BigWhale & brother (feat. MuckPls) does Vegas - 2025 edition (21st-31st March)
03-12-2025
, 02:09 PM
Hello people,
I can't believe it's been 6 months since I have been in Vegas, and we cannot let that go on for much longer! I will fly to London on March 20th after work, relax at a hotel there overnight, and then fly direct from there to Las Vegas on Friday the 21st (just in time for March Madness).
My brother will finally join in as well; he actually has a business trip to the US coming up in a few days, so when he is done with work he is already in the country. He will also head out to Vegas on the 21st of March.
A late addition to the trip is also 'MuckPls' who said YOLO and booked his own trip as well. I'll let him post the details on his end.
With this being the middle of March, and MGM having slashed my previous reasonable offers, it was not super easy to find cheap hotels. As of such, I have to stay at 3 different hotels to take advantage of the comp nights I had available (although I have to pay full resort fee). I will be staying at:
- Excalibur (2 nights)
- Flamingo (4 nights)
- MGM Grand (4 nights)
That said, it won't be too much stress to switch between the hotels. For MGM properties I can obviously check in and get digital room keys through the app. And for Flamingo I will just show up early and pay the (ridiculously high) early check-in fee to avoid gigantic lines.
It's March Madness time in Vegas when we are there, so I have high expectation of there being a lot of games to play and hopefully some good action as well. But regardless, it should be a fun and hopefully profitable trip. I will come back with some more thoughts + picture of shoe and bankroll in a few days.
As always, you guys can expect a lot of hand histories as well as random pictures from my end. Hopefully I can get brother to post a bit as well. And MuckPls will obviously also contribute with his own degen stories
This is only the first of many trips to Vegas for me in 2025, but we can get back to that later. I am regardless stoked for the trip, and it will be nice having someone to share the excitement with as well!
I can't believe it's been 6 months since I have been in Vegas, and we cannot let that go on for much longer! I will fly to London on March 20th after work, relax at a hotel there overnight, and then fly direct from there to Las Vegas on Friday the 21st (just in time for March Madness).
My brother will finally join in as well; he actually has a business trip to the US coming up in a few days, so when he is done with work he is already in the country. He will also head out to Vegas on the 21st of March.
A late addition to the trip is also 'MuckPls' who said YOLO and booked his own trip as well. I'll let him post the details on his end.
With this being the middle of March, and MGM having slashed my previous reasonable offers, it was not super easy to find cheap hotels. As of such, I have to stay at 3 different hotels to take advantage of the comp nights I had available (although I have to pay full resort fee). I will be staying at:
- Excalibur (2 nights)
- Flamingo (4 nights)
- MGM Grand (4 nights)
That said, it won't be too much stress to switch between the hotels. For MGM properties I can obviously check in and get digital room keys through the app. And for Flamingo I will just show up early and pay the (ridiculously high) early check-in fee to avoid gigantic lines.
It's March Madness time in Vegas when we are there, so I have high expectation of there being a lot of games to play and hopefully some good action as well. But regardless, it should be a fun and hopefully profitable trip. I will come back with some more thoughts + picture of shoe and bankroll in a few days.
As always, you guys can expect a lot of hand histories as well as random pictures from my end. Hopefully I can get brother to post a bit as well. And MuckPls will obviously also contribute with his own degen stories
This is only the first of many trips to Vegas for me in 2025, but we can get back to that later. I am regardless stoked for the trip, and it will be nice having someone to share the excitement with as well!
03-12-2025
, 04:43 PM
Quote:
With this being the middle of March, and MGM having slashed my previous reasonable offers, it was not super easy to find cheap hotels. As of such, I have to stay at 3 different hotels to take advantage of the comp nights I had available (although I have to pay full resort fee). I will be staying at:
- Excalibur (2 nights)
- Flamingo (4 nights)
- MGM Grand (4 nights)
That said, it won't be too much stress to switch between the hotels. For MGM properties I can obviously check in and get digital room keys through the app. And for Flamingo I will just show up early and pay the (ridiculously high) early check-in fee to avoid gigantic lines.
- Excalibur (2 nights)
- Flamingo (4 nights)
- MGM Grand (4 nights)
That said, it won't be too much stress to switch between the hotels. For MGM properties I can obviously check in and get digital room keys through the app. And for Flamingo I will just show up early and pay the (ridiculously high) early check-in fee to avoid gigantic lines.
Quote:
It's March Madness time in Vegas when we are there, so I have high expectation of there being a lot of games to play and hopefully some good action as well. But regardless, it should be a fun and hopefully profitable trip. I will come back with some more thoughts + picture of shoe and bankroll in a few days.
Everyone raves about game quality but I seem to be the only person ever to visit Vegas during March Madness to encounter nothing but bad games.
Quote:
As always, you guys can expect a lot of hand histories as well as random pictures from my end. Hopefully I can get brother to post a bit as well. And MuckPls will obviously also contribute with his own degen stories
This is only the first of many trips to Vegas for me in 2025, but we can get back to that later. I am regardless stoked for the trip, and it will be nice having someone to share the excitement with as well!
This is only the first of many trips to Vegas for me in 2025, but we can get back to that later. I am regardless stoked for the trip, and it will be nice having someone to share the excitement with as well!
03-12-2025
, 05:17 PM
03-13-2025
, 06:36 AM
Quote:
Whale, I have two thoughts:
1. I have stayed at the Flamingo many times. Flamingo check-in can be miserable because their kiosks aren't working as consistently as other CET properties like Harrah's, but occasionally I've been able to bypass the line by just hitting the kiosks and feeding them my driver's license/reservation number/whatever. When it works, it saves a lot of time. I recommend trying that first at all CET properties instead of waiting in line. If you are trying to check in early, one option is to dump the bag with the bellhops down the escalator (tip $1), go do whatever, retrieve your bag after 3PM at your convenience (tip another $1), and then check in. That way you can avoid any fees for accessing the room early, provided you don't actually need to physically be in the room.
2. Your trip lines up with the WSOP-C at Horseshoe, so if you want a little World Series preview then it might be fun to fire an event. I played one event there last year in March. The structure and venue quality won't match the actual WSOP, but it's a good opportunity to get some reps against the local regs.
1. I have stayed at the Flamingo many times. Flamingo check-in can be miserable because their kiosks aren't working as consistently as other CET properties like Harrah's, but occasionally I've been able to bypass the line by just hitting the kiosks and feeding them my driver's license/reservation number/whatever. When it works, it saves a lot of time. I recommend trying that first at all CET properties instead of waiting in line. If you are trying to check in early, one option is to dump the bag with the bellhops down the escalator (tip $1), go do whatever, retrieve your bag after 3PM at your convenience (tip another $1), and then check in. That way you can avoid any fees for accessing the room early, provided you don't actually need to physically be in the room.
2. Your trip lines up with the WSOP-C at Horseshoe, so if you want a little World Series preview then it might be fun to fire an event. I played one event there last year in March. The structure and venue quality won't match the actual WSOP, but it's a good opportunity to get some reps against the local regs.
Thanks for the tip about WSOPC, I actually was not aware of that! Will go check the schedule now
03-13-2025
, 06:57 AM
