CasinoGaming.com


	Sundays: Inside Gaming Tuesdays: Video Poker Wednesdays: Off the Shelf Fridays: Richard Eng, Player's Edge Saturdays: Pocket Aces

VIDEO POKER

Columns

• Back to Bob's index

• Back to columnist index

Bob Dancer writes a video poker column for beginners to experts. He also writes a column with Jeffrey Compton, "Player's Edge", featuring information on promotions at various Las Vegas casinos. Player's Edge is published each Friday in the Neon section of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Click here to send Bob Dancer an e-mail.

For more details and a schedule of Bob's free classes, visit www.bobdancer.com.

Nov. 11, 2008

When the Rules are Ambiguous

Almost two years ago, I wrote on this site concerning the way Station Casinos figured their monthly mailers. Your mailer for December, for example, consisted of your play on October 31 and the 89 previous days.

Occasionally the earning period started on the first of the month. More typically it began on the second or third. In our example above, the earning period for December was August 3 through October 31. If you played on August 1 or 2, that play counted for your October and November mailers, but not your December mailer.

If you played at the Chairman level (750,000 points over three months), they used a calendar month (i.e. August 1 - October 31 for the December mailer) calculation if it would help you. But everybody else got the "90-days" formula. In late September of this year, I asked if the same system was in use. Specifically I wanted to play on October 1 (where I had a 5x multiplier) and was considering playing my entire 250,000 monthly points on that day. I wanted to know if it would count for December, January, and February or just December and January.

My question went up through channels and it was more than a week later (well after the first of October) when I got my answer. That answer was, "The October mailer was determined by the calendar-month basis, whether you're Chairman or not, so if that basis is still in effect when the February mailers are calculated, the October 1 play will indeed count for the February mailer. However, nobody knows for sure whether we will change the system before that date. We are talking about going back to the 90-day system."

Uncertainty like this drives players crazy. We can adjust to whatever rules are in effect, but to be told that nobody knows whether the rules will change between the time you earn the points and they are applied is frustrating.

I suggested to the Director of Marketing that I was speaking to that in the face of such uncertainty, the prudent course of action was to avoid playing on the first and second of each month because you just couldn't know whether that play would count for two mailers or three. She agreed with me.

If enough players heed this advice (i.e. "Don't play at Station Casinos on the first or second of each month") the pattern will become noticeable to management and they will make and advertise a policy that makes sense for both the casino and the players. So other than collecting free play, I will no longer play on these days until the situation gets straightened out. I suggest you do the same.

Please note that I will continue to play at that casino and in no way am suggesting a boycott. I am merely suggesting not playing on the two days where the rules are wishy-washy. (How much you get for the mailers compared to how much you need to play to get them is definitely a part of the overall return. If this concept is foreign to you, consider attending my free class "What Video Poker Players Should Know About Slot Clubs" which will be held at 1 p.m., January 6, 2009 at the South Point. The complete schedule of classes is available at www.bobdancer.com/seminars.html ). You should arrange your schedule so that you get your play done on the remaining days of the month.