Platinum Status Question - How did I get it so fast?
July 24th, 2014 at 11:17:48 AM
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During last year's trip to Vegas, I went virtually all the way from Sapphire to Platinum.
What I don't really understand is how I did it.
Now, this was during a conference week and I'm not a big enough high roller to get comps during that time so I had to put two rooms on my credit card at the Bellagio for 5 days each. So 10 days total, an average of something like $169/night per room in November (like $129 midweek and $220 weekend). I also put a few meals on the card, but nothing major.
On my third day into the trip, I ventured down the strip to Mandalay Bay. Playing $10/min craps with a friend and using a pretty strict pass/odds strategy with very few place bets (I sometimes place 6/8, but not that often) I hit a really nice run off of $100, probably got up to about $1200 and ended up cashing out $998. I actually thought I was at $1000 but somehow lost $2 during counting in my excitement. Oh well. Made sure to give the dealers a nice tip (I think maybe $35 or $40, which was the biggest tip I've ever given).
During this, the ladies we were traveling with were shopping at the Bay. We went to the cashier (my friend won about $400 too) and we cashed out. Walked around the casino for a while. Got a phone call from one of the girls and she said they were still shopping and weren't ready to go yet. So, against all wisdom my friend and I went back to the same Craps table and bought back in for another $100.
About an hour later we cashed out again, this time I was up another $700.
The next day I visited the M Life desk, knowing that my rooms had been added to as tier credits I expected to be moved from Sapphire to Gold or so. To my surprise, the nice lady informs me that I'm now Platinum, and hands me a card.
To this day I've always assumed that my spending got me there, but I was talking to a friend today who said that you'll sometimes get bonus comps and credits for a big win at the tables. I don't know what the tier credit exchange rate is but I have over 230,000 credits and I can't imagine about $4000-4500 in hotel expenses got me up that high.
What do you guys think? Is it possible that I somehow got a bump from the pit boss? I'm going back to Vegas again in November and will be trying to milk any and all benefits I can get from my card, including some comps and MyVegas rewards I've accumulated. Can't wait!
What I don't really understand is how I did it.
Now, this was during a conference week and I'm not a big enough high roller to get comps during that time so I had to put two rooms on my credit card at the Bellagio for 5 days each. So 10 days total, an average of something like $169/night per room in November (like $129 midweek and $220 weekend). I also put a few meals on the card, but nothing major.
On my third day into the trip, I ventured down the strip to Mandalay Bay. Playing $10/min craps with a friend and using a pretty strict pass/odds strategy with very few place bets (I sometimes place 6/8, but not that often) I hit a really nice run off of $100, probably got up to about $1200 and ended up cashing out $998. I actually thought I was at $1000 but somehow lost $2 during counting in my excitement. Oh well. Made sure to give the dealers a nice tip (I think maybe $35 or $40, which was the biggest tip I've ever given).
During this, the ladies we were traveling with were shopping at the Bay. We went to the cashier (my friend won about $400 too) and we cashed out. Walked around the casino for a while. Got a phone call from one of the girls and she said they were still shopping and weren't ready to go yet. So, against all wisdom my friend and I went back to the same Craps table and bought back in for another $100.
About an hour later we cashed out again, this time I was up another $700.
The next day I visited the M Life desk, knowing that my rooms had been added to as tier credits I expected to be moved from Sapphire to Gold or so. To my surprise, the nice lady informs me that I'm now Platinum, and hands me a card.
To this day I've always assumed that my spending got me there, but I was talking to a friend today who said that you'll sometimes get bonus comps and credits for a big win at the tables. I don't know what the tier credit exchange rate is but I have over 230,000 credits and I can't imagine about $4000-4500 in hotel expenses got me up that high.
What do you guys think? Is it possible that I somehow got a bump from the pit boss? I'm going back to Vegas again in November and will be trying to milk any and all benefits I can get from my card, including some comps and MyVegas rewards I've accumulated. Can't wait!
July 24th, 2014 at 11:36:13 AM
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$4000 in hotel expenses is 100,000 Tier Credits. It's 25 TC per dollar spent.
July 24th, 2014 at 11:55:51 AM
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How much you were up or down is irrelevant; what matters is how much you were betting, You are going to get 550 tier credits per hour per $25 average bet at craps.
When you go to the mlife desk, you can ask them about your play and they will tell you the number of hours and average bet.
How many express comps did you accumulate? I think you generally earn tier credits at 10x the rate of express comps (that is, you will earn 10 tier credits per 1c of express comps). If you are playing machines you will also get 1c of freeplay.
The level of your card won't have much effect on your offers, unfortunately. It sounds like you got most of your points through retail spend (25TC/dollar) so I don't expect your offers to be great. But there are some additional benefits to using the card. My absolute favorite one is that you can skip the taxi line. Just walk up to the guy running the line, flash him your card, and he will put you in the next cab. I usually tip him a few dollars but it's not really necessary -- totally up to you. The lines can get really long (particularly after shows and events) so this can be really useful.
