I'm sure you could find cheaper bars away from the strip, but as others have said, $12 to $15 for an American pint is now commonplace.
A couple of places we have found are, $3 bottles in Casino Royale, between Harrahs and Venetian. Also OYO which is opposite the back of the MGM Grand do $2 bottles, and will have most of the sport on.
A bit like going to Wetherspoons before you head into town.
If you want cheaper drinks then there are a few bars in the Planet Hollywood mall that are ridiculously cheap although beware I had a large Blue Moon in the Mexican restaurant out front this summer. Didn't see the cost until they brough the bill and it was $22
If you're not too bothered about Vegas and just want to go and play poker and have a blast, is it more cost effective to go to Reno or Laughlin or A.C. etc.
I would love to make a trip over just to play poker all day every day for say 10 days.
It will be cheaper for food and drink in Reno and AC (not been to Laughlin). AC was really run down last time I went. Not sure it has recovered since. Reno was ok but again seemed to be struggling. The Peppermill casino there is as good as the best Vegas ones though.
Poker wise, if you want to play cash all day you will be ok. Tournaments not so much. The low buy in, 3 to 4 hour tournaments in all three have all but dried up. So many poker rooms in Vegas have closed in the last 5 years. You can still plot your way around Vegas playing tournaments all day, but it has become a lot harder, and a lot more expensive. you used to be able to play tournaments all day for around $200, now it will cost you $500+
Borgata seems to be the only place in AC that still does tournaments. There's a couple in Reno but they're not all likely to get enough players to run some days. Peppermill seems only to do one, maybe two tournaments per day.
I went to Atlantic City in 2018, was quite excited to get some good poker in as part of a wider trip across a few East coast cities. In hindsight I wouldn't recommend it for anyone. Although there are still some nice hotels it's really nothing like Vegas, you will see crack heads on the street, people shooting other drugs into their arms no more than a few hundred yards off the board walk, we were also advised by our hotel to not walk the boardwalk late at night. There were poker tournies running at only two hotels beyond Borgata, games were filled with working class guys out of Philly out to enjoy the weekend but they could play and were aggressive too so the games were not soft. Borgata is a couple of miles or a short taxi ride from the board walk and is much, much nicer. The poker here was booming, the clientele very different from the boardwalk. I played the Sunday tournie which was $300 entry with a rebuy option, ran deep and finished a couple of places outside the money but really enjoyed the overall experience. Some good regs in the mix but enough reasonably wealthy recreational players there to make the games profitable.
I've never been to Reno or Loughlin but I would worry how poker actually runs given the decline I saw in AC and Vegas. Really ten years ago the smaller Vegas hotels would run $65-150 entry tournies and they'd get fields of 100+. The player pool was especially weak with a lot of recs that would limp fold or go crazy post with any pair. Now most rooms in Vegas have closed down, you will struggle to find any buy in for less than $100, most are $200 up. Most fields have very few younger generation, it's predominately a fifty year plus male generated crowd. Most of the Americans haven't really evolved their games since Black Friday they will largely play TAG and get out the way when they don't hit the board. Of course there are exceptions but it's very noticeable watching Europeans vs the Americans in terms of styles.
Anyway my favourite place to play in Vegas is Aria the softest tournies tend to be at MGM (which doesn't appear to care about it's poker room any more - it's just a roped off area), the Caesers poker room seems to be a magnet for local regs who aren't amazing but do make the games tougher to beat vs some of the other lower stakes places. Resorts World has a poker room but I'm not sure how long that will last, it's location means it's quiet when ever I've played there. WSOP Deepstack events are good value, large fields but also some decent players in there.
Fantastic thread @Tikay10 great to have a bit of the day to day info about the place. Question: how neccesary is it to rent a car? I know it's a red hot desert, so i am guessing walking places isn't too feasible. But how is the public transport? Are the casinos close together?
Never been, planning to one day, seems like ive missed the boat with regards to prices though!
You don't need to rent a car at all if you stay on the strip. You only ever leave if you venture down town (can be done by taxi for about $30), strip clubs (honestly never been but the lads I go with frequently visit and say you can get free transport there) or if you want to go to say Hoover Dam, one of the Utah national parks then the tour operators will collect you from hotels. The strip itself is five miles long but can be easilly navigated with monorail bar a few exceptions like Circus Circus and REsorts wOrld where either you brave walking outside for 15-20 mins or take a taxi.
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I've never been to Reno or Loughlin but I would worry how poker actually runs given the decline I saw in AC and Vegas. Really ten years ago the smaller Vegas hotels would run $65-150 entry tournies and they'd get fields of 100+. The player pool was especially weak with a lot of recs that would limp fold or go crazy post with any pair. Now most rooms in Vegas have closed down, you will struggle to find any buy in for less than $100, most are $200 up. Most fields have very few younger generation, it's predominately a fifty year plus male generated crowd. Most of the Americans haven't really evolved their games since Black Friday they will largely play TAG and get out the way when they don't hit the board. Of course there are exceptions but it's very noticeable watching Europeans vs the Americans in terms of styles.
Anyway my favourite place to play in Vegas is Aria the softest tournies tend to be at MGM (which doesn't appear to care about it's poker room any more - it's just a roped off area), the Caesers poker room seems to be a magnet for local regs who aren't amazing but do make the games tougher to beat vs some of the other lower stakes places. Resorts World has a poker room but I'm not sure how long that will last, it's location means it's quiet when ever I've played there. WSOP Deepstack events are good value, large fields but also some decent players in there.