Deuces Deluxe has been moved to an area between Carriage House restaurant & stairs to 3rd floor parking area. 10 machines. Change booth which used to be where Deuces Deluxe is now has been replaced by 2 self-service coin-counting machine which are located near the inner bar. Extra space created is now filled with slots & progressive vp machines. 10s or better quarter progressives are still there on other side of inner elevators. high-limit area still in disarray. Wondering if high-limit is going TITO & my favorite people at the change booth will disappear. My guess is that $5 Pick'Em will reappear. One change in Total Rewards program that should make everyone happy is that the vouchers sent to you based on play can now be inserted directly into machines that accept them. Before you had to go to slot club to get machine readable vouchers. However, if you can double it by using it on TUE-THU, YOU STILL MUST GO TO SLOT CLUB TO GET IT DOUBLED. I didn't read the fine print & the slot club took pity on me & gave me the voucher anyway.

I'm learning to be a Harrah's Diamond player. For some things you go to VIP services, for other things you go to the Total Rewards Center. They don't seem to talk to each other. You get Reel Rewards from the Total Rewards center. Pretty much everything else comes through VIP services. If you're a Diamond player, you can get a parking pass from VIP services, which gives you special access to the third floor of the parking garage. The parking pass is a card that looks a lot like a slot card, and is good until 3/04. On September 1st, I told VIP Services that my birthday is in September, and even though I didn't have any printed offer, I persuaded them to give me my birthday present, which turned out to be a coffee table book called "Hearts of Light: Impressions of Lake Tahoe". My husband has a gold card (bottom tier), and gets coupons and offers that are sometimes more appealing than my diamond offers! This time he played 100 points ($1000 in action) and got a watch and sunglasses set. I think I might have preferred the watch and sunglasses over the coffee table book. Coupon sheets are available over at the Harrah's Total Rewards Center. Technically they are for guests of the hotel. I assumed that includes Harveys and simply nodded yes when they asked if I was a guest. The coupons aren't nearly what they once were, but here's what you get: -- $1 free slot play. Present coupon at cage and they will give you one shiny $1 token. -- Coupon to get a coupon sheet next door at Bill's Casino. The Bill's coupon sheet includes a 25% off coupon good for the Roadhouse Grill and a $5 matchplay. -- Buy one Drink/Get one Free at California Bar, good Sun-Thurs, 5- 7pm. (Hey, I thought all the booze was free.) -- Buy one Ice Cream/Get one Free at Ice Creamery. -- Free Glass of Wine with purchase of entree at Llewellyn's, valid Sun-Thurs, good for up to 4 people. -- Buy one ticket/Get one Free for Improv at Harveys. -- $3 off Pacifica Seafood Buffet, valid 4-6pm. -- $2 off Forest Buffet, valid any day until 7pm. -- $25 spa credit when you purchase $100 or more in spa treatments or products. A 50-minute massage costs $90 so this presents something of a dilemma, so you might end up buying expensive body wash to get up to $100. Thinking I would use this coupon, I had made a reservation for an 80- minute massage ($115). I ended up using a $50 off coupon I had from my Diamond mailer, and then realized on checking out that they had only charged me for a 50-minute massage. I ended up getting docked only $40 on my comp account for a VERY nice massage, which I would have been happy to pay for. Splurge and go for the 80-minute massage and ask for Jesse Ramos. He is the best ever. I always try to kick back some of my coupon savings to him as a tip. Harveys put on the best fireworks show I have ever seen. They managed to coordinate the fireworks with the music and someone had cleverly picked songs that all had a "labor" theme, like "Taking Care of Business", "Working 9 to 5", etc. All in all, Harveys has made the new Total Rewards II system palatable to me. (After outings to Harrah's Laughlin and Harrah's Reno, I wasn't sure I would stick it out.) Comps are still generous and the rooms are outstanding. I have become spoiled by triple- sheeting, and now when I touch a blanket at a hotel I go, "Eeewwww". I love that I can bank my comps now, so I'm not in such desperation to use up every point. I'm really looking forward to using some of the comps I earned this trip at the Rio in Las Vegas.

The Pacifica Sea Food Buffet there is overpriced and over- rated.

It takes 3,000 (increased

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

Harveys/Harrah's have their own separate computer systems and maintain their own individual identities.

Diamond Lounges require Photo ID to get in and usually you can only take 1 guest. Be sure to have your Diamond/Platinum cards to avoid lines for buffets (find one on the floor if you don't have a card so you can avoid long lines).