Those Troublesome Free Bets and Match Play

[heavy]

Well, the casino looks at their "cost" on those coupons when assigning them out. A $25 match play coupon LOOKS bigger to players than it is. If you're playing a 50/50 wager (okay, I know there's no such thing but close enough) then the net value of that $25 match play coupon to YOU is $12.50. And the net COST to the casino is $12.50.

I'd much rather have free play than match play. And seriously, I'd almost as soon run it through a $5 slot machine one pull at a time as to toss it on the craps table.

[Dylanfreake]

If I am lucky enough to get a match play or free table play coupon, I always use it at the beginning of play. I buy in , get my chips , put my $5 free table play on the rack, take one red chip and put it in my back pocket, play the free table play. I covet free table plays , just like I covet my gambling bankroll and like I covet......

[heavy]

Bump!

[London Shooter]

I completely see where the Wong guys are coming from - put the free play on the biggest odds bet you can. It's the same if you get free bets on online sports betting (happens a lot in the UK, I don't think the US has a similar concept). You put your free bets on the highest odds of something you feel has a reasonable chance of winning. The higher the odds of your selection, then in the long term the more likely you are to realise the maximum value of the free bet.

I guess if we are looking away from the craps table, then straight up on a single number on a single zero roulette wheel would be an even better place to go. High odds payment and low-ish house edge.

Back to craps - another one to consider would be either the small or tall on the ATS. 35/1 payout and less house edge than snake eyes or box cars. Would casinos let you have £100 free bet on that though? Very unlikely when these days, as suggested above, they mostly restrict you to even money wagers.

[mssthis1]

Yeah, you're right on target, DC. The answer those guys gave most often - bet it straight up on the 12 craps. Or aces if you prefer, but a $100 Midnight was the bet of choice. They're reasoning was that you'd win that bet one time in thirty six attempts, kicking off $2900. If you bet it on any even money bet then you'd win half the time over the long run - or around $1800. There may be better performing bets - but what the heck. It's something to think about. Of course, it's all academic since it seems like the casinos have all tweaked their free play to the point that it's tough to make a buck off it.

One of my local casino's has changed their free play from turning the coupon in for chips to using the entire coupon on one bet. I plan on going tonight and placing that coupon on horn high aces and using a hardway set with sixes on top and fives facing. I'll let you know how it goes.

[heavy]

Good luck. Whenever they'll let me use it for anything I'll typically use it for free odds. But on one occasion a year or so back I had a handful of coupons in various denominations at one of the Station properties in Vegas. I started out with the first one on the DP and won it. Played the DP with the winnings and used the next coupon for odds. Won that. Dice came to me so I took a third coupon for my line bet and used the fourth for odds. Won that. Continued to have a decent hand, winning every coupon and quickly finding myself up $500 or so. All the time the dealer was shaking his head saying to himself "it's not supposed to work like that." LOL. Sometimes you get lucky.

[mssthis1]

Well, the casino was empty last night with the exception of the craps table which was full. The only spot I could get was in the high hook so I saved the coupon for later in the week.

I was able to grind out a $200 win playing a conservative don't pass progression. Nobody made more than 2 passes all night. Didn't shoot the dice myself as I haven't practiced tossing from the corner by the dealer for over a year. I finally got tired of the dog turd smoke from the 2 guys to my right and called it a night.

[Shootress]

At a certain casino (marina) in AC I received $50 match play bets. They were VERY fussy about where you played it. Could only do pass line, or in roulette, only on RED. Weird. I explained to the pit boss (very politely) that I have NEVER placed a $50 pass line wager, and to use the match play I would essentially be betting $100. He told me to go to the cage and they would break it down into $10's for me - which they did. I made a little money on it, and tipped well

[mssthis1]

The joint in Altoona changed their coupons again for February. Now you can only use them on even money bets.

[heavy]

Although the bride rarely goes to the casino, whenever we do go we use her players card in the high limit slot area and run a hundred through one time - 20 pulls on a $5 machine - looking for a lightning strike. As a result, she gets a ton of coupon offers whereas I get very few. Whenever we both have offers and she feels up to a trip to the boats we'll do the same as Irish and Maddog - play them on opposite sides of some game if their table game coupons. If they're slot play coupons then we're back at the $5 slots - looking for any win on a low volatility machine. Remember, a 40 coin hit on a $5 machine is $200. Not bad.

[mssthis1]

I miss the good grooming offers from from the boom days in the 2000's. Back in the 2006, 2007 time frame the Palms sent me several free play offers in the 4 digit area until I crushed them one night on Blackjack. I haven't received an offer from them since. lol.

[Riggs]

Nice!

[HornHighJoe]

$100 free play bet

put it on the pass line
put $50 of my own money on the don't pass
$2 midnight

= guaranteed profit of either $48 or $60

NB use a friend if restrictions apply