Here is a picture of Brad being transferred from the military hospital at Fort Benning to a civilian one in Columbus, the latter one having a better cardiac department.

Brad is still a little weak, but with strong meds kicking in and the help of a walker (and a wheelchair which is complimentary at the casino), he feels he is up to a short 4 ½-hour road trip from Columbus, GA to Harrah’s Cherokee, with Angela and me and tough ex-Ranger Steve as his “nursing assistants.”

This trip is my Harrah’s 7* retreat that we had to cancel for last weekend.  So, for those of you on property this weekend who might want to stop and chat, we will be on the casino floor or at the buffet or the Laurel Lounge (Formerly called the Diamond Lounge) on this Friday evening (20^th), off and on all day Saturday, and Sunday until early afternoon when we will be driving back to Columbus.

I don’t want to clutter up this blog with personal details but if you want to follow more of our “real life,” as opposed to our casino one, you can join us on my Jean Scott Facebook page for updated news.  I’ll be happy to friend you if you are not there already.

Now for some details for those who don’t know much about this beautiful Indian casino, managed by Harrah’s.  We have visited here once or twice a year for many years.  In my opinion it is located in one of the prettiest areas of the U.S, the Smoky Mountains.  (Tied with Lake Tahoe at the top of our casino favorites.) We especially like to visit in the fall to see the leaf-changing spectacular – something we miss in Las Vegas.  And it is always a good place to take the family, with many non-gambling options, like sightseeing, hiking, and fishing.  It also has our very favorite casino buffet, bar none.

Cherokee has many advantages for those in the Harrah’s 7* players club tier.  Unlimited comped movies.  Free Internet access for 5 devices.  Large selection of free beverages at check-in.  Opt out of daily housekeeping and get $20 free play per night stay.  A special set-aside room in the Laurel Lounge, with additional food selections.  And very valuable, you can get cash instead of free play when you cash in your Reward Credits.  If you are on your 7* retreat, you can use your $500 folio money in the many shops, not just for food and beverage.

A friend recently sent me this good hint, one which I didn’t know:

You can use Celebration “vouchers” for room service.  Before we used ours, I checked at the Rewards Center and was told that I could use the voucher for room service, but I needed to tell the room service people when I placed our order.  I did and it worked perfectly.

Perhaps this will work at other CZR properties?  You could check.

If you want more hints about this property and extra benefits, go to the Seven Star Insider,  where you will find tons of very detailed information about Cherokee and all other CZR properties.  Although this website zeroes in on 7* benefits, there is much information that would help lower-tier players maximize the value of their play.

The main drawback for many VP players is that there are not good paytables at the lower denominations.  The best ones are at the $5 machines.

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If Brad continues to gain his strength back, we plan to return to Vegas on September 28th – and I can be back here with more Las Vegas casino frugal information.

However, we had to dump the whole corrupted subscription list. (Just the list was corrupted; you cherished readers are the best people in the world!) But what this means is that if you want to be notified when I post a new blog, you’ll have re-subscribe. Take heart! It’s easy to do: Just go to the sidebar on the right.

Actually, while we’re on the subject of blogs, I want to recommend some others you may have missed here:

• If you’re a VP player, you probably already check the one written by Bob Dancer each Tuesday. He covers a far-reaching range of VP subjects, some general that are helpful to players at any skill level and some more technical geared to those at the more advanced levels.
• One of the more recent blogs that has been very informative for me is “Living Local” by Jeffrey Compton. This has valuable details not only for those of us who live in Vegas, but also for those who are thinking about moving here.
• Another new blog is “The Travel Game.” You can access it from the bottom of the homepage. It’s chock full of detailed information on how anyone who travels get the most value out of airline miles, hotel points, credit-card promotions, and other travel deals. Casino customers who want to combine their frugal gambling with frugal traveling will love “The Travel Game.”

Click on “Blogs” in the top navigation bar of the LVA.com homepage to see these and other blogs that might appeal to you.

And in the same sidebar where you subscribe to my blog, you can scroll down to “Join LVA’s Mailing List.” There, you can check those that interest you, including “LVA Weekly,” a weekly e-letter with highlights from the Las Vegas Advisor’s blogs and website pages.