You can also get into some things for free that you would normally have to pay for. Moorea (topless pool at MB) is usually a $50 cover for guys on weekends ($35 during the week) but you and a guest can get in free with your card (women always get in free). I think you can get 2 people into the shark reef (also at MB) for free. I think that that is usually $16 per person or something. There are probably some other things too, but unfortunately they don't list them all anywhere so you need to find out about them through word of mouth, or just asking.
You are also supposed to be able to skip lines at any Light Group nightclub or pool/dayclub, but I've heard that this doesn't always work, since a lot of them employees don't know about it (I've never actually tried). Oh, and you get a free cruise every year.
When you go to the mlife desk, you can ask them about your play and they will tell you the number of hours and average bet.
How many express comps did you accumulate? I think you generally earn tier credits at 10x the rate of express comps (that is, you will earn 10 tier credits per 1c of express comps). If you are playing machines you will also get 1c of freeplay.
The level of your card won't have much effect on your offers, unfortunately. It sounds like you got most of your points through retail spend (25TC/dollar) so I don't expect your offers to be great. But there are some additional benefits to using the card. My absolute favorite one is that you can skip the taxi line. Just walk up to the guy running the line, flash him your card, and he will put you in the next cab. I usually tip him a few dollars but it's not really necessary -- totally up to you. The lines can get really long (particularly after shows and events) so this can be really useful.
You can also get into some things for free that you would normally have to pay for. Moorea (topless pool at MB) is usually a $50 cover for guys on weekends ($35 during the week) but you and a guest can get in free with your card (women always get in free). I think you can get 2 people into the shark reef (also at MB) for free. I think that that is usually $16 per person or something. There are probably some other things too, but unfortunately they don't list them all anywhere so you need to find out about them through word of mouth, or just asking.
You are also supposed to be able to skip lines at any Light Group nightclub or pool/dayclub, but I've heard that this doesn't always work, since a lot of them employees don't know about it (I've never actually tried). Oh, and you get a free cruise every year.
July 24th, 2014 at 12:35:30 PM
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Cool, some good info there. Thanks! I knew about a few of those things and I've already booked my cruise (and unfortunately the "free" cruise is extremely limited, so I opted instead for the credit on a longer cruise, which worked out to about a third of the stateroom cost, and am going to Bermuda on a 7-day next month).
As for the earnings, I suppose it was largely from my retail spending. I gamble a lot but I'm a low roller, probably barely exceeding that $25/min that qualifies you to be rated (usually only when I'm doing well, especially at Blackjack) but I guess at Craps it's pretty easy to hit $25/min with a couple of Come bets out with odds on them.
Hoping for some more good luck this year when I go back, so we'll see. According to MLife's Win/Loss on their website they've already paid me quite a bit so maybe I should just stay home instead. Haha, yeah, that's not going to happen is it!
So is it definitely not possible that a "big win" at the tables can get you marked for some special comps? I've read that a few places but it definitely doesn't seem to be well-circulated. Or maybe a big win in their eyes is like $10k+. Haven't had that pleasure... yet. ;)
As for the earnings, I suppose it was largely from my retail spending. I gamble a lot but I'm a low roller, probably barely exceeding that $25/min that qualifies you to be rated (usually only when I'm doing well, especially at Blackjack) but I guess at Craps it's pretty easy to hit $25/min with a couple of Come bets out with odds on them.
Hoping for some more good luck this year when I go back, so we'll see. According to MLife's Win/Loss on their website they've already paid me quite a bit so maybe I should just stay home instead. Haha, yeah, that's not going to happen is it!
So is it definitely not possible that a "big win" at the tables can get you marked for some special comps? I've read that a few places but it definitely doesn't seem to be well-circulated. Or maybe a big win in their eyes is like $10k+. Haven't had that pleasure... yet. ;)
July 24th, 2014 at 12:43:36 PM
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Quote: jsausleyCool, some good info there. Thanks! I knew about a few of those things and I've already booked my cruise (and unfortunately the "free" cruise is extremely limited, so I opted instead for the credit on a longer cruise, which worked out to about a third of the stateroom cost, and am going to Bermuda on a 7-day next month).
As for the earnings, I suppose it was largely from my retail spending. I gamble a lot but I'm a low roller, probably barely exceeding that $25/min that qualifies you to be rated (usually only when I'm doing well, especially at Blackjack) but I guess at Craps it's pretty easy to hit $25/min with a couple of Come bets out with odds on them.
Hoping for some more good luck this year when I go back, so we'll see. According to MLife's Win/Loss on their website they've already paid me quite a bit so maybe I should just stay home instead. Haha, yeah, that's not going to happen is it!
So is it definitely not possible that a "big win" at the tables can get you marked for some special comps? I've read that a few places but it definitely doesn't seem to be well-circulated. Or maybe a big win in their eyes is like $10k+. Haven't had that pleasure... yet. ;)
No MGM property counts odds bets towards your rating in craps.
It's entirely possible that they made a mistake while rating you. $250 instead of $25 or whatever.... just a typo when entering it.
If you have a host, they may offer you better comps than they normally would if they think that you have the potential to turn into a better customer (ie, someone who plays bigger). But for the most part they are just based on your play. The host does have some discretion but not really that much -- in the end all the numbers need to balance out.
