No reason to play $5 video poker ever again for tier points.

Because Total Rewards at Caesars Palace (and other Las Vegas casinos, too) now has a requirement of $25 coin in on full pay video poker games such as 8/5 Bonus, while other video poker games require $10 of coin-in for 1 tier point, I'm thinking that there is no reason to ever play $5 8/5 Bonus or $5 9/6 Jacks or Better ever again, and to stick with lower denomination games even with a lesser pay table.

Here's why:

Suppose you have a $1,000 budget (and you can use multiples of this amount easily):

1. If you play $5 Bonus at Caesars on an 8/5 machine you will play 40 hands for a return of $992 (99.2% return game) and you will receive 40 tier points. Cost of a tier point: $25

2. If you play $1 Bonus at Caesars on an 7/5 machine you will play 200 hands for a return of $980 (98.0% return game) and you will receive 100 tier points. Cost of a tier point: $10

Now, comparing the cost of 50,000 tier points:

1. With a full pay 8/5 bonus game: $25 X 50,000 = $1,250,000
2. With a 7/5 bonus game: $10 X 50,000 = $500,000

Now, comparing the return of those games:

1. With a full pay game, 8/5 bonus at $5 $1,250,000 X 99.2% = $1,240,000
2. With a 7/5 bonus game at $1 $500,000 = $490,000

Actual loss to get the same number of 50,000 tier points:

1. Playing a full pay game, 8/5 bonus at $5 $10,000
2. Playing a 7/5 Bonus at $1 $10,000

The way I look at it, while the return on each individual hand favors the 8/5 $5 Bonus game over the $1 7/5 Bonus game, when it comes to acquiring tier points, there is no difference between the two games. With both games, it will still cost you an expected $10,000 loss to "earn" the same number of tier points.

If you are playing for tier points for Total Rewards status (Diamond, 7 Stars) this is an issue for you. Also, certain promotions and gifts are based on tier points such as the Great Gift Wrap Up and shopping promotions.

But if you are just playing for the return of cash, using the same bankroll, then there is a difference in actual dollars. For example:

Play 50,000 hands at 8/5 $5 Bonus with a 99.2% return:
Coin in $1,250,000
Return $1,240,000
Expected loss $10,000

Play 250,000 hands at 7/5 $1 Bonus with a 98% return:
Coin in $1,250,000
Return $1,225,000
Expected loss $25,000

Interesting analysis.

Rob Singer will have a field day with this one. (He will mock you for talking about "playing for status".)

Do you know if Laughlin has changed it to $25/tier recently? I was going to go there soon.

It's not just playing for status... it's also playing for promotions including shopping sprees.

If you've ever been invited to a shopping spree you know that you have a "base offer" plus you can get increased "shopping dollars" (my term) for additional play.

For example, your "offer" might be something like this:
Get $1,000 of shopping dollars in the Forum Shops, but if you earn 9,000 tier points you will get an additional $500 of shopping dollars.