Poker Poker Poker!: [vpFREE] Re: diamond in two days [DIAD]

Interesting report--I did the DIAD run in December 2011--my second last night in town--because of some good fortune, deuces showed up quite a bit, my 3 hour run was up by about $2,000. Bad part was, was in the Diamond Lounge for a bit on the last night, had a free drink, and did not return. Of course my daily theo must have through the roof, because although I couldn't return until December 2012, I made up for it, including 15 (!!) comped nights in an Octavius Tower room at Caesars, and 5 more at the Rio in a Diamond Floor room---many trips to the Lounges made it worth it for me. Don't know whether I'll make the run this year given all the changes --new rules, higher requirements, tighter machines, but I just might take a flier, if I'm close to even before I leave town.

Thanks!!

---In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, <kickboyface@...> wrote :

{my apologies if this ends up being a formatting nightmare. i post these via email, not the Y! forum, and my missives have had a history of getting trashed on post.}
three years ago i achieved diamond in a day and wrote the result up here ... earlier this week i re-instated myself and thought i'd pass along my experience as future search engine fodder as well as for the (very) few who may be interested now.
executive summary: diamond achieved in two days (4000 "actual" tier points + a cumulative 11,000 bonus) resulting in a $1635 loss. the diamond is good through at least the end of 2016.

***

grittier details:
DIAD isn't as simple as it was before (3000 tier points in a single day). the easiest way was an underlying two part parlay.
earning 2500 tier points on day 1 qualifies for a 5000 point bonus, resulting in a day with 7500 tier points total.
on day 2, 1500 tier points gets another 1000 in bonus. these 2500 points, added to the 7500 of the day before gives a total of 10,000 points. tack on to the top of that a "winter blast" bonus of 5000 gives a total 15,000 ... and the very lowliest of diamonds.
on sunday i sat myself in front of a 50 play 25/50/$1 JoB machine in lake tahoe. to smooth the variance, as well as reducing the W2G hit if there was a freak deal, i played 19 lines of 25c. i sat the machine on "turbo" but all that really means is the hands get dealt quickly ... my decision making process is laughably slow because: 1) i don't want to make a mistake= and more importantly =2) i don't know JoB. (unless i'm trying to generate points for some reason, i almost exclusively play +EV games (in order of quantity: [10/7DB, FPJW, FPDW].)
the 50-play machines are easily the nicest video poker "unit" i've ever sat myself in front of ... some sort of modern IGT wunder-maschines (that also happen to be left hand playable). the ergonomics, display and sound are really nice. (greatly appealing to my "human factors" background.)
notable pay hands and dollar amounts follow:
day 11st hand: four eights (4 8s), three on the same draw times (3x), +$135 net-$100, 186 tier credits (TC) 4 3s, on two different hands (2x), -104 5s, 2x (on a double draw!), +254 3s, 2x, +1354 Qs, -$554 9s, -135-200, 470TC4 8s, -554 9s, -1004 8s, -1504 7s, -254 4s, +354 4s, 2x, +1204 6s, +754 Ks, +504 9s, +504 7s, -154 7s, -25-$300, 1245 TCs, roughly half way for the day4 5s, -200-$400, 1350 TCs4 3s, -3004 Qs, -1654 Ks, -1354 4s, -2254 Ks, -2254 9s, -1354 8s, -285-$400, 1680 TC4 Ks, 2x, -300-$500, 1790 TC-$600, 1860 TC-$700, 1880 TC-$800, 1915 TC-$900, 1945 TC4 Qs, -850-$1000, 2020 TC-$1100, 2045 TC4 8s, 2x, -9854 As, -8604 6s, -9552 straight flushes! (drew 2 8cs against a hand of 9TJQc), -8404 8s, -8854 3s, -835-$1200, 2487 TC-$1225 and out for day 1, 2500 TC2:20 worth of play.

everything looked pretty good up until i hit the -$400 mark, eh?

day 2-$3004 Js, -$554 Js, 2x, +504 Ts, -2504 4s, -2404 Js, -2704 7s, -320-$400, 470 TC4 9s, -390-$500, 660 TC4 Js, -3704 Ks, -3404 Qs, -2554 Ts, -2354 3s, -1804 6s, -3504 9s, -340-$600, 1340 TC4 7s, -5854 8s, -440last draw is 8 lines only, i hit 4 8s, 3x! 1500 TC. - $410 and out.2:00 worth of play

so in 4:20 (no drug reference intended) of play, i lost $1635. that's $0.41/actual tier point earned, or $0.03/tier point with bonus. compare this to three years ago where the diamond cost me $755 or $0.25/actual tier point earned. the diamond in 2012 was good for 15 months (1/12 - 3/13, inclusive) or $50/month. i'm assuming the one i've just qualified for is good from 4.5/15 - 3/17 (i know it's good through 2016, while it's possible everything could end on 12/31/16, it's hard to imagine that C wouldn't just dribble the program into the following year through march ... since that's been their established switch-over for years). that's 23.5 months which makes the amortization $70/month.
i've always questioned the "value" of diamond if you don't live close to a caesars property. it just seems like you don't get to take enough advantage of it.
but for my girlfriend and i, living in vegas, we get to exploit it a bit more. very roughly speaking, the things we like to take advantage of, in rough order, are: * free shows* spa * line cuts (and valet when otherwise "full")* diamond loungesfurther back in our preferences are things like comp rooms, tournaments and free play.

having said that, $70/month seems pretty dear for what we're getting ... especially given that we belong to a gym over-and-above the spas (and caesars has resort fees now -which gives any customer access to the spas (in turn making them both more crowded and less desirable).
pax,m.

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