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Ask the Slot Expert: More Advantage Play outside the casino

27 April 2022

This week let's continue looking at using Advantage Play techniques outside the casino.

Advantage Play is sometimes just knowing the rules of a promotion and using that knowledge to make informed choices in a promotion. Last week I wrote about how some people try to get the most from promotions at Starbucks. I don't want to leave out Dunkin' Donuts.

Just about every offer I have in my DD app says it cannot be combined with another offer. Is that another offer on that item or another offer in the purchase?

In the past, when I wanted to use a free-beverage-from-points offer and also buy something that had a bonus points offer, I would make two online orders: one order with just the beverage, and the other order with everything else. When I had everything in one order, the points earned summary at the bottom of the receipt showed that I had earned only regular points on the order, no bonus points. I assume that the bonus points offer could not be combined with the free beverage offer on one purchase.

This situation seems to have changed. The DD app was enhanced to show how many points you earn on a mobile order. I accidentally used a free beverage offer on an order with a bonus points item purchase. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I received the bonus points.

Dunkin allows an order to tick many offer boxes. It recently had a promotion in which you received 100 bonus points for placing a mobile order. I was able to place one mobile order for a cold brew and a chocolate croissant and use a free beverage offer on it, get 100 bonus points for the mobile order, and get bonus points for the croissant from another offer.

As I wrote last week, Bob Dancer made out a bit better in the promotion that he had a problem with and I actually made out a little better in the croissant promotion. My DD didn't have any more croissants, so they offered me two chocolate donuts instead. The two donuts cost a dime more than the croissant. By the way, since when do donuts cost $1.39? The last price I remember for them is 99 cents.

T-Mobile frequently offers a $2 DD promo card to subscribers on T-Mobile Tuesdays. The fine print says that the "offer may not be combined with any other discounts, coupons, promotions or special offers." The promo card must be redeemed at a register. My receipts have shown that I didn't earn any DD Perks points when I used the T-Mobile card and paid with the app -- in fact, the message on the receipt suggested that I join DD Perks -- so now I make two orders: one to use the promo card on and another with the other things I want to earn points.

Last week I complained about contestants on Wheel of Fortune buying so many vowels. This week I'll complain about they way they are almost always disappointed when they land on Express.

They shouldn't be. Express removes the risk of having to spin the wheel and it gives the player one of the highest values for consonants. Granted, there is the added danger of any mistake (consonant or vowel not in puzzle or incorrect guess) causing a bankrupt, but if you don't have anything to protect, like the Million Dollar Wedge or something else you would lose on a bankrupt, jump on the Express.

Likewise for the Mystery Wedge. It's a 50/50 shot between $10,000 and bankrupt. If you have less than $5000 and you don't have anything to protect, pick up that wedge and reveal the result.

Why do players who know the puzzle call a letter that is in the puzzle only once and then solve when there is a letter that is in the puzzle more than once? If you're doing a spin-and-solve, call the letter that appears in the puzzle the most.

Some contestants are great actors. They solve the bonus puzzle. Then Pat opens the prize card to reveal $39,000 and the contestants shriek and jump for joy.

That's the minimum they could have won. There should be no joyous surprise when it is revealed.Save that for the car or the $100,000 card.

One more comment about Wheel of Fortune. I read the fine print at the end of the show. Why does every almost every episode have a disclaimer saying that the show was edited due to technical difficulties?

Speaking of fine print, have you ever read the fine print at the end of America's Got Talent?

Survivor and The Amazing Race used to have presentations of huge million-dollar checks to their winners. Have you noticed how you never see that with an America's Got Talent winner?

The judges frequently ask the contestants what they will do with the million-dollar prize. I wonder if a contestant ever said, "Well, if you actually gave me a million dollars, I would...."

The fine print at the end of the show says that the prize is "payable in a financial annuity over forty years". That's $25,000 per year. Can't do much with that.

Winners can opt for the present value of the annuity, which is around $300,000. Now we're talking money, but it's not a cool mil.

AGT is one of the most watched -- if not the most watched -- series over the summer. Surely it can afford to pay its winners $1,000,000 in cash.

(Okay, granted, the real prize is the nationwide exposure, which can be worth much more than $1,000,000. But if you're going to advertise a million-dollar prize and you can afford to pay it in one lump sum, you should.)

The contestants on Jeopardy leave a lot of money on the table with their wagers in Final Jeopardy. When it's not a runaway, the leader usually bets enough to finish with $1 more than the maximum amount the second-place contestant could finish with. They could have bet more. Unless the leader has some knowledge about the second-place contestant that would make the leader think the second-place person would get Final wrong, the leader has to bet assuming the second-place player will bet it all and be correct.

On a recent show, the returning champ was in first place (1P) and had $20,400 going into Final, and the challengers had $10,200 (2P) and $8,000 (3P). You're the champ. What would you bet?

As expected, 2P bet it all and the champ bet $1. They both got the answer right and the champ kept the crown.

In the past, the champ could have taken the sure thing, bet $0, and worst case would have been a returning co-champion. A number of years ago, Jeopardy changed the rules so that ties at the end of Final were resolved with a tie-breaker and only one person would return as champion. The reason given for the change was to ensure that they would always use 10 people from the contestant pool for each five-episode taping day.

The champ had to assume that 2P would bet it all and get the answer right, so the champ had to bet at least $1. I think the champ could have bet up to $4399.

The way the game played out, the champ could have bet much more. If 2P got the answer wrong, they are no longer a threat. Now the champ's bet has to be defensive against a correct answer from 3P with an all-in bet. The champ could bet $4399 and get the answer wrong and still have $1 more ($16,001) than when 3P goes all in and is correct ($16,000).

I think the general rule is that 1P's minimum bet is to have $1 more than a correct all-in bet from 2P when 1P is correct and 1P's maximum bet is to end up with $1 more than an a correct all-in bet from 3P or a $0 bet from 2P when 1P is incorrect. The minimum is determined by 2 times 2P's amount and the maximum is determined by the greater of 2P's amount and 2 times 3P's amount.


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John Robison

John Robison is an expert on slot machines and how to play them. John is a slot and video poker columnist and has written for many of gaming’s leading publications. He holds a master's degree in computer science from the prestigious Stevens Institute of Technology.

You may hear John give his slot and video poker tips live on The Good Times Show, hosted by Rudi Schiffer and Mike Schiffer, which is broadcast from Memphis on KXIQ 1180AM Friday afternoon from from 2PM to 5PM Central Time. John is on the show from 4:30 to 5. You can listen to archives of the show on the web anytime.

Books by John Robison:

The Slot Expert's Guide to Playing Slots
John Robison
John Robison is an expert on slot machines and how to play them. John is a slot and video poker columnist and has written for many of gaming’s leading publications. He holds a master's degree in computer science from the prestigious Stevens Institute of Technology.

You may hear John give his slot and video poker tips live on The Good Times Show, hosted by Rudi Schiffer and Mike Schiffer, which is broadcast from Memphis on KXIQ 1180AM Friday afternoon from from 2PM to 5PM Central Time. John is on the show from 4:30 to 5. You can listen to archives of the show on the web anytime.

Books by John Robison:

The Slot Expert's Guide to Playing Slots