Honestly, I didn't know any of these details. As a minnow you never worry about how curation works, because you think "Oh, my VP is so weak it will not benefit me regardless of how I use it" but actually it's a good strategy to upvote potential posts that are very likely to receive big upvotes (quality content). Also if someone is a bot bider, you can also benefit from that before they buy it, lol.
Personally I give my upvotes either to Minnow's quality content or contests that require it, that way my "worthless" upvotes become WORTH.
On the other hand I have a question. Is it true that if someone's rep is higher than yours you don't get any curation rewards from their posts?
I've been told this, and I'm wondering if it's true or not.
No rep has nothing to do with rewards. :)
Thank you for answering ~