I don’t know whether a lot of people complained or just stopped playing as much, but much to my surprise – and delight – suddenly mid-month the Stations newspaper ads and signage in their casinos now promoted 6x/10x days, with the “up to” replaced with “GUARANTEED” in big bold lettering.  And in our March mailers not a “up to” can be seen.

Good move, Stations, and hopefully that wicked witch “Up To” is dead for good!

The Stations run a lot of promotions but their website and mailers and ads require careful reading.  Not all promotions run at all properties.  You need to check the logos carefully for each promo.  For example, bonus multiplier days vary from property to property, as do gift giveaways.  And importantly, there seems to be no promotions at the Palms in March except for the company-wide “Monopoly Big Time Bonus.”   Locals who get mailers from their “core” casino will see many of the promos, but if they want to check on those at other properties, they will need to check the Station website.  For out-of-towners who do not get these local mailers, checking the website is absolutely necessary to get promo information.

BOYD PROPERTIES

I give the same advice as above to Boyd players, especially out-of-towners.  Read promo information carefully because not all offers are company-wide.  And some point multipliers are only for players who get a local mailer.  Scot’s Bonus Point List will include only those that are available for the general public.

Check here for the details of The Young at Heart (YAH) senior Wednesday at the following six properties:  Aliante, The Orleans, Gold Coast, Suncoast, Sam’s Town, and Eastside Cannery.  For the 3 downtown properties – Main Street Station, California and Fremont – the YAH details are here.

SOUTH POINT

No multiple-point days this month, but here are a couple of frugal finds:

• Steak ’n Shake – Happy Hour – ½ price all drinks and shakes, Sunday-Thursday, 2-5 pm. and 10 pm-close.
• $4 movies for seniors, 50+, all day Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. $5.25 movies all day Tuesday for all ages. Click here for restrictions.

Watch for lots of food specials around St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, and look for drink specials during March Madness basketball.

It is easy to keep up without going back and forth between blogs and scrolling to the bottom of each one for possible comments.  When you are on my blog page, look for the section titled “Recent Comments” on the right side of the page and you can click on those you would like to read.   Not everyone reads my blogs or comments on them the day I post them.  But that list on the right side of the blog page will keep you up to date on current comments and those that may appear later.  (Other reasons to check on the right side of my blog page:  you can “Subscribe” so you will get an e-mail when I post a new blog, and you can also search in the “Archives” and find every Frugal Fridays and Frugal Vegas blog I have ever posted – from way back in April 2000!)

BRIEFS

The usual free slot tournament South Point runs on senior Mondays will not be held on Monday, March 19.  Also remember the all-day Monday $4 movie promo for seniors is “not valid on holidays or special events.”

Hooters Casino Hotel has opened the world’s largest Steak’n Shake location – and with a bar and slot machines to boot.  We old-time Midwesterners would never have believed those would ever be added to their juicy hamburgers or thick milkshakes!

Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino is the latest casino company to offer a room discount to active and veteran military, police, fire fighters, teachers, and other service personnel.  Also, their new players club will give all active and retired members of the United States Military Gold Tier status, with extra benefits.  As with all casinos and players clubs, you will need to check their websites for specific requirements to get extra benefits, and more importantly, you will need to check the limitations.  Many of these special programs have tons of fine print to wade through!

THE ZORKFEST

My March 4 blog gave you many of the details about this fun feast of frugal information to help you save money on travel expenses and casino visits.  (I like alliteration!)

I also gave you the link to complete details of the Zorkfest event which is sponsored by TravelZork, a website covering airlines, hotels, casinos, Vegas, and loyalty programs.  There you will find the pictures, bios, and subject material of the many experts who will be speaking, and details of event schedules and registration fees.

However, I am writing about it again because the deadline to take advantage of the lowest registration fee is coming up fast – in fact it is this coming Tuesday, March 20.  You will be able to register later, of course, but the cost will be higher.  And you know me – I like to be sure my readers are aware of the most frugal options!  I truly believe that many – even most – attendees will learn a few new frugal techniques that will save them more money in the future than they invest in the registration fees.  (And when you register, be sure to add the code zorklva for extra discounts!)

