More Play in Fewer Visits = More Comps
How can you accomplish this within your bankroll while still having fun?
First of all, a disclaimer: There is no blueprint to accomplish this. Everyone’s goals, circumstances and bankrolls are different, so you have to first decide what it is you want out of the casino experience. Do you want to afford to play more? Do you want to get higher end comps? Are comped rooms a priority? These may require different strategies and the only way to know what to do is to experiment and talk with other players.
Second, the casinos, especially in the current gaming climate, are constantly changing programs and there’s been a lot of downgrading, so even if you have good information that a certain amount of play will trigger specific offers, things may change, so consider the risk you are taking. You are taking a chance that you will lose money and not get any further incentive to return to the casino. (Though, that is the risk one takes, every casino trip!)
Be sure to also see: The Big Play Casino Gambling Day – Part 1
In order to take advantage of the following tips, you’ve got to document what kind of play gives you what kind of perks, so you can adjust your play accordingly. Offers are not always immediate. They can lag months behind your trips, so you want to be able to refer back to your play by at least a year.
After evaluating what you are receiving now for your play, consider how established you are at a property. First play is different than established play. You can read the following two articles for background. Although they both refer to Caesars Entertainment, the general concepts apply to most casino play.
Related: Caesars Total Rewards | Part 3 | What is a Caesars Marketing Offer?
Related: Caesars Total Rewards | Part 4 | Generating Casino Offers (Marketing Offers)
Difficult Decisions
As a general rule, if you’re going to a casino for the weekend, you should do your play on only one of the days, but keep in mind that although you can usually trigger more than you’re currently getting, you can’t trigger everything.
For example, years ago, I established myself at the El Cortez in Downtown Las Vegas. At the time, they had really great video poker and were comping me all the nights and food that I could use. This was before I knew about the concept of the Big Play Day, but I basically played from the moment I got to Las Vegas until I left, so even though I played at other properties too, I gave the El Cortez a lot of play and I was happy with what I was getting. There was no reason to strategize and come up with a plan to find out the minimum amount of play that would trigger comped any day nights, free play and food. But, over the years, the El Cortez has continued to downgrade their games, comps and special offers to the point where I now have to consider whether it’s worth playing there AT ALL!
When I first started gambling, I earned Caesars Total Rewards Diamond Status in one day. I was very lucky to do that because I was under bank rolled. Unfortunately, at that time, I was not a knowledgeable gambler and knew nothing about Average Daily Theoretical (ADT) or the One Big Day concept, so I short played left and right. I’d redeem $5 in free play at one of the Total Rewards properties without a thought of future mailers. Offers have certainly declined across the board since that time, but I would have reaped a ton of extra benefits if I had followed the tips I am giving to you.
So, you check in on Friday and are checking out on Monday morning. The day that you have the best offers is the day to do the Big Play Day, but what if you have offers every day? That’s when you have to make difficult decisions.
There Is No One Right Answer
You have to evaluate whether you should dilute your theo with more than one day’s play. Unless you’re playing way below your potential session bankroll limits and can afford to play big every day, you should probably not play Friday night or Monday morning, unless one of those days is the Big Day. It would be better if you don’t use your comps on those days either. Use the bulk of your comps on the play days. If you get up on Monday morning, have breakfast at the property and run your free play through, you WILL dilute your rating. There’s no way around it. That is Short Play.
It’s a question of what your previous theo is per day and what comps you are getting from that versus what you want to get. To add insult to injury, your offers may not move immediately, but that goes both ways. You may have continued to receive a certain level of offers, even after your theo declined, and then suddenly you are downgraded. If you look at your previous play, that may not have been as sudden as it felt. Your theo was catching up with you.
So, to summarize the basic concept, concentrate your play into One Big Day per trip if you can. If you just can’t, concentrate your play into as few days as possible.
In Part 3, I will delve into more ways you can change your play patterns to try to get better bennies.
