Hello Reno Gang...As promised here's a quick Reno trip report centered around Election Day. As usual it contains unpublished information and highly opinionated thoughts, for novice and pro alike. Reno is different than Vegas, and they are both on my agenda as yearly Must-visit places....Best wishes...Tom
Day 1 [ Saturday ] : Silver Legacy
Flew in Delta NYC-SaltLakeCity-Reno. Delta service was not bad, and the price was right - 2 Free tickets thanks to my Northwest frequent flier points from 5 years ago that I forgot about.
Check-in, Fast, Security: Nice room, have to pass a guard.
Casino: * On the Top floor I was playing NSUD, 4700 coin FP joker, 9/5 triple bonus plus.
* Bottom Floor: $ 8/5 bonus poker, 9/5 triple bonus plus, 9/6 bonus deluxe, and 10/7 Double bonus. 100 play 9/6 jacks.
NOTE: checked about 25 machines for reported full pay AA - sorry, they were all short pay.
Food: Buffet - average, Sips Coffee-Donut shop : good.
Net Net: It's now the best place downtown for a mid roller.
Day 2/3: El Dorado ( trend continues downhill )
Conveniently walked over from SL, and checked in via Gold Room.
The Gold room is a good players club with coffee, cake, and VP.
The place was relatively empty for Sun/Monday. The economy has really hurt downtown Reno and I believe its this place or CircusCircus that will be leaving us.
Check-in, Security: OK room, have to pass a guard. They were not able to upgrade me to a players suite. I was told my "free" room offer was not Totally free, because it did not say "and...no points will be deducted from your account !". I told them that was deceptive advertisement for on the front of my offer in caps FREE ROOM.
Casino: Upper Level -- No playable VP. For slot lovers they did have a very nice 1C Red-hot jackpots that I beat over 2 days for about $100. A lot of fun. The VIP room near the buffet was dead, and I gave their Ice-cold $1 NSUD triple play a go - No good once again , they beat me. The other nsud machine was broken.
Lower Level --
* Played the 9/6 BDLX multi strikes ( in 25C/50C/and 1$ ) and Nsud both at bars and scattered around the casino.
* Played the 7/5 Super aces 50 play for 10C.
VP Downgrades: There are no more full pay loose deuce NOR 10/7 double bonus in the place. Because of this, I'm now ranking the Silver Legacy ( which has 10/7 from 10C to $2 ) as the number one place downtown.
Restaurants: Coffee Shop -- its very good. Try the hot fudge Sunday
Buffet -- its very good too, as all the food in the ELDO - Empty, no need for reservations are the new rules.
Comps: I reported in my last report that the ELDO was getting cheap. I can confirm that, after this trip also. The first day there, My wife and I had put over $25,000 through their machines. When we went to the Buffet line that morning, I tried to charge it against my Points and I was flatly told "You don't have any points". Ok , so I charged it to my room , and after BKFST I went to speak with a host. The host told me the buffet cashier made a mistake, and that all Gold members are entitled to one free buffet a day as a "thank you" for your patronage. I was also told that I was carrying a "negative" carryover from my last trip, and I told them flat out that was ridiculous, cause I settled it last trip with my credit card. She said "oh, nothing to get excited about- we have plenty of players carrying negative balances for years". You know I love this place ...BUT....
A really great place, or the old ELDO , would have said - "Tom - sorry about that, you are one of our best customers, here's a full comp to Roxy for two...enjoy", instead I got ...' Here, I just wiped the buffet charge off of your hotel room.'
Bottom line: Well, I was going into my last couple of hours at the Eldo - down $1500. I tried the best game in the place, 2 pair joker ( 99.9 ) at the Margarita bar. This is a tough game to master, and I had been practicing using win-poker with mixed results.
Playing 15 quarters at a time, I hit a royal for $3750, and was now $2000 up for the trip! Ok , now they can get cheap with me all they want, but they ended up picking up all the room and food charges and hopefully wiped out my negative account balance.
Day 3/4/5 : Atlantis ( Paradise for VP players ). Received $200 in free play on check-in.
Food: Breakfast everyday at the fabulous 25th floor concierge lounge. You should try to stay in these towers, cause they are the only elevator bank which you must have a valid card to access ( otherwise no security in the place ).
Oyster Bar on the sky Terrace: Fish and chips was great as well as the sushi
Buffet was OK.
Cafe Alfresco - I really like the Pizza and gelato
Famous Manhattan Deli - A real surprise, will go here again
Internet: Free access
Players Club: Bizarre new systems, in which you must swipe your card daily to get maximum benefits. You are best off swiping your card at 12:01AM every day , no matter what to make sure your included in 2X/3X points or drawings for that day which runs to 11:59PM.
Music: The band was very lame compared to Peppermill. Maybe this was a bad week ?
