Rincon reorganizes the video poker room again

[Alan Mendelson]

The machines in the video poker room and surrounding area at Rincon were shuffled around again. With so many changes you might say the machines are undergoing a continuous shuffle and where your favorite machine ends up is really random.

From what I heard, the older machines that were in the "video poker room proper" have been moved towards the back wall where the $1 progressive machines area.

There is now a lot of empty space in the actual "video poker room" which could be filled with new machines.

Remember that Rincon won a court fight with state regulators several months ago which might lead to more slot machines.

Does anyone have more info?

[Perdition]

Hopefully it's not more of those 96% surprises you said came in recently.

[Alan Mendelson]

Hopefully it's not more of those 96% surprises you said came in recently.

I think it's a pretty safe bet that any new video poker machines that are added will have poor pay tables.

[Alan Mendelson]

More changes to the Rincon video poker room/area: At the rear of the video poker area there is now a new entrance to the Events Center. Gone are the old doors that used to lead to the showroom. There is now a new bar and lounge to the side of the video poker area which will mean more traffic walking through the video poker area -- and those of us who prefer a "quieter environment" when playing video poker should now be ready for loud drinkers and a lot of people walking through the area both to the bar, and to the adjacent entertainment area where live bands will play. I think the bar area is being called "Corked."

What was the actual "video poker room" is now empty. I think the next phase of construction is to break out that wall at the back of the video poker room. All of the machines that were in the actual "video poker room" now occupy the area outside the video poker room. If you want the older machines with the better paytables they are in the back of the video poker area, closest to the entrance to the Event Center.

There are now NEW restrooms at the back of the video poker area. All new designs, I'm told. There were restrooms before in this area, but they were shut down during construction. My only concern is the bar traffic that will be using them, again walking through the video poker area to get to them.

[Alan Mendelson]

I have some photos of the recent changes to the Rincon video poker area. The first photo shows the new bar area called "Corked" and it is located in the video poker area. And next to the bar is a lounge where bands play. The second photo shows the video poker area as seen from the back of the big room and the older video poker machines with the better paytables are in the back.

[Aaron]

The video poker room at Rincon has moved again. It is now next to the high limit room in the old non-smoking section. As of Saturday morning not all the machines had been moved yet. A few banks of the higher % machines and the 100 play were unplugged and stored in the new poker room area. I hope they are not getting rid of them.

They are making the area around Corked the new non smoking area.

It looks like a new Starbucks will be opening in the next few days between the cashier and total rewards.

[Alan Mendelson]

Aaron thanks for the update. I got a call that the kiosk of older Game King machines with the lower denomination Aces and Faces machines were no longer in the video poker room area... were they moved to the "new area" by the high limit room?

The area you described as the previous "non smoking section" was close to the doors to the casino. Is that specifically the area you mean?

I was also told that the $1 and 25-cent progressive banks are still in the "old video poker area" near Corked. I am guess that they will also be moved??

[Aaron]

Alan, yes the new poker room is located between the entrance doors facing the street and the door to the Garden Tower elevators.

A slot attendant told me a few banks of vp machines will be left in the new non-smoking area. She did not know the final location of any machines because the location map had not been updated yet. I think they were still in the process of the move.

When I arrived at Rincon on Saturday they were paying someone that had a royal dealt on a 10 play $1 machine. 40k, that was a good start for the day. I hope he went home with some.

I have never been to Rincon on a cash back promotion day. After 5,000 tier credits I received $485 cash. I will start timing my visits on those days.

[Alan Mendelson]

Thanks for the update.
Did you also get cash upfront for that promo?

[Aaron]

I think my guaranteed amount was $120 (as that is also my free play) and the rest was from play.

Most of my play was from slots as I did not do well at vp.

I do like the new TR 10k point bonus.

Alan, after my free play loaded on the machine I received a second free play. Do you know what that is for and how often we receive it?

[Alan Mendelson]

You could have had a weekly plus a monthly bounceback plus any number of special surprise bonuses.

[Dan Druff]

I think my guaranteed amount was $120 (as that is also my free play) and the rest was from play.

Most of my play was from slots as I did not do well at vp.

I do like the new TR 10k point bonus.

Alan, after my free play loaded on the machine I received a second free play. Do you know what that is for and how often we receive it?

Go on the totalrewards.com website and you will see your Rincon offers.

You will probably see something like "Free Slot Play at Rincon" every 4 days or so, spanning the entire month. If you have another promo, you can have 2 going at once, but you have to remove your TR card from the machine and re-insert it after you use up the first freeplay.

[Alan Mendelson]

Go on the totalrewards.com website and you will see your Rincon offers.

I don't see a Rincon option under "offers."

