skyscanner, perhaps you could e-mail that guy Matthew and ask him about the paytables on the multiplay machines in $1 mode?
skyscanner, perhaps you could e-mail that guy Matthew and ask him about the paytables on the multiplay machines in $1 mode?
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According to VPfree2 the best payout machines are 25$/TP (and I have found this to be pretty accurate info). Where do you get your info that they are ALL 10$/TP?
If they are very poor payout machines then there is really no use in playing even for 25x TP I don't think. Because of the 25x it would still be worthwhile playing the better payout machines that give 25$/TP because you will still earn more TP than if you played the standard 10$/TP machine at 1x TP. I only need 3900 TP to reach 7* since I already have over 50K TP.
I can confirm all of this. I was Seven Stars for several years, earning it every year as opposed to every other year like some. I did not earn it in 2017. I only had one early year Vegas trip, my travels did not take me to any other CET markets, and the Mandalay Bay shooting incident made me leery of traveling to Vegas and I ended up not even using my 2017 airfare and folio credit. I'm Diamond in 2018 just from the one Vegas trip last year, but YTD I haven't been in any CET casino anywhere.
Despite all of this, my Vegas offers remain the same as they had been. The offer I just got for Jan-Feb 2019 is the same FP$ value and room nights as the offers I've gotten since that last 2017 trip, and the same $FP as the offer I went on for my 2017 trip.
Now booking it - I don't know as I haven't tried. I haven't ever had luck booking the FP offers myself online and always had to have a host to do it. I did go in and look and it doesn't appear that I have the abundance of free rooms available on the calendar that I used to ( i was able to book rooms myself but rooms with FP offers I could never get to work), so short of calling a host I can't tell if being able to take advantage of an offer has changed.
And getting the airfare and folio isn't seamless. Dan has/had directions on here on how to do it without a host. I always used a host, and even with the very competent one I used to have (he left CET) it was a PITA getting the airfare booked, and almost every folio had some issue or another that required him to intervene. With the next host that did my last trip it was even worse. I know there were changes last year in how they administer those awards (something with FP reimbursement if you pay your own airfare), that may make things easier.
The $500 in vouchers was easy. Line cutting for Seven Stars vs. Diamonds was only better during really busy times like the holidays. Exceptions and small favors - they still look at your play there where you are, they might be more polite giving you the brushoff if you're Seven Stars vs a lower level, but unless you have established some play at that location it doesn't get you much.
So unless you frequent some place with an exclusive Seven Stars lounge, and think you can gain back some value from milking the hell out of that benefit, there's not much else to make it worth it in and of itself.
I do have very specific reasons to go for 7*. See below:
So as you can see most of my experience is watching my mom do this for years. For me that's part of the benefit - I can go on the free cruises with my parents (which I do sometimes anyway but I pay for it). We would be happy with the annual trip and the places we can go. And the food perks are huge for us - I think we can save about half of our annual food costs because we already eat out all the time so this is just shifting where we eat out.
Even without the 25x offer I figure I only have to play 10X a year at 5000 TC a time to make 7* (because of the 10,000 TC bonus for every 5000 in a day). At my rate of play it takes me about 3.5 hours to play 5000 credits ($5 full pay Aces Faces) - I did this twice in the last 30 days. If I play on Thursdays at Rincon I get 5X multiplier on RC - an additional $250/session that can be used on things like massages which I pay for now. This also doesn't count any additional comp I may get (I am already being offered free weekly gifts and will likely get the monthly coupon book and whatever that offers me.
In a different post above you have calculated the most that you could lose playing VP to get 7* but there is a range and you haven't shown that - only the most you could lose. I am a glass half full sort of gal and I don't believe I will be at max loss over time. I have already accumulated over 50,000 TC is a very short time and it cost me $800. I have hit multiple quads including Aces once already (400 credits on Aces Faces machine) - that helps keep me in the play too. Since I am a scientist I plan to carefully track everything for 2019 and see how it comes out money-wise. I guess if I am ahead due to comps etc. and have enough points to stay in 7* ever year that would make me an AP?! :-)
Last edited by Slyfox56; 12-21-2018 at 11:37 AM.
