Harrah's Diamond in a Day (DIAD)

I'm considering going to Vegas or Laughlin and spending a day playing video poker to get Harrah's Diamond VIP status.

Where's the best place to find answers about DIAD? I would mostly be doing it to get cheaper room rates at Harrah's properties during the World Series of Poker this year, plus Diamond Lounge access and access to the Diamond registration lines at the WSOP. Some questions I have:

Is Laughlin still the best place to do DIAD because of the better-payout machines they have there? (And if so, how much better are they than the best options in Vegas?)

If I do DIAD in Laughlin, will I mostly get offers for deals in Laughlin, or will I get Vegas offers as well?

Am I wrong to think that doing DIAD will in fact get me better room rates? I will be staying in Vegas for 5-6 weeks during the WSOP, and would prefer to stay at the Rio, but the rates I'm seeing now on my TR account for the Rio are pretty bad ($70/nt weekdays $200 weekends). I've heard others posting that they got $40/$120 with their TR cards.

If there's another forum where they discuss this in depth, let me know. I've found some good info on twoplustwo.com (primarily a poker website) but haven't found the info I need.

thanks,
-huge

bump ... anyone?

Harrahs gives half the number of base credits for video poker, Assuming they are still offering diad one might need twice the play at VP.
I believe (from personal experience) that once you get diamond level, if you don't continue to play at the proper level, your room (and other comps) offers will dry up.
In LV the diamond lounge is now no great deal. They serve hot food from 4 pm to 6 pm, and it is generally chicken wings and a type of dumpling. The rest of the day, you get potato chips, pretzels and several types of dip. Caesars Palace is now a bit more "upscale", they even have toasted bread and a raisin nut mix. They also have brownies and coffee, plus free liquor.
Every now and then there is a "glitch" in their room booking system and you can get nice stuff comped: right after Harrahs became owners of the whole system, on a weekend the Augustus tower (their best) was free, but the Forum tower (before the makeover) was pay only.

I haven't noticed a correlation between status and comps. I haven't been Diamond for about three years (they raised the bar). I was very surprised two years ago when I wanted a room in Vegas for the first three days of the WSOP and the Harrah's reservation page showed comp availability at the Rio.

DIAD is usually 3,000 or 4,000 points in one day, depending upon the property. Slots are $5 and VP is $10 per tier point, so if you are playing VP, you are putting $30-40K through. You must check with the TR desk to see what the hours are for DIAD. The slot day is usually 5/6 a.m. to 5/6 a.m., but DIAD can be from midnight to midnight or some other 24-hour period, so make sure you are aware of what the requirements are.

Laughlin used to have the nickel 50-play 9/6 Jacks, which was a terrific way (relatively, for Harrah's, that is ) to get DIAD. I don't think they still have those machines, however. Don't know what the current inventory is.

you are correct. comps are granted based on your adt score. (average daily theorectical loss). a person who plays 6 times a year may have the exact tier score as the person who goes once a week. the person who plays 6 times a year will have better offers as they spend more money each time...

Realize this is probably an OBE thread by now .

I'd suggest the Harrahscasinos Yahoo group for details on DIAD, etc. IMHO the quality of offers doesn't depend all that much on your status, but - even though its gone down in recent years - the "extra" perks of Diamond (lines, reservations, diamond clubs, tickets, etc.) are really handy.

The vpFREE database can give you more info on exactly what machines are available at each property (i.e. Laughlin). If they still have the 5c 50-play machines those are the best way to go - can crank out DIAD in a few hours. At that point the bulk of your offers would be for Laughlin.

BUT, your next trip or two your ADT would be high enough to get you very good rates at Vegas, and you'd probably get a rush of offers from all over for a month or two.

is DIAD offer good to renew Diamond status?

It's not supposed to be, but might be YMMV.

Best to just drop to Platinum/Gold on April 1st, and then just do DIAD again.

Is it realistic to do DIAD with low stakes slots with minimal bank roll? Which games and locations would minimize expected losses?

No

Is the 30-40k in video poker at an expected 1% loss (300-400$)?

$40,000 coin-in 99% machine, estimated loss (long term) is $400 loss.

As an example, when I did DIAD over a year ago, 3000 tier ($30K coin-in);
when I reached the 3000 tier, I had a $2,400 loss so far (luckily, I did recover some during the balance of the day). And, this was on a full pay 99%+ machine. (25cent 10-coin, so $2.50 per spin)

Remember, there is variance, and playing $30K coin-in is really a 'short term' situation. I often tell people when they go for DIAD on good VP machines, expect to lose around $2000 to $3000. (and be very happy, if you win or break-even )

BK, which casino did you try this at? i'm probably going to give this a shot soon and expected to bring a bankroll of 1500 with me.

it still is 3k tier.

$10 coin in = 1 tier point.

if you were playing $2.50/spin, that would require 12000 games. if you could maintain a rate of 10spins/minute, you could achieve this by playing for 20 hours straight. let me know if my math is wrong, but if you want to try DIAD playing VP, you should probably find a $1 multiline machine. a $10 machine would take about 5 hours playing at the same rate.

I thought the point of playing the smaller dollar amounts with a "small" bankroll was that it allowed you to deal with the downswings better. You have a bad run on the $10 machine and you won't last the whole 5 hours.