Help me - Best schedule gets $10 on Stars

[Yo Adrians!]

Alright Vegas experts, time to get creative and help a fellow trout. A couple of friends and I are hitting Vegas from Wednesday night, Oct. 4, to Monday morning, Oct. 9. Being the guy in the group who has OCD and is expected to set some kind of a poker agenda, I figured I'd come to you all for advice.

Here's what we want to do:

- Play poker (NL and L) at the following casinos: the Wynn, Caesars, Bellagio, Venetian, MGM, Binions (for nostalgia purposes, of course)
- We're staying at the Wynn for four nights at their poker room rate, so we're going to need to put in a good 24 hours there over the timespan
- We'd like to play in a tournament per day (Thur, Fri, Sat and Sun), and we don't want to play in the same tournament more than once or twice
- We'd all also like to take a shot at a higher limit game once ... FI, we're all 1/2 or 2/5 NL players looking to try 5/10 NL, or 4/8 & 8/16 players looking to take a shot at 15/30

Under those contraints, lay out a tentative schedule for me. We fly in Wednesday night at 8:30 p.m. and fly out Monday morning around 10 a.m. (assume we don't have a room Sunday night, either, and will be playing poker all night long). Bonus points awarded for good restaurant and strip club suggestions for each day, too (don't want to eat at the same place more than once, etc.)

Best schedule, even if we don't use it, gets $10 on Pstars.com assuming I get at least five solid, different schedules.

Thanks again,

yoadrians

[Yo Adrians!]

Free money? Anyone?

[Photoc]

Skip binions, and do 1 casino each day. Venetian, Caesars and Wynn all have good tournaments friday/sat/sunday. As for above 2/5 NL and 15/30+, you have 2 choices, Bellagio and Wynn. Venetian gets 40/80 occasinoally but not much for 20/40.

Honest. you wont find anything above 4/8limit and 2/5 NL regulary at MGM. Caesars has up to 2/5 NL regular and a ton of 3/6 limit (occasionally higher).

www.allvegaspoker.com

[foobar]

Not a complete schedule, but a few thoughts:

Play your normal game (i.e. 2/5NL, 8/16 L) @ Wynn Wednesday and Thursday
Go over to Bellagio and play big on Friday. I think it's better to play NL big @ bellagio than Wynn as the no cap makes the Wynn 5/10 play really big sometimes. Since you say you're just taking a shot, I imagine playing a 5/10 this big doesn't appeal to you. For limit, you can take a shot at either place, but since you're with friends, you might as well play big together, so...Bellagio. Also, some people wait a few days and see how they run before they "take a shot" at a bigger game. I think it's actually better to play bigger earlier in the trip since you're body is going to be more or less wasted after a couple of days of non-stop (choose one or more of the following: drinking, smoking, gambling, whoring, no sleeping).

If you run good playing big, you'll probably want to keep playing the bigger games, which you can do at either Bellagio or Wynn. One other place to consider on Saturday is Mandalay Bay. From what I understand, they usually get a 5/10 going on the weekends now, and the couple of times I played it, that game was phenominal. Also, Manadalay is a good place to start a saturday night of non-poker goodness. Lots of resturaunts, hot young women, etc.

Can't give you much help WRT tournies, as I've never played on in Vegas that wasn't horribly structured. Doesn't mean they don't exist, just that I haven't played one.

Hope this is helpful.

[2Tone]

Wed. pm.
Arrive at Wynn, log four hours of your regular limit game, crash at a somewhat reasonable hour. You are just getting warmed up.

Thursday
Up early enough to register to for Ceasars noon $80 tourney. Play. Cash. Congratulate each other the way back across the street to the Venetian. Play a few hours at the Venetian, before making arrangements to get your crew into Tao, arguably the hottest nightclub in the city. Go til dawn.

Friday
Early afternoon. A few hours at the Wynn.
Evening. Time to head downtown. Cab to Fremont Street. Buy in for a relatively small amount ($200 or so) at the Binions unlimited max NL table. Double up against some guy who has $3k+ in front of him. Rinse, repeat. Play a SNG – buy ins vary. Downtown is a short cab ride away from the Cheetahs strip club, and its waist-high stages. (Rest in peace, Crazy Horse 2) Whether or not there is sex in the champagne room is debatable.

Saturday
A.M. Log another four hours or so at the Wynn. This is getting to be a pattern.

P.M. Despite Cheetahs taking its toll on your roll, its time to take a shot at a bigger game, and there’s no better place than the Bellagio. Sit in the 15/30 game, shake head at how it is looser than a 4/8 game. If possible, make arrangements to see if you can have dinner at the PRIME steakhouse. Depending on mood, either back to Wynn to take advantage of Saturday night drunks, or on to either Light at the Bellagio or Pure at Ceasars for debauchery.

Sunday a.m.
Sleep is for the dead. Early Champagne brunch at MGM, and a quick visit to their poker room, ideally at a table with view of the lions. Consider playing Venetian $125 noon tourney, or back to Wynn for a marathon grinding session to rack up the requisite 24 hours.

[CoryTV]

I'll take a crack, cause I'll be in town for several of the same days, and I've been doing research...

lurker/first time poster blah blah blah...

I agree with skipping downtown, unless you're in the mood to go 'slumming.' Binions has history, sure, but the games are low and can be tight, and the atmosphere is bleh. (unless you dig that kind of thing)
I will include it on the schedule, as you requested it.

Okay, I'm going to give you my restaurant reservations recommendations first and then poker schedule. You didn't say what your bankroll is or how good you guys are, or how long you like to play, so alot of this is shooting in the dark.

