Does anyone know if there are any good Video Poker Pay tables left at Rincon? The only ones I could find are the $5 machines ($25 / spin) in high limit?
Does anyone know if there are any good Video Poker Pay tables left at Rincon? The only ones I could find are the $5 machines ($25 / spin) in high limit?
Yes, there is still Bonus Poker Aces and Faces (same strategy as regular Bonus Poker), with a 99.26% return, at $1/$2/$5 per credit.
There are a few machines right outside the high limit room, according to reports.
Nope. The last of the 8/5 Aces and Faces machines at less than $5/credit are gone. This was the reason for John's original post.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan Druff
Wow, I didn't realize that.
So is there even a regular 8-5 BP machine left at $1 or $2 per credit?
I don't think so. I get my info from John. I haven't been back to Rincon in many months.
First there was 4 8/5 bonus machines, Then there were 2 8/5 bonus machines left, then there was one and as of a few weeks ago I can not find a single one. The last ones left that I was aware of were always busy and I had to get them early morning, late at night. I have looked and not been able to find any ( could be possible that there busy when I checked) the ones that I knew of are gone or moved. That is why I ask the question.
I will be there soon, will see what I can figure out, and will post my findings here.
Stopped by Saturday. And sure enough the last 2 full pay Bonus Poker machines at the 25c thru $2 have been downgraded to 6/5. One of the machines also had full pay Aces and Faces but it to has been downgraded to 6/5. Really no reason to go back when Pala has many full pay machines.
Six/five? That bad???
That is really terrible. It is at Vegas strip levels (non-High Limit). Aside from getting Total Rewards points, I do not know of a better reason to go there.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson
If Rincon is at 6/5 Bonus it is WORSE than what Caesars Palace has. Caesars Palace has 7/5 Bonus at the $1 and $2 levels still with $10 per tier point and $10 per Reward Credit. It's possible that at Caesars they have 6/5 at the 25-cent level and 50-cent level, but I haven't played that.Quote:
Originally Posted by alpax
Alan you are correct about that. Even at MGM properties these days for the quarter/half dollar games it was 6/5 Bonus, 7/5 Jacks or Better, 7/5 DDB, 9/6/4 DB, Colorado Deuces. The one time I was at Caesars to try Bacahnal, I saw those paytables. You get one payscale upgrade for $1, 7/5 Bonus, 8/5 Jacks or Better, 8/5 DDB, 9/6/5 DB, and Fooler Deuces.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson
Thus at $1 and $2, Rincon is indeed worse than Caesars and Morongo for that matter. I thought I would never say Morongo has better VP other than Chumash.
There was a time that lower level VP players could play at Rincon to earn their comps for Vegas but 6/5 Bonus kills that.
Please let use know if the 8/5 Aces and Faces and 8/5 Bonus Poker (even at $5) is still there and whether it provides 1 RC for $10 of action.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan Druff
FAB
From what I've been told: YES.Quote:
Originally Posted by FABismonte
Did the Double STP get downgraded again? I heard it went down to 7/5 after Dan's mighty run that week's trip.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson
Yeah, the beautiful 8-5 Bonus Double STP machine (99.67%) got downgraded just days after I hit 6 royals on it over a 5-day period, and won $11k while racking up 67,500 tiers. This was in March 2015. Thankfully it was reported here, so I didn't waste my time going back to play it. Instead, I went to Tahoe.Quote:
Originally Posted by alpax
Still not sure if my play was the catalyst for it, or if the timing was just coincidental.
I will say that the word was out about those machines, and they were by far the busiest VP machines in the joint.
It was downgraded to 7/5, which makes it unplayable as far as I'm concerned. If it's now 6/5, that will especially be LOL. I'll check when I am at Rincon next, which will be relatively soon.
In fact, I'll do a full inventory of the (formerly?) full pay games, and report back.
I doubt one player's good luck was the tipping point. Maybe if Todd hit the top $200K award so that particular bank of machines took a beating for the month or quarter.
The location of the 99.67% DSTP machines at Rincon weren't a big secret and had been listed on VPFree2 for almost 4 years. There is also frequent discussion of San Diego County video poker on the [harrahscasinos] Yahoo group.
Interestingly, I ran into a group of WSOP Circuit poker players at Harvey's Lake Tahoe in 2013. They were all Seven Stars members from SoCal, and the casino where they grinded tier credits exclusively? Harrah's Rincon (and their 50c DSTP Bonus Poker machines).
Thanks for the replies.
I do not play there but I was merely suggesting if this is still an option to the low rollers who want to gain tier points. I know Alan brought up that the low rollers use this place to gain points.
If it got downgraded again to 6/5, it is not worthwhile for low rollers to grind on these. More worthwhile to do it at the Rio.
Double STP allows you to customize the lines and you do not have to bet the additional 1 or 2 credits to get STP or DSTP feature, even though there is a benefit for doing so.
The double super times pay machines were not a secret. There have been plenty of big winners on those machines -- and plenty of big losers too.
A couple of years ago I made 7 Stars playing 8/5 $2 Aces and Faces at Rincon. I even hit a royal which gave me a profit. I wouldn't try that again at 7/5 or 6/5.
Was in the area today and stopped by the Rincon, as I stated I would.
