Vegas bound. Any ideas?

Learn to play Pai Gow poker if you just want to have fun and not lose boatloads of $$ fast. You can play decent stakes so the cocktails still flow without risking huge $$.

 

I'll second this, SoCal. For that money you can do much, much, much better than the IP, which is very old school and not in a good way. Mostly in a worn-out and depressing way. I walked through there last summer and really wasn't impressed.

I would go online to a few resort websites and sign up to get deals emailed to you. The ownership is so consolidated that you'll end up getting emails from a lot of places with some very good deals. Today it was the Monte Carlo starting at $41; Friday it was the Mandalay Bay at $69. Both are infinitely nicer than the IP.

 

Wow, that's great advice, those are really awesome deals for those hotels, based on the rates I've been seeing.

Also, I would never split face cards.

 

Aladdin is now Planet Hollywood ... which is absolutely beautiful.

 

Especially at night!

 

My sister is out there right now. She's jumping from New York, New York to Ballagio to Rio. I'll ask her for her thoughts and pass them along.

 

Play a little blackjack in the Pleasure Pit, did we?

 

The plus with Vegas on a rental car -- if you go that way and if you want to take a Hoover Dam or Red Rock trip it will be a lot cheaper -- is that most hotels offer free valet parking.

So you can feel like a bigshot tooling into the Venetian or the Bellagio or whatever and tossing the keys to your subcompact to the valet.

With a rental, just drive to a central hotel and hit the spots around there.

 

If you can get out of your reservation at the Imperial Palace, do so. This and Circus Circus probably are the worst rooms on the Strip.

They're supposedly in the midst of a much-needed renovation; I wouldn't go back until they're done.

 

I'm actually headed there next weekend, and spent a good week doing as much research as possible on prices, location, etc.

Not sure when you're planning on going, but if its in the next few months, look into the MGM Grand. A lot of hotels are doing a Stay 3 nights, pay for 2, deal right now. But for us, MGM Grand was by far the best deal. We ended up booking there for cheaper than just about any reputable hotel (didn't want to stay at Excalibur, which was very, very cheap). I've stayed at a handful of hotels on the Strip, and while the Venetian is still my favorite, the MGM Grand is right up there. Off strip prices are definitely cheaper, but make sure you budget in cab fare.

Also, there's always debate on whether or not your should be honest about how many people are staying in a room, as it can be as much as $30 to $50 per night, per extra person. If you're not planning on causing any trouble, I'm of the belief that you just say two and load them in. It's never been a problem for me. But I've heard stories of people getting busted for noise complaints and getting kicked out for unreported guests.

And if you're starting to run low on cash, and can find a spot at the table, try the mechanical Sigma Derby horse race at the MGM. One of the few games left on the Strip where you can play for a quarter. Great way to have fun, waste time, drink for free and not blow too much money too fast.

 

Fucking Sigma Derby. Didn't know that was still around in Vegas. Blew plenty of quarters on that while my brother raked them in with both hands.

Stayed at the IP a couple of times, last in 1999, so I can't vouch for what it's like now. Location is good, sports book is OK and the auto collection is a good timewaster.

 

Stayed at the MGM once and while the rooms were nice (especially my buddy's suite) it was just too damn big. Hard to navigate. Same with Excalibur. Seemed like it took forever to get from the Excalibur to the street. (I didn't book it; a friend did.)