Penn National Gaming, Inc. has completed its acquisition of Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc.

>99% poker available for only dollars or higher. However, 98.01% BP is available on 100-play penny machines with no minimum bet. Also 98.01% w/Double Super Times Pay is available for 10c, 25c, or 50c.

New owner... According to this press release and many news articles:

I went but did not do a thorough check of all machines. The area that has the $1 9/6 DDB progressives also now has two 50L with 9/6 JB available at the $1 level. The odd thing about these machines is that the buttons to choose 10 lines, 15 lines, 25 lines, etc., is not available on these machines; so, you have to hit "play one line" over and over again everytime you want to change the number of lines you are playing.

I spoke to a host who said that Ameristar installed many new video poker games but knew nothing about pay schedules. She said VP is $8 per point and 600 points = $5. This is about .1% cb. She said that top tier players will get x2 or x3 point days every week.

Ameristar closes deal for Resorts East Chicago

Coin-in to earn tier credits appears to have been increased once again. This number has never been static since the new system was rolled out in July of 2006, but seemed to hover at somewhere around $75 per credit; at that rate, it took just over $500,000 of coin-in to earn Ultra (the top tier card) every six months. On this visit, tier credits were earned at a rate of $289 per credit - which now means that gaining Ultra status will require an astounding $2.3 MILLION dollars of coin-in every six months! The (2) $5 MG 8/5 BP uprights on 3rd deck in high-limit Room against the wall are MIA.

*** MIA - *** (11) 9/6 Bdlx $1 Game Kings on third floor. (2) 9/5 WHA $1 (3/5 Play) on back wall of third floor table game poker room. (8) 9/6 JoB 25c one floor down, all the way to the right, against the far wall. (4) 9/6 JoB 25c to the left of the Fast Action games on the third floor. 25c/$1 9/6 JoB scattered upstairs near table games and in lower level vp area. (11) $1 9/6 JoB Game Kings on third floor. (8) 9/7 DB 25c one floor down, all the way to the right, against the far wall. 25c/$1 /7 DB scattered upstairs near the table games and in the lower level vp area. 25c/$1 /5 BPscattered upstairs near the table games and in the lower level vp area. $1/$2 8/5 BP on the 3rd deck. (8) 25c 9/6 DDB one floor down, all the way to the right, against the far wall. 25c/$1 9/6 DDB scattered upstairs near table games and in lower level vp area. 25c 15/9 DW (Illinois Deuces) on 3rd floor. 25c 7/5 BP PROG in the basement.

Just one month after cashback was slashed in half, virtually all playable games were removed. The renovated high-limit area is nice and service is generally very good. HL players will be brought a wrap, shrimp cocktail, or fruit plate if requested. There is really nothing left to play here. The amount of coin-in required to earn Tier Credits varies. Bounce Back Cash is mailed almost daily.

1) Tier Credits: Three cards, Classic, Elite, and Ultra. Published Info: Classic is the basic card everyone starts with, Elite requires 1500 points every six months, Ultra requires 8000 points every six months. NOTHING has been published that reveals what kind of play constitutes a point. Unpublished Info: As of last weekend, I have earned 8255 tier credits since the inception of the new program in July. This required just under $600,000CI to accomplish. Tier credits based on CI were different for every trip, although I played the same three machines every trip. The range varied from a low of $63.69CI per tier credit to a high of $162.16CI per tier credit. The average overall was just over $70CI per tier credit. It is my understanding that my Ultra status is good until 7/1/07. To maintain Ultra beyond that time, I will need to earn another 8000 tier credits from 1/1/07- 6/30/07 (which will then carry me through to 1/1/08). 2) R Points: These are the equivalent of HET's Reward Credits. Whereas HET has some secret system whereby you can never be sure what you will earn in a given session, LVH/Resorts publishes this info. R Points earned can be used at face value for self-comping, or at half value for cashback. Published: When the new program was initially rolled out in July, published info stated that one R point was earned for every $8CI on vp and that 100 points was worth $1. This meant that when used for self-comps, the value was .12%; when used as cashback, the value was .06% (the percentages were not published - I am just including that info). Semi-Published: Whereas a big deal was made of the new program when it was rolled out and I received a brochure by mail detailing the info I am sharing here, changes were made to the R Points leg of the program approx. two weeks ago that were NOT announced via a mailing. When playing last weekend, I noticed that my R Points were not accumulating at the same rate ($8CI per pt) and did some investigating to find out why. It turns out that this leg of the program was changed days earlier. The Players Club area had a sign taped to the desk that revealed this information - but, unless you were to go to the desk and read the sign, you would not know this. The revised system awards 2.5 points for every $40CI on vp, which means the benefits were cut in half. Self-comp value is now .06%, cashback value is .03%. It was awful before, totally pathetic now. Unpublished (to my knowledge): When you have Ultra status, it is unnecessary to use R Points for comps as everything I have ever asked for has been given to me as a discretionary comp. I have several friends who are Elite and have had no problem getting all of their meals as discretionary comps as well. There is no guarantee concerning this - it is merely my experience. 3) Destiny Dollars: Dollars earned that can be used at any property (other than your home property) for comps. Published: Little, other than the description I just gave. Unpublished: Destiny Dollars may/may not be earned while playing at a property other than your home property. While I have played at a property other than my home property, my account was messed up in the conversion and I was never able to come to a solid conclusion on this (I will verify on future trips). The way these dollars accumulate is a big secret, just like it is with Tier Credits. The range at which I have earned $1DD (Destiny Dollar) goes from a low of $1185CI to a high of $2651CI. My home casino is currently running a special whereby DD's are earned at 6x the "normal" rate. As my DD account has over $1000 in it now, I suspect (but am only guessing) that when I do visit another property (non-home casino), that I may be required to use up my DD's on comps before I am issued any discretionary comps. Rooms have always been comped for me and my "home" casino sends me BB that ranges from $70 to $250 per day (I get about 25 BB coupons per month, each good for 1 or 2 specific days). On a "good" month, I am able to get there to redeem about six of these a month.

The "99%" 25c bank has been replaced by slots and the VP games are being moved one row further away from that wall. The bad news is that the four games reinstalled so far no longer have NSUD or Triple Pay Plus. Best game is 8-5 Bonus. I suspect when they reinstall the rest, they will be downgraded too.

Visited on 4/8 and did an inventory check on machines not being played. Was unable to locate any $1 10/6DDB, SDB, TB+, or NSUD. The only FP WHA I could find was at the $2 level. The 25c inventory appears to be unchanged.

There have been some changes for the better. You now cannot throw a rock without hitting some FPJB. Single play quarter and dollar machines upstairs near the table games and in the lower level vp area. There is also $JB in the bartops at the flair bar. Most of the multigames that have the JB also contain 9/7 DB, 8/5 BP and 9/6 DDB. So there is an awful lot of 99% and above inventory. I did not spot any new NSUD. Unfortunately, multiplay and $5 inventory is still bad. The bank of uprights that contained the JB, NSUD and TB+ remain. The $ DDB prog with meters on royal and all the quads, previously short pay, is now 9/6.

Colony Capital is buying Harrah's East Chicago

$10 to get 1 Reward Credit. Previously, you received zero bonus RC for video poker. Now you receive almost 1 bonus rc for each RC. Discretionary comps are almost impossible. However, 30,000 RC gets you airfare for 1 to any Harrah's prop in the us ( if you're a diamond member).