As regular readers of mine know, I play somewhat regularly at Harrah\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other sizeable promotions they periodically have are: NDB multiplier days, Tier Credit multipliers, and Reward Credit multipliers. Bonnie\u2019s and my trips usually last 10 – 14 days or so and we typically get one or two of these periodic promotions during our trip. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During each week, the casino usually has two or three \u201cpiddly\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u2019m already there, I make sure I pick them up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Playing at the Caesars Sports Book while I\u2019m there is also a \u201cIf I\u2019m already there . . .\u201d situation. I\u2019m 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I write this, next Saturday is a \u201cHot Seat\u201d 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\u2019re a Seven Stars member. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While rewards like this would be nice if they\u2019re 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\u2019t much different EV-wise than one of the piddly promotions discussed above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But since I\u2019m already going to be there and I play more than three hours daily, I\u2019ll plan to be playing at a machine during that promotion. I don\u2019t expect to be called this time, but over an entire career, I\u2019ve put myself in these positions hundreds of times and sometimes have collected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our \u201cnormal\u201d dinnertime when we\u2019re in Cherokee is 6:30 p.m. But that Saturday we\u2019ll 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u2019ve 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\u2019re 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Taking Bonnie to the show provides me with more value than sticking around for each drawing. She\u2019s a really good sport for accompanying me while I\u2019m \u201cliving my dream life\u201d and when there\u2019s something to do that is enjoyable to her, I try to find a way to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t 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 \u201cmeet the hosts\u201d mixers with decent enough food and free drinks. This is similar to an \u201cIf I\u2019m already there . . .\u201d moment, but the inclusion of alcohol makes it slightly different. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If I\u2019m done with my play for the day, I might well enjoy the food and have a glass of wine or two. Or if I\u2019m 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most of my readers are not $5 NSU players at Harrah\u2019s Cherokee, but other casinos have their own \u201cIf I\u2019m already there . . .\u201d promotions periodically. Having a plan on what to do with them is part of a successful gambling career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As regular readers of mine know, I play somewhat regularly at Harrah\u2019s 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, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15763,"featured_media":843442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[558,557],"tags":[561,585],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/spinach-2.png?fit=500%2C300&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901106"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15763"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=901106"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":901107,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901106\/revisions\/901107"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}