Hi All, In my 6 years of going to Mlife properties I've never received a backend comp. I mostly play poker, usually make 2 one week trips a year from Europe. But I also play blackjack in order to maintain gold status. My last trip I raised my blackjack stakes from $50/hand to $300/hand. Unfortunately I lost $12k on 10 hours of heads up play over 7 days. I flatbet, and follow basic strategy (or pretty close to it) My RNB costs were $2k. I contacted Casino Marketing, and they put me on hold while they spoke to my host (whom I've never met nor spoken to. I received a card once). I was expected $1,000, and when they offered me $400 I said "$400 owing or $400 discount". When she confirmed it was $400 discount, I icily but politely said "no thank you. don't bother" (yes, I know that sounds dumb. But I was frankly insulted. ) So was their offer fair? I had thought my large loss would merit some consideration, but i'm reading here in the forum that they don't really pay any attention to your actual/win loss but only to the expected loss? Any feedback welcomed. Frankly, I probably won't play BJ anymore. Seems easier to just RNB spend my way to gold status. Regards Swiss123
Poker has a very small house take. BJ, especially a player rated as a good player has a low house advantage. Gold or any tier status has ZERO to do with comps. Only play is counted.
Sounds like that was a very fair comp. Ten hours of play over 7 days is not significant play. $400 in comps rates your play at an average bet between $150 and $175.
Hi NSH, Thanks for your reply. Yes, I know that tier status and poker doesn't affect backend comps. I keep the gold status so I continue to get the tier discounts on rooms on the front end. My question was whether $400 backend comp on a $12k BJ loss is standard/fair. Regards Swiss123
Hi UK, Thanks for your reply. My average bet was $300. So actual losses (or wins) or not considered, only theo? Regards Swiss123
So, if his actual bets were always $300 or more, should he have been at the $800 or so comp level based on the length of play? It is a pain, but you really do have to know how you are being rated.
I think the offer is decent and they go by the numbers. Even if rated at $200 a hand, 10 hours theo total is only $1000 and the comp should be around $250. so $400 offer is not bad at all.
Correct. Think of it this way. You go in to play one hand of blackjack at $12K. If you lost that hand, they won't give you anything in comps, let alone $400. It's all based on theo.
Like others have said, $400 was fair based on your play. Even if based on lost, which some places/hosts, do, it's usually around the 10%, which is $1200 on your lost. Were your rooms comped? Did you ask the pitboss what your avg bet/time played was? You can say your avg was $300 but pitbposs might have you rated at $300. Did you ask the host for your theo and stats? If not, ALWAYS ALWAYS, and again ALWAYS, asl the pitboss/host for your stats. This helps better gauge what your back-end comps should or shouldn't be so there's no confusion.
If they give theo on BJ at 0.5%, then each hand generates $1.50 in theo. You say you played heads up, say 100 hands an hour as a generous number, so $150 an hour is $1,500 in theo over 10 hours. $400 is more than 25%, which is pretty good for for Aria. As for theo vs actual, if you had a long history with them or averaged more than 1.5 hrs a day they might look at it more favorably. $12k is a pretty severe loss though, I'll give you that. If you were flat betting almost all the time, I'd want a little sympathy in that situation (Aria's not the place to get any though). Did you mention your actual loss number to the host office? I've seen the 10% of actual thrown around too as a substitute for theo in the case of an out of whack actual loss, but as @easy_money points out, that would be less than your theo.
Not sure it makes sense to keep doing this just to get the tier discount for Gold. I just got Gold this past trip and have been looking at extra rooms for an October trip. Going from Pearl to Gold only seemed to make about a $10-15/night difference in the room rate when using the tier discount. Maybe look as at Cosmo. At $2k RNB (5 points/$1 spend) you would be past the 4k for Sterling (1 free night) and half way to Gold 20k (2 free nights and 2 free companion nights)
Did not notice the Aria part - they are really tight. It might be worth dropped a few bucks at CET and you may get free rooms on your next trip. As to the small discount you get for gold - I assume you look at the monthly rate calendar. Room rates at various Mlife properties vary widely. Not unusual to see a few nights at $60 followed by $400 a night. Just a few days can make a big difference if you are flexible on dates.
Yeah and I would actually think that would be the easiest place for a box to screw up someone's theo/rating - don't bother to set it to fast play (assuming such a variable is available).
One of the podcasts has interviewed a pit boss. Didn't say which casino (or even it was in Vegas) but they didn't have a setting for how fast or slow the play was. His suggestion was to play at a busier table if that is what you are looking for. As far as the discount for Gold that was comparing it for the same day(s) for when I had Pearl and then after I hit Gold. Just saying it's not worth it for the OP to try for Gold just for that. Probably better to spread out the spend and the bankroll.
Thank you to all who responded. I appreciate your time and insights. Yes, I think I will begin to spread my hotel visits beyond just Mlife, and probably stop playing table games with the goal of meeting pearl/gold status. Aria & its host shit the bed on this one. Regards Simon
Spend is the cheapest way to get tier credits at MLife, Cosmo, and V/P. Oddly, at CET it's not. You get 1 TC for 50 cents in theo from gaming, but it takes $1 in spend. Of course it doesn't matter that much because CET gives away tier credits like lollipops through promotions.