Matchplay coupons and free slot pull strategy

2 questions:

(1) if you have a $10 even-money coupon from ACG or LVA that's good on bj, craps, or roulette, what's the best single bet. I'm thinking craps has the lowest risk of losing but bj wins because of bj @3:2,dd or splits
(2) if you have $10 in free slot play do you do quarter vp, quarter three-reeler or one of the major progressives. The goal is not necessarily fun, but the best chance of positive return due to freak luck early in the play.

An even-money coupon will not cover a 3:2 payout or double down for BJ (unless the dealer makes a mistake, which isn’t rare) so BJ might not be the way to go. If you can play both Red and Black on roulette then you’ll be in good shape. Otherwise, ask the master:

http://www.blackjackforumonline.com/content/beyondcouponsbjfo.pdf

If you know proper strategy and they offer good payouts, VP is probably the way to go. I don’t know much about the strategy so I would probably just play a three-reeler until I lost it all.

-Sonny-

always play jacks or better video poker when you get slot coupons, it would be extremely foolish to play anything else, as it has the best chance of winning early on, and play the lowest denomination that is full pay (9/6), and print out a strategy sheet, or if you really like video poker and have good paytables by you, buy vpsm, it is awsome..

It all depends what you want from your free play. Playing jacks or better will give you a better chance of perhaps winning some money,but playing a sloty machine will give you a better chance of winning big money.Obviously,you have a much better chance of losing all your free play,but what do you really lose by losing on free plays.
If your goal is to cash out as much of the free money as possible,play VP.
If you look at it as getting a couple of free lotto tickets,play slot machines that offer a secondary bonus.

remember, all vp games are not even close to the same; some are extremely volatile with all the payback tied up in the jackpots, some have pay tables with house edges worse than roulette, so if you have no idea how to play any vp game (they all have different strategies), and you dont know how to choose one with a good paytable, you could be playing anywhere from a 2% to 10% house edge, so in that case, just go for like the $1 slots, but if you play correctly and choose the correct machine (slots have hidden house edges, vp does not, you can tell the EXACT payback % just by looking at the table) then you will be playing as low .5% house edge (sometimes even 0% but its very rare), same as bj.. but even if you dont know what your doing, and your playing HORRIBLY at like a 10% house edge (combination of bad paytable and bad play), you still have a better chance of winning in the short run than with a slot machine.. and no, if your good at regular poker, that doesnt make you good at vp..

Thanks to all for your comments.

2 years ago when I was last in Las Vegas I was getting paid 3:2 for bj but the wording on the coupons looks like even money is all you get nowadays. I thought the house edge on craps pass bet was something like 1.6$ but roulette on a double zero wheel was about 5% so I'm still inclined to try craps.

I know that vp will likely let me play longer on the $10 but the 4000 for 5 max payoff seems puny in comparison to the jackpots on a game like Double Diamonds. I guess I'm looking at the free play as a lottery ticket rather than as an extension of my bankroll.

Since I have several coupons I think I'll try multiple options and report my non-scientific results.

I think you may have misread the article above. In the case of free play you always want to find a high variance game. As kirbyk said, it’s like a free lottery ticket. You’re getting a free shot at a bonus so a game with high payouts (not necessarily frequent payouts) will be the best. That’s why games like Roulette and Let It Ride have the highest return per dollar. The coupon is worth much more when you play these games so your average profit will be higher.

-Sonny-

Craps

I recently was at Beau-Rivage in Biloxi. I had several $25 free plays that are good on any table game wager. I used several on BJ and won some, lost some. All payoffs were even money. I used the last one on the craps table. I used it for a $25 place bet on the 4. When the 4 hit, I received 2:1, my $50, and they took the comp free play chip after the pay off.

2:1? The place bet on 4 pays 9:5. Are you sure it wasn't a "Come" bet that went up from the come line.

Oops!

My mistake... Pass line odds!:joker:

you could be right, but i see that as ploppy logic; its like saying "bj is stupid, there are no jackpots, if im going to gamble, i want to hit it big, thats why i play slots" and also like, "im up $100, so im playing with the houses money".. so im assuming then that you and shadroch would rather take a pull at every slot machine in the casino rather than get a guaranteed $500?

It depends on the EV. If I expect to win more money by getting free pulls than getting the cash then I would consider it. In the case of a matchplay coupon you usually want to maximize the value of the coupon.

-Sonny-

Depends how many slot machines there are?Are we talking Caesars Palace with thousands of machines or Casino Royale with hundreds?