I've experimented with front running the bidding bots, and the reward (for me at least) simply wasn't worth the effort. I can do far better using my time to write a new post or to read others posts and engage in a useful commentary. I'm not saying it can't work, just satin' it hasn't worked for me.
It's probably not worth it, but have you tried out the curation reward estimator I put at the bottom of the post?
Oh that's cool. I'll have to put aside some time to play with that and see if it would help.