Free Play

[FloridaPhil]

Free play is a comp that has real value to us   The Florida Hard Rock casinos maintain separate systems for the Tampa and Hollywood casinos.  Monetary credits are accumulated as a group, but free play is separate.  Knowing how the free play system works in your own casino is valuable information.   For some reason, the Hollywood free play system seems much more generous.   When I play in Tampa one day each week, I only play one day and I go alone.  My wife and I take one mini vacation to Hollywood each month.  On these mini vacations, we both play for three days.  The Hard Rocks do not allow us to combine our players cards.  The Hollywood free play formula must reward players who play longer not necessarily more often.   It could also be that Hollywood knows we live 200 miles away and wants to give us more of a reason to drive down there.  Tampa doesn't have to be as generous because there are multiple casinos in South Florida and only one anywhere near Tampa.Over the years both free play and comp systems have gone through many changes.  When we first started playing there, VP wasn't eligible for free play or points.  We like their current system.   Both casinos maintain separate websites.  After logging in you can view a calendar showing your free play, offers and raffles for each day of the month.  One day a month they give us bonus free play.   Our combined bonus Hollywood free play is currently around $250.  This is quite large as it's normally about $25 a day in Tampa.  They give us free rooms in Hollywood as well, so we always time our mini vacations with our bonus free play days.Another thing worth talking about is slot play.  Some time back someone on this forum suggested that playing slots with free play would increase your offers.  We tried this suggestion and it practically doubled our free play!There is clearly more to learn about free play.  We keep poking around and new learning things all the time.  Last year I moved to max coins all the time.   This put me into Elite player status.   We are still learning what that means.   The Hard Rocks have come a long way since giving away free T-shirts and sunglasses.  Casinos are learning that customers will come back and play more if you give them something to make it worthwhile.  If you haven't done so already, go to your own player's club and start asking questions.  You may be surprised to find what you are missing.  We never thought quarter VP players could earn anything worthwhile.  We have been surprised to find we were wrong.

[alpax]

Some time back someone on this forum suggested that playing slots with free play would increase your offers.  We tried this suggestion and it practically doubled our free play!



That someone is Mr. Dancer

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=alpax]That someone is Mr. Dancer[/quote]I believe you are right.   Great tip!

[FloridaPhil]

The problem I have with Mr. Dancer's "tips" is that most of the time he assumes the reader has access to positive VP games, Vegas style opportunities and adequate bankrolls.  The only "tips" he provides on playing negative VP games is to tell people not to play them.  This doesn't mean his "tips" have no value, they do.  It means a player must wade through and sort out what works for him/her in their own situation.  Mr. Dancer calls himself an Advantage Player and there is no doubt he is.  What I think we need is a book entitled "Video Poker for Non Advantaged Players" and that book should have more than one page that says "You're an idiot if you play these games!"  If Mr. Dancer was back on this forum, I think he would say "Why should I write a book for guaranteed losers?"  Because nearly 100% of us will never be VP winners, not because we are flawed because we don't live in his world and/or have his skills and advantages.Lets face it, positive VP opportunities are rare and getting rarer by the day.  It won't be long until they are gone.  When that happens what will he write about?  Will everyone immediately stop playing VP?  Of course not.   If he wrote a book to benefit the average player outside of Vegas and the high limit room, I would be the first to buy it.

[pokerpokerpoker]

I have long believed that knowing the ins and outs of a slot club is some of the most important info a player could have. Unfortunately, that info is hard to get. FP amounts could be based on: theo, coin-in, win/loss, a combination of all three, and who knows what else.

I normally get $5 at my local casino, but after a two month trainwreck, I received over $1000 for this month. Sure, it is spread out over many days, but since I drive past the casino every day it is no trouble to stop and play it off. All that hit and running will likely kill next month's offers - not that I care as I don't have much BR to play anymore.

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=pokerpokerpoker]I have long believed that knowing the ins and outs of a slot club is some of the most important info a player could have.[/quote]I couldn't agree more.  About a year ago I had questions about some of the mailers I received.  I kept getting what I thought were free play offers.  Sometimes the free play didn't happen.  I took the mailer to the player's club and ask for an explanation.  This had happened a few times before.  Most of the time the player's club folks just shrugged things off or said they had no clue why it happened.  This time I got lucky and hit one of the managers.  This guy was very knowledgeable and he went out of his way to help me.  He spent over 40 minutes with me explaining the differences between offers and how to tell what I was getting.  He showed me the website and went over my records.  He noticed that I was eligible for a status change and updated my cards and points.  After that I started looking at the website more and discovered all kinds of things I never knew before.  $250 in free play is enough to get me to drive to Miami for a free overnight stay.  On one of those free trips last fall I got lucky and came home up almost $5,000.  This year has been a dud so far, but the freebies  keep me going back.Playing cheap is not a bad strategy if you have nothing to gain from playing VP but memories.  Add in decent free play, free rooms and free food and playing a little bigger becomes worthwhile.   No strategy fits every situation you may find yourself in.   Having all the information available makes choosing your strategy at lot easier.

