Choosing a casino

[tenorclef]

Should I settle on going to one casino to maximize my comps, or should I feel free to bounce around a few different ones? I've heard before that I should have a "love affair" with one casino that gives me the best comps and where I enjoy playing the most. After their promotions run dry, then I should try to capitalize on another casino later on that starts offering better deals.

The reason I'm asking is because I live near Atlantic City, and it's so easy to try out different casinos even in a single day. Resorts Casino gives me the most comp dollars, I got invited to their player's lounge, and they have player favorable rules at blackjack. But Golden Nugget gives me match play, which Resorts does not. Golden Nugget also has a better crowd and nicer atmosphere. Meanwhile Bally's is the only casino with this video blackjack game that I absolutely love. It's hard for me to decide.

When I bounce around to various casinos, I don't want to miss out on better comps I could be getting if I just settled on one. Any advice?

[SteveBourieOLD]

Re: Choosing a casino

Generally, it is best to find one casino that you like and limit your play to that one casino. However, there are ways to play at multiple casinos, if you prefer.

The problem with playing at multiple casinos is that you are usually lowering your "theo" and you will get less back in the way of offers from those casinos.

Most casinos use a formula to come up with your ADT - average daily theo. This is the amount that the casino believes you will generate in theoretical income for them each day that you visit the property. Naturally, the higher the theo, the better the offers that the casino will send to you in order to get you to return. I did a video on this subject and you can see it here - https://youtu.be/FHtYqJGDs7s

If you want to try playing at different casinos, I would suggest that rather than playing at three different casinos in one day, you give all of your play to each of those casinos on three different days. That would give you a bigger theo at each casino. You might also want to try and give the same amount of play to each casino. Then, when they send you offers you can compare them to see which one is sending you the best offers for the exact same amount of play.

Once you have found the casino that you like best, I would continue to give them all of your play.

[dewey089]

Re: Choosing a casino

I play at more than one casino. However, I do what Steve suggests and concentrate my bankroll. Also, although I'm in Vegas for about 20 plus days each trip (that gets value out of airfare) I won't even go to the casino likely to send me comps on a day when I am not going to play concentrated money. Jean Scott tipped me off years ago that just a visit to the Orleans buffet, for example, and showing my player's card for a reduced meal price, would make that count in the way they average for comps. And I am just barely getting mailed offers playing a triple nickel game on senior days.
Where you invest is also an issue. Offstrip and downtown casinos comp more easily. The amount of money I gamble at the D or at the 4 Queens would not get me a single offer from any strip casino but I get 2 for 1 at the D and free nights with free play at the Four Queens.
On my next trip I am going to try to seed Palace Station with some play in dimes. I keep my video poker gambling money for those casinos that have the best pay tables and for those that will comp me free rooms for the amount I am willing to put at risk.
I made a huge mistake my first trip to Vegas. There was advice to get as many player's cards as possible. Well, I did. I also got a lot of offers. But I was working and I could not use all my offers. After the "newbie" offer period dried up, many casinos left me alone.
One other thing to consider is whether the casino will comp weekend nights. Those are the most expensive. I have been with the Four Queens for years because they would comp 3 nights rather than the usual 2 in their mailers and weekend nights. Some of those comped weekends were priced at rack rate pretty high. Lately they went to a different system and the mailings went to 2 nights. Some are getting the 3 back. I still think it is a good place to invest play, but I'm not certain where this is all going.
I also would get one set of 3 nights every two months in a mailer. By going in October and finishing in November I could get 6 free nights and cover two weekends of a trip.
Since I go for a long while and concentrate play, I have to have stretches where I don't gamble much or perhaps not at all. So I target hotels where I am just going to pay for the room and not play. And I patch in deals that have nothing to do with play, like free nights won on contests or a free night from MyVegas.
Not playing at the Gold Coast does not affect my standing at her sister casino the Orleans. Every once in a while they look at Orleans lists and even the Gold Coast, without play, will send me a couple nights free. I take them, but I don't have enough to keep that casino happy, so I don't play at all. Those days I swim in the heated pools and take in some cheap shows. The Orleans mailed nights still come at the same rate as long as my play there is concentrated only on two days when I am staying there.
Live poker counts for nothing anywhere. It counted at CET for a while and I had a run of free nights just based on live poker play, but the casinos dropped the deals and then took on a resort fee and then dumped the low end IP for high priced Linq.
That is why you will be having "affairs" with casinos, but not getting married to any. Things change.

If I were to pay Binions poker rate at the Four Queens, the Four Queens would not know. So far those casinos have separate computer systems although comped rooms are in the same hotel. So, as long as I don't put my player's card in the Four Queens machines while staying there on the Binions poker rate, I won't get tracked for those days. So I could patch together 3 free nights at Four Queens with Binions poker rate nights and not screw up my level of play at the Four Queens.
Even when extra nights at the Four Queens are only $24 I try not to use them because that extra day means I must gamble an extra day to keep my numbers up.

And there is the downside to using comps at low levels of play. You have to hop around a bit from place to place.
But my last trip of 23 nights I did for $9.15 cents on average and I'm a low roller. It was a losing trip. If I package my loses into the cost of my rooms, I spent on both gambling and rooms just $40 a night. That is still a cheap vacation, especially when my total travel expense was $35 and I ate on $11 a day on average. And that is a losing trip.
Now, I'm at the very bottom of the feeding trough. I know plenty of folks who have hosts and call them for deals, people who run thousands through machines every trip. That is a different world. Then you want to get the name of a host from a friend who gambles like that and contact them for booking and such. Others can tell you how to make that work. It is harder for video poker and harder for full pay video poker. I had it once in Laughlin. The host understood how little I played and was fine about it and I got free rooms for a week there every trip. She went home to care for an aging mom. But there too I got that host from a published author with a website and connections to many gamblers, so I was seen in the context of that entire gambling group.
Compared to Atlantic City I find the prices of rooms better in Vegas. For a bit Showboat or Harrah's was comping me a couple nights. There were a few full pay VP left. But that is all gone for me at least.
I'm 5 hours from AC by car and 5 hours from Vegas by air. I'd rather go to Vegas.
Lost of my friends like the Boyd casinos. They think they are great for comps. Main Street Station, California, and Freemont are also without resort fees. And the American Casino Guide has buy 2 get 1 free coupons. If you just want an average room, that might be a place to start.