alpax, good analysis!

And yes, I did do the Double STP for 5 straight days. I didn't set foot outdoors once -- which I believe was the longest streak of days I've ever had in my life (except perhaps when I was an infant) indoors.

All I did each day was play Double STP, eat, sleep, browse the internet, talk on the phone, do my radio show (one of the days), and get a massage. Felt kind of weird to tell my family, "Bye! I'll be back in 5 days! I'm going to grind Seven Stars!"

It's true that the Double STP added variance, but because I was playing 5x $0.50, that by itself lowered the variance. It also helped that I ran well and hit 6 royals (the only 6 I've ever had in my life, oddly enough).

Anyway, the Rincon has killed the paytables of that game, so that's that.

You said that the NSUD 99.73% game at Harrah's NO generates zero theoretical. That's incorrect. A host (from another property) told me my theoretical from my play on that game, and it was not only above zero, it was higher than I expected.

However, it has been 4 1/2 months since I've been there, and I'm getting crap offers. Not zero offers, but laughable offers such as $60 freeplay. But there are offers nonetheless.

If one were to attempt Seven Stars today, I would suggest grinding the 5-play $1 machines at NSUD at Harrah's NO or the 5-play $1 machines at Harrah's Lake Tahoe.

But again, you should be shooting for Seven Stars only if interested in the core benefits. If you are looking for freeplay or great comp offers, you are barking up the wrong tree.