The seminar speakers are experts in a variety of travel and casino fields, and more subjects have been added to the wide range that were initially listed.  Here are some of them:

-Learn the Best Travel Award Redemptions

-Expert Tips to Book Travel and Credit Card Strategies

-Casino Comps, VIP Status and Offers

-Miles & Points – Tips and Tricks

-Family Travel and Cruise Promotions

As I said in the earlier blog, Brad and I will be there most of the time during this event, both before and after I speak, and we look forward to meeting new and long-time fellow frugalites.

For complete information about this fun and informative event go to ZorkFest. There you can scroll down and find schedules, pictures and bios of the speakers, preliminary session subjects, host hotel rates, and registration details.  Of course, I want to tell you about all the ways you can reduce the cost of this educational and entertaining event – talking about how to get more bang for your buck is what I do!

First, remember this valuable code:  zorklva.  This will give you discounts for many parts of the registration fees.  And second, remember this still-wise cliché – the early bird gets the worm.  The Super Early Discount rate available if you register before March 20, coupled with the LVA code, will be the best bargain.  But there are other discounts for add-ons and combo offers.

Then there are special LVA promotions. Use the code zorklvaroller for $25 off the High-Roller ticket, offer good until April 30.    And here is one Brad and I are excited about because we love to chat with our fans:

ZorkFest will provide three (3) Friday VIP dinner tickets to raffle off for LVA members. Potential winners will be any LVA member who buys a Zorkfest conference ticket (with the LVA code). Those three winners will sit with Anthony Curtis or Jean and Brad Scott at dinner Friday night.  If the winner of the LVA contest for dinner already has purchased a dinner (or High-Roller ticket which includes dinner) they will get a $100 Treasure Island Casino chip, at registration.  Those who purchase the dinner (or High Roller Ticket which includes dinner) will also get a chance to sit with AC or Jean and Brad Scott, on a first- come- first basis.

I am really enthusiastic about this event because it covers such a large range of subjects of interest to people who work at being thrifty.  Of course, my niche is frugal gambling, but we spent a lot of time over the years making our travel budget smaller – think of those many airplane bumps we chased –  so we would have a bigger bankroll when we got to the casino.   And we are really looking forward to chatting with many of our frugal readers, some we have met in person in the past but many have wished for such an opportunity as this May event will bring.  Hope to see you there!

New Casino Offerings

Casinos are always looking for new ways to attract a younger generation of potential casino visitors.  Many of them would not interest me or most of the people of my age group.  Take the new free-roaming virtual reality arena in the MGM’s Level Up gaming lounge.  Fighting zombies is just not on my bucket list.

However some of the new concepts, particularly the new electronic versions of the old standard table games, do interest me.  I’ve been reading about the new “stadium-type” format for traditional casino games and have seen some smaller electronic versions of these, but really didn’t know many of the details.

Therefore, I was glad to see a very comprehensive discussion of stadium-blackjack, written by fellow gaming author Henry Tamburin, at the 888 Casino website.   This piece includes pictures, description of the set-up and how it is played, and explanation of the rules.

The Westin

Max Casino at this casino is closing June 30.  Scot Krause’s article in “Gaming Today” gives all the details.

TUSCANY

The 20% senior discount moves to the Pub e65 for the whole month of July.

RAMPART

They are advertising that their newly-named senior “50 Plus PARTY Tuesdays” is “new and improved, offering more benefits.” See the details here.

SOUTH POINT

From a press release: Beginning Monday, July 3, South Point Hotel will introduce “Prime Time Mondays” for our Casino Club Card holders age 50 and older. Prime Time Mondays will offer a $5,000 Free Slot Tournament from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The tournament’s first place winner will receive a $1,000 cash prize and additional places will be rewarded with free play.  In addition, guests who pay with their points will receive half point dining all day at all restaurants (Primarily Prime Rib & Baja Miguel’s are closed on Monday) and half point bingo all day. Movies will also be offered at a discounted rate of just $4 all day (additional fee for 3D & XD). This promotion is not valid on holidays or during special bingo events.

