Hi Guys,

since I'm still kind of new to this forum I would like to start to introduce myself to everyone that's interested to read my stories and follow my thread.

My name is Rick, I am 24 and I live in the Netherlands. I am an easy going, positive and outgoing person. I study law and I play tennis on a pretty good level. I play poker on the side to pay my tuition and tennis lessons, as well as enjoying the best parts that life has to offer. Since I have reached my peak in tennis, I decided to start focussing more on getting my law degree and starting working shortly after.

But since i don't want to regret things later on in my life, I decided to take one last break of my studies. This resulted in planning this trip to Vegas, where i'll be staying from september 26- december 7.

I am taking my full bank account to Vegas and I hope to break even over the span of these 2,5 months. My costs include a rental appartment near strip, a 2-way ticket from Amsterdam to Vegas and further my basic life needs like drinks and food.
My goal will be to break even, which comes down to roughly 5K dollar profit. I am setting my sights on playing 1-2 and 1-3 cash in some variation of casino's, while also enjoying the best things Vegas have to offer.

I am really excited to go on this trip and I hope you guys will enjoy my stories on this forum.


PS: You have to forgive me if I make some mistakes in typing, English is not my main language.

Sounds like a good plan, good luck!

The only caveat: if you really want to enjoy the best things Vegas has to offer, your budget might be a little tight, especially if you want to enjoy good food, party at clubs, do some adult entertainment, and want to shop. $5k for 10 weeks just for those things sounds more reasonable in my experience. And that doesn't even include a gambling budget.

Good to point that out, I forgot to tell that I got around 1,5K outside of the budget to spend on those kind of things. But since I am visitting for around 10 weeks, I won't be doing those things every day, which makes 1,5K probably just around enough(I hope)

Good luck.

The funny thing to me is people from Las Vegas go to Amsterdam for similar reasons.

Don't think of this trip as "one last break" from your studies or from the rest of that "lawyer" path thereafter. You'll have plenty of opportunities to sample things going forward post-studies, even as a ("gasp") lawyer.

You didn't say what your gambling roll was or what your bank account totaled, but please keep the gambling roll apart from your base living expense roll if you want to enjoy rather than perhaps grind living expenses out of necessity.

$2,000/month seems kind of low budget for living expenses if you want to enjoy everyday life, aside from the $150/week entertainment budgetted also.

$100/day profit for 50 days of cash game play @ about 6 hours/day is feasible, provided you play mostly in the evenings. Sign up for comps as soon as possible wherever you play.

(Bring a drivers license and a credit card if you have them. You may want to take a road trip or two from Las Vegas to Utah (unreal scenery) or to LA (well, because it's LA).

You have nothing to worry about in that regard. Your English is better than that of some native speakers.

$150/week might be perfectly fine, depending on what you want to do. To give you a ballpark number, $150 gets you 3 courses and a drink at a nice casual dining restaurant plus cover and a couple of drinks at a nightclub.

So if you are OK with one nicer meal a week and going out to party on Friday or Saturday night, you won't have trouble with that budget. If you want to mix in some fine dining, more nightlife and stripclubs, you're looking at >$500/week. Even on a long term stay.

That's a good idea, but unfortunately rental car companies add (at least?) $25/day for drivers under 25.
When I moved to the US, I thought that was a really nice compliment. Now I know it's the sad truth.

Agree budget will be a little tight but booking some wins should help. There's a lot of fun places in Vegas that don't cost 15$ a cocktail.

Please elaborate.

I look forward to hearing about your adventures.

$2,000/month is ok if you're paying attention and not wasting money on expensive food, strip clubs, and other dumbassery.

