rudy paredes is no longer a host in new orleans. he has moved to paris las vegas, but i still would highly recommend him (as i've stated here before) and suggest that you move his profile to that site. in his place i would highly recommend kelley morovich, [email protected]_(mailto:[email protected]) ; she is really terrific. another bit i can add, unless this has changed recently, is that 8/5 bp is available on the 3/5 and 10 play dollar machines in high end room, and on 3/5 machines near poker room railing and across from restrooms.

*** MIA - *** 50c (3/5 Play) 9/6 JoB.

We are just back from a trip to New Orleans. I would like to encourage people to visit the city again. The downtown/French Quarter area is clean and nice. There have been some posts urging people to stay away due to toxic levels, but this should be absolutely no problem to anyone going on a short visit. The mold/toxic questions are for permanent residents who have to live in homes that might have mold. For visitors there are no problems. Harrah's has been making generous offers for people who come to their casino, and you might want to take them up if you get a good offer. Most people are being put up at Loews, Hilton, or Riverside (formerly Wyndym Hotel) -- all of which are within a block of Harrah's casino. Harrah's own brand-new hotel is almost finished, and should be open before the end of the year. Everyone in New Orleans is super nice and helpful. We couldn't believe how accommodating the casino employees were. The Harrah's buffet people were especially terrific in getting us what we wanted. Southern hospitality is at its best all over New Orleans. Right now the trolley along the Riverfront is free, as is the ferry across the river to Algiers. We rode the ferry and visited Mardi Gras World (cost $15 a person, discount for seniors). I recommend this tourist spot -- you can see floats under construction and learn all about the floats and the Mardi Gras. Very interesting, and they even threw in a delicious piece of "King Cake" with coffee or water. It is a short walk to the French Quarter from Harrah's and the hotels - or ride the trolley. Most restaurants are now back in operation. Since crowds are low, it is easy to walk in without reservations, even on a weekend. Cafe du Monde is back in operation with its delicious beignets. The horse-drawn carriages, French Market/Flea Market, musicians on the street, artists selling artwork, etc. are all available in Jackson Square. The Riverwalk is open. The Aquarium and Imax are supposed to reopen shortly. Gray Line has lots of tours in action, including city tour, paddlewheel (yep the Natchez is running), Oak Alley Plantation (we were glad to see this beauty wasn't hurt), cemetery and gris-gris walking tour, Southern Comfort cocktail tour, ghosts and spirits tour, and swamp and bayou tour are all going. They do have a "Hurricane Katrina" tour which covers the history of the disaster, with a drive past the levee and some damaged areas (but not the 9th Ward or New Orleans East). This tour is narrated by local guides with their personal accounts of the hurricane, and 10% of the fee is donated to a non-profit organization. (No, we didn't go on the tour.) Harrah's players will be happy to learn that Harrah's N.O. has a liberal policy for using your comps to pay for Gray Line tours, Natchez, and other sightseeing. We were able to get a rebate for the $ we spent on Mardi Gras World from our comp account. You can also purchase certificates for "partner restaurants" with your comp dollars. The casino is now in great shape. Unfortunately good VP is limited to some .50 and $1 9/6 JB machines in the VP area, and some multiplay NSU and 9/6 $1 and up machines in the hi-roller area. The Diamond Club is open 4pm-12 am on weekdays, 12 noon-2a.m. on weekends and features a bar, plus some cheese & crackers and fruit and hot appetizers served only in the evenings. Bartender John was great, even finding some Talisker single malt scotch, but the other bartender wasn't as good. Hosts may be able to arrange for limo to and from airport, reimbursement of air, $ for Besh steakhouse, and other goodies, but check on exactly what they are offering. My host, Anthony Tate, arranged airfare reimbursement for me, and nothing was deducted from my comp account. On the other hand, host Dana Yuratich arranged partial airfare reimbursement from CoachVee, only to take all his comps to pay for it (and didn't tell him he was going to do that). You may be able to arrange for these bonuses in advance if you don't have a good offer in hand.

