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Bob Dancer writes a video poker column for beginners to experts. He also writes a column with Jeffrey Compton, "Player's Edge", featuring information on promotions at various Las Vegas casinos. Player's Edge is published each Friday in the Neon section of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Click here to send Bob Dancer an e-mail.

For more details and a schedule of Bob's free classes, visit www.bobdancer.com.

Oct 21, 2008

Gold Coast Turnaround

I am a winning video poker player. Sometimes casinos want me to stay away because I'm "too good." While it is not hard to understand their logic, and it's perfectly legal, in Nevada anyway, for casinos to restrict players, it's always annoying when they do. Sometimes I reach "accommodations" where I play a limited amount only and am not restricted.

The Coast Casinos, when managed by Gary Hunter, removed me gradually. I used to play at both Orleans and Gold Coast, primarily on double point days (which are equivalent to 6x point days with today's slot club), and primarily playing NSU Deuces Wild and 9/6 Jacks or Better. Simply put, I played when I had the edge. (I played at Suncoast occasionally, but I live in Green Valley and Suncoast is perhaps 25 miles away. It was too far to go for the same product that could be found closer to where I live.)

Perhaps three years ago, Shirley and I stopped getting mailers from both casinos. The estimate among players was that about 200 players were affected like this. Whether this number is high or low, I don't know, but I know several other players this happened to as well. Although mailers are nice (cash, show tickets, meals), there were relatively small change compared to playing $10 or $25 NSU on double point days. A lot of players who didn't get mail continued to play at one or both properties.

Perhaps a year later, the word went out that a certain group of players could no longer get comps from hosts. A $50 food comp after playing for five or ten hours was especially appreciated, but if you were "on the list", you weren't eligible for these either. (Sometimes you could get a comp from a slot manager rather than a host if you lost that day and begged.)

I think it was late in 2006 when Shirley's and my Club Coast card stopped working at all. We could play but we would get no points or cash back at all. So, obviously, we stopped playing. At that time the best game was 9/6 Jacks and without the benefit of a slot club, that game was a loser.

Meanwhile, I still played at Sam's Town sometimes. Fairly recently, however, Sam's Town, Orleans, Gold Coast, and Suncoast all merged with the same slot club card. Shirley and I have "Emerald" status (the highest) at Sam's Town, but I was unsure whether this translated over to Gold Coast and Orleans.

It was possible that our accounts were marked "no mail" or "call security at once" or something similar at the Gold Coast and/or Orleans. Although I wasn't physically frightened of consequences, playing at one of these casinos could 86 us from Sam's Town as well. I didn't want that.

So I took the attitude "it doesn't hurt to ask" and I arranged a meeting with the slot director and director of marketing of Gold Coast, both of whom were relatively new to the property and unaware that I had any sort of negative history there. They definitely both knew who "Bob Dancer" was, although I'm not sure they knew the name on my driver's license. They also knew I was a writer and wrote about casinos I played at, which did give me a "plus" that other players in my position didn't have.

I told them that I wasn't interested in playing a lot and would likely limit my play to $100,000 a month on each card, but if welcome I would play. If I wasn't welcome, I'd just continue to stay away. And I wanted to give them a chance to tell me quietly to stay away if that's what they really wanted. A "scene" in the casino wouldn't do anybody any good. They also knew a few days before the meeting what I wanted so they could do "due diligence" and discuss it among themselves without me being there.

To possibly help sway them, I told them that I get emails periodically from all over the country asking about specific Las Vegas casinos --- including the Gold Coast.

I was told that there was no restriction on my card or Shirley's and that I was welcome to play. And so I will play enough to get the top mailer. This is a "small victory" economically, but a "large victory" psychologically. You can't win if you're not allowed to play. Perhaps there would have been the same result if I just went in and played and didn't ask them up front, but I felt that that plan carried some negative risk I didn't want.

My story applies to several players. I was not the only one who was restricted for the sin of playing only the good machines on double point days. There are still casinos in town where this "sin" will get you run off.

A key thing to understand is that it wasn't the "casino" that kicked us out, it was the "managers" of the casino at that time. Managers and management philosophy change over time. If and when you ever get on such a "list," it pays to check once in a while to see if the ban has been lifted. If you find out you're still restricted, you really haven't lost anything. But if you find out that you're not restricted anymore, you've gained a place to play --- along with potential income.