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Your Vegas Favourites
Sky_Poker
Member Posts: 2,715
Hi all
As you likely know, Tikay has been writing his guide to Vegas - see here for part 1
Anyway, we thought it would be interesting for people who have been to share their...
1) Favourite HOTEL
2) Favourite CASINO
3) Favourite PLACE TO EAT
4) Favourite THING TO SEE
5) Favourite HIDDEN GEM
Feel free to add why they are your favourites.
Thanks
Sky Poker
Comments
2) Venetian or Aria, too close to call. Not played poker there, but New York New York's casino is pretty funky.
3) Blondies for a $3 breakfast, washed down with $2 Buds.
4) Erm, a show? Tikay recommends Celine Dion I think.
5) A little hole in the ground called the Grand Canyon, but shhhh, not many people know about it.
2.Had some great nights on the craps tables with the crazy americans at the hard rock but the poker at harrahs was cheap and at the standard where I didn't feel out of place.
3.Oscars downtown, Gordon Ramsey's Steak at caesers.
4.Probably cliché but Bellagio fountains also grand canyon was good
5.Rooftop nightclub at the Rio, good restaurant at top as well with great views.
I'm going to answer them one at a time over a couple of weeks as the answers might be a bit long. It's so hard, I've been there over 50 times and so many things change.
Let's start with the hotel...
The first thing to say is that you can pay anything from $30 a night to $25,000. I've stayed in a motel-style place at the north end of the strip, close to the place where Stu Ungar was found dead, and they are simply not nice. Often times when you get a package that includes a flight and hotel they'll put you in the Circus Circus or the Stratosphere. These are not great either and you'll be a long way from the action and may waste lots of time on and waiting for buses, waiting for and paying for taxis or walking in the heat.
If they offer you Excalibur then that is much nicer but if you plan to play the smallish tournaments at the Planet Hollywood or Aria you'll soon get bored of walking but it will feel "too close" to get a cab.
Remember...you are paying by the day for your trip and I like to cram in as much poker, shopping, pool time, eating with friends, relaxing and as little travelling about as possible.
If I was looking at the lower prices and I'm going for WSOP then Gold Coast wins every time. You are just across a road and in the back of the Rio and it cost $49.99 Sun-Thurs and $99.99 most weekends. All Vegas hotels charge more on Friday and Saturday simply because they can...the whole of LA comes to Vegas on those days.
If you think about what you can spend in the UK on a Double Tree Hilton or a Holiday Inn Express or Ibis then I would say Vegas is 10x better.
A lovely hotel like Paris, Wynn, Bellagio or Aria will "only" cost about $200 a night. These days average London hotel prices are £144 a night and these are way above average hotels. I love the Wynn as the windows are floor to ceiling making he room much lighter than at Aria or Bellagio. I like the pastel colours too, the other places can be a little gloomy. You are a bit away from the main poker action but the poker room there is great and attracts rich recreationals.
At all these places you should book by calling the poker office in the poker room. They can deal with your hotel booking and will put you on poker rate if you commit to play. Some of these places will only do that the second time you stay there once they see how you go...they like about 4-8 hours of play a day and it's all recorded on your players card.
Poker rates are usually around $100 a night and $200 a night weekends so if you stay a week at Bellagio you should save around $700.
I have spent a night in a $20,000 a night Playboy suite at the Palms. It has it's own glass pool off the balcony and is on two floors. Generally people don't pay for these things and the hotels just give them to people, often if they are big losers at gambling.
If you want to keep away from slot machines the places that are a cross between a little flat and a hotel room are great. The Signature at the MGM, the Palms Place and the Vdara (next to Aria), all offer a fridge, microwave, oven, hob, dishwasher and a living room. You'll pay between $100 and $250 a night with the prices generally being great if you stay a month.
