The following players club information came from press releases, thus some flowery language! 

RENO

Eldorado’s new distinctive loyalty program ONE Club will reward guests with exclusive benefits nationwide. With ONE Club, guests can receive comps at over 50 restaurants and lounges, 4,500 hotel rooms, and dozens of entertainment options throughout the Eldorado Resorts portfolio. ONE Club debuted in August 2016 at Mountaineer Casino Racetrack & Resort, Presque Isle Downs & Casino, and Scioto Downs Racino. ONE Club is now available in Reno at Eldorado Reno, Silver Legacy Reno, and Circus Circus Reno, allowing guests to seamlessly earn and redeem at Eldorado Resort properties. ONE Club will come to Eldorado Shreveport later this year.

LAKE CHARLES

Golden Nugget – Lake Charles today announced that it now gives premium 24K Select Club Members the most luxurious amenities ever offered with the new Billionaire’s Club, the highest level of the casino’s 24K Select Club player rewards program. This Billionaire’s Club tier level is exclusive to the Golden Nugget Lake Charles and is an invitation-only level above the regular tiers of the 24K Select Club tier, which go up from 24 Karat to Premier, Chairman and Elite. The Billionaire’s Club players’ cards will work at the other Golden Nugget Casinos, in slot machines and at table games for Point, Tier Credit and Comp Dollar earning, and for Comp Dollar redemption. Members can also present their Billionaire’s Card at Landry’s, Inc. restaurants nationwide to redeem their earned Comp Dollars, just like they do now. Each Golden Nugget Casino location has a separate program, so check with each property’s 24K Select Club Booth for specific rules and details.

ATLANTIC CITY

Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, part of MGM Resorts International, announced today that it will be launching the Company’s M life Rewards loyalty program, presenting members with personalized offers, exclusive benefits and special access across MGM Resorts’ portfolio. Beginning Wednesday, June 7, M life Rewards will supplant My Borgata Rewards loyalty program, allowing guests to play and earn at their favorite MGM Resorts destinations including Bellagio, ARIA, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay and The Mirage in Las Vegas as well as resorts in Detroit, Mississippi and Maryland.

There is a lot to like at the Atlantis besides the gaming.   The personnel are very friendly and give unusually warm service in all departments.  There is a good variety of restaurants, with their deli being our very favorite.  The spa offers an extensive menu of services.  And we love their pools.  In the summer we enjoyed the outdoor one, but on this visit, the nicely heated indoor one was the perfect relaxation spot after a long session at the machines. 

We expect Reno to give us a cool break from the Vegas heat in the summer, and, of course, we expected it to be much colder than Vegas in December.  We packed our heavy winter jackets, but to our surprise we didn’t need them at all.  In fact, the day we arrived it was warmer there than when we left Vegas – and it was unseasonably warm the rest of our visit.

We had a great time being a “tourist,” a relaxing change from our normal schedule here in Vegas. But it is always good to get back home!

Brad and I are definitely slowing down because of our declining  energy levels – so we aren’t as concerned about the reduction of good plays that someone younger and/or healthier might be.  And we have always had adequate income from other sources so video poker has never been a financial necessity for us.  It is just a hobby that we have made  profitable by working hard at it.  This extra money has provided the “gravy” in our lifestyle and enabled us to help our families enjoy some luxuries that they otherwise couldn’t have afforded on their own. But most of all  it has provided us with more years of  fun than we could ever have imagined.

All that being said, I can tell you some of the general ways we are adjusting to the changing video poker scene.  First, we aren’t playing  as much as we used to.  Second, we aren’t playing regularly at as high a level as in the past.  This is not because we don’t have the bankroll since we have the same or  a bigger one than we have ever had before.  We just aren’t finding as many good  plays at the higher denominations.  Although we will occasionally find and play a good Multi-Strike or multi-line game that takes $75-$125 a hand, you are more likely to find us these days at a $1 or $2 single-liner.  At this lower level we can earn all the food comps our waistlines and cholesterol levels can stand – and we can still get enough comped rooms to put up any of our relatives or friends who want to come visit us.

Another thing we are doing to find good plays is taking more trips out of town.  In many cases, these casinos where we are “tourists” will give us more than Vegas casinos will give us as locals – and sometimes provide the airfare to get there to boot.  In the last year we have visited casinos in Indiana, New Orleans, Laughlin, and Reno, this last one from which we just returned. 

(Yes, that’s why this blog went dark for a while – after we are gone for four or five days, I am slammed with paperwork/computer backlog/casino catch-up when we get back.)

How do we find out about these good out-of-town plays?  I read the vpFREE forums daily, including the regional ones for any area in which we are interested.  (Subscribe at vpFREE-subscribe@yahoogroups.com)  I search the database at vpFREE2.  And I have a network of friends who share information.

The only downside of going out of town  is that air travel is getting more and more tiresome for us.  However, the chance of getting a bump “comp” still usually excites me.  And we try to look for the humor in an airport.  It amused us both when Brad gets elaborate alternative security attention.   (He can’t go through the regular security machines with his pacemaker.)  Does a 78-year-old grey-headed slow-moving man really need a 5-minute feel-everything patdown?  We just smile and figure they are just practicing in case they ever meet a real terrorist!

The Atlantis is a nice property, and we had a luxurious Jacuzzi suite.  There was a wide variety of eating choices, but we eschewed the higher end restaurants and chose the continental breakfasts in the concierge lounge and dinners in the excellent buffet or topnotch Manhattan Deli.  There is a year-around indoor pool, but we opted to enjoy a pleasant warm evening in the outdoor pool and spa. 

Although we enjoyed all the amenities, it was the gambling that was our primary interest.  I saw more good video poker paytables in the Atlantis than in any casino I have visited during the last 5 or more years.  The downside is that these good machines don’t give as many slot club points as the lower-pay machines, but the casino does offer frequent multiple point days.  I had planned our 4-day visit to hit two 3x days and one 2x day.  We played some every day but concentrated more of our play on the 3x days and did more relaxing and visiting with friends on the other days.

In this blog and in the comments recently we have been discussing the subject of losing, and I had shared that Brad and I were in a painfully long losing streak, mainly due to a severe royal drought.  (I did get 4 royals in June, but unfortunately they were on nickel 100-play.  A $200 royal really doesn’t help much in getting out of a deep hole dug playing higher denominations!)  But our losing streak finally did come to an end at the Atlantis, with Brad getting a royal and a couple other jackpots that allowed us to come home with a nice chunk of winnings.  We’re not out of the 2010 hole, but we have climbed up enough to see daylight above us!