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Gambling Podcast: You Can Bet on That


Playing Video Poker to Improve Your Total Rewards Tier Status

Feb 28, 2018

Listener Jason from South Carolina

As most people who study the Caesars Total Rewards program know, the easiest way to earn Tier Credits is through video poker. Some machines have a low expected value (EV), and some machines with high EV make you play a higher rate of play. If looking to earn Tier Credits cheaply, your best bets are games with both a high return and a low variance. Also, games higher than $1, single-play are preferred, to speed up the process (so it doesn't take ten hours to earn 2500 tiers!).

Of all the games listed above (ignoring where they are located in the country), here would be my favorites to play for earning Tier Credits toward Diamond or Seven Stars status:

#1 Choice: Harrah's Cherokee, Not So Ugly Deuces (99.73%). You can earn Tier Credits quickly at this $5 machine, and you will only average a $1,350 loss getting to Seven Stars with it! There will be some variance due to the $5/credit, but it won't be unbearable. Definitely the best choice, if you can make it out to western North Carolina. If you can't play this game, the 99.64% Bonus Deluxe at the same casino is also a good choice.

#2 Choice: Harrah's Lake Tahoe, 9-6 Jacks or Better (99.54%) $1/$2 credit, 3/5 Play. Low variance, high return, and quick earning of Tier Credits if you want it. This machine has it all. The only downside is that Jacks or Better (JOB) is boring. They also have JOB 9/6 for 25 cents at 50 play.

#3 Choice: Harrah's Gulf Coast (Mississippi), 9-6 Jacks or Better (99.54%), $5 credit, 3/5/10 play. Variance is a bit high, since it's $75 minimum per hand given the 3-play. Aside from that, it's identical to the Tahoe machine listed in #2.

#4 Choice: Harrah's Southern California, 8-5 Bonus Poker Aces and Faces (99.26%), $1/$2/$5 credit. Not nearly as good as the others above, as you will lose nearly twice as much as Jacks or Better on average. However, this still isn't a bad option, as it will cost you $3,700 for Seven Stars on average, and the variance on this game isn't too high.  (I had to throw in Southern California for Mark and Dr. Mike).

Keep in mind that there are some better choices than #4 if you're willing to put in ten hours to play some of the $1, one-play Jacks or Better machines, such as at Horseshoe Bossier City.

All these machines run at $10 per Tier Credit.