Vegas advice needed, end of June

[p5woody]

Hello, I am new to this site as you can tell by my number of post.  I wasn't sure if I should post here or off topic.

The Wife and I are heading to Vegas without the kids at the end of June and I am looking for advice.  Any help would be appreciated.  This is our first trip to Vegas, we are on the east coast so we probably won't be coming back any time soon.  I am looking to play Texas hold-em tournaments mostly and the wife will play mostly penny/nickel slots.  She is not a big gambler so it is important to stay somewhere she can be entertained.  We will probably look into a couple of shows and I would like small sit and go type tournaments or tournaments with low buyins.

Here are my questions:
1) Should we stay on the strip? downtown?
2) Any recommendations? looking for decent accommodations but don't want to mortgage the house.
3) Any good deals end of June? packages? comps? etc
4) Best place for sit and go or decent low buyin tournaments
5) Any must see day trips or shows?
6) Anything else I need to consider?

Thanks,

[kimert]

Hi there p5woody,

Im not the one to give you LV advice, the closest I have ever been is in my dreams when I took down 8m at the wsop.

But this site seems to have alot of good advice http://www.allvegaspoker.com/

Im going to Vegas next year so Im also interested in hearing what peaople have to say.

[brianb10]

1) Should we stay on the strip? downtown?
2) Any recommendations? looking for decent accommodations but don't want to mortgage the house.
3) Any good deals end of June? packages? comps? etc
4) Best place for sit and go or decent low buyin tournaments
5) Any must see day trips or shows?
6) Anything else I need to consider?

Thanks,

1) This is just my preference but I would stay on the strip and just take a day trip downtown if you want to check it out.  Staying downtown will probably be cheaper but it sounds like you would end up hanging out on the strip area more anyways.  I think downtown is an acquired taste and is appealing after you have seen and down the strip a bunch and are burned out on the crowds etc.

2) My wife and I usually stay wherever Expedia gives us a good package deal.  We have been very happy and gotten very reasonable rates at Monte Carlo, Treasure Island and the Mirage.  I usually see some pretty good deals at Planet Hollywood also.  Since you are going to have your wife with you I would stay away from the Imperial Palace, Hooters, etc.  You can get some great deals but to me those places are more for guy trips where you are never in the room anyways.  Just my opinion.
Try this site they have some good deals posted now and then http://dealnews.com/categories/Everything-Else/Travel-Entertainment/Hotels/208.html?filter=c%3A208%3B&e=0&o=&k=las+vegas

Also consider signing up for the email deals directly from the hotels.  MGM owns a lot of the big name hotels and they send out some pretty nice deals now and then.  Go to any one of their properties websites i.e. http://www.montecarlo.com/promotions/ for the Monte Carlo and scroll to the bottom of the page.  Sign up for the email deals and you should get deals for all their properties.  Repeat this for other hotels you might like.

3) See answer to #2

4) Check out AllVegasPoker at http://www.allvegaspoker.com/tournaments.php for a list of all the tournaments in Vegas and their buy-ins.  It is about as up to date as you can find.  I think for value you will find Planet Hollywoods tournaments to be pretty good and the Treasure Island headhunter is probably one of the best structure wise although it is $125 so that may not be low level.  TI also has some $65 tournaments that are good.  Obviously look at the structure as most of the small buy-ins are crap shoots but I have heard that Sahara is good for low level buy-ins and Monte Carlo has some cheap ones as well.

5) If you rent a car then I would definitely go see the Hoover Dam.  It is a short trip.  Also check out Red Rock canyon if you like hiking and the sort.  Since you're going in June you may want to make this a morning trip    There are plenty of trip to the grand canyon if you have never been.  My wife and I did one of the helicopter trips out there but that is pretty pricey.

5) for shows you want to check out Tickets 4 Tonight http://www.tix4tonight.com/   They open at 11 and sell tickets for shows that night at up to half off.  My wife and I see one show per visit and have never paid full price for a show.  They won't always have the brand new shows but if you have never seen any shows you will have no problem finding something you like.  There will be a line starting around 10 or 10:30 but even if you went there at 1:00 you can still get decent shows.  They give you a voucher that you turn in at the show for your seats so its best to go straight from there to the show to get the best seats.  Also note that most theaters are small so all seats are generally good. 

Good luck and have a great trip!

[p5woody]

thank you,

Lots of good info, Looks like I will be staying on the strip. 

Time to start researching the links you provided.

Thanks again

[Martini]

I second the idea of staying on the strip. Downtown is cheaper but if you will likely eat up that savings and more in cab rides. If you ever had the inkling to see what an expensive strip hotel is like, *now* is the time to do it because the LV economy is so crappy right now that you will likely never find top shelf rooms this cheap again.

