Now that I understand where you are coming from, I can add a little more information.
Offers to locals are way different than offers to out of towners. Since this forum has both types of players you will find that what be a good place for locals isn't good for visitors and vice versa.
As an out of towner myself I look at 3 things in picking a casino to play in.
1. Quality and type of games to play. Some places have good single line games but poor mult-line games, you have to develop some flexibility in your choices. The vpfree database will have all the information that you will need to easily evaluate all the casinos.
2. Slot club benefits and comps. Does the slot club offer benefits that you want, and how are the casino's comping policies. Do they send out good mailers to visitors. The database will give you some help here at least to the area of what your coin in will earn, but the comping policies are a nightmare. Some casinos do almost everything through marketing, others do almost everything through hosts. If you have an aversion to using hosts you may want to try a place that relies heavier on marketing. A good host can make up for a lot of stupid marketing in my opinion. Finding a good host is another problem altogether.
3. The Casino/hotel itself. Do you care about location ? What kind of room keeps you happy. Do you want fancy digs or will a more basic place keep you satisfied. What kind of restaurants keep you happy ? Do you need a big entertainment venue with nice shows etc.
These are highly personal items, so a casino that I might like another player would hate. Best thing is to attempt to put a dollar value on everything, and then picking the place becomes easier.
Take Caesars properties in Vegas for example. They score good points for frequent mailers, the hotels and casinos are nicer than average.
Their games score on the low end and their restaurants are pricey. Go to somewhere like the 4 Queens downtown, and they score poorly for rooms, but have better games, good cash back, and more reasonably priced restaurants.
I doubt that there is any place that would score highly in all areas. As you develop a finer set of criteria as to what you want in a casino, you will be able to ask more targeted questions that might return more helpful information from this forum.
Happy hunting
Regards
A.P.
From: mailto:vpFREE@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, June 07, 2015 12:37 PM
To: vpFREE@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [vpFREE] General level of initial play to solicit offers
Yes, many thanks, AP! That was incredibly helpful - exactly what I needed. I think I knew they're were no "rules" but wanted to make sure my comfortable level of play would be in the right ballpark.
I've only started playing heavily fairly recently - I've always used my travel buffet as a bankroll for playing quarter JoB for rooms and beers, and felt well compensated. I'm actually more of an advantage player of hotel and airline programs - but there's a synergy between that game and casinos offers that I'm enjoying learning to maximize.
I'm fortunate to have traveling companions who are used to (benefiting from) my points games, so I have extra opportunities for testing there. One of them only plays slots, but was happy to play all day on my account when I got a huge multiplier - I can only assume that's why Harrah's Laughlin wants me back.
In any event, I appreciate the general advice - my bankroll is stronger than my stomach, and just keeps getting larger as I'm able to offset other costs. For instance, I pay good money to attain Southwest Companion Pass status, and airfare credits offset that and might even get me to AList+ status next year. I only count actual "back to bankroll" dollars when calculating EV, but some of the money saved in the overall travel budget ends up in the bankroll eventually. As I learn more, I'd be very interested in discussing the possibilities of "stacking" other loyalty programs with casino play.
Oh, and Jean, don't sell yourself short - trial and error is about as scientific as it gets! ;-)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Posted by: "Albert Pearson" <ehpee@rogers.com>
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