Here are my findings:
- There is one remaining 8/5 Bonus machine under $5/credit. That's machine #3402, located in that bank to the side of the high limit area. It's not along the wall of outside the high limit area, but rather located in the middle of one of the rows of VP machines to the side of it. It's next to one of the Double Super Times Pay machines. You'll find it if you spend a few minutes looking for it. It's an old school Game King. However, it should be noted that this is an 8/5/30 Bonus Poker machine, meaning that they pay a flat 30x your bet for quads, rather than the sliding scale from 25 to 80 that you're used to seeing. Unfortunately, this takes the game's payout down to 98.48%, but it's still better than traditional 7/5 Bonus Poker, which pays 98.01%. The denominations of this machine are 25c/50c/$1/$2, and it's the same paytable for all of them.
- All other VP machines with denominations under $5 are pretty bad. They are also inconsistent with paytables. For example, Bonus Poker on Super Times Pay is 6/5, but Bonus Poker on Double Super Times Pay is 7/5. Some machines are 6/5 for Aces and Faces and Bonus Poker, while others are 7/5. There are also some awful machines paying 1 for the two pair on Bonus Poker. Basically, if you see a new-looking machine with a nice, high-def display, you don't want it. The best paytables are still on some of the older school machines, but they're still not very good.
- High Limit room still has $5 Aces and Faces (99.26%), but it's $5 minimum. It also has ACE$ which has a 99.40% return, but since you'll almost never hit the special ACE$ payout, it plays just like a 99.17% 8-5 Bonus Poker machine. And speaking of good ol' 8-5 Bonus Poker, even in the high limit room they are doing that 98.48% 8/5/30 nonsense. Fortunately you can get around that by simply playing ACE$ or Aces and Faces.
What is alarming to me is how many horrible paytables exist on machines there, and how the payouts vary so much from machine to machine. And everything basically sucks if you're not playing $5/credit.
Ah.. that 200k which I was the wrong queen away from hitting. Still stings.Quote:
Originally Posted by nerakil
Anyway, I till think it's possible they audited something after I hit 6 royals, and then discovered the machines were paying back very poor returns (per $ wagered) than others on property.
Or it could have just been a massive coincidence. I guess I'll never know.
I do know that I was the catalyst to the hotel removing the obnoxious $80 charge if you don't check in by 8pm (which they claimed they would credit back if you did show up after that time). When I didn't get my $80 back as promised, I was put through a hellish experience trying to even reach the front desk to discuss it, as the operator thought my reason "wasn't good enough" to be connected to the front desk, and they kept trying to push me onto a voicemail that literally no one checks. We got into a big standoff, and the operator said that the entire department has been informed to refuse to connect me to the front desk (or any manager) no matter what, and that I was essentially barred from speaking to anyone besides operators (lol). Well, of course I got a hold of the hotel manager a few days later, who was horrified. She was relatively new on the job, and immediately instituted a number of rules and changes as a result of my bad experience there, including doing away with the $80 fee, as well as creating new rules regarding what the operators can and can't decide on their own.
Oh wait a minute there is Pechanga so very close to the freeway you don't have to travel dangerous mountainous roads to get there. They have 9/6 jacks or better at the $0.05 and $0.25 level. I guess Harrah's does not care if the chase their video pokers players away.
Rincon has a devoted player base because it is tied to Total Rewards. That is the only reason to play there. The games are not good at Rincon nor are the restaurants, hotel rooms, entertainment... and down the list. The only reason to play at Rincon is to get points for Vegas.
Pechanga is a far superior casino resort but it is independent.
Dan your six royals were insignificant. I was at Rincon the night one player hit a $5 progressive royal for about $50k then an hour later she hit it again for about $21k. Rincon didn't blink.
While you Dan hit six royals there are many players who never hit one. You just are part of the expected return. You did not break the casino.
With that said what did destroy Rincon was their overly optimistic building program. They built a new hotel and convention center that is mostly idle. Players are paying for that.
The new hotel isn't mostly idle.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson
Every weekend it sells out. Well, at least the non-smoking rooms do.
I don't think I broke the casino with 6 royals. I do think maybe it made them take a look at their least -EV game there by a wide margin, and they decided to downgrade it.
The new tower is fairly nice. Not luxurious or special by any means, but it's new-looking, the rooms are fairly large, and you feel like you're staying at a decent place.
They are still plagued with operational problems, though. I stayed over the weekend, and they laughably didn't have enough towels. I literally had to negotiate with them to bring more clean towels up to me, and they pressured me to return the ones I already had (which I didn't mind doing, but LOL @ any large hotel trying to refuse towels.)
My favorite part of the conversation:
"'I'd like you to send up 6 towels here, please" (I always get a lot so I don't have to keep asking for them on a multi-day stay)
"We can't do that. The most I can give you is 2"
"We have 4 people in this room. How are we supposed to use 2 towels?"
"Okay, fine, I'll give you 4. But you need to return all of the towels you have now!"
Embarrassing.
Even Motel 6 doesn't do this.
I like the USB outlets in the new tower. I did get a new tower room where it took 30 minutes trying to adjust the shower so that the water coming out was not freezing cold or scolding hot. It seemed like no matter how much I tried to adjust the temperature of the water either the hot or cold valve was disconnecting from the single handle they had to adjust hot and cold.
They built a convention center and doubled the size of the hotel to serve it. Have you ever heard of a convention there?Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan Druff
Even if the hotel does sell out on weekends, what about the other five nights?
They started to downgrade their games as soon as they started construction.
I also had a problem with getting the water to the right temperature.Quote:
Originally Posted by ke6cdh
The sliding door separating the sink area from the rest of the room was also heavy and got stuck often.