*** MIA - *** 5c/10c/25c/$5 Spin Poker NSUD and 9/6 JoB.

The 9/6 JoB progressive bartops at Bar near Starbucks are now 8/5.

to 4000) Base Reward Credits in the year to get Platinum status and 10,000 to get Diamond status. Comps don't expire for 6 months, and are banked indefinitely as long as one point is earned every 6 months. Also, comp points can be used at any Harrah's property. Most Marketing offers aren't deducted from your Reward Credit balance. Hosts can over-ride the new Rewards Program to take care of "good" players. Hosts can't give discretionary comps until all reward credits are used up.

Just got back from NO. All of the .50 and .25 JOB progressives near the poker room have been downgraded to 8/5. All triple play JOB are 9/5. All other triple play games downgraded. Only bright spot 4 .25 stand alone 9/6 JOB. One other bright spot found a .50 triple play 9/6 JOB slant-top located right next to the rail at the poker room. . Spinpoker and Multistrike still intact as reported in database. Also they installed 2 Supertimes Pay but they were out of service this past weekend. Didn't check out bar near Starbucks. Didn't check out Diamond area where 3/5/10 play are. Still there are $1 JOB and DDB progressives - 1 each.

I just got back from spending a week in New Orleans and had the chance to gamble at Harrah's. They have a single .05/.10/.25 multi game Game Maker slant-top that has 8/5 Bonus Poker at all 3 levels. It's in a row of these machines at the end of the VP area. The 5c bank of uprights lists bonus poker, but when I looked at the pay schedule - it was 6/5 JoB.

Was there this past Thursday thru Sunday. 5 cent 10 play and 25 cent 3 play & 5 play NSUD have been downgraded to 15-9 or worse. $ 3-play, 5-play, still 16-10.

Harrah's has 'upgraded' many of their machines. The old 3P quarters are now 3P/5P but the paytables have been downgraded to Ugly Ducks (15/9, the JOB is either 9/5 or 8/5, and the DB is 9/7. There are still a few single line quarter 9/6 JOB. We were just there for three days and spent most of our time playing a progressive bank of .50 9/6 JOB. (There were other games available but JOB was the best.) The high-limit area remains untouched. The inventory at Harrah's NO has gone steadily downhill throughout the year. We have made four trips this year and probably will not go again. A technician told us the remaining .50 bank is due for an 'upgrade' in the near future.

All the 10 play and 3/5 Play 5c J0B games were 8/6 or worse. I think the NSU deuces game have been down graded also, but not 100% on that?

Update NSUD: (4) .05 10play still there (2) .05 50play reported missing still are (2) 5/10/25 cent Spinpoker are there lots of .25 triple play in VP area $1 prog. at bar of Poker Room - Reduced - Not good (2) $1 3/5play in high-limit area still there (2) $1 10play in high-limit area still there 9/6 Jacks: (4) .05 10play still there (2) 5/10/25cent spinpoker are there lots of .25 triple play in VP area 0.25 3/5play missing, maybe replaced by triple play only 0.50 5play missing (2) $1 3/5play in high-limit, still there (2) $1 10play in high-limit, still there $1 prog. at bar in Poker Room, Reduced, Not Good found (1) $1 3/5play near poker room, only 5play had 9/6 I did not thoroughly check all the 9/6 Jacks, so the other DB entries are not verified, but I guess correct. I didnt find any other Good Games. Lots of 98% and some 99% and found no players that seemed educated. Will try to do a trip report ASAP.

We played at only about 4-5 different machines during the whole trip to N.O. and overall we recieved somewhere between 65% to 75% bonus reward credits. All play was NSUD, but most was on Multigame machines, also the system didn't give updates to your points most of the time (if at all), so if you pulled your card out and put it back in, it sometime would be updated, but mostly it was not updated.

There are no FP bartops anywhere. There are 4 Upright aristocrat machines in the middle of the casino with .25 FP JOB. Also at least one $1 FP JOB at the far end of the video poker area away from the poker room.

1 Base Reward Credit is earned for every $5 coin-in on reel slot machines ($10 video poker), and Bonus Reward Credits are awarded based on the type of machine played. On average you get 2 Bonus Credits and 1 Base Credit for every $10 of VP coin-in (probably fewer Bonus Credits for positive VP machines). It takes 3,000 (increased