I've been meaning for some time to write about a real restaurant find, the Second Street Grille in the Fremont downtown. This small art deco style room serves some very imaginative variations of steakhouse fare, including Mongolian rack of lamb, Thai Cioppino (all right, not usually served in a steakhouse) and Paniola rib-eye steak, with a southwestern-influenced sauce. The service is excellent and there's rarely a wait to get in. The staff says very few locals ever eat there, which is a shame.
The Rio was the only casino I know of that had two completely separate buffets -- the Carnival World Buffet and the Village Seafood Buffet. Until a couple of weeks ago, they were at opposite ends of the very large casino. Now the seafood buffet has been moved to the Carnival World location. The new setup works like this: There are separate entrances for each buffet. The new seafood buffet contains only seafood items. If you pay for the seafood buffet, you also get access to entire Carnival World buffet. You can also, for less, buy access to only the Carnival World, which does include some seafood, including crab legs at dinner. This makes sense to me because it avoids the duplication of offering non-seafood items at both buffets and gives seafood customers a much wider choice of other items. The spouse and I sprung for the seafood buffet recently and were a bit disappointed. Many of the seafood items had been left out too long. Now is a good time to try the Carnival World Buffet; you can get in free by earning 50 tier credits ($500 coin-in) and swiping your player card at a special promotional kiosk outside the buffet. The ticket is good for a couple of days.
The National Finals Rodeo is in town, and South Point has been full people who may be cowboys or may be just Walgreens managers from Laramie and accountants from Boise dressed up like cowboys. One sign the rodeo is in town is the sign in front of Don Vito's, the casino's Italian restaurant, which states that it will be serving the Silverado Steakhouse menu while the cowboys are in town, due to the high demand for steak during the rodeo.
Showing posts with label Rio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rio. Show all posts
Saturday, December 12, 2015
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Further adventures in Reno
As I've noted before, my spouse and I got interested in Reno because several casinos there offer good video poker games at higher denominations than are generally available in Las Vegas. This weekend we took a trip to Reno for the primary purpose of earning Diamond in a day at Harrah's Las Vegas.
The spouse, who put in some heavy play a while back at the Rio in Las Vegas, got an offer for a free room for a weekend at Harrah's Reno and round-trip airfare for two. This was an attractive proposition because Harrah's Reno offers the best game on which to earn the 5,000 tier credits needed for Diamond status, though the game turned out not to be exactly what we expected.
I'll explain, but first, a little background. Diamond in the second-highest tier level in Caesars Entertainment's Total Rewards program. Most player reward programs have tier levels, but they usually don't mean that much. You might get preferred parking, a discount at the buffet or gift shop, and shorter lines at the players club. A few, such as Boyd Gaming's B Connected, offer players at higher tier levels all-the-time point multipliers, a benefit that has real, quantifiable value.
I am not yet an expert on Total Rewards, but many benefits seem to come to those who achieve diamond status or the top tier, Seven Stars. Among other things, these players get free rooms and show tickets without having to use reward credits. My spouse has gotten several offers for tournaments that require a hotel stay at a Caesars property, but as less-than-Diamond, she has had to pay the (pretty steep) resort fees on her "comped" rooms. These fees are waived for Diamond and Seven Stars players.
Diamond status normally requires earning 15,000 tier credits in a year. On most video poker at Caesars casinos, $10 coin in earns one tier credit. So the requirement for earning Diamond is $150,000 coin in. But, if you earn 5,000 tier credits in one day ($50,000 coin in), Caesars will give you a bonus of 10,000 tier credits and make you Diamond.
The problem is where to earn the 5,000 tier credits. Most of the video poker at Caesars properties is, by our standards, too tight to play. The best games in Las Vegas, at the Rio, require considerably more coin in that $10 to earn a tier credit -- as much as $50. But Harrah's in Reno offers 9/6 jacks or better, with 99.54 percent maximum payback, yielding a tier credit for only $10 coin in. This would allow us each to earn Diamond status at an expected cost of about $250, which equals one-half of one percent of $50,000.
Based on what my spouse saw on VPFree2.com, we expected to find $1, $2 and $5 single-line games of 9/6 jacks or better. The plan was to play for $2, betting $10 a hand at max coin and putting through $50,000 in five to seven hours.
But what we found was the single-line game only at $1. The only other choices were triple play and five play at $5 a hand. It would have taken a very long (and boring day) to put through $50,000 on the $1 game, so we decided to play the triple play -- at $75 a hand.
Unfortunately, we both lost a lot of money in a short time. The result could have been just as bad as if we had played all day for $1, but it seemed worse because it came in such a short time. I think we put enough money through that we didn't fall victim to a very negative short-term swing, and the fact that we were playing three hands at a time evened out our results some (decreased our variance, in technical terms). I think we made the right decision, though the price we paid was a lot higher than we had hoped for. It is normal for gambling results in the short term to vary wildly from mathematical expectations. Had either of us hit a royal flush on any one line, it would have paid $20,000, pushing our results much further in the opposite direction.
