$1 BP progressives downgraded to $1 8/5 JOB prog.

Confirmed the FPDW machines were downgraded. The $1 BP progressive bank is still there.

Pay scales on the $1/$2 FPDW have been down graded.

$1,000,000 coin-in per year earns 7 Star status.

Found $1/$2 FPDW GameKing TITOs at Harveys Lake Tahoe, located just outside the Mountain Tower elevators where the $1 DDlx used to be. Three out of a bank of six machines, they are brand new, fast (1,000+ hph) slant tops. You get 1 Bonus Reward Credit (= 1 cent) per $600 coin-in at these machines, but for $80 per hour of expected win, who cares! There was only one other serious player during my two day stay.

Harveys has become a VP wasteland. Switching to TITO was almost complete by the end of May, and all good VP are gone (PE, DDlx, even the 8/5 Job progressives). Nothing at the 5¢ level, best game by a long shot at 25¢ is 8-5 Bonus; at 50¢ and $ there is 8-5 Bonus and 9-5 JoB. The lone $5 PE is still there (and that's the only PE machine at Harveys or Harrah's). Nothing else returns above 98%. Harrah's still has a few 25¢ JoB, and $ NSUD (1- and 3- play).

The $5 Gamemaker with Pickem is MIA. Harveys has added an 8/5 BP $1 progressive just outside the poker room.

This past Tuesday morning (May 4th) the 10 $1 Duces Deluxe machines were removed. The 5 .25 DWdlx machines remain, but locals tell me not for long.

Harveys Lake Tahoe: Also owned by Harrahs, and your Total Rewards card works the same as at Harrahs. No DB here, but there is a lone $5 PE machine at the high-limit area, no $1 PE, the 5c and 25c PEs are next to the interior (Mountain Tower elevators). Best game here is Deuces Deluxe (some labelled as Deuces Wild Bonus) with 4700-coin royal (100.65%) in 25c and $1 denominations (can use Aiport aka Illinois Deuces strategy as basic strategy for this game), also in the same area. 25c NSU inside the Hard Rock Cafe, great Pork Shank there, but charges at the Hard Rock cannot be settled with your brc's. Avoid the crowded, over-priced, and over-rated Pacifica buffet.

The old 25 cent "Deuces Wild Bonus" (DWdlx) games are with the 25 and 5 cent GameMakers with Pick'em down between the buffet entrance and the existing 1$ DWdlx machines. I've never seen a $1 Pick'em machine there, so it's either phantom or MIA. BTW, comp points on the 5$ Pick'em machine in the high-roller zone are roughly 2x base points; comp points on the $1 DWdlx are roughly 4x base points once you're about 1/2 hour into play.

Harveys has covered parking with a very nice diamond parking area on the 3rd floor right next to the casino entrance; just show a (I didn't say "your") diamond card at the Harveys' total rewards counter and they will give you a tracking card keyed to the toll booth. At this time of the year, this is a definite plus, because you don't need to worry about having to dig your car out of the Harrah*s' parking lot after a winter storm. The Mountain Tower rooms at Harveys are about half as nice as the standard rooms at Harrah*s. The luxury Lake Tower rooms at Harveys are comparable to the standard rooms at Harrah*s. So make sure you are comparing apples with apples. If you get a room at the Mountain Tower at Harveys and go to your floor from the hotel lobby elevators, make sure a cab is waiting for you at your floor----it can be a mile long walk from the elevator to your room. Well kept secrets at Harveys: 1) 25c NSU Deuces are alive and well at Harveys, they reside inside the Hard Rock Café, and are fast (speed adjustable) touch screen machines. Why would a sane person forgo the 100.65% Deuces Deluxe in favor of the 99.73% NSUD? Precisely to maintain one's sanity! After tormenting yourself with those 10+ year old clunky, funky, Sigma Deuces Deluxe, I'm sure you'll arrive at the same conclusion, and say to yourself: "Thank heavens I am not a pro, I can _afford_ to lose $3 an hour if I choose to!" My sentiments, exactly. 2) The pork shank at the Hard Rock Café is even better than my mom's (mom: that's OK, when I have your pork shank, I didn't have to put up with the bartendress doing the "YMCA" on top of the bar counter). There is nothing better to wash down the pork shank with a few glasses of Moet & Chandon followed by another few glasses of B&B at this time of the year! 3) The rude awakening: Well drinks and other reasonable call drinks are complimentary if you play the slots at the Hard Rock, but the above-captioned libations (and the pork shank, and the fat tip) are not. No big deal, just charge that to your room and settle your account at check-out with your 6-figure total rewards bonus reward credits. Unfortunately, at this point, you'll be politely reminded that even though The Hard Rock resides within Harveys, it is not a property of the Harrah*s Cooperation and nothing other than cold hard cash can settle your previous night's indiscretions. Now, you are REALLY glad that you are not a pro! $1 Deuces Deluxe with 4700-coin royal. About 10 of these Sigmas (they were recently moved, but are within 50 feet of their previous locations). Also same games in 25c but are advertised as Deuces Wild Bonus, 2 of these remained in the Video Poker Bar, another 6 are now located at the exit of the Mountain Tower elevators. You'll also find 25c Pick'em there (the right 3 machines out of a bank of about 10), as well as 5c Pick'em (about 10 machines).

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.

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