Any tips for getting the most out of a stay at the MGM Las Vegas?

[dukenukem]

In December I'll be staying at the MGM at the suggestion of a friend who lives in Vegas. Any tips for getting the most out of my ten days there? As for poker, I'll be looking for $4-$8 to $5-$10 limit, some low buy-in nl, and good $70 to $100 range tourneys (with 30 minute levels or better). Is it best to just explore lots of rooms during a first trip to Vegas, or try to run up some hours over the ten days at a couple?

And...what about food? I like light stuff like beans and rice, steamed vegetables. Any good place to get that kind of stuff relatively cheap in or near the MGM? Thanks, all.

[Photoc]

First, no 5/10 limit. Second, no tournaments under $100 with 30 minute levels to my knowledge. Most are 15 or 20 minutes. Play wherever you find comfortable. There is no "best" strategy for poker playing in Vegas other than to play where you like best.

[fishyak]

MGM should be fine for your poker needs. No 5/10 tho. For tourney info. check AllVegasPoker.com. Comps for food is only $1/hr but get the PlayersClub card anyway as soon as you check in. If you (or spouse) play any other games, it can help your next visit. My wife plays penny slots (and I do mean penny) and we haven't paid for a room at the MGM in years now.

MGM and cheap healthy food? Don't make me laugh. Maybe the free beer while you gamble can be considered organic. Seablue gives you a long list from which you pick up to 15 items to put in a salad. This does not qualify as cheap, but it is quite good. Cheap old school is a block away at the restaurant at Ellis Island on Koval behind Bally's. Is a $5 steak dinner OK?

MGM gives you good jumping off point to test drive the rooms at the south end of the strip. Mandalay, Luxor, Excalibur, Bellagio, Hooters, Tropicana, Bally's and Monte Carlo are all within true walking distance if you aren't a wimp. Given 10 days, check 'em all out. But it's too easy to stay in your our hotel for long sessions. I'm a low limit guy. I don't stay more than 3 days at a time so I play mostly at MGM, Excal if MGM dies, and Bellagio for higher limits shots. I've found Bally's & MGM to be the softest.

Have fun.

[dukenukem]

Thanks, fishyak, for all the tips. Really kind of you. My wife laughed at your reaction to our hope for cheap, healthy at MGM. The steak dinner sounds great to me! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[mxp2004]

I stayed at the MGM Grand for a week in September, and I loved it. I was a little nervous about staying there at first because I like to try out different cardrooms during my poker trips, and so I usually stay somewhere mid-strip (like Mirage or Bellagio). Since the MGM is at the southern end of the Strip, I thought it might be tough to get around. However, the MGM was great.

First, like you, I'm a low-stakes player. The 1/2 NL games at MGM were great action and always available. I wound up playing more at the MGM than I even expected.

If you're a limit player, there wasn't a great selection at MGM. It definitely did not spread 5/10, but I'm pretty sure that 2/4 and 3/6 were always available.

The MGM has a monorail station, and I found that it was a cheap and fast way to get to the other major cardrooms on the Strip, including all of the major mid-Strip rooms (Caesars, Mirage, Venetian, Bellagio). Only the Wynn was kind of chore to get to. If you will be there for 10 days, buy a 10-trip or a weekly pass. I think that the 10-trip ticket was like $40, and it took care of my transportation for the week.

I did visit some of the other poker rooms near the MGM, like Hooters and Luxor. IMHO, they were awful and not worth visiting. Although I didn't play there this trip, you can also walk to Mandalay Bay, but it is not really a low-stakes room.

As far as food goes, you'll have a lot of choice at MGM. It has a food court, and so you can eat pretty quickly and cheaply if you want. It has two Starbucks to grab some coffee in the morning, and it has both a Rainforest Cafe and a coffee shop for other relatively inexpensive, sit-down, meals if you want.

If you feel like splurging, you'll have even more dining options. In fact, MGM has a pretty good Wolfgang Puck restraunt that isn't even that big a budget buster if you want to try something nicer at least once during your trip.

As far as tournaments go, I didn't think that the MGM had any good ones. Sure, they were cheap, but they were all-in fests within an hour because of the low-starting stakes, short levels, and doubling blinds. All in all, I thought the best value for a low-stakes tourny was the 7 p.m. at Caesars. It costs $125, but you get a lot of chips and the levels are long.

As you can tell, I really liked my stay at MGM. I would definitely go back, and I can't wait to make it back to Vegas.

[SenatorKevin]

It's just easier to walk to Bellagio from MGM then blow 5 bucks on the monorail. Only makes sense in the summer.

[dukenukem]

As tourists, we want to take the monorail, and, to make sure we stay active, walk a lot too. Is playing some of the famous downtown rooms good to get different perspectives on poker in Vegas? Is downtown a daytime-only kind of area?

[bav]

Downtown will give you a nice change of view. No, it's not at all a daytime only area, but it is a "stay on Fremont Street under the canopy" area, especially at night. The problem with downtown is getting there. The Deuce bus is only $2, but MGM<->Downtown will be S*L*O*W since the flippin bus stops a billion times along the way. Cab will be more like $20ish plus tip? So it's a PITA if you can't drive yerself. 'Course if you DO drive yourself you only get a few hours of validated parking for free downtown. There's a reason it's slowly dying. But with 10 days to kill, it would be a good way to spend a half a day some evening (go at night so you can actually see the canopy light/music show).

[kioshk]

MGM does have 'wichcraft, by the monorail entrance. Some light fare there, and relatively cheap by Vegas standards.

[NYTyler]

pick up the hooks at the bar