PALMS

The last day for their buffet before they close it for major changes is July 30. The new 24-hour coffee shop, the Lucky Penny, will open to the public on Saturday morning, July 1. I saw it today as it was practicing a soft opening with invited guests. Fancy-dancy!

Watch for machines to disappear or be moved around as they continue to replace carpeting. Hopefully our favorite ones will re-appear and intact.

New parking passes are available at the players club. The old ones expired on June 30.

No plans to put in the check-cashing program available at other Station casinos until after the cage area is renovated. Proposed time for that to start is late summer.

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If you get to missing my gambling chatter here while we are on vacation, you can listen to me talk about gambling and casinos in a couple recent interviews:

1. A podcast from the “House of Cards” radio show

2. An American Casino Guide YouTube video

And if you want to read a funny little story about Brad, it is buried in the middle of a recent long Review-Journal article about casino chairs.  

A: You must have missed reading my May 30^th blog, “”June Casino Promotion.” There I announced the launch of this program and gave the link where you could sign up and get all the details. https://play.sclv.com/   They offer a signup bonus and run frequent promotions.

A related note: For those who don’t want to miss any of my blogs, it is easy to sign up to receive an email each time I post. Go to any previous blog page and you will see a “Subscribe” feature. There has been a bit of an issue recently with this, but it is now working well.

Q: Could you explain progressive video poker and the point that the game goes positive?

A: This is a complicated subject that needs much explanation to be really helpful to a video poker player. You can Google the subject and find many resources, including my book Frugal Video Poker, which has a whole chapter on the subject. And for those who like to play progressives, perhaps the most essential tool needed is my handy checkbook-size spiral-bound booklet, The Frugal Video Poker Scouting Guide. Not only does it contain 184 paytables for 37 of the most popular VP games in U.S. casinos and their expected return, something that will make your scouting easier for non-progressive games, but it gives the break-even progressive point for over 150 games, both for quarter and dollar machines.  You can order both of these here on this site at SHOPLVA.

Q: In your last blog, you steered us to an article by John Grochowski on the 888casino.com site. Looking around the site I realized it offered online gambling but I could not access that feature. Why not?

A: I should have given more details about that site. The 888 live casino is a popular online casino site in Europe that enables users to play against live dealers just like a land casino, but it is only available and legal for US real-money play in New Jersey, where you have to be physically present within the boundaries of that state. People in other states will not be able to gain access to that section of the site, but there is much helpful information in the sections open to everyone anywhere.

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And now for a rhetorical question Brad and I discussed recently, while shopping for a special light bulb in the electrical aisle of Home Depot: Should we buy a “regular” one or pay a lot extra for the LED one that is marked as lasting for 22 years. What is the frugal answer for a couple who is 78 and 85?

I have been gambling in casino with successful results for 33 years. Do I no longer need to read about this activity to continue being successful? Do I “know it all” by now?

The short and sweet answer to those questions: I spend just as much time researching and studying now as I did back when I first started. In fact, perhaps more! Although there is more information available now with the ever-expanding Internet, a wise gambler needs so much more to cope with a much more challenging casino environment.

Of course, I myself continue to add to this Internet flood of information available to gamblers. My latest contribution has been added to the very extensive American Casino Guide YouTube video series. In this interview, I talk about my new book, The Frugal Gambler Casino Guide, and the new focus I have in helping recreational players lose less and thus stretch their bankroll for longer casino entertainment time.

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Here are some interesting gambling articles I have read recently.

1.  Do you wonder how hackers have been able to manipulate slot machines to “pay on demand”? Read here about how criminals are working to foil the casino’s game security measures.

2.  Do you remember playing the horserace games in casinos – or the ones that raced camels at the Luxor?    Mark of Mark’s Las Vegas does and he gives a link to the R-J article that reminisces about this game.

