planning a trip to vagas

The_GameThe_Game
in Brick & Mortar Casino Talk
For those who been to vegas please give your input. I am thinking of going for a weekend Nov 25-27.
please provide your feedback about the experience you had.
hotel. flight, game, night life and more.

IS it good idea to fly from buffalo?
is golden nugget a good hotel.
where is good place for dinner
which casino is good for gambling
where is all the good tournament.

This is my first time going so I want to have lot fun.
I will be with friends.

thanks in advance for all your help guys.

Comments

  • GTA PokerGTA Poker
    Might want to give some details about what you want to play and how much you want to spend, etc.
  • JohnnieHJohnnieH
    For experiences, please see the many trip reports in this section. Everybody has a different experience.

    Flying from Buffalo will be cheaper then flying from TO, but leave extra time to cross at the border. In pretty sure that all the carriers have a direct flight to Vegas, but those flights are limited so you should book ASAP.

    As for hotels, you have many choices. You need to decide WHERE you want to play the most a book a hotel accordingly. Almost every casino has a poker room and the most common game is 1/2 NL. If you're not sure www.allvegaspoker.com is a great site for a Vegas rookie. Same for tournaments, figure out your but-ins and find one that looks good. I prefer the $125 at Binnions and Aria.

    I've heard that the Nugget is nice and reasonably affordable, but be warned that it's WAY off the Strip in the area of Vegas called Downtown. There are a few casinos in that neighborhood (Binnions, 4 Queens, Freemont, El Cortez and more) but if you're planing on playing a MGM or Aria, expect to take a cab or the bus. Its pretty far of a walk that goes through some shady spots if town.

    Im not even going to talk about restaurants except to say that you will not starve. There are hundreds of places for every budget and culinary preferences.
  • JimmyHoJimmyHo
    stayed at GN years ago. Way to far from every major hotel. Stay somewhere else. There are some great rates right on the strip (try Hooters as an example).

    I think you will like Planet Hollywood casino for atmosphere if you are there with a group of guys. Semi naked chicks dancing on the blackjack tables, etc., you can't go wrong. They only spread 1/3 or 1/2 in the poker room but they have lots of tables running in the evening. Good asian place at PH (P F Changs). Other good hotels for poker are Venetian, Aria and Bellagio. These are the biggest and nicest IMO (think Wynn is also nice but never been there).

    IMO, but I'm a high roller :), just fly out of Toronto direct. Its not really worth the headaches getting to Buffalo. That time of year you should be able to get a good package direct with a strip hotel for under $600 inclusive per person. You own a business so you can probably find a way to call it a business trip and get back some of the money for hotel/airfare,meals, etc.

    The link Johnny gave you gives you all the tournament details. Best are likely the daily tournaments are Venetian or Aria if you want to spend around $150.

    Also make sure you price the hotel/flight separately as you can sometimes beat the package price and have more flexibility with flight times, etc. There are plenty of hotel discount codes on various Vegas websites.
  • moosemoose
    I'm in Vegas Nov. 22-30

    There are not many direct flights from Buffalo to Las Vegas. Many fly to Detroit or Chicago first.
  • literationliteration
    pokerJAH wrote: »

    I think you will like Planet Hollywood casino for...

    Also I noticed ph is now one of the logos in the Wyndham Hotel Group. I'm thinking if you stay at ph you could get Wyndham points too - unconfirmed but makes sense to me.

    I have stayed at a few hotels in Vegas. Last time I stayed at the Rio and the taxi dropped us off by Planet Hollywood. From what I saw and the location, I will be trying this property next time.

    As the man said look out for comps. Sign up for your Total Rewards card before you go.
  • The_GameThe_Game
    thank you all for response.
    I would like to be in downtown (not a fan of taxi)
    at fallsview I use to play 5/5 so I want to stick with that at vegas
    tournament 100-200 buy in is reasonable for me.

    I guess i should go from toronto instead of buffalo.
  • GTA PokerGTA Poker
    For cash you'll want to be near the V, Bellagio and maybe Aria...for a reasonable price and central location you could look at Ballys or the Flamingo. Note that what you probably think is downtown is probably the strip. Noone goes to Vegas these days and wants to stay downtown.

    Another half decent option would be MGM. There is a light rail that takes you somewhere around the Flamingo area.

    If you are looking at a map of Vegas remember that a walk from one property to the next can be 10 plus minutes from your room or a poker room to the sidewalk.
  • moosemoose
    Yeah you want the strip. Unlikely you will find much 5/5 downtown.
  • JimmyHoJimmyHo
    most casinos don't offer 5/5. Your choice is really 2/5 or 5/10. The 2/5 is much deeper buy-in (usually $1,000) so it plays like a typically 5/5 game. If you want to try 5/10, Bellagio/Aria/Wynn are really your main options.

    I'm not a big fan of MGM because it takes forever to get from your room to the strip. TI is a good option as it is across from Venetian, close to Wynn and about a $10 cab ride to Bellagio.

    When I'm in Vegas, I don't want to spend all my time getting to the poker room of choice. If you play 5/5, one big pre-flop bet is usually the difference between staying at Venetian or the Golden Nugget, etc. Better to maximize your time at the tables than getting between room and casino.

    If you are staying two nights only, Expedia has Hooters at $60/night average or TI at $117/night average. You can probably find a hotel code for a better price. Packages that weekend are pretty pricey!

    Hope you are taking a late flight on the Sunday otherwise you are really only going to be there for a day if your flight arrives late Friday.
  • asxn557asxn557
    Was there 2 weeks ago. Wynn tourney at $125 was ok - only 30-40 runners now. Aria (for $125) had min 55 to 100 runners. And cash at Aria very busy. PH cash 1-2 was tough - regulars populate and stay - sat down with $200 against players with >$1300. Flamingo was much looser. Binion's tourney on Saturday has large guarantee and >100 runners. Caesar's was dead dead dead. Check out Venetian - all games at all buy-ins.
  • AnimauxAnimaux
    I like the daily deepstack tourneys at Caesars. They are well run and run often with reasonable buy-ins starting around $ 100. .

    For accommodations, the North Tower at Ballys was nice and also convenient to walk to Caesars to play. I also loved the Augustus Tower at Caesars. As the guys say, you want to be on the strip; not downtown.

    There is an amazing 'coffee-rubbed' filet mignon at The Mesa Grill at Caesars!

    Have fun!!
  • JimmyHoJimmyHo
    when I was there a couple weeks ago, Ceasars was dead. Only had 1 table running at 5pm (1/3) with seats open. V and B had probably 10 full tables running at the same time. Pretty dead there in the day time anyways.
  • JohnnieHJohnnieH
    pokerJAH wrote: »
    when I was there a couple weeks ago, Ceasars was dead. Only had 1 table running at 5pm (1/3) with seats open. V and B had probably 10 full tables running at the same time. Pretty dead there in the day time anyways.

    Too bad too, as it's a stunning room away from the casino. Unfortunately that's why it's dead in there.
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