Back from Laughlin

[BillyJoe]

[QUOTE=onemoretry] [QUOTE=ko king] Needless to say we will never ever ever go back to Laughlin.
Harrahs provided you with a suite, took fantastic care of you over your stay, had the games at the denominations you like to play, and with decent paytables, but you will never ever ever go back? You're hard to please.

Believe me, if I took that position on every casino where I had had a bad day, or a few bad days, I would have nowhere to play![/QUOTE]
Me hard to please, I'm one of the easiest folks in the world to please, I'm just not a big fan of flying clear across the country and getting the brakes beat off me for four days. I'll take my losses as good as the next guy but I'll also tell everybody how bad the vp was for me, what else would you expect me to do tell a lie and say how great the vp was. Don't forget I earned the trip, paid for it thur the year based on the amount of play I had at my local casino, they gave me nothing, in fact I actually paid for twice, so shoot me for telling the truth about how my trip went.[/QUOTE]
That's a good point about comps, Ko. Sometimes those free trips can get awfully expensive.
 
That is one of the reasons that I like The Beau Rivage in Biloxi. I get the same, totally comped, treatment, regardless of any short term gaming success. Vegas, both MGM and CET properties, seem to have more 'rules' about what you can use with regard to comps.

[ko king]

[QUOTE=ko king][QUOTE=onemoretry] [QUOTE=ko king] Needless to say we will never ever ever go back to Laughlin.
Harrahs provided you with a suite, took fantastic care of you over your stay, had the games at the denominations you like to play, and with decent paytables, but you will never ever ever go back? You're hard to please.

Believe me, if I took that position on every casino where I had had a bad day, or a few bad days, I would have nowhere to play![/QUOTE]
Me hard to please, I'm one of the easiest folks in the world to please, I'm just not a big fan of flying clear across the country and getting the brakes beat off me for four days. I'll take my losses as good as the next guy but I'll also tell everybody how bad the vp was for me, what else would you expect me to do tell a lie and say how great the vp was. Don't forget I earned the trip, paid for it thur the year based on the amount of play I had at my local casino, they gave me nothing, in fact I actually paid for twice, so shoot me for telling the truth about how my trip went.[/QUOTE]
That's a good point about comps, Ko. Sometimes those free trips can get awfully expensive.
 
That is one of the reasons that I like The Beau Rivage in Biloxi. I get the same, totally comped, treatment, regardless of any short term gaming success. Vegas, both MGM and CET properties, seem to have more 'rules' about what you can use with regard to comps. [/QUOTE]
I never know if I'm making a good point or not, I usually just say what I think or feel. Yeah I could have controlled my losses but only if I didn't play which kind of flies in the face of what I went there for in the first place for. I didn't mean to come off as a sore loser but that's just the way it went for me there. I do wish I would have carried my golf clubs though because there was a couple of nice courses nearby and the weather was nice.

[chattycattty]

If you ever go back you may want to see if they have complimentary golf for 7 stars. When we go towards the end of April if you are interested, let you know. They also have a fitness center that is complimentary for 7 stars and possibly for diamond members as well. One thing we have never done is the river cruise from Laughlin to Lake Havasu. It takes most of a day. In order to make time we would have to give up our overnight trip to Vegas. There are also several scenic hiking trails nearby we like to do if you are into that sort of thing.

[BillyJoe]

If you ever go back you may want to see if they have complimentary golf for 7 stars. When we go towards the end of April if you are interested, let you know. They also have a fitness center that is complimentary for 7 stars and possibly for diamond members as well. One thing we have never done is the river cruise from Laughlin to Lake Havasu. It takes most of a day. In order to make time we would have to give up our overnight trip to Vegas. There are also several scenic hiking trails nearby we like to do if you are into that sort of thing.
If CET owns or operates a golf course, 7Stars get free rounds, the number of which depends on the location. For example, I can play Cascata in Vegas with a guest once a quarter, while in Southern Indiana, I can play Chariots Run with a foursome every day - comped.
 
I always make  non-casino plans on every gaming trip - golf, spa, shows, sporting events, dinners, etc. While the primary reason for the trip may be gaming, I know that I do not want to be tied to the casino for my entertainment on any trip. The house advantage on the games will crush you in the long run.   