If you're going at the end of June be prepared for oven temperatures. Take a nap early afternoon and go out and do stuff at night if you're going to be outside.

Cirque du Soleil puts on a good show. I prefer their older stuff like Mystere and "O" as opposed to their newer stuff like Ka and Love. I thought Blue Man Group was entertaining as well. Penn and Teller is a good magician/comedian show. If you're not sure you can always check out YouTube because there are often clips from shows there and you can get a good idea of what you are going to see. If you have your heart set on a show then buy as far in advance as possible for best seats; otherwise, I agree with brianb10 about the discount ticketers because you can get decent seats for much cheaper than face as long as you aren't worried about possibly not getting in. Try going during the week instead of the weekend for better selection.

I don't know if Planet Hollywood is still doing them but they had reasonable low buy in SnG tourneys throughout the day with decent structures.

Try checking out "The Unofficial Guide to Las Vegas." I think they have balanced reviews with good descriptions. They review hotel/casinos, restaurants, and shows.

[Jaxen]

1. Your first time going to Vegas, you gotta stay on the Strip. Since I've been there a handful of times I now stay near whatever I'm doing.

2&3. End of June is the start of a slow period out there, especially Mon-Thurs. Weekends are a different matter, esp. in the summer. (The state line of California swells out to include Vegas from Friday afternoon to around sunset Sunday.) You should find good week night deals around that time. If a room is $59 during the week, expect $99-129 for Fri and Sat night. A good site to check to gauge each places amenities is cheapovegas.com.

4. The Mirage and Treasure Island run decently-priced sit'n'goes, and they are connected by a tram. If you can step up to around a $125 buy in, check out the regularly-scheduled events at Caesar's Palace and the Venetian. Like someone said before, the cheaper tournaments will be crapshot donkfests.

[p5woody]

The week day thing is good information, right now we are planning to arrive June 29th (Monday) and leave on July 3rd (Friday).  This is when I could get the best price on flights out of Baltimore MD.

I may try the $125 tournaments to see how I can do.  That is probably my upper limit, anything higher would need to be negotiated with the wife. 

I have been playing low stakes ($20) Texas Hold'em tournaments the last couple of years in home games.  I have been doing well but I know how they play so it makes it easy.  Sitting down with unknown players will take a little adjustment.

[p5woody]

I found a good site for discount codes.  Check out the travel deals on fatwallet forum, they have a bunch.  Here is where you can find them: (go to last page to view most recent)
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/travel-deals/704925/

I found the following deal at MGM Grand, is this a good deal?
--------------------------------------------------------------
MGM Grand
2) Las Vegas Getaway!
3) MKT233
4) Valid - March 27, 2009 - January 31, 2010
5) Expires - April 10, 2009
6) Rate available for all.
7) Link to Offer https://reservations.mgmmirage.com/bookingengine.aspx?host=promo&pid=001&code=MKT233
Promo details - Rooms from $49/night

* Daily access to the Grand Buffet for 2 people
* 2 VIP Passes to Studio 54 or Tabu
* 2 complimentary MGM Grand poolside cocktails
* 25% off Grand Spa or Christoph Salon
* $20 Free Slot Play
* $25 upgrade per night to Bungalow Suite
* $30 upgrade per night to Celebrity Spa Suite

Offer extended from previous expiry of Apr 3 to [now] Apr 10...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Squiggly]

We just got back a month ago. We used the same fatwallet.com forum to find our last hotel deal at the MGM Grand. Great deal, but I would stay elsewhere next time. Keep your eye on fatwallet, deals are added almost every day.

I would suggest staying mid-strip. My wife doesn't do poker or slots much so she appreciated exploring from NYNY up to Treasure Island or so. There is a bus called the Deuce that runs the strip and goes up to Freemont Street (Old Vegas) and down to the outlet mall center, for which you can get a three-day pass... but it can be brutally slow since it stops every couple of blocks for what seems to be five minutes. The monorail is much much faster to run between major casinos, but it doesn`t go downtown and it is quite expensive unless you get a three-day pass.

allvegaspoker.com has the most complete list of tournaments, but some entries are out of date... call ahead to confirm the tournament at the casino. I got burned twice last trip by going to a casino and the tourney was not running.

For shows you can try tix4tonight, but be aware that they do not deal in Cirque shows. If you want to see Ka or O or Mystere you pretty much have to buy tickets from Cirque. We went to see Le Reve at the Wynn which I would highly recommend as well as an excellent show equivalent to a Cirque show.

Try smartervegas.com for tons of information on shows and attractions.

We also did the Titanic museum exhibit at the Luxor. EXCELLENT.

[Detroitdad]

Keep waiting for Rose to post one of the crazy deals thats emailed to her.

Make sure and give us an updated report when you get back.

