Building Player Points

Cleave · #1 07-19-2007, 03:17 PM

I've been to Vegas 4 times in the past year. I always stay at a Harrah's property and mostly play there. I get a reduced weekend rate and usually qualify for free nights during the week.

I play poker exclusively except for dropping an occasional hunge on black jack or roulette and I'm pretty good about clocking out at the end of a session in the poker room.

My buddy that travels with me plays a little poker but sits in front of those gawd awful slot machines and he's a Freak'n Diamond member!!!

I know, I know....they don't make much off us poker players but I want one of those Diamond Cards and the extra perks. How much time do I need to put in outside the poker room to move up? I need a strategy and some advice on how to maximize my players points.

Thanks,
Cleave

Phishy McFish · #2 07-19-2007, 03:42 PM

First of all, never play for comps as the sole purpose...losing proposition and not entertaining i would suspect (or you'd be playing same games anyways).

Now I like craps, BJ, AND poker so I get it all in. I would say, forget that route. Simply get a Harrahs credit card so you get reward points for purchases. I have considered it but have been in the process of improving credit rating so no new credit cards for me.

If you need to go to other route, you can always try to have you and a friend bet opposite sides of the pass lines at a crap table. It's been done, they know it exists, but if you aren't blatant about it, it could bump you a little. In the end, if you end up losing more money on the table games outside of the poker room than you'd spend on your weekend trip's room...it's -EV (only use that term on this forum).

Carlson411 · #3 07-19-2007, 03:43 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I've been to Vegas 4 times in the past year. I always stay at a Harrah's property and mostly play there. I get a reduced weekend rate and usually qualify for free nights during the week.

I play poker exclusively except for dropping an occasional hunge on black jack or roulette and I'm pretty good about clocking out at the end of a session in the poker room.

My buddy that travels with me plays a little poker but sits in front of those gawd awful slot machines and he's a Freak'n Diamond member!!!

I know, I know....they don't make much off us poker players but I want one of those Diamond Cards and the extra perks. How much time do I need to put in outside the poker room to move up? I need a strategy and some advice on how to maximize my players points.

Thanks,
Cleave

[/ QUOTE ] I heard this from a poker player in a casino before. Supposedly his wife asked a floor guy how to get a diamond card. The floor person said that if you put in a $100 on the $5 slot machine and play for around 10-20mins they'll come by and give you that diamond card. Yes this was a Harrah's casino they did this in too and he told me that his wife did this and got the diamond card. Again I never did this before, but give it a try. It seems that the higher you go the more points you accumulate with the slot machine.

LuckyTxGuy · #4 07-19-2007, 03:50 PM

[ QUOTE ]
First of all, never play for comps as the sole purpose...losing proposition

[/ QUOTE ]

Totally agree.

Being a poker player myself, I sometimes get frustrated not getting much in the way of comps however, the amount of money you have to spend to get good comps, Diamond level cards etc is no where near what the value of the comps are. If you are willing to dump money at long term loosing games like slots that is fine, but you should never do it, just for the comps. Horrible idea.

WayAbvPar · #5 07-19-2007, 04:19 PM

Do most of the hotels use poker play as part of their rewards programs, or are poker room comps separate?

Cleave · #6 07-19-2007, 04:51 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Do most of the hotels use poker play as part of their rewards programs, or are poker room comps separate?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, but it's at a much slower rate in the poker room than on the table games and slots. Also, each room keeps it's own time clock on players. So for someone like me, I have comp dollars built up allover town at harrah's, caesar's, flamingo, bally's, etc... I think you earn about a dollar an hour? maybe a buck fifty?

playersare · #7 07-19-2007, 05:16 PM

las vegas is probably the worst city to get Harrah's Diamond because the games you have to play to earn it are some of the worst odds in the country. I earned mine in AC where low limit 9/6 JoB VP is still viable. you could maybe slam the full pay BP's at Paris but the variance on single line dollars could still set you back as much as $2000.

you can't play $5 slots for 20 minutes and get a diamond card. that story is almost certainly bogus.

playersare · #8 07-19-2007, 05:20 PM

[ QUOTE ]
you can always try to have you and a friend bet opposite sides of the pass lines at a crap table. It's been done, they know it exists, but if you aren't blatant about it, it could bump you a little.

[/ QUOTE ]
why would the casino care? the Bar 12 gives the house a guaranteed edge.

pvn · #9 07-19-2007, 05:44 PM

IIRC, diamond card required $100k in action per year (actually, that might be for seven star). Time in the poker room does NOT count towards any harrah's total reward premium status level.

mbishop · #10 07-19-2007, 07:34 PM

[ QUOTE ]
you can't play $5 slots for 20 minutes and get a diamond card. that story is almost certainly bogus.

[/ QUOTE ]
Completely. My last trip I had time to kill in the mornings and spent more time hanging around high limit slot rooms than I care to admit. I earned about 1000 points for this... 1/10 of the way to Diamond.