Check out Ronald's Donuts on Spring Mountain. 90 cents for a fantastic donut loaf. But make your coffee at home. Theirs sucks. Go to In N Out Burger and Tacqueria El Gordo. Don't buy sodas or coffee if you're on a budget. Splurge on the crab fat fried rice at Chada Street. It's $11 but off the hook. Same for the duck Panang at Chada Thai (sister restaurant). Don't miss the Pinball Hall of Fame on Tropicana. Good luck spending $10 there without your wrists hurting. Don't miss Secret Pizza at Cosmo, comped watermelon juice at Aria poker tables, the Peppermill for breakfast for the sheer Vegasity of it, the Bellagio poker room for cappuccino (though it's gone way downhill), Hash House A Go-Go at Rio because huge plate of food you could never finish, the rare bookstore in Caeser's, the Venetian plaza with the gondolas, the Bellagio bronzes and flowers, hiking in Red Rock Canyon, and the sushi bar at Kabuto for two pieces of o'toro even though that will set you back $18 with tip because you will never have a better bite of fish. Then win a tournament and have the bone-in ribeye at Delmonico, the mid-level omakase at Kabuto, the French toast with syrup on the side thank you very much at the cafe at Paris, brunch at Bouchon in the Venetian hopefully with oysters (but not the clams), a gin and tonic at Jaleo in the Cosmo with the caviar egg tapa, and the degustation at Bazaar Meats and Picasso. If you do one big show/trip, take the helicopter ride to the Grand Canyon. And run good it's more fun that way.

awesome!

stay away from the slots, blackjack, roulette , strip clubs and hookers. if you do that your budget will be fine. book your wins at the poker table. definitely sign up for comps. if you play enough poker you'll earn lots of free meals along the way.

Great feedback guys, especially from Riverdog. I am getting more and more excited to get out there and enjoy this trip. The expensive best parts of Vegas won't be in my budget, but I don't crave gambling or hookers, so that will make it a lot easier to stay within a decent budget. I will be strolling around the strip from time to time and the suggestions that riverdog pointed out are a good way to start out. Since I drink only water during daytime, that will save me a lot of money. When I go clubbing I obviously will have drinks other then that. I will also try to include some photos in this thread to make it more lively to follow for you guys. Any suggestions for a good photo uploading website where pictures won't disappear?

Do you have a car? Unfortunately most of the good value stuff is off Strip.

Drinks at poker rooms are free in Vegas, you only "pay" a $1 tip to the waitress. Unfortunately that includes small bottles of water, they expect a tip for that too. If you want to save on that end, you have to bring your own water. I'm not a huge fan of tap water in LV, but you can buy gallons at grocery stores (or CVS/Walgreens on the Strip) and fill that into smaller bottles to take with you.

If you see a show, make it Absinthe!

Good luck. Have fun.

+1 for Tacos el Gordo

splurging on the Peppermill for breakfast for the Vegasity is a good call,

also throw in a trip to the Bonanza Gift Shop at Sahara and the Strip , http://www.worldslargestgiftshop.com/

best advice itt: "win a tournament" .... "run good".

So craps and blow are OK?

yes

Since I will be leaving in about 1 week, I am currently planning out the first part of my trip. Since I am highly motivated to start with some serious volume when I first get there, I was wondering if there are any promotions worth to grind for. Since I will arrive at september 26, I will mostly be looking for a monthly freeroll to qualify by playing a certain amount of hours. Any suggestions guys?

Craps and blow.

Cocaine and dice

Well, i suppose that would be a great name for a casino on the strip. But since it isn't, does anyone have a suggestion on which freeroll to qualify for? I suppose I can put in 60 hours at the first 5 days I am there. I am in good shape and I want to start out with some serious grinding to give myself a head start on the trip. I heard about a Caesar's palace freeroll that qualifies at 50 hours monthly. Any other casino's that are worth it to play in my first week?

Take a look here:
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/1...e#post52718312

That thread also tells you why you really don't want to play in a room like that unless you are a hardcore nit wanting to play with other hardcore nits.

If you are a decent player you want to find lose games instead where people play to have fun.

What are the guarantees in these freerolls? If it's 2K and 40 people qualify, that's $50/person, at 50 hours that's a buck an hour. I'd think better games are a much better value than chaising the same thing nits chase.

All the advice in mind, i suppose the freerolls aren't what I'm looking for apparantly, so what is the softest casino to play in at the 1-2/1-3 limits? I was considering Caesar's palace mainly, especially with the weekly most hours promo on hand. Anyone with experience on how many hours you need to grind out to get the weekly most hours cash prize?