3.  Here is an excellent article about the numerous ways you can get an edge in blackjack.  The only objection I have to this article is the title, “Beating Blackjack is Easy.” Perhaps this is a tongue-in-cheek title to catch our attention? Beating any game in a casino is never easy; it is one of the hardest tasks you will ever undertake. However, this article does give a very complete picture of the possible ways to take on this task and perhaps be successful.

4.  My good friend John Grochowski can always be counted on to give very complete and accurate gambling information in whatever he writes. A good example is his recent article about new video poker games. While you are at this site, look around and you will find many helpful and interesting articles on various casino games and other gambling topics. I have contributed some articles here myself. You will recognize many of the authors as well-known experts in their field.

As I often say – that was then and this is now. Choosing good VP plays is much harder work now; and, especially if you are in an area with a choice of casinos, figuring and comparing EVs  is a must-have skill if you want to lose less and possibly pull out a long-term win. One important note: there are non-math factors that might be considered when you are choosing a VP play. But a wise player might want to first look at the math and then decide on the importance of personal-choice factors.

Here is the “formula”:

1. Learn the expected value of the game you want to play. (EV)
2. Find the base players club point percentage value (CLUB %)
3. Add 1+2 for value of the total play (TP)
4. Start adding extra benefits

Some examples I will be giving are from my own experiences, both present and past. But first I will show you how I find information for a casino in which I have never played or at least not for many years, helping you learn how to do this “from scratch.”  I will choose the Silver Sevens Casino in Las Vegas since I haven’t played there since it has new owners who changed the name from Terrible’s.

My best research tool for this task is vpFREE2 where I click and scroll until I come to Silver Sevens Hotel and Casino. I see that they have VP games from 1¢ to $5, quite a wide spread.  Another reason that this is such a good research tool is that not only does it give the available games and their location but the paytable and EV of each. (If you want look up the EV of any VP game, you can click on the “Pay Table” tab at the top of the site.)

I next check out the “Player’s Club” tab, where I find this information:

• $2 Coin-In = 1 Point on Video Poker
• Free Play or Comps: 400 Points = $1 (0.125%)

Okay, I put that information together and here are several choices that might appeal to various levels of players:

100.17 (EV) DB                       99.17 (EV) Bonus Poker            98.49 (EV) Bonus Deluxe

1¢ Spin Poker                                25¢, 50¢, $1                            $1, $2, $5

.125 (CLUB %)                       .125 (CLUB %)                            .125 (CLUB %)

100.295 (TP)                            99.295 (TP)                                   98.615 (TP)

This is how you can get the basic information you need for starting your search for a good game choice.  Every search needs a solid foundation.  Then you can start adding the EV of the extras to boost your total play EV:  multiple-point bonuses, tournament and drawing opportunities and other special promos, bounce-back cash/free play, and comps.

However, this is just the starting point.  You need to double-check this information and search  for much more because there are some problem areas and warnings as you continue your research:

1.  Nothing takes the place of eyes-on scouting.  Although vpFREE2 does a pretty good job, keeping information current is a big task and depends on the reporting of many volunteer players to track the constantly changing game inventory and benefits in hundreds of casinos across the country.  So you may not find some machines that are listed – or find they have been moved – and there may be newly-installed machines that haven’t been as yet reported.
2. Watch for exceptions.  For example, notice that on the Silver Sevens page we used above, there is a note about one set of machines that aren’t eligible for multiple point promos.  The vpFREE site will note this when that information is reported, but often you will not know about this until you sit down at the machine and notice the dreaded restriction sticker.  Such stickers may exclude this machine from promotions or state that it requires more than the regular coin-in to earn points or even earns no players club points at all.
3. Players club information may not always be as simple as our example above.  There may be several point-earning levels depending on the game – the best games often take more coin-in to earn a point.  And there may be several more levels depending on your tier.  In some casinos the higher-tier players can earn points faster because there are tier bonuses.

I’m going to pause here. Explaining this makes me tired and I need to rest. And I bet many of you get tired reading about all these complex issues and you need to take a break too. My next blog entry here needs to discuss October promotions so that will give us all a break. Then hopefully we will all be rested and I can continue with some more examples after that!