I took the rare jaunt to Foxwoods at 2:00am last night and ran into a
nice guy going up the elevator who twice let me know he is a host.
He asked me where I was coming from and I said Mohegan Sun. After a
brief disdainful yet still affable look, I was a little hard but
honest with him. I told him that I play video poker and the only
reason I came was because of the double points promotion. I told him
that I belong to an internet news group that keeps abreast of video
poker machine odds and that yours are not competitive except for a
few machines when you run double points. [I didn't tell him what
group or what site.] My attitude was that they are going to have to
offer appealing games if they want me to play there. I told him how
I knew they removed the higher paying Pick'Ems. He said, "Yeah, we
wanted to keep people from camping out 24hrs/day there."
(Apparently, this was a problem at the Sun which led to the closing
of the poker room; people were sleeping in their cars while logged on
and never leaving, in addition to other "extracurricular
activities.") However, he was very welcoming.
I asked him about VIP lounges and what kind of action you needed to
get in. He said there were 2 and you needed at least $3000, or $3000-
$5000 to get in. That's not a lot unless you confine yourself to the
quarter Double Joker's. I think he told me his name was John
Murphy. But overall he seemed to really make an effort to be helpful
and friendly and if I needed anything I would feel most comfortable
going to him first. It seems that every time I run into a nice host
it's between 2:00 and 4:30am. Ced from MS told me they tend to
easier and laid back during the graveyard shift while they can be
cranky during late morning. My old host from the Sun recently got re-
hired; he would comp me for concert tickets the day of a show and not
even look up my action. I was told he would not have gotten fired
for giving away too many comps and that would be extremely unusual.
Most of them lose their job for missing days or coming in late and
accumulating too many "negative points."
On the other hand, some hosts barely want to give you the time of
day. I think it's very important to find a host you "click" with and
stay with him/her. I talked to mine for 20 minutes in the hallway
the second time I met him and he never forgot me. If you don't find
one you like, look for someone new. While there are set standards, I
believe they have some flexibility and are going to do more for the
people they get-a-long with.