The Rio's marketing to locals

The Rio is one of the casinos in Las Vegas owned by Caesars Entertainment, formerly Harrah's, known to advantage players and other knowledgeable and value-oriented gamblers as The Evil Empire. Caesars' other Vegas properties are on the Strip and cater almost exclusively to out-of-towners. The company and its mostly second-rate properties are known for lousy games, chintzy comps and high prices, especially compared with the locals' casinos. It's been widely rumored for some time that the company would like to unload the Rio, and it has been marketing the property to locals for the past couple of months.

The Rio is part of a geographic cluster of three casinos west of the Strip on Flamingo. The others are the Palms and Gold Coast, both of which offer much better video poker but rather unattractive (to me) blackjack. I was surprised to learn a few months ago that the Rio offers a decent version of the game I prefer, double-deck with a $25 minimum. The main thing that makes the Rio's game attractive is the good penetration provided by most dealers, which makes up for the petty rule prohibiting doubling after split. I also like the absence of a side bet, which can slow the game down considerably, and the relatively liberal rules on spreading hands (playing two hands is allowed at any time with a bet of least twice the table minimum).

One of the few good things about Caesars overly complex yet stingy comp system (called Total Rewards) is that it is relatively transparent. I have asked about my comp balance a couple of times at the players' clubs. From this experience I have concluded that my blackjack play at an average $50 bet is worth less than $2 an hour in comps. But a couple of months ago I was surprised to get from the Rio not just the free bets that some other casinos send their table games players, but an entire mailer offering free slot play, gifts and hotel room nights. Conspicuously absent were any dining offers.

The three $20 free bet coupons I received for a one-month period required that I go to the cage, which exchanged each one for two $10 coupons to use at the tables. I was delighted to discover that these coupons were "play 'til you lose," not "one bet only, win or lose," like most other free bet and match play coupons. The dealers at the Rio let the coupons ride on winning bets and pushes, greatly increasing their value. The typical coupon is taken by the dealer after any hand except a push.

My most recent mailer also included "mystery" free slot play. I was surprised to see this because I had never played any slots or video poker at the Rio and had not played any video poker at any Caesars property in probably a year. At any rate, I was expecting a minimal amount, $3, maybe $5. I was surprised to get $10, although I had to earn it by standing on line at both the players' club and the cage, which took the coupon I received at the club and issed me a ticket to put into a machine. This is an unbelievably cumbersome and labor-intensive process that would break down if the Rio had a significant number of local customers trying to get their free play at any one time. (By comparison, free play at most casinos is loaded on players' accounts and avaible for download on most slot and video poker machines.)

Another problem is where to use the ticket. The best games in dollars at the Rio are 8/5 bonus poker and 9/7 double bonus, with 9/6 jacks or better at $5 in the high limit room. The dollar games in particular, at just over 99.1 percent return, are not competitive with those at the nearby Palms and Gold Coast, which have a wide selection of games returning very close to 100 percent.

I recently took up the Rio on an offer of two free room nights. The Rio is an all-suite hotel, and my room was large and comfortable. I was put off when making my reservation when the agent tried to charge me a $10 "processing fee," which is unbelievable chutzpah in view of the Caesars billboards in Vegas attacking other operators' resort fees. I protested this fee and it did not wind up on my bill.

On the plus side, the TV channel lineup included MSNBC, which in my experience is rarely available in Las Vegas hotel rooms, although Fox News almost always is. On the down side, Caesars squeezes the lemon when it comes to in-room coffee, making K cups available at three for $8.

A couple of brief news items concerning the Rio: 1. KJ, a new seafood and dim sum Chinese restaurant, has opened where the small bowling alley was, between the poker room and Carnival World Buffet. I'll review it when I earn enough comps for a dinner, in maybe three or four years. 2. A new, supposedly faster, beverage service system divides tasks of taking orders and delivering drinks between new "beverage ambassadors" -- a number of them male -- with electronic tablets and the traditional cocktail servers. The order-taking ambassadors are not allowed to take tips.

I first played blackjack at the Rio not expecting much except a game I could beat in the long run. Although the Rio remains uncompetitive with the locals' casinos in many crucial ways, it has provided me with surprising value and likely will remain on my rotation as long as I'm allowed to play blackjack there.