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Two Dozen Nights in Vegas: Down Town VP and beer.

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by wasilla, Oct 20, 2019.

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  1. wasilla

    wasilla High-Roller

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    For those of you interested in comps for playing VP, I have some updates.

    Playing an average $5K coin in a day left my GG comps unchanged, but my D comps added $10 food, $25 FP and $25 MP per month for March and April.

    My last few 3 day stays at QQQQ's coin in were 8,000 points for 64K, 4,000 points for 32K, and 8,000 points for 64K. I had thought that they had upped the requirements for their highest offer, but my March 1 month offer finally arrived. I have read that 3,000 daily points was the threshold, but I suspect it is a bit more complicated. I'm hypothesizing that you need 3,000 points in a single day, but that their system drops a day on 3 day stays. Any confirming or disputing data points are extremely welcomed.

    Losing free Boyd nights has been a pain. I am still gambling there and hoping they change their minds. So far I have been able to book enough free Sapphire nights to get enough room nights for my extended trips. I was fortunate to seed GG and DTG when I did.

    I have only written TR's for my last 2 trips. They are both pretty long, but include comp and play summaries at the end.
     
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  2. zignerlv

    zignerlv VIP Whale

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    The Four Queens offer criteria is a bit of a mystery... even to the employees! They have quoted point requirements for different levels to me, and other players have noted that if the trip is more than one day, this requirement is actually less points per day than they quote! (I have yet to test/confirm that). Almost sounds like you are saying the opposite is true about multi day play trips?

    I don't see them dropping a day of your play from their calculations, but anything is possible, considering they can't even explain their criteria in a way that holds up.

    More than once, my offer level dropped unexpectedly (I'm not talking about the single month offers like March), and when I brought up that my points earned per last 3 trips met the level I was told, my offer was amended, due to a "mistake". I don't see it necessarily as a mistake, I just think that the staff isn't given the whole story on how offer levels are determined. Or maybe there just is a bug in their offer level calculation software.

    I think Boyd comp room offers are going to be tough for anyone that doesn't earn a significant amount of Tier points, which really only can be earned by playing some crappy VP or slots.
     
    Last edited: Feb 14, 2020
  3. wasilla

    wasilla High-Roller

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    I wasn't very clear explaining my 4Q's theory. When I play a total of 12,000 points over two 3 day trips, I think they establish my average by dividing the 12,000 by 4 days instead of 6. If they counted every day that I gambled, I would never have met their stated threshold.
    I agree with what zignerlv says. Hosts seem to have solid numbers to work off of, but sometimes seem to be guessing as to how these are applied. I also had a host amend an offer after a steep and unexplained drop.
     
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  4. zignerlv

    zignerlv VIP Whale

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    Then what you are saying confirms, in effect, what other players have told me, that the daily point total they are looking for a specific offer level is lower for multi day trips! Maybe you hit on how that happens (dropping one day off the trip day count, but counting the points earned from play from that day)? Did they actually say your total points were divided by 4 days? Or did you come to that conclusion based on trying to make sense of your offer level?
     
    Last edited: Feb 14, 2020
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  5. FABismonte

    FABismonte Tell my wife I am "about even."

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    @wasilla could you clarify what your March 1 month offer was? I think the QQQQ highest offer for two month window is "Diamond 2" which entitles one to $400 free play, a suite and some food. Is that what you got for March?

    I remain Diamond 1 and got $225 free play and free rooms nights and $50 in food for March QQQQ offers which I believe was based on January play of about 2,000 points per day for two days. During the February "Big Game" I stayed three days and put in on the average 1,400 points per day, for three days. I will see what effect, if any, it has on my offers.
     
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  6. zignerlv

    zignerlv VIP Whale

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    FAB, The March offer is a one month offer, not the usual two months, so the freeplay amount on that offer is less than the two month offers. So the $400 offer level for 2 months, will be less than that for March.

    Also, what makes it difficult to calculate your offer levels is that I believe they are based on a last 3 trip average. So, changing your play for 1 or 2 trips still might not be fruitful, unless it brings your average up enough.
     
