{"id":10848,"date":"2024-12-19T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesearnandburn.com\/?p=10848"},"modified":"2024-12-18T23:05:11","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T06:05:11","slug":"understanding-the-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesearnandburn.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/19\/understanding-the-play\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding the Play"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: I\u2019m on an annual blogging vacation for the last two weeks of the year. To make sure you still have content, some of the smartest members of the community have stepped up with guest posts in my absence. Special thanks to today\u2019s author, a hilarious demi-whale with a penchant for writing, irieriley for writing this post. I’ll see you on January 1! \u00a0If you’re interested in writing a guest post, please reach out!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If you\u2019ve managed to find your way to this little corner of the Internet full of award hackers, manufactured spenders, degenerate gamblers, and various other scallywags, chances are you\u2019re drinking from an uninterrupted firehose of information. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is just so much content and media to consume (and that was even true before the era of AI slop<\/a>), even in the churning space, that it can be difficult to stay on top of what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between public blogs, private groups, reddit, neverending Doctor of Credit comments sections and hundreds of pages of Flyertalk discussion on the proper Maldives soundtrack<\/a> when flying to Conrad Rangali, it\u2019s impossible to read everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t think you should, either. If you only get your share of churning news from one source, you\u2019re in the right place. Matt is very good at getting the point across succinctly (unfortunately, I am not), and understanding some references here requires reading between the lines. Some of the plays shared here and elsewhere aren\u2019t spelled out 100%, whether for brevity, sensitivity, or both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to this (and the general deluge of noise in the space), you likely find yourself skipping past posts and comments talking about cards you don\u2019t have, airlines you don\u2019t fly, and plays you aren\u2019t playing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In some cases, that makes sense. I care much less about Kroger than someone in Ohio. But when there isn\u2019t a clear geographic or similar barrier to something, you\u2019re likely making a mistake by not taking the time to understand the play. And sometimes, even geography doesn\u2019t matter – as long as you \u201clive, work, or worship here\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Pictured: Vincent \u201cirieriley\u201d Adultman explaining his local business to a CSR at a credit union in Twin Falls, Idaho<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things change really fast in manufactured spending, and some of the most profitable things don\u2019t last long*<\/a>. The amount of plays I decided to ignore over the years because I wasn\u2019t already doing it are up there with my penchant for calling my very-not suave self  \u201cRico Suave\u201d in high school in the annals of irieriley\u2019s regrets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I believe you should do your best to understand an angle, there are definitely levels to it. If the DQ thread on reddit is delving into a trivial change to an Amex coupon benefit or Doctor of Credit comments are discussing free Hawaiian BBQ sauce<\/a>, you can probably safely skip learning more, unless you really like Audible (or BBQ sauce).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if you\u2019re in a smaller community and someone is discussing the intricacies of how to complete a fuel dump mistake fare or how a new fintech fits into a liquidation strategy and you don\u2019t understand the conversation, you should be trying to figure out why. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may not even be a conversation – it could be an observation that you make yourself as part of probing and think to yourself why on earth does this need to be spelled out as company policy?<\/em>

Some examples of things I\u2019d probably want to look deeper into if I came across them and didn\u2019t understand them:
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