There seem to be lots of people on here who:

a) have never been to Vegas

or

b) go with visions of glory only to return home disappointed

This forum has been good to me, primarily in the form of excellent culinary suggestions, so I want to give back and help everyone make the most of their Vegas trips. I am 29 and have been to Vegas at least 30 times. Here's my advice for having an amazing time in Vegas.

1. Do what makes you happy. I can't tell you how often people come to Vegas and think they HAVE to do stuff just because they are in Vegas. If you don't like strip clubs, don't go to strip clubs. If you don't like clubs, don't go to clubs. If you don't like table games, don't play table games. This seems obvious but it must not be because I constantly see people messing this one up. Do what fires you up.

2. Don't try to do Vegas on a shoestring budget. If you do you will inevitably have a miserable time because Vegas is expensive and its just not fun if you are busto. Now I'm not saying you have to go 5 star all the way. If you are cheap and don't care about your room, by all means stay at the IP. But if you stay at the IP and have a $100/day budget for food and gambling, you are not going to have fun.

3. Similarly, budget appropriately. If you have $2k for 4 nights, set a stop-loss of $500 each night. Nothing worse than being in Vegas and having no money to eat, gamble, etc.

4. If you are going with your wife/girlfriend, don't plan on degening it up all trip. Shift gears and enjoy long meals. Make sure your companion is having fun. If they go to the spa or pass out early by all means degen it up, but trust me, having a pissed off companion is way worse than not getting to degen it up for 16 hours a day.

5. Please do not think a stripper/hooker cares about you. Amazing how many dumbasses fail this one and dump all their money, not to mention time, on some drug addict whore.

6. Don't play poker tournaments if you are only in Vegas for a few days. They are huge time drains and have massive rake. And you'll get pressured to chop, limiting the size of your potential score.

7. Don't get super ****ed up your last night. Nothing worse than hungover travel.

I'm sure more stuff will come to me. That's a start.

I can't take you seriously since you changed your avatar.

We had a guy go to Vegas with us for a friends bachelor party a few years back who was married with 2 kids. (Ben)

Long story short, Ben never made it back with us. Lives with the stripper he met that weekend in Vegas. They relocated somewhere, Phoenix maybe. Either way, strippers will fall for you, sometimes after you throw $ at em, sometimes only if you don't

Either way, solid OP

Very true. Every time I go to Vegas with a significant other, I fall into this trap. Makes for a terrible return home plus I gotta spend a few extra bucks on flowers, etc.

Real life Hangover in this thread but with a happy ending.

Not sure your outlook, but The Hangover had a happy ending, too.

44,970 posts!!!! That's nuts.

I disagree with #7, you most definitely have to get super ****ed up you're last night in Vegas.

I don't drink but I imagine being hungover is way worse than flying ill and flying ill ain't fun.

Check out this guy from somewhere in Northeast.
metsandfinsfan Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 100,171
Not sure how this is humanly possible. It works out to be 39 posts per day every day for 7 years.

Maybe I am too old, but I want to be buzzed through flight, but not super****ed up so I fall asleep and miss my connecting flight.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/55...012-a-1265405/

A few more:

- Vegas cab drivers are either scumbags or sufficiently controlled by their scumbag bosses so as to be de facto scumbags. But you generally don't need to know all the roads or whatever. When you land at the airport, just say '(your hotel), no tunnel.' If you then end up on the highway, just refuse to pay. Its that simple. When going from hotel to hotel it can be correct to take an off-strip route but its hard to know as a newb. Unless the meter is absurd, just let it go. $5 in Vegas is not worth getting worked up about.

- If you are on a budget, be aware of resort fees. They add up. Also, sometimes you can get them waived by using the $20 trick. Just try at the desk.

- When playing table games, ALWAYS get/give them your players card. There are two reasons for this. First, casinos sometimes get crazy and start giving offers out to low rollers - my wife plays quarter slots and has been getting free room offers from Mirage for years. She never loses more than a few hundred bucks. Second, you never know when you're gonna degen. I can't tell you how many times I've seen people sit down and play quarters, have a few cocktails, and before they know it they're playing $200-300 a hand, which they then do for several hours. Inevitably they eventually leave the table without getting any credit for their play. Don't do this.

I did #7 the last time I was in Vegas. Standing in the security line was the worse. But once I got on the plane, I just slept.

Any tips on talking the wife into letting me go on a solo trip?

This is how I have done it.

I have done it by making my gf realize that I am a loser, who aside from sleeping/treadmill & gym/eating, I will be spending like 12 hrs(or more) a day at the poker table.

ie) This lovable loser can be trusted b/c he is a poker nerd and won't be doing anything else.

Cheers,

S

lol my gf has said the same exact thing

" I know I can trust him in Vegas, he'll never leave the damn tables to do anyting"

this is after we have done vegas, AC, and cruises (with casinos obv) and she got tired of texting at 6 am asking where I was.

For the record, abandoning a wife and 2 kids to live with the stripper you met on a boy's weekend is not a happy ending. That's tragic. Could be wrong because I don't know the whole story, but Ben sounds like an *******.

/steps off soapbox

Nice work OP. I'm way behind you on trips to Vegas (around 8, I think?) but as a rec player and full time office worker, I'd say your advice is spot on. People (myself included on more than one trip) screw up #1 all the time. Also, re:#2, there's a different between being on a budget/good planning and being a cheapo with unrealistic expectations.

So true. Generally, two hours into any Vegas tourney and I'd rather be anywhere else but there. The craps tables whisper my name into the air, and I want to go to them.

My Hangover comment wasn't meant to be taken so seriously.

In regards to #7... The key is to keep drinking all the way through, don't be hungover when u get on a plane (suuuuucks) still be hammered! :-)

this man speaks the truth

I always go for 5 day trips - the plan going out is to get wrecked the first two, take a break the third, and hammer out the last 2 in style. however, it always ends up in hammering out the first 3 nights, clutching up the fourth, and the last night just not being able to get it together

doing vegas right also means having your own booze in the room - nothing's tilted me more than spending 40 ($500?) bucks on video poker just to get a ****ing morning drink

6# is soooo true, I dont mind the hours playing but the pressure to chop is annoying, I played an ARIA 7pm and the pressure to chop 9 handed was insane, i ended up chopping 6 handed for the same as 2nd prize money, but at nine handed there were 4 stacks under 4bb and the top 2 had 30bb and one of the leaders was adament that I should chop ( i was the other 30bb)

vegas tourny cliffs:

wait, wait, wait on good cards.
get beaten by bad cards.
You're out.
Go play craps.

Hehe good thread. If we werent so lazy we prob could make a detailed guide.

Would cover all daytime and nightime activities.

Travelers everywhere would thank us.

Next pro tip: if you want to gamble and get drunk and have your money last all night and have fun...

PLAY PAI GOW

This game is seriously amazing. I can't tell you how many times I've sat down with like 300-500 bucks, drank my ass off, had an amazing time, and cashed out for an amount within 10% of my buy in. Its especially great for gambling with your wife/gf because they can't make horrible decisions and lose, and they are unlikely to get bored. And they'll probably get drunk, which is usually a good thing.

Pai Gow is the most under-appreciated gambling opportunity in Vegas.