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Slots Slot Strategy for Cosmo $100 Offer?

Discussion in 'Slots' started by BigGTMike, Aug 30, 2013.

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  1. BigGTMike

    BigGTMike Low-Roller

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    If you're not a VP player, which slots would play for the promotion to try to maximize possible return?
     
  2. shifter

    shifter Degenerate Gambler

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    depends on what you mean by maximum. I would play a slot that gives me an option to win something big win since it's free money anyway. like a $5 or $10 slot for 5 or 10 spins. might end up with nothing, but maybe you hit a thousand or more. if you're trying to convert it to cash at the highest possible return, you would play a very low variance, very low cost machine. like a nickel or penny machine that only costs 25c a spin or something. that gives you the most possible spins to average things out.
     
  3. grosx2

    grosx2 Have fun storming the castle!

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    I wanted to take advantage of this promotion on my July trip but never made it over there....hoping they still have it going in December. My plan will be, as shifter said, to take a stab at a $5 or $10 reel slot that catches my eye (I've always liked the 3x4x5x). Maybe I'll win big, most likely I'll crap out after a dozen spins. After getting my voucher, I'll play $100 thru a 10 play JOB or BP nickel machine to try to maximize the return. Maybe even a 50 or 100 play penny machine if they have those.
     
  4. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    The advice below assumes you don't care about possibly generating future offers and are looking to "maximize" the loss rebate via slots:

    Phase I (usually losing phase):
    Play a very high denomination and single line slot: I would say a minimum of $5/credit, but the higher the better. If you could bet $100 on a single spin, that's actually the most ideal, but if you want Phase I to last longer than a minute, I understand if you rather not do that. Also, the next most important thing after highest denomination possible would be playing the single line machine that looks to be the most volatile (i.e. tends to offer big wins at the expense of smaller ones). During this phase, less spins/less coin-in are better for you. As for stopping points, it's hard to say without knowing data from PAR sheets. I might try to estimate this with a sim later, but for starters, I probably wouldn't quit unless you at least tripled your stake.

    Phase II (recovery phase):
    This is where playing slots sorta sucks unless you don't care about your actual $100 freeplay result and feel like playing $5/spin just like Phase I because dollar and lower slots won't return terribly well. Definitely not as well as the 7/5 Bonus Poker (98.01% max w/5 credits per hand bet) 100-play penny machine. And on that machine there is no minimum bet. Since I am poor as hell, and had time to kill, I played that at 25c a round to grind my freeplay. It took an hour for me...:eek: And I recovered $89 as I ran bad.

    If you insist on slots for Phase II though, I would recommend any of these depending on what you want. Highest return option is on the left...lowest variance option is on the right.

    $5 single line > max bet single line quarters > 1 coin single line quarters > 25c or less a pull on a penny slot

    Note: If you want to play significantly to possibly gain future comps there, Phase I is not nearly as important because you'll need much more coin-in to generate comps.
     
  5. AlwaysVegas

    AlwaysVegas Now it's mostly Reno.

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    When I asked them at the card member booth in May, she told me that the promotion could not be played on any machine with a progressive jackpot.
     
  6. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    Yeah, that's correct, so obviously be careful. There many slot games with progressives including many penny slots.
     
  7. Kiknchikn7

    Kiknchikn7 Tourist

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    Still haven't lost my $100 yet. Last two times at Cosmo I played $5 slots in the high limit room and won $650 and $500 respectively.
     
  8. Chuck2009x

    Chuck2009x VIP Whale

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    To get the lowest variance, look for a three reel machine that has a relatively low payout on the top line (ie. the max you can win on one spin) AND doesn't pay any bonus for playing max coin. Then just play one coin.

    For example, a two-coin max bet machine that pays 800 max for one coin and 1,600 max for two coins.

    That type of machine is likely to have the highest payback %.
     
  9. BigGTMike

    BigGTMike Low-Roller

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    Can anyone confirm that it's extended into September?
     