VP: This one is hard to describe , since the selection is so vast - but I'm going to try
* $1 10/7 progressive ( $4400 ) at waterfall bar [ Note - have never hit a royal at this bar for all the years that I've been coming ]
* 10C/25C 5 play multi-strike ( Nsud, 9/5 super double, 12/4 db deuces )
* 9/5 super double in 3/5/10/50 play all over the casino. ( 9/5 super double is king at Atlantis )
* nsud in spin, 3 or 5 play
* 9/6 jacks super times play
* 8/5 Aces and faces 50C progressive (with $2500 RF )
* full pay loose deuces at locals carousel ( not too long as sparse points earned here )
* 12/4 DB deuces all over the casino. A good place to play this game is the sports bar and lounge which feature giant video displays.
* 25C 10/7 DB with $1600 royal progressive
* $1 9/6 jacks with $5600 royal
* $1 Deuces progressive ( not full pay at reset , but with RF over $8500 it was positive )
* MS-super times pay with 9/6 bonus deluxe, 9/5 super double )
* Spin poker deluxe with 9/7 triple double ( got 7 5C royals on this one , when it dealt me a 4 card RF )
* Super triple play machines ( with full pay jacks and super double double )
* Spin poker with Super times pay ( with 8/5 bonus poker the best play )
* 16X multistrike ( I wont be playing these anymore as they removed the best game 9/7 triple and now require $10 a shot , else you dont go full pay )
Checkout / New comp and point system: Since I deal directly with a fabulous and beautiful host and charge it all to my room, I noticed NO changes what-so-ever.
Day 6/7: Peppermill ( Great place thanks to progressives )
Stayed thanks to host's comped up front Tuscany towers room offer. I don't like these because they are such a long long walk to center casino but my host insisted, so what the heck the room was gorgeous.
Food: Coffee Shop ( very good ), Biscotti's ( Ok, but over priced for what you get ).
Entertainment: Great as usual. The bands were really rocking which were the Vegas lounge vets Sidro's Armada and the Melisa Dru band. The Mill is the only place I know of , where you can watch the band/lounge from your room.
Shuttle Bus: Best / most reliable of all the fleets. We always make the Mill the last stop in our stay, so we can take this bus to the airport.
VP: I ended up losing ( first time in a long time ) about $1500, but always close to a break-away hit...just never came.
-- $1 NSUD with 5200 coin royal
-- 50 play quarter machine with 9/5 super double bonus and NSUD. Note the 2 quarter machines next to this one also have 9/5 super double bonus.
--- Various NSUD standalone and spin, and 5 play : Peppermill is the home of NSUD - literally everywhere.
--- 5 play Multistrike playing NSUD, 9/5 or 8/5 super double, or 12/4 db deuces. The quarter plays were a little too expensive for me, so I played the quarters short 5 lines/ 2 quarters a line for $10 a hand. ( good thing I did not hit a royal, and actually beat these )
--- 10C 50 play 9/7 triple bonus ( hit a 10C royal )
--- 25c/$1 12/4 double bonus deuces ( 99.8).
--- 25C progressive joker ( not full pay at reset, but mucho positive thanks to $2700 Royal ).
--- $1 Deuces progressive ( not full pay at reset, but positive thanks to 4 deuces paying around $1700 ). I lost a lot of money here cause of chasing and did not hit the ducks. Took a break for about 6 hours, and by time I got back , it was hit and back down to 1100.
-- 25C/50 C Big split jacks - its only full pay at 25C and up ( beat these once again )
-- 25C jacks super times pay
-- Dummy slots 2-5-2 ( these are fun, we always play them..but the progressive at the Atlantis was double ).
--- 9/6 DDB progressive ( the ones on the main floor were $4200, while the high roller room was $5100 )
--- 25C 8/6 bonus deluxe ( but the SF was $300 - darn somebody hit this one before me )
--- 25C AA ( not full pay but 99.6 version where quads pay 175 )
Comps: My host was really nice, picked it all up. The Mill has started sending me offers again. Now that I'm not constantly winning there, I guess I'm back in good standing.
Conclusion: Had a great time ( Broke out even as far as profit-loss ) , and so this is my top 10 Reno casino list for mid rollers. I have left out the GSR, Boomtown, and Western Village which will check out next time for inclusion :
#1 - Atlantis ( Great VP - best selection of FP in Nevada )
#2 - Peppermill ( Most popular Reno Casino, Great progressives - Nsud is king )
#3 - Silver Legacy ( Best downtown over all )
#4 - John Ascuagas Nugget ( generous with comps, has great wheel poker )
#5 - ElDorado ( trend - going down from the King of Reno it was 3 years ago )
#6 - Sands ( fun place - but bad location after dark )
#7 - Sienna ( nice and peaceful, great Sunday quad promotion )
#8 - Circus Circus ( some marginally playable games, have circus acts, have Elvis slots which nobody can hit )
#9 - Harrah's ( some interesting people and VP at the bars )
#10 - Cal-Neva ( place is a smoky dump, but with a lot of good VP )
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