Good selections so far. Not sure if this helps, but here's a few others: If you want a good steak, try Smith & Wollensky Steakhouse. I like them. Or, there's Burger Bar which isn't really "upscale," but has good food. If you like beer, there's also a Hofbrauhaus outside of the strip closer to the airport.

Heh. I had a dream the other night that I won a $5k on a slot "jackpot" but, the casino was going to hold the cash for me until I left so I wouldn't get mugged.

Gotta love O'Sheas. They have a BK and a Subway/food court, ftw. Also near Imperial, love the burger place upstairs.

<- Super fish. gutshots are 50/50, imo

Buffets are disgusting. The main reason I don't go to the foxwoods buffet (or any buffets) is because I was eating at the Rio buffet a year or two ago and saw someone licking the serving spoon clean before putting it back inside the mashed potatoes. I almost threw up...

I agree, for the most part I try and avoid them. I actually went to the "Toby Keith" buffet in Vegas. What a mistake that was. However, despite the above, before that I was with some friends and we went to the Mandalay Bay one and Bellagio. Those were far better. Definitely not a fan of the FW one...or even Veranda Cafe for that matter...

AMEN! YUCK!

Agree with o0ch.

Also all you can eat just isn't a huge appeal to me. Especially while trying to poker it.

I am soooooooo glad that we are on the page with this one. WHile in Vegas, I didnt want to have to fight with you over whether to eat at Cut or the Pyramid Cafe(Luxor, yuck!)

haha oh god, I have no desire to go anywhere near the luxor!

I'm def ready to experience vegas's best, I've heard great things about cut and there isn't even a burke in vegas for me to insist we go to =p

I'm gonna be arriving at the w0nder of it all around 4-430, thinking about going BBJ hunting at 1/2... 215k minus taxes sounds real good right about now

Anyone have experience cashing out points in exchange for an MGM gift card? Whats the rate they offer?

I do! It's 3:2. Ex: You can get a $200 card for 300 pts. Can be used at any MGM/Mirage property. It's good for 1 year before they start deducting a monthly 'maintenance' fee, like many GCs do.

And good for any restaurant/store on any MGM property?

I was talking with some degen pit players and they were telling me that MGM foxwoods has no affiliation with the MGM in Vegas or other MGM properties. I have no idea if that's true or not, but it sounds strange. Can anyone confirm/deny?

You can easily sacrifice straight EV considering your utility for 200k+ >>>>infinity>> the difference in the hourly

Would love to know that too, heading to Ann Arbor for a Sept football game and would love to stay at the MGM casino in Detroit for a night or two. (daughter tells me sorority is off limits)

M go Blue

If it's over 420 I would play for sure but I dont play bbj in ct anymore.

Good question. I think it might be a case where they're using their but in a "loose" affiliation. It's recognizable as a brand name, but to what extent everything else "trickles through," not sure. For instance, a Starbucks inside a Target or Barnes and Noble. Sure, they serve the coffee, but Barnes and Noble has its own terms. It doesn't accept Starbucks cards, etc. Besides the loyalty/comps (M Life vs Dream Card) being different, not sure. I did see though in January 2011, Bloomberg had an article about MGM trying to attract more people its Vegas properties.

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-0...-visitors.html

So, how much this might extend to the players, don't know. But, it would be cool if they had the same "rewards card." But, being MGM Grand out there is really part of MGM Resorts International, and Foxwoods is MPTN *shrug*.

Just a heads up to anyone coming from north of boston, traffic is going to b insane with game 7 + the holiday weekend, i just hit missed it but traffic was starting to get bad already... Def leave sooner than later

The BBJ rake is an extra $1 at $20, or about $20/hour/table extra. So you're paying about $2/hour/player extra at 1-2 for the jackpot. FW takes 5% admin fee, and the remaining 95% is eventually returned to the players via jackpot payouts. However, FW deducts taxes from the payouts (I assume roughly 25%), so the payouts are really about 70% of the gross BBJ rake (and the IRS is the big winner).
With FW's rules, odds of a table hitting the BBj appear to be roughly 300,000 ten-handed deals to 1.
Therefore, I suppose that when the jackpot gets upwards of $420,000, the extra $1 rake (in exchange for the chance at the BBJ) is at least EV neutral to slightly positive for the table. But you're still pretty unlikely to hit, and the extra rake is real. (In order for the EV to be +$1 above the rake, I think that the jackpot would have to be roughly $850-900,000.) So if there's actually any significant decrease in your expected winrate by moving down to 1-2, you almost certainly aren't going to cover it by any +EV from the BBJ.
But if the very small chance of hitting a BBJ is worth it to you for entertainment value, go for it.

What about figuring out a table share and incorporating that? Seems like it might change things slightly

The MGM affiliation is in name only. What happens at MGM-Foxwoods has nothing to do with what happens at MGM-elsewhere. Comps and play at Foxwoods are completely independant from other MGM properties.

To answer the other question about the GCs, I've only personally used them toward the hotel room and poolside food/drink... but I imagine they work for everything property-related.

It's already in there; 300,000 deals/1 is estimated odds of any two hands at the table hitting BBJ. Likewise, paying the extra $1 rake has a neutral EV for the whole table somewhere around a $420k jackpot (taking taxes into account). Of course, the payouts aren't equal around the table, but they will still add up to 100% of the after-tax jackpot payout, and this doesn't change the odds of its being hit, or the EV of the rake for the table as a whole.

+ 1 mirrion, I 95 in CT is horrendus right now, if you live in fairfield county just forget it and wait until like 8 PM

Oh really? Yeah, figured as much I live in Branford, even then it'll take awhile to get up there....hrmph. Maybe after the Bruins game.