Vegas Trip

[jfunky]

Hey everyone, not sure if this belongs here but I saw some trip questions so i figured it would be alright.

Anyways, I'm looking to take my first trip to vegas in october and am really looking forward to it. I had a few questions for those of you who have been there.

1) Should I book hotel+flight package? I am traveling with a friend and was looking at a 2 week stay. The price came out to about 1700 a piece w/ flight for the hotel at mandalay bay, suite room. Is this a good deal or can I find a better hotel/rate?

2) I'm a 2/4 online player, so I was wondering how many buyins would be sufficient? My main point of going is not to grind poker but moreover to have a good time, but I still want to log lots of hours of poker because I hear there are a lot of soft games. Are buyins usually maxed(100 bb) or are the uncapped? What would be a decent bankroll to bring if I'm looking to play 10-12 days/6 hrs a day, assuming I'm a winning player?

3) What are the prices like at clubs? I've seen some pretty high end stuff, rain/ghost bar/pure/tao, are these places impossible to get into w/o connections?

4) How much $ would you suggest to bring if I'm looking to have a good vegas experience(not including poker BR) for 14 days?

5)Finally, is it worth it to stay in vegas for 14 days or should I cut my trip short?

Thanks for your suggestions

[T50_Omaha8]

1) $1700 is only a little over $100/night before the flight--that sounds fine to me. Mandalay Bay is not the most happenin' place to party and go crazy, however.

2) 2/4 limit or NL? Limit is uncapped obv, and most NLHE games are 50bb/100bb min/max. Different casinos have uped the max buying, however: most notably the Wynn, which has uncapped NLHE. No comment on BR, just know that the games are loose and the varaince is high. Plus your winrate will significantly suffer due to rake/tips (I'd estimate $5-10/hr while you play). Mind you that down on south strip poker limits don't usually run that high. Bigger games can be found around the Bellagio/Wynn/Mirage/CP area. I think at Mandalay the highest NL is 2/4, while limit might go up to 4/8. The less-established poker rooms (like Mandalay) tend to have bad beat jackpots, and this is terrible for the casual tourist player. Their games are generally a bit softer, however. A 'vegas poker' google search might yield a comprehensive database of all the different poker rooms, game types, and so on.

3) I'm not huge on clubs myself, but it's kind of hit or miss I guess. I thought pure was a huge deal, but we saw there was no line once around 10:30 so we went in a checked it out. Drinks are extremely expensive--it's best to go there buzzed. If you are going to stroll up to tao at midnight and hope to walk right in, you're in for a rude awakening. Go early whereever you go.

4) Depends on gambling, eating, etc. $100/day is nowhere near enough no matter what you are going to do. $200 would be a lot better. Between buffets, cab rides, tipping WAY more to people than you expect (waitresses, maids, people who call cabs for you, dealers, and so on), drinks at clubs, etc, you're easily topping $100/day right there. Table games are generally $10 minimum bets, so you'll need a couple hundro for table games per hour. Doing free stuff helps, but the town is designed to get you to blow through your cash.

5) A few days is enough for me, but you might be different. Casinos mess with your mind, and make you hear ambient slot machine sounds for weeks afterwards. If you go every year, you'd probably enjoy it a lot more by splitting it into two small trips as opposed to one big one.

Hope that helps.