Mid range there is a lot of choice and it really depends where you want to play. Caesars is great for being central, the rooms are fun and the pools and shopping are both excellent. TI has a very young feel especially at weekends...not my thing...don't try swimming in the pool which is more of a large bar with water. Mirage is slightly for older people than TI. This used to be THE place where the big game would be held. I've heard the poker room may go altogether soon. The rooms and restaurants are great and the pool is pretty. Paris has great restaurants, you are very central and just across from Bellagio, a bit expensive but nice to try midweek. Mandalay Bay is a total pain to get to other places but it's lovely. Really fancy and posh and has the best pool in Vegas with a wave machine and a sandy beech. The restaurants are amazing and the House of Blues has 80s bands on quite often. The MGM Grand is just too big. 5000 rooms and you WILL get lost. Kraftsteak and the Joel Rubichon restaurants are amazing but I don't like to stay there. Luxor is a good mid price option. The tower rooms are cheaper than the pramid ones and twice as big. It's a bit of a pain to go elsewhere but at Luxor, Exclalibur and Mandalay Bay you can play smallish cash and $30-$60 tournaments at all hours. Planet Hollywood is nice, just next to Paris and handy for Bellagio, very nice pool half way up the hotel and they are having a decent poker festival this summer.
One thing you need to be aware of is the horrible "resort fees". Hotels are so aware of price comparison and the internet and they want to appear cheapest but they often include these hidden charges at around $20 a night. If you don't pay them you can't have the internet or use the pool.
It's impossible to say where you should stay. Like a lot of poker questions the answer is always "it depends". What you should never do is stay at Venetian or Pallazo, which is a shame as both are lovely. Sheldon Adelson the owner of these places is a massive hypocrite. He is a billionaire through gambling but spends his whole life campaigning against online poker and has donated 100s of millions to buy politicians who are helping him in his campaign.
Wherever you stay it will be great.
Casino is a tricky one as are all the questions.
In terms of the range of casino, ("pit" games versus the house), games on offer they are all broadly the same. Some places have roulette wheels with one zero instead of two, often these are hidden away and they only have one table. They sometimes describe it as "European Roulette" and if you are a roulette fiend you'll notice that the numbers are in the same order on the wheel as at home, which they aren't on the "American" wheels. Some places have different kinds of slots that aren't offered everywhere (a friend of mine and I once spent two hours in Ballys asking various staff members if they could direct us to the slots...we were pretty drunk and it seemed hilarious). Some places have different Black Jack rules (restrictions on how many times you can double, dealer must hit or stand on soft 17 etc) and some places have different kinds of blackjack like double or single deck as well as Spanish 21 and others. Some places are great for dice. Craps is a game which should be enjoyed in a big crowd socially, so that everyone gets to handle the dice, get free drinks and shout a lot. Some places allow bigger bets "behind the line"...the one true odds bet in the casino and they used to offer 100x your pass line bet in some places. I think they have all stopped that now.
For me I like the casino for people watching and card counting. On the former everywhere is good but generally places like Encore, Mandalay Bay, Cosmopolitan and Bellagio will be where you see really rich people playing massive stakes and downtown at the Horseshoe, the Four Queens and the Las Vegas Club you'll see some more degenerate low rollers.
The Wynn is a good place to generally hang out and watch the world go by as is the Aria and the Mirage. They all seem to be pretty bustly and fun. The Hard Rock is a really chilled place and I would recommend a visit.
For Black Jack I like the double deck and the Wynn is pretty good for that. The Palms is great but they throw you out quickly and the same is true of anywhere downtown where a bigger player stands out too much.
If you are on a tight budget and you run low a popular day is to go to as many casinos as possible that you've never been to.
Essentially you'll soon realise they are all pretty similar but it's the people and the memories that make each one different.
I am aware by the way Dontelmum...I wish they weren't and I wouldn't have chosen that. I'm sorry if I spoke my mind but at my age that isn't really going to change.
Buy a 48 hour 'hop-on, hop-off' bus ticket, these are the red open-top London style double-deckers. On the first day do the entire tour of Vegas. You'll see absolutely everything the city has to offer, all that's been mentioned here and a ton more, with a useful commentary from a local person who knows the place very well. On the second day take the bus again, this time get off and spend time at all the places that appealed to you most on the first day.
2. MGM Grand/Monte Carlo. Liveliest/friendliest
3. Sushisamba
4. The atmosphere just before the "shuffle up & deal" at the main event
5. Not so hidden-the weather. Hot plus low humidity: heaven