(realizing the original posts were from last year, but since the thread got bumped and I'm just noticing it now)
Originally Posted by
lowkeyflyer
Want Wynn Black/Grazie Paiza Gold/Genting Ace. Would love Noir but that seems out of reach. Don't really care for Seven Stars.
Is 9/6 VP the "safest" and "cheapest" way to grind out the status? If so, roughly how long does it take and what is the optimal bet size?
Originally Posted by
lindaiah
VP is never the cheapest, in my opinion. The casino gives you more points per $ in regular slots than they do for VP. VP is a skill game; some places it takes 2x as much coin-in in a VP machine to make a Tier Credit than it does in a regular slot machine. Read the fine print on the rewards program for each casino. Should tell you how much you earn for each category of game (VP, slots, tables).
IMO this response is conflating "cheap"...
Originally Posted by
lindaiah
All I can tell you is my personal experience -- I've made Diamond Plus at Caesars by playing regular slots and VP. I make Tier Credits twice as fast by playing regular slots (that's how they do it), but I love VP so I still play it (Dollars - $5.00 max bet on VP), for several hours per day. Same at Venetian -- made Grazie Elite status playing slots and VP.
... with "fast".
There are multiple dimensions from which one could approach this.
If all you care about is that you want to earn the most tier points in the shortest amount of time, then yes, for the same amount of coin-in through the machine (i.e. volume of play, not necessarily your actual result) slots are "better" than VP, because as Linda said above, slots generally earn more tier points for the same coin-in compared to VP). And higher denominations are better than lower denominations because obviously you can play through more coin-in in the same period of time.
Cheapest is another question, and depends on knowing the percentage return. For example, in a place where VP earns at half the rate of slots, you would earn the same number of tier points playing $1000 coin-in of slots or $2000 coin-in of VP. But your expected loss, assuming 99% return VP, is $20, whereas if the slots only return 97%, your expected loss is $30. Also worth noting that VP returns assume perfect play (VP is similar to basic strategy in blackjack in that for each original dealt hand there is a correct hold that maximizes your return on that hand). If you consistently make a slightly wrong hold on a frequent type of decision you can easily turn a 99% VP machine into a 97% machine by incorrect play. A similar caveat would apply if you were playing slots that have a strategy element, e.g. Top Dollar where you have to decide whether to accept or reject the offer during a bonus round (there is an exact correct strategy here too, and it's even published in the Help screens). One thing to note here is that the return of a VP machine can be calculated just from the information shown on the pay table. For slots, unless they happen to have a sign advertising the return, you don't really know (and even then I forget whether the advertised payback is for each machine, or if it's for the bank of machines in aggregate)
Safest is yet another dimension. Even if two video poker games A and B have a similar payback percentage, it's possible for A to have much higher swings or volatility (aka "variance" in statistical terms) if the lower payouts are shorted and concentrated in the higher hands like 4 of a kind which are comparatively rarer (and usually in this case the correct hold strategy for same 5 starting cards would likely differ depending which of A or B you were playing). All other things being equal, lower denomination machines are safer because your bankroll will be able to tolerate the up and down swings better.
I'm speaking in hand-waving generalities here because details vary between rewards programs and the actual inventory of available machines at different casinos/casino families and individual circumstances, so the above is intended more as a rough idea sort of thing.