  10. bardolator

    bardolator Lifelong Low Roller

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    Don't know about that. Probably is.

    It's not so important how or what you decide to play, so long as it's on an eligible machine, as it is to hit the cash out button as soon as you've spent your free play. If you don't do that, then a Strip casino like Cosmo will get it back from nearly everybody.
     
  11. bclub

    bclub Tourist

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    Thanks for this response: I plan on taking advantage of this for my next trip - however, could you elaborate a little on this point? Have you had a chance to sim this? Should I play a $100 machine for one spin, or a dozen or so spins at a $5? I guess what we're looking here is for a big hit with the first hundred, and if that fails, grind out the 'freeplay' at video poker or the like, right?

    Thanks!
     
  12. BigGTMike

    BigGTMike Low-Roller

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    The website shows it as extended once again.
     
  13. grosx2

    grosx2 Have fun storming the castle!

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    It all depends on personal preference. If you do choose a single $100 pull, and you hit even the lowest payout (mixed bars or something) you're probably still looking at at least a $500 win. Odds are, your fun will be over in 2 seconds. Personally, I'd want at least a bit more play out of it, so I'll go with a $5 or $10 machine. That should hopefully provide at least a couple minutes of entertainment, while still providing the chance for a few smaller hits or one medium/large hit to make it a profitable session.

    And yes, multihand VP is by far the best way to maximize your return in Phase II. As tringlomane mentions, 7/5 BP is probably your best bet as the only game less volatile is JOB (and not by much), which I'm sure is at a much worse paytable at such a low denomination.
     
  14. Smo

    Smo Mr. Las Vegas

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    Many of you fail to mention that in order for the Identity Play to work (your $100 FreePlay) you have to stick cash money from your pocket equivalent to the value at which you wish to play at into the machine. So, if you go to a $100 slot, you need to stick in $100 of your own money, hit the spin button, after the reels stop then the Identity Play kicks in and it will load your $100 FP into the machine.
    So this is not a wise choice.

    Same goes for a $5 slot. You must play real money to activate the matching Identity Play for a machine!
     
  15. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    Yeah, you'll need to be able to cover the first wager yourself, and the identity play will reimburse the wager after the game is completed. But it takes a true degen to blow the $100 in free play on a $100 slot.

    And penny poker update grinding options for Cosmo updated:

    Bad news: The 100-play unit now has a min bet requirement of $1 per round.

    Good news: Along with 7/5 Bonus for pennies (98.01% max), they currently offer "Airport Deuces" for pennies (98.91% max) on the 100-play (20 hands minimum per round). And if you're okay with more real-money variance with your freeplay, you could also play 8/5 Bonus (99.17%), 9/7/5 DB (99.11%), or 9/6 DDB (98.98%) for dimes instead for as few as 2 hands per round.
     
  16. cap7557

    cap7557 Tourist

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    Thanks very much for the update. Those are generous offerings for a luxury strip resort. Usually everything is abysmal at the lowest denominations.

    Regarding the $1 minimum on the 100-play, is that common at other places? I've only noticed it once, and it was not recently. It was at Atlantis in Reno. I don't recall the minimum amount, but it was in their high-limit area. The machines in the main casino were unrestricted.

    I think it's an interesting idea. Some of the online sites require playing maximum lines. So on a 100-play penny denomination, your options are $1, $2, $3, $4 or $5.
     
  17. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    It depends on the casino. And on 50-plays it's usually $0.50 per round. Some have these minimums, some don't, in my experience it's roughly 50/50 on if they have the bet minimum. I have also seen the same casino have the bet minimum on for a few units and off on the others.
     
  18. hundth

    hundth Low-Roller

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    You are correct that you have to put the cash in first. The free play is then loaded on to your card, not the machine you are playing. You can move around and spend the free play as you like, less the machines that they restrict if any at all.
     
  19. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    Yes, you can move around machines with the freeplay. Only the initial wager (which will be reimbursed after the spin) needs to be covered by cash.
     
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