[p5woody]

Hello Squiggly,

We just got back a month ago. We used the same fatwallet.com forum to find our last hotel deal at the MGM Grand. Great deal, but I would stay elsewhere next time. Keep your eye on fatwallet, deals are added almost every day.

Why would you stay somewhere other then MGM Grand? Location? Quality?  Also if not MGM Grand then where?

The deal I found includes MGM Grand Bufffet, is it worth it?  I think the buffet is around 25 per person and the room is 49, so it makes the room free.

[Martini]

I wouldn't have a problem with the MGM. You could literally stay there your entire trip if you wanted since it has enough restaurants, gaming, shopping, and entertainment. Plus it anchors the south strip. New York New York is a quick walk across the pedestrian overpass. Kitty corner is Excalibur and their shuttles to Luxor and Mandalay Bay. And out the back of the MGM is a monorail stop to go north to other locations up the strip.

Mid-strip might be someone else's preference but it is hardly because something is "wrong" with the MGM. If you had more in mind what you wanted to do then it would be easier to pick a place for you. For instance, if you knew you were going to be playing at Caesars every day but wanted cheap room then you could stay at the Flamingo across the street. Or if you knew you were going to a show then you could consider staying in the same place the show is at. The Luxor just started an "all-inclusive" package deal where you get food, shows, club passes, exhibit tix, etc. all rolled into one (http://www.lasvegassun.com/blogs/gaming/2009/mar/26/luxor-makes-buffet-criss-angel-and-lax-packaged-de/) so if you were interested in enough of those things then you'd save money by staying there. I'm really not sure why it took LV this long to offer something like this.

[austin5string]

Cirque du Soleil puts on a good show. I prefer their older stuff like Mystere and "O" as opposed to their newer stuff like Ka and Love.

We saw Love when we were there for our honeymoon and it was absolutely AMAZING.  Highly recommended if you're a Beatles fan.

[Squiggly]

Perhaps I worded it wrong. The MGM room itself wasn't what we were expecting, and it had no bathtub which is a must for the wife so we would stay elsewhere next time. Or in a different room that wasn't one of the "renovated" west wing rooms. Location-size, Martini is right. MGM is a great location.
And when I said mid strip I was actually meaning around the MGM area but I guess that's south? I've only been there twice so I'm still learning as well.

[Martini]

Perhaps I worded it wrong. The MGM room itself wasn't what we were expecting, and it had no bathtub which is a must for the wife so we would stay elsewhere next time. Or in a different room that wasn't one of the "renovated" west wing rooms. Location-size, Martini is right. MGM is a great location.
And when I said mid strip I was actually meaning around the MGM area but I guess that's south? I've only been there twice so I'm still learning as well.

Squiggly brings up a good point. If you have a specific requirement like having a tub then you should call ahead though I think it is plenty reasonable to expect a tub in the room so you might not think of that ahead of time. If something like that does happen call the front desk immediately and see what they can do. They are there to make sure you have a good stay, especially in this economy.

I would consider the intersection of the Strip and Tropicana (MGM, Trop, NYNY, Excalibur) to be the south strip. Mid Strip I consider to be Caesars, Bellagio, Flamingo, Ballys. And personally I think the north end stops at the Wynn. I don't really count the Sahara or Stratosphere as part of the core strip. YMMV.

[Squiggly]

If something like that does happen call the front desk immediately and see what they can do. They are there to make sure you have a good stay, especially in this economy.

Surprisingly I found the front desk of the MGM not be very helpful, which is why I have a beef with them in the first place. They did a wonderful thing by putting us up in the Signature for the first night when we arrived at 1:30am and there were no rooms available (even though I had phoned ahead to inform them we would be arriving that late). But the next day we had to check out of the Signature by 11:00am and couldn't check in to the MGM until 3:00pm (Signature was booked solid so we couldn't stay there). So that was a big hassle for us and we lost a lot of time dealing with that.

Now the Signature... wow what a place. If it's within your price range if they have a deal, that is a BEAUTIFUL hotel. 10 minute walk to the strip though.

[austin5string]

Now the Signature... wow what a place. If it's within your price range if they have a deal, that is a BEAUTIFUL hotel. 10 minute walk to the strip though.

That's where we stayed on our honeymoon - REALLY nice accommodations.. But yeah, the walk to the strip was a little tiresome.  As nice as it was, I don't think we would stay there again because of that.  Hell, the walk even to get to MGM was a long one.

[Martini]

If something like that does happen call the front desk immediately and see what they can do. They are there to make sure you have a good stay, especially in this economy.

Surprisingly I found the front desk of the MGM not be very helpful, which is why I have a beef with them in the first place. They did a wonderful thing by putting us up in the Signature for the first night when we arrived at 1:30am and there were no rooms available (even though I had phoned ahead to inform them we would be arriving that late). But the next day we had to check out of the Signature by 11:00am and couldn't check in to the MGM until 3:00pm (Signature was booked solid so we couldn't stay there). So that was a big hassle for us and we lost a lot of time dealing with that.