I am going to concentrate on noonish tourneys, as I personally prefer the old cash games at night, tournes in the AM, when I'm fresher thing... (Except for the first one...)

Restaurants:
Samba at the Mirage. Great for a group of guys, it's a Brazillian steakhouse, where they bring you cuts of meat which they slice of onto your plate. I think it would be a great arrival "welcome to vegas" party. All of the gluttony of a buffet without having to get up. Call and make your reservations, and ask for "A room in the back" which is away from the casino floor, and mostly enclosed. Definitely have large Caprihinias. (Better than the best margarita you've ever had, IMHO)

Guys dinner: Morton's, the steakhouse. Yes, it's off strip, yes there are fancier joints on the strip (but not by much), but it's reasonable for an "upscale Steakhouse" And the steaks I've had there are the most flavorful and delicious I've eaten in Vegas.

Brunch/lunch/activity if you're not playing a 12pm tourney: Top of the World at the Strat. It's a downright deal for lunch, and you get a free ride to the top of the Strat. Go during the day, and have lunch reservations, and you can ride the rides [before lunch!] without having to pay for the trip up (just the ride..)


Arrival 10/4: Check in at the Wynn. Ogle the girls. Eat at Red for a quick & delicious asian starter. Get all your tracking set up. Sit down and play if there's not much of a wait. If you like what you see, or how you're doing stay and play until your body clock realizes what time it is, and go to bed... If it's a long wait, the room looks too tight, or whatever, get out and go downtown to Binions. Get in on the 2AM (cheap) tourney, and play cash games before, and after you get busted out. Straggle home in the wee hours.


Thurs 10/5: Up and at em. This is no time to sleep. Don't shower. Make it to Caesars by 11:15a to register for the 12p tourney. Make reservations at Samba at 8pm. As you bust out, walk over to the Bellagio, and get into whatever cash games suit your fancy. Round up and out at 7:30 to get to Samba by 8. Delicious Rodizio and then.. onwards... You can check out the Mirage cardroom and pay your respects to what was once the Poker Mecca on the Strip.... (If you're drunk on Caprihinias, you may want to sober up a bit on 3-6 here...) When you've had enough, it's back to the Wynn. Play as late as you can. Hopefully, you're "ahead of schedule" with your hours. (*alt-- feeling adventureous?, you may want to stop by the Venetian and check it out/ see if the tourney schedule is still the same)

Fri 10/6: Sleep in. Wake up and make reservations at Morton's.
Doing Well? Stumble downstairs and go Wynn $530 12pm. If not, grind some cash games to eat some hours, and propose to the cocktail waitresses. Take a break before dinner.. Maybe even the pool. Or the Ferrari dealership, if that's your thing. Head out to Morton's. Now, if you need to earn your strip club Money, go to MGM after dinner. Have fun, make money until you're bored. Then head out for your strip club of choice. Doing well? Spearmint Rhino. Not so much? Cheetahs. If you're cabbing it, do not, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, go to whatever strip club the cabbie recommends. I know going on a Friday night is counter to most "go when a stripclub isn't busy" advice. If you want attention and better bargaining leverage, go on off hours-- during the day. If you want to "party at a strip club," It's hard to beat fri/sat nights-- most girls on, most "party" like atmosphere... You can always come back on Sunday night/Monday AM. Stay as long as you can afford it, stumble back to bed. The truly obsessed will burn off a couple of more hours of Wynn play hours "on the way" back to your room.


Sat 10/7: Did any of you win the Wynn Tourney? The Bellagio has a 1500+90 as part of the "Fifth Annual Festa Al Lago Classic. Winner also receives a $25,000 + $500 entry into 2007 WPT Championship @ Bellagio.. ooooh.) If you're down, you can go next door to Caesars and try to win some of your bank back with the noon tourney again. If you are doing "well" but not "Bellagio well" You can head over to the Venetian for their $550 Sat 12pm tourney. In any case, this is your day to hit the Venetian. They'll have more traffic as it's Saturday, and this is when I would want to hit em-- with more traffic. There's a 8pm $200 tourney, so you can roll right into that. Eat where you are, according to your winnings(Zefferino)/losings(noodle bar) When you're done with the fake gondoliers and chlorine, you can head back to the Wynn to finish your play requirement.. or to Bellagio for some truly big games-- at that point, who cares about paying full rate? :-) Or, if you met an eastern european stripper who promises to break the "no sex in the champagne room" rule, go back to the strip club.


Sun 10/8. Sleep as long as you can handle. You're goin for broke tonight, so you'll need it. I would not set a schedule for Sunday except one thing: Bellagio Brunch. Drink as much of the fresh squeezed orange juice as you can. It will carry you through, my brother. Anyway, always keep the last day open. It's a veritable guarantee that different members of your group may have different "faves" they "always win at." So plan on splitting up. Hell, this may happen as early as Friday. But, never make plans for the last day. Just go back to the place you enjoyed the most.
You may want to consider (gasp) not playing poker for your last couple hours in LV.. Do something like Drinks at Mix (top of mandalay bay's TheHotel) or go back to the Rhino or Cheetah's if that's your speed... (it's dark enough that you can always take a catnap in a corner of a stripclub, if need be..)

Anyway, my point is, pause and reflect on the trip while you're still bathing in the "Vegas glow" instead of trying to grind out $10 more at _______ poker room.

Damn, writing this wasn't worth $10.. but there's no point in throwing it out now...

sheesh.

Good luck. I'll even join you at Samba on Thurs if you like.. :-)

(There by myself until my wife arrives at 10:30 on Thursday...)

[Yo Adrians!]

See, now we're getting somewhere.

Any other thoughts? We have a few contenders here ...