[ko king]

If you ever go back you may want to see if they have complimentary golf for 7 stars. When we go towards the end of April if you are interested, let you know. They also have a fitness center that is complimentary for 7 stars and possibly for diamond members as well. One thing we have never done is the river cruise from Laughlin to Lake Havasu. It takes most of a day. In order to make time we would have to give up our overnight trip to Vegas. There are also several scenic hiking trails nearby we like to do if you are into that sort of thing.
I can't imagine them giving me a free round of golf in Laughlin, I'm more than a little confused about how they do things out there because when I go to my local casino I pretty much can get whatever I want but we couldn't even get a meal comped in Laughlin. I actually went to the seven stars rewards desk to check about it and they said they would be sending me offers because I had $500+ in comps coming but I couldn't use them at the time, does that make any sense to you?

[chattycattty]

All CET properties do things differently. Why, I have no idea. Our home property gives us unlimited food and beverages so we never have to use our rc's and can save them up and eventually cash them in for free play at 1.25 to 1. It sounds like your home property does things the same way.

Laughlin, while we always are given a suite, and a nice welcoming basket in the room, is stingy when it comes to food. Because we have been going there once or twice a year for the last several years we now are given a $100 food voucher. Vegas and Reno / Tahoe are pretty much the same way as was Atlantic City when we went there.

I do not know why CET does some of the things they do but I am not going to use any of my own money or any of my reward credits at an overpriced steakhouse. Our strategy at CET is to keep the losses at a minimum and get as much complimentary stuff back in return. Airfare, lodging, food, concerts, etc. Most of the stuff is not mentioned to you when you get your 7 star package. We have had to find out about many of the perks by visiting with other 7 star members. The website 7starinsider.com lists many but not all of the property specific perks you are given for being a 7star.

This year only you get 2 7star trips. Plus you get a $750 air reimbursement for reaching level three of diamond. Plus you get of course your $500 celebration dinner and a $100 freebie for reaching the 15,000 tier level along the way. Much of this is confusing and not made clear but is available because we have cashed in on all of it. I am expecting by the end of this month we will get clarification on what we can expect for the tier credits we earn in 2014. IMO this should have been laid our for us in early January but they always procrastinate and make their announcements at the end of March.

When we travel to CET properties we like to use their diamond and 7 star lounges if they are half way decent. I would rank them in order of best to worse of the ones we have been to: 1. Caesars AC 2. Bally's AC 3. Caesars Windsor 4. Harrah's New Orleans 5. Harrah's Laughlin 6. Harvey's / Harrah's Lake Tahoe 7. Horseshoe Tunica 8.Caesar's 7star lounge 9. Horseshoe Bossier city (home property) 10. All Vegas diamond lounges 11. Reno Harrah's. I don't like the Vegas diamond lounges that much because they are only open a couple hours in the evening and are always crowded.

Hope this helps.

[damule]

Interesting post ko king. We stayed at Harrahs Laughlin about a month and a half ago and had a very similar experience there. I played 9/5 DDB for appr 8 hours on the new machines there and had an overall return of about 86% on a game that should return 97.79% In those 8 hours I played about 5,000 hands at $5 per and lost almost $3500. I saw 3 low quads in that time and agree with you that I have never seen such a drought in my life with video poker. Not saying something is fishy there, but they are right on the river . Thank goodness for Aquarius and their better paytables. Got about 1/2 my Harrahs losses back there. Needless to say, I too will never be going back to Harrahs Laughlin; 3 quads in 8 hours, PLEASE?!?

[ko king]

All CET properties do things differently. Why, I have no idea. Our home property gives us unlimited food and beverages so we never have to use our rc's and can save them up and eventually cash them in for free play at 1.25 to 1. It sounds like your home property does things the same way.

Laughlin, while we always are given a suite, and a nice welcoming basket in the room, is stingy when it comes to food. Because we have been going there once or twice a year for the last several years we now are given a $100 food voucher. Vegas and Reno / Tahoe are pretty much the same way as was Atlantic City when we went there.

I do not know why CET does some of the things they do but I am not going to use any of my own money or any of my reward credits at an overpriced steakhouse. Our strategy at CET is to keep the losses at a minimum and get as much complimentary stuff back in return. Airfare, lodging, food, concerts, etc. Most of the stuff is not mentioned to you when you get your 7 star package. We have had to find out about many of the perks by visiting with other 7 star members. The website 7starinsider.com lists many but not all of the property specific perks you are given for being a 7star.

