I spent four days in Reno, ending Saturday, and offer the following
observations:
I had an excellent three day marketing offer from Harrahs which
included airfare reimbursement ($400 maximum), a $100 coupon for
food, a $200 coupon for spa services and two free shows. I hadn't
stayed in this Harrahs for about ten years but am a diamond club
member, primarily for play at Laughlin and Las Vegas. I've been to
four or five Diamond clubs and this was unquestionably the worst.
Cramped, one bartender serving maybe 50-60 patrons, chips and dips.
Anyone going for Diamond for access to THIS club would be sorely
disappointed in their decision.
The only thing playable are six multigame multidenomination machines
at the end of the casino area just off Virginia St. and outside the
niteclub which has a band consisting of four sets of drums and twenty
nine 1000 watt amplifiers. There are FP Jacks in $1, $2 and $5 (as
per database). As most are aware, the EV of Jacks is 99.54% but with
Harrah's cashback it is about 99.56% (maybe a few hundreths more). I
only played there one day for about $20K coin in and got about $20
comps for that (seemed quite low, even for Harrah's). Although losing
my ass there may have slanted my observations, I don't like this
place and will probably let another decade pass before trying again.
First and foremost, the VP is what you would expect to find in Salt
Lake City if there were casinos in Utah.
But almost as annoying is the layout, which sux. The action is spread
between two buildings which are accessed most inconveniently through
escalators up and down. The table games and machines appear to have
been layed out by a tornado passing through. The steakhouse is below
street level adjacent to Diamond Services. The Italian restaurant is
at the end of a long corridor which shoots off the longer corridor
between the two buildings. There are a couple of licensed food
vendors (Quiznos and some noodle shop) at the far end of the second
building. I was most reminded of some of the Atlantic City joints
(think Claridge) that consist of some 1930's structures thrown
together into a new 1980's operation.
Most of my play was at the Peppermill where I received another three
day marketing offer. The only reason I stayed three days at Harrah's,
(simultaneously for two) was that that was a requirement to receive
the airfare reimbursement. I think the VP at the Peppermill is among
the best now available in Nevada, at least from a recreational
gambler's prospective. The variety of nearly to slightly positive
games is excellent. Progressive jacks, progressive DB, multiplay
SuperDB and NSUD, full play DB up to $5, and the game that has become
my addiction: 5play multistrike in nickles to quarters with full pay
JOB, full pay SDB and NSUD.
There was an expression a few years ago calling video poker the crack
cocaine of gambling. I think multiplay multistrike is the crack
cocaine of video poker. If one takes the time to develop and learn
the four separate strategy tables for each game, they are pretty near
breakeven. But the swings are not for the fainthearted nor
underbankrolled. I'd love to know the variance of these but wouldn't
have a clue as to how to calculate them. I do know that if you play
these you better have a decent stack of Benjamins and a bottle of
nitro tablets at the ready.
BTW, the corrections (modifications?) to the database are at the
Peppermill. Many of the multiplays listed only reflect the paytables
for the higher denominations on multidenominational games. For
example on the 50plays, Super DB pays 8/5 for nickles and 9/5 for
dimes or higher. On the ten plays you have to go to quarters for NSUD
or else you get ugly deuces. On 50 plays again you get 9/6 DB for
nickles and 9/7 for higher. There were other examples but I didn't
write them down and the database to track them all would be enormous.
I would just caution all to check the paytables for any multigame
before playing.