I'm going to start something new in these postings: tips to casino management. The first one is based on what happened in Harrah's high limit room when we finished playing and went to cash out our slot tickets. The employee said "pretty good" or something like that when presented my spouse's ticket for more than $1,000. She informed him that it wasn't good, it was what was left of a lot more money. I have had the similar experience many times of being congratulated by a casino employee on what was actually a losing slot ticket or stack of chips. The tip is simply to train employees never to assume based on the amount being cashed out that a player has won.
Finally, a word about Harrah's hotel in Reno. This place may not quite qualify as a dump, but it's pretty close, especially the East Tower. The casino in that building contains some very strange things, including a single bowling lane; an area that looked like a sparsely equipped basement rec room; a closed sundries shop containing a dusty old craps table and some wrecked fixtures; and what a guest told us was an abandoned noodle bar with an old banquet table and chairs. It's inconceivable to me that the latter two areas weren't at least walled off so guests couldn't see them. They made that area look like something from 'Hotel Impossible."
The spouse, who put in some heavy play a while back at the Rio in Las Vegas, got an offer for a free room for a weekend at Harrah's Reno and round-trip airfare for two. This was an attractive proposition because Harrah's Reno offers the best game on which to earn the 5,000 tier credits needed for Diamond status, though the game turned out not to be exactly what we expected.
I'll explain, but first, a little background. Diamond in the second-highest tier level in Caesars Entertainment's Total Rewards program. Most player reward programs have tier levels, but they usually don't mean that much. You might get preferred parking, a discount at the buffet or gift shop, and shorter lines at the players club. A few, such as Boyd Gaming's B Connected, offer players at higher tier levels all-the-time point multipliers, a benefit that has real, quantifiable value.
I am not yet an expert on Total Rewards, but many benefits seem to come to those who achieve diamond status or the top tier, Seven Stars. Among other things, these players get free rooms and show tickets without having to use reward credits. My spouse has gotten several offers for tournaments that require a hotel stay at a Caesars property, but as less-than-Diamond, she has had to pay the (pretty steep) resort fees on her "comped" rooms. These fees are waived for Diamond and Seven Stars players.
Diamond status normally requires earning 15,000 tier credits in a year. On most video poker at Caesars casinos, $10 coin in earns one tier credit. So the requirement for earning Diamond is $150,000 coin in. But, if you earn 5,000 tier credits in one day ($50,000 coin in), Caesars will give you a bonus of 10,000 tier credits and make you Diamond.
The problem is where to earn the 5,000 tier credits. Most of the video poker at Caesars properties is, by our standards, too tight to play. The best games in Las Vegas, at the Rio, require considerably more coin in that $10 to earn a tier credit -- as much as $50. But Harrah's in Reno offers 9/6 jacks or better, with 99.54 percent maximum payback, yielding a tier credit for only $10 coin in. This would allow us each to earn Diamond status at an expected cost of about $250, which equals one-half of one percent of $50,000.
Based on what my spouse saw on VPFree2.com, we expected to find $1, $2 and $5 single-line games of 9/6 jacks or better. The plan was to play for $2, betting $10 a hand at max coin and putting through $50,000 in five to seven hours.
But what we found was the single-line game only at $1. The only other choices were triple play and five play at $5 a hand. It would have taken a very long (and boring day) to put through $50,000 on the $1 game, so we decided to play the triple play -- at $75 a hand.
Unfortunately, we both lost a lot of money in a short time. The result could have been just as bad as if we had played all day for $1, but it seemed worse because it came in such a short time. I think we put enough money through that we didn't fall victim to a very negative short-term swing, and the fact that we were playing three hands at a time evened out our results some (decreased our variance, in technical terms). I think we made the right decision, though the price we paid was a lot higher than we had hoped for. It is normal for gambling results in the short term to vary wildly from mathematical expectations. Had either of us hit a royal flush on any one line, it would have paid $20,000, pushing our results much further in the opposite direction.
I'm going to start something new in these postings: tips to casino management. The first one is based on what happened in Harrah's high limit room when we finished playing and went to cash out our slot tickets. The employee said "pretty good" or something like that when presented my spouse's ticket for more than $1,000. She informed him that it wasn't good, it was what was left of a lot more money. I have had the similar experience many times of being congratulated by a casino employee on what was actually a losing slot ticket or stack of chips. The tip is simply to train employees never to assume based on the amount being cashed out that a player has won.
Finally, a word about Harrah's hotel in Reno. This place may not quite qualify as a dump, but it's pretty close, especially the East Tower. The casino in that building contains some very strange things, including a single bowling lane; an area that looked like a sparsely equipped basement rec room; a closed sundries shop containing a dusty old craps table and some wrecked fixtures; and what a guest told us was an abandoned noodle bar with an old banquet table and chairs. It's inconceivable to me that the latter two areas weren't at least walled off so guests couldn't see them. They made that area look like something from 'Hotel Impossible."
Saturday, January 28, 2012
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
