t be around anyone who had contact with first- or second-hand smoke. While I’m not a smoker, I spend a lot of time in casinos and even showering immediately after I came home wasn’t good enough. According to Shirley, my pores reeked of cigarette smoke. To stay with her, I would have needed to give up casinos entirely and move away from Las Vegas. Given my vocation, I found this to be a difficult dilemma. Even though I was extremely reluctant to do this, with all factors considered, it seemed best for both of us that we go our separate ways. Continue reading There’s Something About Mary

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My Best Plays

I’ve mentioned several times that I enjoy reading the posts at www.richardmunchkin.com. Richard is my co-host on our radio show, Gambling with an Edge, and also a friend. His insights come from his successful play on the table game side of the casino whereas mine come primarily from video poker. The similarities and differences in the way we think about things are definitely worthy of column-discussion.
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