You get 1 TR credit for each $5 you play slots or 1 TR credit for every $10 you play video poker. Table games and poker are rated at how much you bet and how long you play, so you would need to ask at the property for how they calculate those credits.

An $18 buffet would be 1800 TR credits, which equals $9000 through a slot machine. Your credits will expire after 6 months of no activity, so if you play on December 18 they will expire on June 18 of the next year.

Tier points are what expire at the end of the year. The more you play the higher tier level you can attain... 5K Platinum, 15K Diamond, etc. The higher the tier, the more offers you get.

My wife and I are Diamond players, and get offers nearly every day in the mail for free casino dollars, bonus reward credits, free hotel rooms, free buffets, free rooms/entry into tournaments (poker, video poker, slots, bingo) at various properties, free shows, free flight+room packages and many household gift giveaways (usually 1/month) at our local casino.

We drive to Las Vegas 4-6 times/year, always have the room comp'd, and we use points for food, room service, internet access, spa, etc. We also have what amounts to "front of the line" priveleges for buffets, shows, casino cage, etc, which is really nice. Many of the properties have Diamond Lounges, where we can go to watch TV, enjoy complimentary drinks and appetizers. The only cash we spend is for tipping and spending anywhere outside of a Caesar's affiliated casino.

At the end of the year we are invited to Vegas for their "Great Gift Wrapup" at Caesar's Palace. They accumulate all your gambling into what they call Gift Wrapup points, and that's your balance to "spend". They set one of the convention rooms up as a Catalog Showcase for what is essentially SkyMall products. Everything is marked with the number of points to purchase, and off you go! All gifts are mailed to your home in plenty of time for Christmas, so you aren't burdened by trying to get the stuff home with you.

This past summer they ran a promotion whereby the more casino locations you visited across the country you could win up to 75K reward credits. We flew to St. Louis, drove to New Orleans, and stopped at most of the Caesar's locations along the way. It was a nice vacation to a part of the country we had never before visited, and we both got our 75K credits ($750 each).

For us Total Rewards is great, and we're not anywhere near whales. If you have any kind of success on slot machines over a few hours of play you can easily accumulate several hundred reward credits without much of a cash outlay. If you are a frequent gambler with access to a Caesar's property, then I would highly recommend Total Rewards. If you are strictly low limit and go once or twice a year you likely won't see much benefit, but joining is free, so why not.

Good Luck!

ok, so you need to bet $9000 to get a lousy $18 buffet?! Right. That's $1500 every month for 6 months.

So if I dont bet more than 6 months, I lose my credits! ok, goodluck. Not for me.