Now the Signature... wow what a place. If it's within your price range if they have a deal, that is a BEAUTIFUL hotel. 10 minute walk to the strip though.

Disappointing to hear. I know they have 5K rooms (plus the Signature rooms) to deal with but one bad incident like yours gets posted to a forum like this and now dozens of people get a bad impression of their hotel, and by extension, perhaps their chain of hotels.

[LuckyDog Poker Art]

Good advice so far.

I have heard some great things about Cirque's "KA" and The Beatles "Love."  I haven't seen either of those yet. However, I can tell you I saw Cirque du Soleil's "O" and it was the most spectacular show I have ever seen in person. Do yourself a favor and try to get tickets for this amazing show.  Like a lot of the vegas shows, it's expensive but, if you can swing it, you will never, ever forget it.  If you can't get tickets ahead of time, you can wait in the standby line (get there early) and get tickets. Try for seats on the main floor about five to ten rows back. 

Have fun!

[austin5string]

Good advice so far.

I have heard some great things about Cirque's "KA" and The Beatles "Love."  I haven't seen either of those yet. However, I can tell you I saw Cirque du Soleil's "O" and it was the most spectacular show I have ever seen in person. Do yourself a favor and try to get tickets for this amazing show.  Like a lot of the vegas shows, it's expensive but, if you can swing it, you will never, ever forget it.  If you can't get tickets ahead of time, you can wait in the standby line (get there early) and get tickets. Try for seats on the main floor about five to ten rows back. 

Have fun!

I may have to turn in my man card, but at the very beginning of Love I almost had tears in my eyes..  Very overpowering..

[FSL009]

Year and a bit since I was there but I played in a wednesday morning tourney at Planet hollywood with 20 people in it (was after the presidents weekend so a bit light on I think)  it was a rebuy but most left after the got dished out.   

Was a good structure and was about $65 all up with the add on up front.

I prefer the ceasers palace structures and the room they have, but I played the $125 buy in and I think for a bit cheaper you could do an earlier afternoon $65 one.

they last for ages.

The otherone was excalibur but since then they moved to the pokertech tables.  so you may want to see them but I gather if you like chips and felt you will go elsewhere.

As to things to do we hired the traditional red mustang convertable and did Hoover and the canyon in the one day.  We then spent the entire night getting ourselves around the night spots in Vegas and up and down the strip.  then gave the car back.

I would say stay on the strip unless you are in a hotel chain deal of the strip like i am and then i have no choice but to use my points.   

I spent the first day just looking around  and grabbing poker flyers from the rooms, so i knew the extact time tournaments were on then picked the ones i wanted to do from that.

Have fun, I would love to go back now...but family, failed quest and comitments of the normal human middle aged male suggest that there is a no-way this year thing going on...lol.

i never went to the Bellagio.  I sort of did it on purpose so i had a reason to go back, but I regret it now so make sure you do everything you want to when your there.

Cheers

[nutN2Lewz]

Stay mid strip at Bill's Gamblin Saloon - $60 per night and it takes only two minutes to get from your room to the corner of the strip and Flamingo. From there it is a five minute walk to the tournaments at Caesars or The Venetian.

Or I would try to get a luxury hotel (Wynn, Signature) on sale for under $100 per night.

Good luck, nutn

[p5woody]

Thanks for all the feedback, I have booked Airfare and hotels for my stay.  If I find a better deal I can always change the hotel arrangements.

4 nights at MGM Grand (June 29th - July 2nd)
     * Daily access to the Grand Buffet for 2 people
     * 2 VIP Passes to Studio 54 or Tabu
     * 2 complimentary MGM Grand poolside cocktails
     * 25% off Grand Spa or Christoph Salon
     * $20 Free Slot Play
     * $25 upgrade per night to Bungalow Suite
     * $30 upgrade per night to Celebrity Spa Suite

1 night at Excalibur (July 3rd - changed hotels because price went way up on Holiday weekend at MGM)

I am now looking at Grand Canyon Helicopter tours and the wife is looking at the shows.  I will leave the shows up to her.

One more question - Has anybody done the laughlin bus tour from Vegas?  Is it worth it?

[LuckyDog Poker Art]

I would also suggest taking a short drive to Red Rock Canyon.  It's not too far away, you can drive through the park and the rock formations are awesome.  It's a great place to chill out, take some great photos and seem like you're a million miles from Vegas.

And go see "O"!   

[nutN2Lewz]

One more question - Has anybody done the laughlin bus tour from Vegas?  Is it worth it?

I would skip Laughlin - it's just a mini version of Vegas on the Colorado River.

Good luck, nutn