Comps for blackjack

Hello,
This is my first post, looking forward to learn more about blackjack. I've been playing texas holdem until recently. Wondering about the best way to have the casino ratings for comps. How does it work? Thanks, Paul

Sign up for a players' card and give it to the dealer when you buy in. They do all the rest. You can tweak the system a bit, for example, by putting down larger bets while the pit boss is watching (to make it appear you are betting more), but aside from that, just make sure to remember you hand you card over.

Have to ask.....I was told by a pit boss in Excalibur that play under $15 per hand average is ignored at the majors. True?

It's ignored at MGM mirage properties (excluding Circus and Slotsafun, which aren't mainline). They insist on $25 per hand at many of their properties.

Most other players will rate you... just don't expect a ton of comps. Maybe a free buffet or two and a discounted room with some serious playtime.

Just finished about 25 hours of play over 72 hours at minimum limit play (i.e. $15-$25) at Paris. Earned 1560 points; 4000 are required for the next reward level. I did not lose money, but didn't win enough to cause the casino any interest either. (My understanding is the best way to get a lot of comps is to win a lot of money).

I tracked in and out at every table change, whether I was sitting down with chips or cash. The pit boss differentiated between chips and cash. The pit boss checked in at least once an hour and did something with the computer; he was interested in any player that left the table, regardless of buy-in or length of play. (The pit boss was interested in any player that sat at the table, reward card or not). We had one player on a good roll betting +$500/hand (without a reward card) - regardless, the pit boss was extremely interested in tracking him. He suggested to the player that the player get a reward card. (The player was back and forth to the table a number of times, and allowed to save his spot at the table for what I would consider a longer time than normal).

Tonight my wife checked what our rewards at Paris might be worth - looks like for her (slot machine, probably $300 loss), it is a $25/night discount over the minimum cost she could find on the net ($65/night). She did take a $16 comp on our bill on check out. ($300 loss - happy wife, happy life). I'm about at a $30/night discount, even though I didn't lose money.

We may go back to Paris in November - if so, I'm calling to see if we can get a fully comp'ed room. Given my play time, I'm hoping so. (Two hand difference at $25/hand?). As long as the room has a bed, we are happy. (While my wife would like to stay at the Paris, I'll use the argument she wants to stay at an MGM Grand property - the Mirage - make it worthwhile to me), and given my play time, hopefully that will work).

Any comments from anyone that has more than 2 visits to Vegas under wraps? (Our first visit to Vegas in July (Bellagio) we were clueless, but mind we didn't gamble that much).

Did play briefly at the Mirage (1-2 hours, MGM property); they were not interested in any reward play for tables under $25.

Harrahs is weird. They're obsessive about tracking the players, hence the floorman's concern with paperwork. There is a certain threshold you can hit with them. It might be platinum, it might be less, but once you hit it and wait a couple of months,your mailbox will be overflowing with free room offers. It's just silly.

500 points a day is solid, I think you have a possibility of getting some offers. But with harrah's it's all stuff generated by marketing dept, not hosts or anything. Wait a week, log in, and see what the room rates are (not at caesars) and see if any are listed as COMP.

I honestly don't know how the casinos are doing comps, etc., these days. Back in the late 80's/early 90's my ex and I were at least semi-comped at Bally's. Even back then the special offers came through two channels, either the marketing department or our casino host. I think the best circle we ever got into was getting invited to one of the by invitation only tournaments. Once we bought into the first one we seemed to get on a list which generated more offers and better deals. I don't know if I'll ever get back to that level again and really not worried about it but it was nice. The visits where I paid for nothing but airfare were nice and luckily the ex and I pretty much stayed even over the long haul with our BJ and craps play. Now, with only one visit with my bride, we're getting marketing department offers and even over a couple of weeks I've seen them get better and better as the hotels and casinos start to feel a bit of the pinch of the economy downturn.

Keep in mind that Vegas was pretty different back then.

(1) The casinos operated more independently. Today, almost all of the Strip casinos are owned by two companies - Harrah's Entertainment and MGM-Mirage-Mandalay. There's less competition between individual casinos for your business and both HET and MGM have moved to a system where the players' cards are shared across casinos.

(2) The hotels were run for the casino. Today, Las Vegas brings in just as much, perhaps more, money from the hotel and restaurants as they do from gambling. Room rates have gone up and play at the casino isn't valued as much.

BJ Hack,
Did you earn 1560 Tier points or combined points? There is a huge difference.
How much did your wife earn playing slots? slot players earn points much faster than table players.
You can log into Harrahs total rewards and see exactly what your tier score is and how much you have in comps.

http://www.harrahstotalrewards.com

Callipygian - No doubt Vegas is much different today. Seems to me my ex and I quit going to Vegas about the same time there was a shift to a more "Disney" approach emerging. I don't recall which hotels but at least a couple were recasting themselves as family oriented with water parks, etc. Those seem to have disappeared or at least been minimized but today's Vegas is not what it once was. Certainly hotels and food are no longer the bargains they were 20 years ago. The emergence of the large corporations as the holding/management companies for the main stream hotels certainly seems to have had an impact. Still like it but the jury is out on whether or not I'll get back to loving it and making it my vacation destination of choice.

For gamblers that go on a regular basis,there are still more free rooms and meals than you can use. The last time I paid for a room was in October 2006.
Harrahs in particular gives an absurd amount of free rooms to low rolling players.

Can you be more specific? At how many hours of what level action would they comp rooms?

I'm new to this. 638 tier points. My wife has 549 tier points and has a 660 reward credit balance, but used some against our bill on checkout. She did spend less time playing slots than I did BJ.

Okay. You need 4,000 tier points for the next level,not total reward points.

That's true. At the MGM they refused to rate me unless I told them I would average $25 a hand at a $15 table. I thought it was rather rude the way the pit boss presented it. Why have a $15 table, you imbecile (not you, Rhino lol)! If they don't want to rate someone, it's on the house to determine whether or not you're averaging $25, not ask the customer. Do your job, pb. I got angry the way he seemed to talk down to me. I quickly won $500 and left that snob joint, haha, at least that's how that particular pb made it seem.

Interestingly the first place a pit boss told me about the average hand having to be $15 or higher was Excalibur and he was nice about it. We actually chatted a during over my play there. After about an hour or so of grinding back and forth I left a whole $75 up, not much but better than losing. Indeed the next day I was playing in MGM and the pit boss there told me about the same thing but wasn't nearly as pleasant. He seemed more put out that I would bring out my card and then not play enough for him to be bothered.

The blackjack games are not worth playing at Harrah's. What do you do, just play enough to get the free rooms? Or play video poker?

Odd.. MGM

They happily took our cards for ratings at the $15 tables at MGM this summer, and we definitely earned (modest) points from it.

Could be the specific pit boss or the time of day or both. When wife and I played at Monte Carlo during the same visit the pit boss there was pleasant and told us he was combining our individual bets into one so we'd get better points. We were playing at a $10 and just feeling the place out.

lol Maybe I look like a $15 player. Anyway, you probably didn't get the condescending pit boss that I got (He was dressed to the nines like the head of a mob family. lol). All the mirage casinos are different. I doubt there would ever be a condescending note at the Bellagio, for instance. They are totally customer oriented. Don't get me wrong--the MGM is a fine casino; it was probably just this particular pit boss. I don't dress badly, really, I don't. lol