Hi NurseHoliday, and good luck in Vegas!
http://www.orleanscasino.com/gaming/poker-new-nolimit-holdem.html has some info on the Orleans' tournaments.
I entered the one on Tuesday night. Start with T300 for $40. You can rebuy before the first break for $20 anytime you are at or below T300, so you can actually re-buy right away. You can also get an additional T75 for $5 at the beginning (dealer's pool). I did not re-buy initially... I would do so if I were to enter again. I did take the added T75 for $5.
I busted out once early on and did a double re-buy then. Although it is not listed on the website, there was also an add-on for $20 at the first break. After re-buying I was dealt QQ and with 4 limpers ahead of me, I went all in with the bb calling with A7s... I double up. In the re-buy period there is a lot of loose play. Having played there once, I would now get the T675 initially, and be patient and wait to double up on a big hand. Most hands are going to get action in the early stages here.
Once I doubled up I had somewhere around T1100, and I played fairly tight until the break. I took the add on for $20 for T300. I don't have the number of entrants here, but it was somewhere in the 100-120 range I believe. In the end, my entry, dealer's pool addition, double re-buy and add on cost a total of $105.
There seemed to be 2-3 loose players at each table in the early stages that you need to capitalize on. At around the 2nd hour mark, things tightened up a bit at the tables and most of the very loose players were gone, but I would say there were always a few around. Even the final table had one or two guys who stood out as being poor players. I would rate the field as pretty weak. There are some decent players, but more poor players than I am used to being up against in a tournament.
Once it got to the final table, I felt good about my chances. We chopped evenly when it got to 7 places. I felt really good about my chances at the final table, but it was too good a deal to pass up. Most of the table was playing scared, and hoping to outlast people by playing ultra tight.
As for other games, I didn’t play any other tournaments, and I don’t think I can help much with info on cash games. I played a lot of $1/2 and $2/5 NL Cash games, but almost all of that was at the Rio in their huge temporary poker room during the WSOP. Now that the WSOP is gone, I’m not sure. I tried to get into the Bellagio (HUGE waiting list, looks awesome there though), and played at the Alladin and Orleans NL cash games and was not a big fan of either.