vpFREE2 Forums

Palms downgrades

Mr. Maloof must really need money to pay for the new building. Personally I
think he is nuts. For most people playing a 99+ percent game is not really
a winning proposition by the time you add in mistakes you make, lack of
bankroll, and general greed.

Personally though the Palms is the closest casino to us, I've stopped most
play there, since the mailings have gotten so low (even with some reel slot
play and mostly DDB and NSU VP - not FP). I figure I'm doing better if I am
going to play at the 98-99.8% level to play at places like Ballys/Paris where I
am getting $500 cash/$1000 shopping sprees plus cashback and full RFB
weekends or LVHilton with good events, or Venetian with Grazzi gifts & extra
cashback for Gold level plus comps & slot tournaments (and I just won an Alaskan
cruise from them!) or Orleans/GC (especially 2X days), etc.

At Palms if I play $50,000 through on one day, or even on 2 days, when I go
to pick up my cashback over 5-7 different times, that reduces my daily
average down to nothing. So my cashback has gone from $50 something like 9 times a
month down to $20, 5 times a month. Plus reduced food coupons etc. So as
a result, the Palms has become not a very good place even for someone who
might play a heavy session.

When we first moved here all those mailings made all the locals go over and
over again during a month. But they have reduced the mailings so much that
many locals are no longer going who once did (I'm talking about all locals, not
just VP Free members, or even VP players).

Reducing pay schedules will only push more people away from the Palms.

Mr. Maloof probably should increase the cost of drinks in the bars, because
the Palms night club scene seems to be where its growth potential lies - not
in attracting local slot/VP players.

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Excellent post. It just a few months ago that some members thought I
was nuts for saying that great VP would disappear from the Palms.
Hopefully those members will also take their business elsewhere, as it
should be quite clear by now that the Palms is morphing into a pseudo-
Hard Rock. As part of this, the local players will be given the boot,
or be forced to play pathetic VP paytables. The funny thing is how
they still have the signs touting the place as being the best of this
or the best of that. Come on guys; it's 2005 now, not 2002.

The Maloofs are caught up in the current celebrity whirlwind, and are
trying so hard to erase their roots. But as we all know, manias come
and go, and when the current Vegas mania subsides, the less-
capitalized players might need to beg for business.

Mr. Maloof must really need money to pay for the new building.

Personally I

ยทยทยท

--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, misscraps@a... wrote:

think he is nuts.

I think miss craps has the right idea here. I don't know how the
condos are selling, but the market here has cooled off consdierably in
recent months (not to worry, long term, RE will remain to be a very
good buy here). Knowing how Mama Maloof, who really runs the joint,
sweats the house bankroll, it just seems like there's some panic going
one here, but I'm just speculating (on the upside, the new coffee
shop, which opens in Sept, will be run by restaurant
professionals-Paladin's favorite servers in town are the Grave crew at
Sunrise Cafe, and they deserve a better menu to serve customers with).

I personally am not sure if whoever made this decision though it
through properly. As for the ticket promotions, pretty much every pro
in town is overplaying them. Unless you have the bankroll to play $25
single line NSUD, the promos make absolutely no sense whatsoever. I
pointed out a couple of months back that when Bob Dancer won a car, he
was playing to something like .17-high variance and low certainty.
Moreover, while i'm fond of playing there, it's not to seriously make
any money there. Because you can't. So, this move is rather
surprising. As much as I would like to tee off on slot operations
here, because they generally think emotionally than rationally and
logically, I have the feeling this wasn't 100% their call.

There's a lot of people that they'd love to deal to who play NSUD, so
we'll see what happens.