Best Way to Use Freeplay

[Lucky Larry]

LQ,
Congratulations on the great Free Play catch. We typically use our FP the following way:

Golden Nugget - can't be used on VP so we play $5 slots single coin starting at $50 at a time. Play 10 hands and cash out. Next $50 -> 10 hands and cash out repeat. This allows us to pocket the profits for VP.

Coushatta - where we can us our $ for VP. Big Free Play $ on $1 or $5 VP. Occasionally, we just play $5/slots.

[alpax]

   Lq if I were going to play slots, it would be at the 1 or 2 dollar level. Several friends of mine have hit some nice jackpots playing 1 dollar (2 or 3 dollar max bet) slot machines.

At least in the state of Nevada, the casinos by region are required to report publicly their slot payback results. Looking at them, the $1 slots returned 5% more than what a penny slot would.

It has been consistent from 2012-2016

Strip - High 88% for penny denomination. High 93% for dollar denomination

North Las Vegas (e.g. Off Strip Locals) - Low 91% for penny denomination. Low 96% for dollar denomination.

I think if you want to be noticed more as a valuable commodity to the casino, penny slots might be it. I lurked on various gambling forums to learn that the strip casinos assign 13% ADT value for their penny slots. Normally 30-35% of the overall ADT amount is given to the player via the mailer as a bounceback, (free casino play/food+beverages/hotel room), with the room costing the casino the least out of their pocket.

For the benefit for the people on this thread, I keep a notebook of the valuable posts made by the forum members. I will share the information I got out of utilizing free play stated by Mr. Dancer.

You guys are concentrating on how to get the most dollars today out of your free play. I believe that's the wrong way to go about it, especially if your main play is the loosest game in the house.A better strategy is to use this money to help get more free play in the future.Playing it on penny slots is a good idea. Casinos believe that players who play such bad games are "real gamblers" and they reward them with better offers.With $15 a week in free play, and a 10% disadvantage at penny slots, it's costing you $1.50 on average each week and the likely result is you'll get better mailers.If you play it on the highest returning low variance game, you'll likely have your mailers reduced, not increased.



$1,000 is only one max-coin quarter royal. It's not a life changing amount. If $1,000 will change your life, you can't afford to be in a casino anyway.It's just an addition to bankroll. There's nothing special about it being freeplay rather than winning a jackpot. It's the same as if you were ahead $1,000 yesterday so today you have a $1,000 bigger bankroll than you had at the start of yesterday.Would that situation cause you to play different machines? (I hope not. You're going to have swings, both up and down. Your intelligent decisions shouldn't be affected by these swings.)If being $1,000 ahead from winning yesterday wouldn't cause you to play different machines than you would otherwise (and it shouldn't), why should winning $1,000 in free play? One of the keys to accumulating bankroll is to not blow it when you get a windfall --- which you periodically will. Playing a bad game just because it was "found" money is not an intelligent way to increase your bankroll. You will periodically go through losing streaks. If the $1000 is bankroll, it will increase your chances of surviving the losing streak. THAT'S the real purpose of a bankroll.Bob

[pokerpokerpoker]

I would play 9/6 triple double $5 Dream Card. Why? Because I always wanted to give it a shot and I wouldn't dare finance that from my pocket

[alpax]

I would play 9/6 triple double $5 Dream Card. Why? Because I always wanted to give it a shot and I wouldn't dare finance that from my pocket


The freeplay comes from some of your expected losses, so it did technically come your pocket. Like OMT once said, free play is not actually free, it is earned.

It would be no different if you spent $100 cash on Game A and used the $100 freeplay on Game B, or if you spent the $100 cash on Game B and $100 freeplay on Game A.

It would be better to spend the cash on the higher edge game for higher ADT rating.

I happen to not play in very many casinos where mailers are determined by ADT.

[Onenickelmiracl]

I would just play your free play the exact way you normally would. It wouldn't hurt to move up on denominations if you just want to splurge. Playing slots I think is pretty bad and detrimental advice most people aren't likely to be successful with.

I say to play your free play how you normally would play with money, because you're just going to do that any ways once the free play is gone. If you're taking two swipes at the house edge to play your favorite machines, there isn't much point.

Slot players try using their free play on video poker, which is fine, but then they just take the money and dump it in the same 87% slots, so the video poker just winds up costing them money. Less than the slots, but they don't stay
the video poker.

Free play is free play. It isn't like you can really invest money in the casino, so think of the value as the machine return multiplied by the free play amount. Good luck stay grounded.