If I were you I would pursue this also.
I think Dan's thoughts were aimed more toward people that don't play CET at all or much and who may think that being Seven Stars is going to unlock a whole lot of benefits that they can milk without further play.
As someone who is actively playing at CET, who understands the system at the casino they already play at, and who knows that they can get free things that they would otherwise be paying for, it makes sense.
But do understand, just because your mother gets offers does not mean you will necessarily get the same thing. Whether she knows about MDV/ADT or not, the casino knows. And even if there's some standard of offers for Seven Stars at Rincon, like any casino offer that is habit and not a written benefit those can change at any time in the future. Even the written ones do.
I agree with this assessment for the most part, but I do have to correct you on one thing.
You said that the small favors and exceptions won't be done for you, even as a Seven Stars, unless you are playng actively at that casino.
That's false.
One advantage of CET's poor synergy/communications between departments is that the hotel side has very little access to your play history, at most properties.
They just see your tier level.
So if you have an issue with hotels or restaurants, you simply need to get a manager, remind them that you're a Seven Stars, and then ask for the favor/exception you're looking for. They will usually verify you are Seven Stars by briefly looking at your card, and then will often grant your request as long as it's small and reasonable.
These managers do not have access to look up your play.
Here's a few examples off the top of my head:
- One year on New Year's Eve, we went to a restaurant and were all too full for dessert, so we took it back to the room, with the plan to eat it right after the clock struck midnight. I called Room Service at Caesars and asked for some empty plates.. They informed me, "We charge a $12 plateage fee." Plateage?? LOL!! I told them, "I'm a Seven Stars member, and I don't want to pay for empty plates." They consulted with a manager and waived the plateage fee.
- Also at Caesars, their pizza-by-the-slice place sold slices for like $7 and whole pizzas for $26. Each pizza was 6 slices, so obviously the whole pizza was the much better deal if you were going to eat all or most of it. I told them I wanted to buy the whole pepperoni pizza I saw sitting out. I was quoted 25 minutes wait. There was nobody else in line, and nobody else waiting for food. I asked ,"Why 25 minutes? Can't I just have that pizza?" They told me that whole pizzas had to be made on the spot, because buying a whole pizza leaves other guests unable to buy slices. I said, "But there's no other guests in line!", but the woman at the counter didn't care. I then asked, "So if I want to buy 6 slices for $42, can I have the whole pizza now?" She said yes! So I responded, "Aha! So this isn't about preserving slices for other guests! It's about money! I am Seven Stars and want this policy waived. I want that whole pizza right now for the whole pizza price." She called her manager, informed him I was Seven Stars, and they made the exception for me.
I've had a lot of other stories like this over the years.
I also use my Seven Stars status to block off rooms when I'm coming in late, rather than having to select what's left of the crappy inventory late at night. Usually this can't be done, but they make exceptions for Seven Stars who request this with the right people.
So yes, I will miss these little perks (especially the room block off thing), and I'm considering attempting to re-earn Seven Stars if I can do it cheaply.
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I'm glad you've run well at the Rincon this year. However, you've been much luckier than average to have only lost $800 after $50k coin-in at Aces and Faces WITHOUT hitting a royal! For example, if you run 15,000 base tier credits and earn the maximum bonus (30,000 tiers) by doing it optimally, you would still lose on average $4,095 at Aces and Faces if you don't hit any royals! It sounds like you've actually run more play than that, because you have "over 50k tiers", and doing it optimally would leave you with either 45k or 52500 tiers. So being down $800 at this point is great!
However, you can't expect it to necessarily continue that way.
Anyway, I see you're utilizing the Seven Stars benefits, which is good, and it probably is worth it for you to pursue the Ak-Chin thing, since your play is consistent enough already to where you likely won't be seen as a bonus whore.