  7. wasilla

    wasilla High-Roller

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    It was a 1 month offer of $300 FP and $75 food.
     
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  8. wildfoodie

    wildfoodie MIA

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    All this talk about offers for playing video poker at downtown casinos like Four Queens, El Cortez, and the Boyd properties is making me excited! At Four Queens, how do you keep track of coin-in and/or points? With the card inserted, does the machine always show an up-to-date balance or do you have to go to the player's club? What about at other downtown properties?
     
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  9. zignerlv

    zignerlv VIP Whale

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    Part of your question brings up an issue with the Four Queens card readers that I've never seen discussed anywhere. I don't know if all of the VP machines/slots have this issue, but they show points as you accumulate the points, and then, almost randomly, the screen resets to zero points for this session! The first time I saw this, about a year and a half ago, after they installed new card readers, I questioned this enough to get the slot floor manager to come by. He seemed surprised about it, but after talking to some people, assured me that even though the readers reset to zero, the points you earn get posted your account with no problems. That does seem to be true.

    This brings up a general thing about the Four Queens. Either no one knows who to bring this up to to get it fixed, or no one cares! Anywhere else in Las Vegas, this would, first of all, probably never happen, and second, if it happened, it would be fixed in weeks. I wouldn't be surprised if this issue continues for another year or more. Like I said, maybe it doesn't happen on all the machines, but it does for most that I play there. I don't even look at the display anymore when I play, so I don't even know how many machines have this issue.

    So, the answer is, if you have this issue on your machine, you have to pull your card, and then reinsert it to get a proper point total from your account balance to show up. Of course, it helps to record your starting point total when you first start playing so you know how much you earned that day.

    You'd think others would notice this, and the staff would be tired of answering questions from people observing this problem. But, this is the Four Queens... a different world. A land of wacky card readers, great VP and cashback/comps, mailer offer criteria that no one can figure out, and Bette Davis Eyes blasting on the casino sound system.

    On another note, just know if you want to earn points at Boyd, you have to be at least Sapphire level.
     
    Last edited: Feb 14, 2020
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  10. wildfoodie

    wildfoodie MIA

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    @zignerlv Thanks for the good info! At the local Harrah's San Diego I frequent, the numbers on the machine aren't completely accurate. What I do is pull out and then re-insert the card for the most accurate info. This brings up an interesting point. If I pull the card out as stated just to check the points/tier credits, would the time on device reset? If TOD actually matters for comps, it would suck to play for 4-8 continuous hours, pulling out the card every now and then to check point/tier credit totals, and having "time on device" reset each time!
     
  11. zignerlv

    zignerlv VIP Whale

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    @wildfoodie No one has ever mentioned that the time of play is a factor in offers there, so I think you are safe. I do pull my card say every hour or so to check my progress, and I have not seen any impact.

    The other thing I will mention, is that if you are new to the Four Queens, some have reported not getting any offers until having 2 or 3 trips there. And if you aren't new, but haven't played much in the past, those prior trips will weigh you down for a while, in terms of offers. So keep that in mind.
     
    Last edited: Feb 14, 2020
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  12. FABismonte

    FABismonte Tell my wife I am "about even."

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    @zignerlv let me also add the following observations of the Four Queens alternate universe: Additionally, a land where the following does NOT exist: (1) comps based on machine theorectical, (2) hotel resort fees, (3) email communications (4) on-line reservations, and (5) being "tripped" when using earned comps in restaurants.

    Also, the Four Queens has a "gaming day" of 2:00 AM to 2:AM (CET has 6:00 AM to 6:00 AM); a bar (Kings Bar) which allows you to play great VP essentially into the Fremont Street Experience; Silver Strikes (with related annual event); hidden gambler tiers; and a sister property (Binions) where you can double dip free play (cannot do that any other multi-property with the exception of Golden gate and the D); 20% off your restaurant order if you are 55 with slot card.