[Onenickelmiracl]

Furthermore, free play will not generate free play. Most casinos don't even count free play as actual play until the free play has been converted to machine credits. Son of the more stingier, ruthless casinos will take into account your free play win and no longer send you mail. The Meadows casino in Washington Pennsylvania does this. A man I knew well won $1000 free play then lost his $25 weekly free play following month. He was told he was given free play and would be over comped if they continued sending him his usual free play offers.

[FloridaPhil]

The Florida Hard Rocks do something interesting with free play.  They provide a calendar showing how much free play you will get on specific days of the month.  Credit is accumulated across all their casinos, but free play is location specific.  This creates a sort of free play competition between Tampa and Hollywood.  Hollywood seems more generous and at least once a month they have a bonus free play day that makes it worth while to make the drive to Miami.  We time our multiple day visits around those days to take advantage of it.  In Vegas playing slots with your free play may get you more offers.  I have tried Dancer's slot play advice in Florida and so far have not any significant changes in our offers.  I have also not seen any difference in the amount of free play we get if we play VP or slots.

[alpax]

I would just play your free play the exact way you normally would. It wouldn't hurt to move up on denominations if you just want to splurge. Playing slots I think is pretty bad and detrimental advice most people aren't likely to be successful with.

I say to play your free play how you normally would play with money, because you're just going to do that any ways once the free play is gone. If you're taking two swipes at the house edge to play your favorite machines, there isn't much point.

Slot players try using their free play on video poker, which is fine, but then they just take the money and dump it in the same 87% slots, so the video poker just winds up costing them money. Less than the slots, but they don't stay
the video poker.

Free play is free play. It isn't like you can really invest money in the casino, so think of the value as the machine return multiplied by the free play amount. Good luck stay grounded.


I appreciate the insights you've provided recently on a variety of casino topics. I am not sure if you are the same "onenickelmiracle" on the WoV forums, but it is nice to have people here with good knowledgeable opinions on gambling.



The Florida Hard Rocks do something interesting with free play.  They provide a calendar showing how much free play you will get on specific days of the month.  Credit is accumulated across all their casinos, but free play is location specific.  This creates a sort of free play competition between Tampa and Hollywood.  Hollywood seems more generous and at least once a month they have a bonus free play day that makes it worth while to make the drive to Miami.  We time our multiple day visits around those days to take advantage of it.  In Vegas playing slots with your free play may get you more offers.  I have tried Dancer's slot play advice in Florida and so far have not any significant changes in our offers.  I have also not seen any difference in the amount of free play we get if we play VP or slots.



That is good information. It does not seem like they use the Average Daily Theoretical system that the big time Vegas strip casinos use. If they do, the value is derived from a percentage of your play you will get strange free play amounts like $160, $235, $85, and $110 or so.

I think they group people on a curve. The first 100 gets package A, next 300 gets package B, next 500 gets package C, next 1000 get package D ...

I am not sure if you feel comfortable sharing the amounts of a given week, Sunday through Saturday, and what the Bonus day amount is.

Based on what you are describing, it does sound like a grouping system, but I can only tell if you are comfortable sharing, you do not have to.

On another note, there is no further need for you to use free play on the slot machines anymore. Mr. Dancer did warn us that every casino does it differently, so it does not work where you play.

[Onenickelmiracl]

Alpax, same onm here and there. Thanks for the compliment.

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=alpax]I am not sure if you feel comfortable sharing the amounts of a given
week, Sunday through Saturday, and what the Bonus day amount is.[/quote]I'll do my best.  My average week's play is about 4-6 hours of single line deuces wild.  Most of my play is at the quarter level.  I play $20 at max coin quarters switch to dollar play when the counter reaches $40, play back to $20 then switch back to quarters.   I cash out every win over $100.  Quarter play and up at the Hollywood Hard Rock is 98.9%.  Due to the streaky nature of DW, I occasionally can play at the $1 level for an extended period of time.  I have hit a number of $1,000 quad deuces this way and one $4,000 royal so far this year.  When I have exhausted my daily bankroll not counting cashed tickets, I go home. My normal weekly free play is around $35 unless I hit a big $1 play jackpot which makes it higher.  On monthly bonus days, which are almost always on a Friday, my free play can be anywhere from $80 to $150.  It gets higher if I play more dollars or hit a $1 jackpot.   My wife's free play can be as much as $30.  She never switches to dollars. On our bonus trips, which are about once a month, our room is comped and we always have enough accumulated credit for modest meals and drinks. We never play on weekends,  On those trips we play at least 8-10 hours each. From my experience the free play, room comps and bonus cash offers at the Hard Rocks are generous.  This may not seem like a lot of free play to some, but we have played at out of state casinos where the same play doesn't buy a sandwich. The only trick to their comps is they expire quickly so you have to be a regular to take full advanatge of them.