This year only you get 2 7star trips. Plus you get a $750 air reimbursement for reaching level three of diamond. Plus you get of course your $500 celebration dinner and a $100 freebie for reaching the 15,000 tier level along the way. Much of this is confusing and not made clear but is available because we have cashed in on all of it. I am expecting by the end of this month we will get clarification on what we can expect for the tier credits we earn in 2014. IMO this should have been laid our for us in early January but they always procrastinate and make their announcements at the end of March.

When we travel to CET properties we like to use their diamond and 7 star lounges if they are half way decent. I would rank them in order of best to worse of the ones we have been to: 1. Caesars AC 2. Bally's AC 3. Caesars Windsor 4. Harrah's New Orleans 5. Harrah's Laughlin 6. Harvey's / Harrah's Lake Tahoe 7. Horseshoe Tunica 8.Caesar's 7star lounge 9. Horseshoe Bossier city (home property) 10. All Vegas diamond lounges 11. Reno Harrah's. I don't like the Vegas diamond lounges that much because they are only open a couple hours in the evening and are always crowded.

Hope this helps.
I've got one casino I go to in this area and while it's a very small place they go out of their way to take care of their players. Best I can remember I played about $700K worth of $2 denom DDB last year and ended up losing just over $5K for the year at that casino. I get $320 worth of free play per month, a hotel room anytime I wish, tickets to watch pro basketball games and $320 worth of free food coupons. The wife and I love the Boubon St. Steakhouse, fantastic food and great service. I play a lot at Harrah's Tunica but that's going to be tough for me to keep doing because they took out all the old vp machines and don't offer $2 denom on any of them, I also don't like the new machines very much, they have a cheap "made in China" feel to them and the buttons are terrible. Chatty you are full of usefull information and it sounds like you have the system down pat, I know who to go to when I have a question from now on, thanks a ton for all the help.

[ko king]

Interesting post ko king. We stayed at Harrahs Laughlin about a month and a half ago and had a very similar experience there. I played 9/5 DDB for appr 8 hours on the new machines there and had an overall return of about 86% on a game that should return 97.79% In those 8 hours I played about 5,000 hands at $5 per and lost almost $3500. I saw 3 low quads in that time and agree with you that I have never seen such a drought in my life with video poker. Not saying something is fishy there, but they are right on the river . Thank goodness for Aquarius and their better paytables. Got about 1/2 my Harrahs losses back there. Needless to say, I too will never be going back to Harrahs Laughlin; 3 quads in 8 hours, PLEASE?!?
I'm not sure about the how many hands I played but the amount was very limited because I just couldn't hit a darn thing. I went thru about $7K there and only hit two small quads and I bet I didn't hit a total of 30 full houses, flushes and straights combined. I have never had to reach into my own pocket for another $100 so often and so fast as I did at the Harrah's in Laughlin. It's like those machines had an on/off button and the on button was out of order. The whole time we were there my play was dominated by 6's and 9's, nonstop on every machine I played. I used the word "bad" to try and explain how the vp there went for me but it falls short of painting a picture of how terrible it really was. The casino was packed for the four days we were there and I swear on a stack of bibles I never saw one single handpay and I played most of my vp in the high limit room.

[chattycattty]

Those high variance games such as DDB and TDB eat my lunch too. I can seldom beat them even while playing for free at home on videopoker.com. My favorite game, if its paying is DDB. If you are not getting your fair share of 4oak's DDB and TDB will destroy you.

My last decent DDB session was at Paris Las Vegas in December. I found a triple play machine. Within an hour I drew quad 4's on bottom and drew 2 out of 3 kickers to go with them. Also in the same session I ended up with two more sets of 4's and in general seemed to average 4oak's every 100 hands or so instead of every 1000 hands like they normally seem to show up.

KO, you and Damule may be onto something in Laughlin. My wife reminded me on that same trip how bad I did at Laughlin. The night before leaving to go to Vegas no matter what game I played I could not hit anything. That is the only experience I have at Laughlin with the new machines. On our last night in Laughlin I bounced around again with no luck even playing some regular slots. There was a lady I visited with in the high limits room that got 3 or 4 hand pays playing 10 handed DDB. I may throw a little at that machine when we go back in the middle of April.

On a more positive note my wife found a $25 pink diamond machine in the high limit section that she did real well on. She hit it for a $8000 handpay. Thankfully she called me. I left her with $500, went and paid off our markers, and went to the room and put the rest in the safe. It was on the last night of our trip.

The moral of the story is that it only takes one good hit to make your trip. It can come at any time during your trip but I definitely prefer it to come at the beginning of the trip rather than towards the end.