[Aaron]

Thanks Dan, but CET is lacking in the online list of offers when it comes to Rincon and Vegas for that matter. They don’t list any dollar amounts and I have many more offers that are not listed.

I only seem to get half of the emails and mailers for the offers I have.

The hosts send out a monthly email that has most of the daily offers and freebies on it.

• January 4th and 5th Sat/Sun: Giftcard Giveaway.
• January11th Saturday: Cash Giveaway
Call me to find out your guaranteed amount!
• January 18th Saturday: Masters of Illusion
• January 25th Saturday: $100,000 drawing and VIP dinner
• January 31st : Chinese New Years
• January 30th Thursday: Foreigner VIP concert
• 10x Rewards Credit Multiplier every Thursday
• Every Sunday: Brand Getaway
• Alternating Slots and Blackjack 10k tournament every Tuesday


There are many more offers I find out about by asking other players what they receive.

On my birthday month last year I received 30,000 reward credits and dinner for two at Fiore.

I have not gone to a U Choose event as I don’t know if it is worth the drive.

It looks like the next cash giveaway is February 15. I will be going for that as I earned almost $500 last weekend.

[Dan Druff]

I don't see a Rincon option under "offers."

Go to the Offers page and click on Show Me: Casino (top-left), and then just check Harrah's Rincon, and hit Apply.

[Dan Druff]

Thanks Dan, but CET is lacking in the online list of offers when it comes to Rincon and Vegas for that matter. They don’t list any dollar amounts and I have many more offers that are not listed.

I only seem to get half of the emails and mailers for the offers I have.

The hosts send out a monthly email that has most of the daily offers and freebies on it.

• January 4th and 5th Sat/Sun: Giftcard Giveaway.
• January11th Saturday: Cash Giveaway
Call me to find out your guaranteed amount!
• January 18th Saturday: Masters of Illusion
• January 25th Saturday: $100,000 drawing and VIP dinner
• January 31st : Chinese New Years
• January 30th Thursday: Foreigner VIP concert
• 10x Rewards Credit Multiplier every Thursday
• Every Sunday: Brand Getaway
• Alternating Slots and Blackjack 10k tournament every Tuesday


There are many more offers I find out about by asking other players what they receive.

On my birthday month last year I received 30,000 reward credits and dinner for two at Fiore.

I have not gone to a U Choose event as I don’t know if it is worth the drive.

It looks like the next cash giveaway is February 15. I will be going for that as I earned almost $500 last weekend.

I don't have all of those special events like you.

I only have a bunch of free play offers, along with free food and spa.

Call and ask a host to tell you what free play you will get.

[Alan Mendelson]

Thanks Dan but for some reason my computer screen cuts off the list of casinos and the page formatting is not the same. I am looking using my laptop at home. I will have to check at the office.

[Dan Druff]

I was at Rincon last night and this morning and could not locate the higher paying machines in the "new" video poker area near the Garden Tower.

There is still a $1/$2/$5 machine with the good pay tables in the high limit room, and it's labeled "Game King", and is by the double double bonus poker machines.

Alan will you stop going to Rincon if they remove this last machine, or will you move up to $5?

I ran $380 worth of free play ($265 yesterday and $115 this morning) and got $270. Ugh.

[Alan Mendelson]

I hope you at least had a good time at Rincon even if the free play didn't return much. I stopped playing double double bonus at Rincon more than a year ago when the 9/5 progressives were cut to 8/5. I start playing 8/5 Aces and Faces at the $1 level and sometimes $2 if I have a lot of free play. It is unlikely I would start at $5 Aces and Faces... so yes, I would stop going there.

I discussed this with my son because we both know that Pechanga still has a lot of full pay video poker. Unfortunately Pechanga is not part of Total Rewards and we would rather play at a casino where we could at least get those benefits on top of a good pay table.

If there isn't 8/5 Aces and Faces or 8/5 Bonus at Rincon that is readily available at the lower denominations I don't have to go there and most likely won't.

Rincon used to be a great casino when it was small-- but the place is going to be very "big and busy" once the new hotel tower opens up. It will in fact be the biggest casino hotel in California soon -- and I don't need to drive there for that.

I'm still hoping that Rincon will move the old Game Kings to the new video poker area (wherever that is). If not... toodles.

[Dan Druff]

Ok after walking around one more time before leaving, I found 2 full pay machines (including aces and faces) at 25c through $2 denoms. They are labeled "Game King Multi Play" and they are among the farthest from the Garden Tower of that video poker clump, if that helps (fairly close, but not right next to the high limit area).

I also found two 3/5 play machine with full pay bonus poker but no aces and faces or Ace$.