staying in Vegas

seadragon

Hi all
Im planning on going to vegas in the spring and was looking for some info/advice. I mainly want to play cheapish daily tounaments and a bit of cash. Best places to stay? best for daily tournies? I have stayed at the Luxor years ago, but it no longer has a poker room (i dont think). I would rather stay on the strip as a preference. Any advice/info/recent experience would be greatly appreciated

thanks

Seadragon

hhyftrftdr

Best places to stay;

High end- Bellagio, Venetian/Palazzo, Wynn/Encore, Aria, Casers Palace

Mid range - Paris, MGM, Monte Carlo, NYNY

Budget; Excalibur, Flamingo (don't bother with Circus Circus or Stratosphere no matter how cheap they come out at)

Prices in Vegas can be weird depending on time of year and events on in the city, so sometimes you can pick up a 5* hotel for a good price, always worth checking and shopping around. Don't forget about the resort fees, typically $40-45 a night per room.

Best cash games;

In my experience its the 'touristy' hotels that provide the best games at $1/$2 levels. So places like Planet Hollywood, Flamingo, Treasure Island, Ballys, Mirage. There is never an excuse to sit in a bad game in Vegas as it's not difficult to find a decent game. Tend to avoid places like Venetian and Aria as they often have young internet types in headphones, whereas Flamingo is brimming with old Yanks in 'Make America Great Again' caps....I know which game I'd prefer to sit in

Best daily MTTs;

Unless it's changed recently, then Aria by a distance. They run twice a day (afternoon and evening), $125 buy in with a decent structure. A lot of the daily comps in Vegas are very crapshooty so although $125 buy ins can soon add up, I'd much rather play one of them than 2x$65 comps which will be over very quick and not much fun. Look out for weekend specials at places like Wynn and Golden Nugget.

edrich

Hi seadragon,

After a few years of staying at Excalibur, we switched to Flamingo this year as Luxor and Monte Carlo had closed their poker rooms and we, like you, enjoyed playing the cheaper 3 to 4 hour tournaments down that end. It's usually one of the cheaper hotels in the middle of the strip but we found it fine. We paid £466 for a week in February with direct flights from Gatwick. I think they have five daily tournaments for around $65 which took around 3 1\2 hours with 20-30 runners.

In the under $80\3-4 hour tournament bracket you have Harrahs, Treasure Island, Mirage and Planet Hollywood not far away. You are also well placed for the more expensive but better structured tournaments at places like Aria, Caesars Palace, Bellagio and Venetian.

We don't play much cash while we're out there so I'll leave that to others to advise. Just to say that Flamingo seemed to have plenty of cash tables running at all sorts of levels, especially in the evenings.

If you want to check all this out for yourself then get the Poker Atlas app. It lists all of the poker rooms and every tournament in Las Vegas. It has always proved invaluable and to be very accurate.

Hope this helps.

edrich

Unless it's changed recently, then Aria by a distance. They run twice a day (afternoon and evening), $125 buy in with a decent structure.

Played one of these earlier in the year, and would definitely recommend them if you can afford the extra time and buy in. It did make a change from the faster cheaper tournaments that, as hhy mentions, can turn into a bit of a crapshoot late on.

seadragon

cheers, all helpful stuff. I rarely play cash, but was thinking of having a dabble in Vegas . . .not sure if this is wise!? Any tips?

hhyftrftdr

seadragon said:

cheers, all helpful stuff. I rarely play cash, but was thinking of having a dabble in Vegas . . .not sure if this is wise!? Any tips?

Definitely wise, the games can be really really nice over there.

Couple of little intricacies that are strange at first (from a UK perspective) like when the button straddles the blinds act first, and if it folds round to the blinds then the sb will often offer to 'chop' the pot with the bb (IE take their blinds back and crack on with the next hand).

Doesn't take long to get your head round these once you've seen them in action.

On the tipping front, I tend to do it but its a personal thing and the dealers won't glare at you if you forget. If you're playing $1/$2 and perhaps win a $300+ pot then I'd probably leave them a $5 chip to take, maybe 3 or 4 bucks for a $150 pot and a dollar or 2 for the smaller ones. No obligation to do so though.

On the service front, $1 per drink is usually fine. Maybe if you've got something of high value then an extra $1 wouldn't go amiss, or if the waitress has been looking after you well all evening and you wanna spread the wealth.

For me, the key thing will be to play in the 'right' casino. I have my go to places mentioned above, but for example if a decent game at Flamingo looks like it's turning less decent then don't hesitate to pick up your chips and have a mooch around other hotels. It's very judgmental but you can often gauge how good a table looks before you've even sat down.

And the best bit of advice is this; losing is easier to handle if you're smashed off $1 drinks.

seadragon

Thanks hhy, appreciate the tips/help. :-)