[billryan]

The problem I have with Mr. Dancer's "tips" is that most of the time he assumes the reader has access to positive VP games, Vegas style opportunities and adequate bankrolls.  The only "tips" he provides on playing negative VP games is to tell people not to play them.  This doesn't mean his "tips" have no value, they do.  It means a player must wade through and sort out what works for him/her in their own situation.  Mr. Dancer calls himself an Advantage Player and there is no doubt he is.  What I think we need is a book entitled "Video Poker for Non Advantaged Players" and that book should have more than one page that says "You're an idiot if you play these games!"  If Mr. Dancer was back on this forum, I think he would say "Why should I write a book for guaranteed losers?"  Because nearly 100% of us will never be VP winners, not because we are flawed because we don't live in his world and/or have his skills and advantages.Lets face it, positive VP opportunities are rare and getting rarer by the day.  It won't be long until they are gone.  When that happens what will he write about?  Will everyone immediately stop playing VP?  Of course not.   If he wrote a book to benefit the average player outside of Vegas and the high limit room, I would be the first to buy it.


   When a person repeats the same lies over and over again, it is not out of ignorance, it simply because the person is a liar.
Anyone, and I mean anyone, who can't get benefits from reading Dancers book is either a moron or has a closed mind.
In Phil's case, he hits the trifecta.
A moron with a closed mind that wouldn't know the truth if he stumbled over it.

He starts the thread praising one of Dancers suggestions, without giving him credit for it. Them when he is reminded of whose idea he is talking about launches into yet another falsehood filled rant against the very person who helped Phils game , according to Phil's own words.
While Bob will tell people not to play games that pay bad, using his strategy and tips will still help such a game out tenfold over Phil's nonsensical single coin gambit.

If anyone wants to read books like Phil is looking for, and evidently doesn't know exist, pick up any of Jean Scotts books. Just don't be disappointed when she doesn't recommend playing single coins.

[FloridaPhil]

Billy, you should get a new act.  Your old one's getting pretty stale.   

[Lucky Larry]

Phil,
I encourage everyone to learn all they can about the casino player's club offers and player's levels/benefits. For example, we found it worth the extra effort to reach VIP level at our favorite casino. This mean double teaming our card play to make sure one of us reached VIP. The benefit besides better room offers, better gifts, is the cash back.
First level:             1¢/point earned
Second level:       2¢/point earned
VIP level:             10¢/point earned

Also learn the official gambling day time. This may be hard to learn as its often a "proprietary secret" . If you keep asking you'll finally learn. At new casino's where I may be playing several days I've been told "we can't tell you, its a secret" at which point I tell the slot supervisor I'll just quit playing at midnight instead of 3-4 am. Overtime, they've ended up telling me the time. The importance is that you should never play minimum play on a day. So if the day ends 3:59 playing a few minutes after 4:00 means you've taken your coin-in and divided it by two not 1. It will hurt your Average Daily Theoretical which determines your offers. Learn how casinos develop their offers - one casino we play uses the past 4 months ADT and another uses the past 6 months not counting the present.

At one casino we recently stayed we bumped up 3 levels in 3 separate nights of stay by double teaming and the last two had nice suites comped. We only play there 1-2 X a year while we travel.

[FloridaPhil]

Larry, this is very interesting information.  Reading your posts over the years, I know you have a lot of experience with comp strategy.   At our casinos and at our level of play there are no "slot supervisors" only floor personnel making change.   Once in a while you will see a casino employee teaching someone the basics of some game.  Other than that, you must go to the player's club. We practically always play in the day time.   On vacation I like to go down to the casino around 5 AM and we may play until 9PM.   Do you think we ever cross the "official gambling day" line?Our current casino of choice does not allow teaming of players cards.  The Beau Rivage in Biloxi allows this and it makes two small players look like a decent customer.   It's a great strategy if your casino allows it.  You brought up another good point that I am going to pursue.  Since I've earned Elite status, there is a separate Elite player's club where they provide more personalized attention.   I'm going to make it a point to stop by and ask some questions.  I can see from my own observations that playing slots gives you more points and free play.  I wonder if they will give me any specifics?  Do you know of any way you can determine the odds of a particular slot or which ones are better to play?All players would like to make money playing VP.  For the vast majority, that most likely won't happen.  If it doesn't, making the best of your comps is one way to get the most value for your money.