El Dorado and other Reno Caesars properties are in the process of killing all good video poker

[Dan Druff]

An open secret has been the fact that Caesars video poker was among the best at its Reno properties. For quite some time after the merger, you could earn credits at $10/tier at a variety of full-pay video poker machines (of several variations), and at a wide range of denominations.

I always wondered why this didn't get degraded once these properties got rolled into Caesars Rewards. Recall that the only property Caesars used to have in Reno was Harrah's, and that was sold as a condition of the merger. Therefore, all of the Caesars properties in Reno joined the program as a result of the merger, and were former El Dorado properties.

Sometime in the past year, they changed some of the better paying VP machines to be $20/credit, but others still remained at $10/credit.

Now there's a massive degradation occurring this past week, and word is that very soon there will be no good VP left in Reno Caesars properties.

Here are some reports from vpfree2.com regarding the degradation at El Dorado Reno:

2 days ago VP Removed MIA: 50¢, $1 : 99.80% TB+ at several bars
2 days ago VP Removed MIA: (2) 25¢, 50¢, $1 : 99.94% SA (2) closest to bar in a row of (4) between sportsbook and nearby door
3 days ago VP Removed MIA: (10) $1 : 99.94% SA near Asian Marketing and Starbucks
4 days ago VP Removed MIA: 25¢, 50¢, $1 : 99.80% TB+, 99.73% NSUD, 99.17% BP near Starbucks
5 days ago VP Removed MIA: (10) 25¢ Prog : 99.54% JoB near Starbucks
5 days ago VP Removed MIA: (10) 50¢, $1 : 99.54% JoB near Starbucks

And here are some comments from the site, also this past week:

The Row in Reno is going on a rampage downgrading almost all of their video poker. The Eldorado 25c 9/6 JOB progressive near Starbucks has now been downgraded to 8/5 JoB overnight between Aug 26 and Aug 27. That 9/6 progressive has been their for decades. It all started when they removed all the $1 9/6 JoB progressives from all the bars. It is truly the end of an era. I did not see this downgrade coming. The longtime Eldorado VP players are very knowledgeable about video poker and I hope they complain.

I am at Eldorado this morning (8/27). The technicians are currently downgrading the bank of 10 machines with progressive jackpot. Job went from 9/6 to 8/5. Bonus poker from 8/5 to 7/5. Deuces wild from 80/50 to 75/45. Job totally gone at 50 cent and dollar. They tell me they are not messing with the other bank of 10 machines. We will see.

The Row has recently cut almost all multi line Video poker. Some are even $20 a point. Have gone from one of the best Caesars properties to average and one of the worst places to gamble in Reno.

Silver Legacy has this update:

4 days ago VP Removed MIA: (1) 25¢, 50¢, $1 : 99.73% NSUD just outside poker room (with prog. meter on top)
19 days ago VP Downgraded: (1) 5¢, 10¢, 25¢ 50 Play : 99.54% JoB to 98.45% outside high limit room
19 days ago VP Downgraded: (1) 5¢, 10¢ 100 Play : 99.54% JoB to 98.45% outside high limit room

A guy on Facebook, who is NOT an advantage player of any kind, was upset by these downgrades and asked his host about them.

She responded to him, saying, "We have been exploited by advantage players, so these changes had to be made. I will make sure to take care of my honest players, so don't worry."

First off, LOL at referring to non-APs as "honest players", as if being an AP isn't honest.

But second... she won't take care of anything. She is limited by the computer regarding what comps she can give, and nothing will be changing for the better for this guy. The only reason he might get more comps is that he'll be forced to play much worse games, so his ADT will be higher! (I'm guessing that's what she meant, btw, without directly saying it.)

It's complete bullshit that they had to do this for APs. Perhaps APs swarm the place when the progressive meter gets high enough, but they can fix that just by removing the progressive, or by downgrading those machines only.

Why are they worried about APs playing the 9/6 Jacks machine? If it's a matter of worrying that they're getting offers too easily, there's a simple fix for that -- no-offer or light-offer those players. That's what Tahoe has done for many years.

This is just an excuse. The truth is that they're tired of people using the Reno market to get to Diamond and Seven Stars with too low of an average loss, so they're downgrading the machines to stop it.

Tahoe already got degraded late last year.

Sad!

[DGenBen]

I think too that they held out some better video poker in that market for awhile since Reno is such a big locals & VP market & why the hell else would anyone want to go to those shitty run down properties with lousy parking in downtown Reno when you have Atlantis, Peppermill, GSR, & a million nicer locals casinos around.

I’m actually rather enjoying watching Caesars slit their own throats because it used to be I had to go their stinky panhandler infested places to pick up & maintain my free play, but now no reason to.

Sure they’ll have less APs & less non APs that are savvy but anyone who heads out to place can see the type of customers they are pulling in now & it’s like a third world country there. These demographics they’re pulling in aren’t going to get them out of their 11 figure debt load,

Fuck them. They can take their 85% slots & 7/5 VP and stick them up their stinky hotel rooms that haven’t been remodeled since the Carter administration.

[Dan Druff]

You're exactly right.

The Reno market has tons of full pay VP, so El Dorado and Silver Legacy felt they had no choice but to offer it, or they'd lose a lot of the local customer base.

They probably re-analyzed this after noticing that these machines were mostly played by the type of customer they didn't want anyway. Not only were the progressives possibly hit by teams of APs, but I'm guessing that a lot of frugal non-APs were coming into town, staying in comp or near-comp rooms, running enough play on multiplier days to earn whatever status they're aiming for, and bouncing. Maybe some of these people were also vulturing slots while there.

While it's possible that corporate Caesars told them to put the kibosh on the good VP (as they were the market in CA/NV/AZ to have such a thing), I'm guessing this was a local decision. They probably just want to cater to ploppies, and are willing to lose the sharp non-AP crowd.

It has been verified to me that some full pay VP remains with $10/tier, but the choices are getting really thin, and I'm guessing it will all be gone by the end of the year.

At least the multiplier days are now making it fairly easy to get to Diamond if that's all you want, so the play you need to put in is minimal. That makes this change less painful.

[Don Perignom]

Sometime in the past year, they changed some of the better paying VP machines to be $20/credit, but others still remained at $10/credit.

That was 2 and a half years ago. During that period, pay table downgrades were usually coincident with machine replacements.

Now lately they're downgrading the old machines.

It has been verified to me that some full pay VP remains with $10/tier, but the choices are getting really thin, and I'm guessing it will all be gone by the end of the year.

I have no insight into their intentions. Note that vpfree2 is commonly incomplete or inaccurate for Northern Nevada casinos. Caesars Reno still has some work to do if full pay elimination is the goal.