Slot techs: tipping and general questions

I'm wondering how careful I should be with slot techs at various places. I play around 1500 HPH at some places and I always slow down a bit when I notice them around at various casinos. In general do they have any input as to identifying me as an AP? What if I'm playing for many hours, would that cause some alarm? Does the eye in the sky wander around and go "hey this guy is playing too fast..."

Also, when hitting a handpay, does the amount I tip influence anything? Usually there are 2-3 people there for a handpay, so I wonder if one of them might be higher up and be like "hey, let's look into this guy." Most casinos usually give your last $100 in $20s, clearly expecting you to give them one. The only place that I haven't seen do this is Palms and Fiesta (though it's been a while since I played at Fiesta so I can't recall for sure). Do you tip lesser amounts for worse service? Sometimes I've had to wait 20 minutes for a handpay -- if I had to wait 20 minutes for a check in a restaurant I definitely wouldn't leave a tip.

That being said, how much is a good tipping amount, especially with some casinos that give handpays for non-taxables. For example, I think Eureka has their handpays occur at $250, and Fremont at $1000. Do you even bother tipping for either of those? Generally I will tip $10 for $1000 and $20 for $4000, but for $2000 it might be $10 or $20.

I will say in every case of a handpay, even if I had money out and visibly ready to tip, the slot tech didn't seem to be expecting it and in some cases I had to get their attention as they were walking away.

Lastly, if I ask them to do withholding, will that raise eyebrows? Also is it possible to ask them for a check instead of cash?

Feel free to move this to a different forum if it's not necessarily specific to video poker.

Thanks!

Ah yes, be aware of those pesky, ever-vigilant slot techs. Nary an AP can escape them. I was once backroomed by a slot tech and am still in therapy because of that horrifying experience.

I tip about 5% for any hand pay win. I play some places that hand pay for as low as $400. Maybe I'm more generous than most but I work among these people and know how crappy their pay is. I'm happy to share if I'm winning.

I've never seen a person get kicked out for AP. Surveillance does not care about you unless you are tampering with machines or stealing titos.

Quote: RogerKint

Ah yes, be aware of those pesky, ever-vigilant slot techs. Nary an AP can escape them. I was once backroomed by a slot tech and am still in therapy because of that horrifying experience.

Sarcasm?

Quote: AxelWolf

Sarcasm?

Duh?

Quote: abacabb

I play around 1500 HPH at some places !

Where what game? I highly doubt anyone can play on draw poker for 20 minutes at 1500 per hr without mistakes.

I can play 1500 HPH with ease. Well, on hundred play, at least!

I generally tip about 1-2% of the payout.


If it takes 15-20 minutes to get paid, chances are, they aren't standing in the back area with their thumbs up their butts. They're probably busy paying other people out, or doing whatever else they do.


Usually people standing around are just bored. But if someone is taking notice in me (and I'm doing something they probably wouldn't like) then I ease up and go somewhere else or take a break or something.

Quote: AxelWolf

Where what game? I highly doubt anyone can play on draw poker for 20 minutes at 1500 per hr without mistakes.

Ya i thought i could do 1000 but my recent average is more like 6-700. In my defense some machines just suck, especially the ones at the bars where alcohol seeps in the buttons.

Quote: Area51

I've never seen a person get kicked out for AP. Surveillance does not care about you unless you are tampering with machines or stealing titos.

Well I'm not so much concerned about getting kicked out as I am getting no-mailed or no-promoed. I don't mind slowing down occasionally when a slot tech walks by if it will help me, but I'm not overly concerned about hosts running the numbers. If they catch me, they catch me.

Thinking about getting no-promoed makes me think of a completely unrelated question. During my early days on some forums people were talking about 6x points (really double points) at Stations on certain days, but were saying "of course most of us by now don't get these promos" which means that Stations is no-promoing people. However I note that I've NEVER seen anyone talk about getting no-promoed from Boyd, and even recently Jean Scott was talking about hitting multiple Boyd casinos on their 7x days. This makes me think that Boyd is almost never no-promoing people. Anyone have any input on this?

Also unrelated, but I've heard about people pulling their card and putting it back in so as to not accumulate too many points at once. Is this a good idea?

Quote: AxelWolf

Where what game? I highly doubt anyone can play on draw poker for 20 minutes at 1500 per hr without mistakes.

As an example of a specific game, the 10-play at Mesquite's Virgin River (closest to the giganto screen VP progressive) is very fast, along with most/all of the video poker software such as VPW. I do make mistakes, but they are typically rare and small in magnitude, and if I've got a play that's 101% including promos and mailers and I'm only making small mistakes on 3 out of 1000 hands then I'm not too concerned.

I figured this wasn't too unusual. I've seen the video of the guy playing 2 machines at once -- granted they were slow FPDW machines, but still more impressive than a fast single machine player to me. Also I've heard Frank Kneeland played 3000 HPH.

1500 hands/hr is doable for most people after a lot of practice, but your speed depends a lot on the machine. I can play over 1400 hands/hr on my trainer at home and I'm no concert pianist. This translates into about 1200 hands/hr in the actual casino (including breaks) on a faster machine and maybe 800 hands/hr on a slower one.

Quote: abacabb

Also I've heard Frank Kneeland played 3000 HPH.

No way 3k on a single line playing 2 machines on a draw poker without auto hold and few mistakes .

Perhaps someone can get out 1800 hpr on 2 machines for a short period of time.

The faster the machines are, the harder it is to play 2 machines.


Back when everyone was foolishly playing 2 machines(thinking back I wish I didn't do it, big AP red flag) the credits were not flash credits. When you hit max bet it took a second, also you could somewhat see the cards coming in, so you could time your hands altering back and fourth. The fastest players got out 60% more hands playing 2 machines. 1 machine probably 800 hpr.

If you're playing single line at 1500 prh It's probably a lot more than 3 mistakes an hr.

Quote: AxelWolf

No way 3k on a single line playing 2 machines on a draw poker without auto hold and few mistakes .

Perhaps someone can get out 1800 hpr on 2 machines for a short period of time.

The faster the machines are, the harder it is to play 2 machines.


Back when everyone was foolishly playing 2 machines(thinking back I wish I didn't do it, big AP red flag) the credits were not flash credits. When you hit max bet it took a second, also you could somewhat see the cards coming in, so you could time your hands altering back and fourth. The fastest players got out 60% more hands playing 2 machines. 1 machine probably 800 hpr.

If you're playing single line at 1500 prh It's probably a lot more than 3 mistakes an hr.

I have also questioned this type of speed with no mistakes. At 1500 prh you have 2.4 seconds to complete: hit draw, cards to display, make correct decision and hit corresponding hold buttons, hit draw, cards to display, credits to post. Now repeat. I could see this rate for a short time period, but for hour after hour etc.??? Even if possible how could there be any fun in it, being a robot that hopes to get paid a low wage.

Quote: zoobrew

I have also questioned this type of speed with no mistakes. At 1500 prh you have 2.4 seconds to complete: hit draw, cards to display, make correct decision and hit corresponding hold buttons, hit draw, cards to display, credits to post. Now repeat. I could see this rate for a short time period, but for hour after hour etc.??? Even if possible how could there be any fun in it, being a robot that hopes to get paid a low wage.

Well if the promotion or whatever is good enough, you want speed over some mistakes. If an extra 400 hands is worth $100 in value, but you'll make $25 in mistakes its well worth it.