One note about the cruise: They are not free! You are NOT just paying port fees and taxes! That's a lie that CET/NCL likes to tell people. You're paying port fees, taxes, AND a small amount of fare ($140 per person), which is disguised as an "Admin Fee". You are also paying $14/day per person "gratuities" which aren't really gratuities, and NCL keeps. So that's another $98/person. Also, your itinerary is somewhat limited, as there are a few blackout dates, and you are not allowed to use it for Europe, Cuba, and a few other places. Don't get me wrong... I used it every year from 2013-2017. This year I didn't use it due to unexpected health issues which started in August. It can be great value, but it's not as "free" as most think it is!
Here's some info about the cruise benefit I wrote (and NCL in general), which may be helpful to you: https://pokerfraudalert.com/forum/sh...or-Seven-Stars
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I haven't had any issues like yours.
But it did remind me that on several occasions at several CET locations, I had room service orders while Seven Stars that were "our wait right now is (insert long time here) but since you're Seven Stars we'll put it to the front and it'll be there shortly".
That was a very handy perk I will miss.
I even heard about this promotion on a local radio station last night during "rush hour". So your concerns are spot on.
Regarding "decent" and/or "semi-decent" machines: since when are any of those pay tables of any interest to an AP? Especially for play during a nebulous promotion with uncertain final benefits that you can theoretically expect to lose much more money than the trip andplay are worth?
You'd fare FAR BETTER, theoretically of course, travelling to the Aquarius in Laughing andplay their $25 9/6 ddbp machines.
Playing for points, tier credits, and card level status is a major mistake VP players from all walks routinely make. Play only for the money and you'll find success and happiness.
I did e-mail him back as soon as I read his message, as it was not complete and I had asked for some more information in the first place. However, I have not heard from him since. Maybe, as you said before, they are not allowed to reveal that much information to the public.
In October I was at Ak-Chin at a breakfast place with my son. I asked how long was the wait for a table? The response was "15-10 minutes." I then asked, (holding my Seven Stars card) how long the wait was since I was Seven Stars? The response was: "in that case, I have a table open for you" and she reached over for menus and led us off. My son was impressed and told me so, something not many 23 year olds tell their dads.
FAB
I would pass on the conspiracy theories here. Frankly I can fully understand how requests like this get put into the "to do folder" but never get done because new "to dos" get piled on top. Getting info on paytables is really a request out of deep, deep center field for casinos.
My favorite story goes like this:
I was at Nero's, the restaurant before Old Homestead, waiting for my table. I was Seven Stars. A guy walks up to the hostess stand and asks for a table. The hostess says "do you have a reservation?" The guy says "no, but I'm Seven Stars."
The hostess replies, "I'm sorry, I have no openings."
"But I'm Seven Stars!" And with that he turns to me and says "I'm Seven Stars and there's never a problem in Atlantic City."
So... I show him my Seven Stars card and I say, "but this is Caesars Palace where just about everyone is Seven Stars."
It's more like none of those people could care less about putting in the leg work to check on multi-play pay tables for someone on the phone. That's not what they're there for. AK chin is a very busy casino day and night. Even face-to-face you'll be lucky to get an "engaged" employee.
Alan may actually have a point.
Perhaps they are just getting swamped with paytable/machine requests, and they are either overwhelmed or made a decision to stop answering them.
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Just googled around for discussion of this promo.
The other forums discussing this are amazingly clueless. Lots of incorrect info and confusion everywhere. This thread is far superior and more informative than everywhere else, by a wide margin. Those other threads were of zero help, even though I read threads about this on 3 other forums.
Guess we're on our own here.
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I like that story. My kids were oblivious to everything except for walking by everyone in the main line to use the Seven Stars line at the Caesars buffet. I think that mildly impressed them. But whenever I went with them anywhere I always planned everything out with reservations or my usual avoid line strategies that I use everywhere else (like eating early). The only time I thought there wouldn't be a line was that Gordon Ramsey burger place at I think it was Planet Hollywood that had Burger spelled weird. There was a 45 minute wait that was the same for everyone - got no Seven Stars favor there.
So aside from Slyfox56, who is planning upon doing this?
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A reply from good old Matthew.
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