Wolffhounds Pre-Trip Report (Zithal asked for it)
Zithal wrote:Great trip report all... really have the itch to get down there and tilt off all my cash!
As a bit of a followup report can you outline how you arranged the trip, how you found your best deals, which sites did you bonus whore from to save up, etc., etc? (Kinda of a pre-trip report)Â I will be going next year and want to start saving for it.
Rob.
Rob,
I'd been twice before, Lama's been about 10 times, this was BigE's first trip.
Hotel- www.vegas.com is a great place to start. It allows you to search rooms/availablities and just about everything else. I started with the flight/room request combined just to see what came up. Then I split the results apart and searched the airports/hotels individually using their respective sites.
In the end we picked Imperial. Its cheap and central. Pre-BigE is was 49/night for Lama and I. Add 25.00 for BigE. Not the cheapest, but, better the evil you know. The room I booked through Vegas.com, which might have been a bit of a mistake. As I think going directly thru Imperials Site would have saved money (about 5.00 night). Next trip I think I'm staying at the Excalibur, their poker room rate is cheap. Really you just need a bed, so, there's cheaper than 49/night to be had, but, that's personal preference. Again, vegas.com is a great place to start.
I'd also spend some time at www.allvegaspoker.com as it rates all the poker rooms. Find a poker room you really like and perhaps the hotel fits the bill too. There is indepth information on all things poker at this site. Hours of reading ahead.Â
Flight-Flying out of the states saved me 50%. Going from Detroit on Northwest seemed to be the easiest direct flight we could find. I refuse to switch planes. I'm only there for 3 nights, i'm not spending a full day each way switching planes etc. So, I just googled Detroit Airport (buffalo seemed to have more stop over flights) and ended up picking Northwest. Spirit I believe is even cheaper and also flies direct to Las Vegas.
I strongly recommend picking an early morning flight out and mid-day coming home. Really maximizes the time you have there. I booked Lama and my flight directly through www.nwa.com was simple, e-ticket comes seconds later. It worked sweet. BigE did the same.Â
You can book your flight up to 10 months in advance. So I did. It was brutal waiting for this trip. But, saved about $70 by booking early and about 300.00 by flying out of Detroit. Original budget was only 100/day for gambling. I saved 3 days budget on the flight. Freerolling basically before I left.
Whoring-Â BigE, Wally (my dad) E's brother, my brother, melikebeer, and another buddy all played a part.
I started off on the site, then used the refer a friend for
Empire- $50.00 to referrer, $25.00 to referree (same as party) only have to play 5x bonus in raked hands (125) in an hour, you are "up" $75.00.
Party-works exactly the same as Empire, now that they've split, you can do both, no fake info required
Absolute- refer a friend, the money comes in "bonus" bucks, 10.00 per 100 raked hands, its a tight site, so not the easiest to clear, but, very doable.
Paradise- refer a friend- 50.00 in bonus bucks, 25.00 to friend, bleeds in like AP, 10/100 raked hands
Pacific-$50.00 in cash once referee has finished hands
Do the above and you are making $75.00 per site (we split between the two parties) ok, only $37.50 each* 5, but, its a start, we had it that if the guy playing made money while finishing the hands, he keeps it. Same with the loses. Only the bonus money got split.
If you have even one other guy its worth it. I would simply say, don't ever sign up for a site without using the refer a friend. If no one is already there, find someone that is. (PICK ME!!!!!!! I'll gladly split whatever with any of you, then once one of the group is in you just start picking them off) Neteller is an absolute must!!!!! As it makes it simple to move the money in and out.
I played a TON on Absolute. They typically have 2 20% reloads per week. I'd move the money in from Neteller, play the hands and move the money right back out. Do that twice a week, play some decent poker and have the site top up 10/100 raked hands. Easy money.
Absolute was the focus of the whoring cause the reloads were so frequent. Add to it a monthly Party reload at 20%, plus Paradise every 60 days or so, Neteller becomes your best friend. I never played if there wasn't bonus money at stake. It consumed my play at times which isn't good. But, the money added up quickly.
I think you'll find that BigE tells the same story. The only difference between he and I is, he had someone to walk him through the above. I had to lose $600.00 and wait 6 months till I found this forum, BigE only ever made one deposit.
Hope the above helps a bit. Along with neteller I kept a big Daytimer book with the start/finish, hands to complete results and expiries of the bonus to keep everything straight.
BigE started with only 100.00. So, big starting bankroll is not required.
It was all worth it. Now my online playing/whoring etc, is going towards Disney with the kids in 07. Always good to have something to work towards.
p.s. the one benefit of Neteller in US funds is that I never lost money on Exchange rates. The CHQ's came in US and I simply took them to the bank and had them turn them into US money/Travellers chq's. This alone saves you 20% exchange etc. Something small when only talking about 1000.00, but, wtf, why pay exchange if you don't have to.
Comments
When I went I took Westjet. They frequently have seat sales and 3 of us got return tickets non stops for just under $1200. It is a red eye back to To so it does give you an extra day of play. This was out of TO so you didn't need to drive to Detroit. But you will routinely get cheaper flights there. As for hotels I looked at expedia, hotels.com and then found the hotels I was interested in and called myself. We actually stayed at Harrahs for $300 US for 4 nights, split by 3 is peanuts and it is in the centre of the strip. Play using your comp cards and you will get some small perks here and there.
As for bonus whoring I use interpoker (monthly) and I take advantage of bonuses on 3 or 4 other sites. Wolfhound has the refer a friend angle which is a great idea. Again Netteller is your friend. Move the money around as much as you can so you will always have some bonuses going.
How about a post in the off topic or somewhere else on here to spell out how to get started?
I know I'd appreciate it.
I am a Blackjack fish. Big time.