    AND last but not least . . . Excellent cookies at a good value available at the coffee shop cashier which you can buy with comps a few feet from a pretty good steakhouse.
     
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  13. zignerlv

    zignerlv VIP Whale

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    Love that one especially! Again, here is another example of how wacky they are. At least 2, maybe 3 years ago, they had a promotion, giving you a Four Queens jacket, probably costing them about $15, for giving them your email address, obviously so they could have it for marketing to you. Of course, nothing was done with that information, and as you say, they have yet to market via email. Then in October 2019 (or was it May?), the mailer offered $10 in free play, again, for giving them your email address. Of course, now here we are about 4 months later, and I don't expect any email from them.

    You see, this is how the benefits there can be so good. It's 1999 in there! Like you say, no resort fees, no email, no online slot club info, no online hotel reservations, etc, like 1999.
     
    Last edited: Feb 14, 2020
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  14. 3OfDiamonds

    3OfDiamonds Waiting For “Very Good” Video Poker @ Rio…

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    LOL tbh I can deal with the time warp weirdness to keep 4Q’s VP, comps, and good food values :haha::thumbsup: :feedme: I just hope I get a mailer for Apr/May so I can work that into my trip; received a Binion’s mailer for March but no QQQQ :eek::hmmm:
     
    Last edited: Feb 14, 2020
  15. FABismonte

    FABismonte Tell my wife I am "about even."

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    What did Binions offer you?
     
  16. wasilla

    wasilla High-Roller

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    Even if the machine doesn't randomly reset the running session total to zero, it will definitely reset to zero at 4Q's, every time you pull your card out. You basically need to write your point total down before you start playing. The players club also can look it up. Points per day is what matters ($8 per point for VP except $16 for 10/7 DB). No one there cares about your win/loss, denomination played, time played, or theoretical. This isn't a place to low play if you care about comps. A low play trip will reduce your comps for 2 to 3 trips. I'm not talking 2 to 3 offers. It will take 2 to 3 actual trips to overcome a single low play trip.
    The easiest comps tend to be from the D and GG. The D is advertising some new player bonus with up to $400 FP.
     
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  17. wasilla

    wasilla High-Roller

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    Sorry zignerlv. Somehow I missed your post, and yes I think your right about fewer daily points being needed on multi day stays to an extent. My only 4 day stay saw their system actually dropped my points from one of the days and it reduced my offer. It was weird, and hosts couldn't resolve it.

    A few years ago I would periodically get the top offer, but I never met the criteria daily points. I asked a host about it , and he said that he THOUGHT that the system MIGHT drop a one of the days when it divided. It probably had something to do with people tending to arrive late the first day. He in no way came off as certain, but his theory made my comp level make sense.
     
  18. cunningja

    cunningja Tourist

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    You guys should give South Point a try, I play a mixture of VP and slots, and my host has no problem giving me 7 nights comped, and takes care of all my meals on the back end. Sitting at Island bar is my favorite place in all of Vegas!
     
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  19. wasilla

    wasilla High-Roller

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    I am actually extremely interested in this possibility. Are you interested in providing any details of play and comps. Gutshot reported doing well at SP and still getting comped playing good VP, but he plays more coin in than I usually do. I'm pretty much a strictly VP player that usually plays 5K to 10K coin in daily and rarely exceeds 20K, but a mere 3 day comp at SP would be something I would gladly include on my Vegas itinerary.
     
  20. AyDee

    AyDee is getting too old for this

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    @wasilla, SP is good, worth a shot, nice change of pace from downtown, chill, expansive vibe, good food, maybe not 4Q good for pure vp, I can't say, we have table and slot play in the mix..
    were you just in town and are you going to do a TR? I was, and might.

    I like how your detailed reporting brought on a great mini 4Q comp thread, thank you everyone for chipping in helpful info, now I'm glad I skipped all our low play drop ins and hope to hit it hard one day soon.

    this forces me to drop this in:
    Chicago Brewing Co., here I come!
     
    Last edited: Feb 17, 2020
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