5a. Re: Anyone ever been lectured by the players club for "not playing r
Date: Sat Feb 21, 2009 8:10 am ((PST))I think a lot of casinos are doing this or some variation on it.
Majestic Star in East Chicago, your card expires every 6 months and
you need to get a new card.
Majestic Star is where I stay most often since it's on the way from home to Chicago and I visit friends in Chicago about once a month, also going there occasionally for business as well. While I stay there, and play the minimum required VP there, I've moved my poker activity to the nearby Horseshoe, and will probably transfer all my activity there when Horseshoe gets a hotel, reportedly this summer sometime (we'll see), since they also have plenty of 9/6 Jacks, including Super Times Pay in $1 3- to 10-play (over my budget, but I take a shot at it once in a while).
I have my "SuperStar" status at Majestic Star, and while it is true that it is renewed every Jan. and July based on your play in the last / first six months of the year respectively, this is not the same as being outright told you are consuming too many comps and not playing enough. I usually call a host to find out how close I am to qualifying (which is a much greater chore than it should be - although it's better lately than it was in the past, when everyone claimed they couldn't find out how many points you'd earned until after the six month period was closed and they did the calculations!). I play enough to re-qualify and then usually play minimal or not at all the rest of the qualifying period.
In case you're wondering, the display on their slots shows what you've earned "today", but not your current total for the qualifying period, major nuisance.
But once they tell you where you are, you can figure how much more to play that trip and track it; I suppose I could also track by points myself by session and know "where I am", but I usually forget to do that, since I'm used to other casinos doing the tracking for me and keeping me posted.
SuperStar status includes two free nights hotel stay a month, among other things, and you usually get a coupon for another night for each of the first and last halves of the month, so by combining these you can stay twice a month for two nights each. I've made these coupon and Superstar (they call the latter self-comp) reservations through the hotel and have never had any problem, unless I wait too long and they're full.
I also get free play coupons monthly; I assume these are based on previous levels of play, and these do seem to have gone down in value lately.
In case anyone thinks this is a wonderful deal, I will caution that the hotel is like a low-end Days Inn. I almost always have trouble with my room keys working, and while everyone seems aware of this problem, they will not invest in a new lock system for the hotel. Rooms are minimally maintained, I've never stayed in one where the bathroom didn't have water damage next to the shower, and they've recently pulled the in-room coffee-makers in favor of complimentary coffee elsewhere in the hotel (I didn't check out where, because if I don't make it in my room, I'll get it at the casino).
I think the crowd there is mostly $1 and lower, but plenty of full-pay VP for that level. But Horseshoe is recently rebuilt and extremely nice, for those who are Diamond, it's the place to go for VP; you just won't get a room until they finish the hotel.
--BG
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