PRE-TRIP REPORT If Im Invited Next Year, Count Me In

Those were the words my mother said last year at the end of our 2010 8-night Las Vegas trip. If any of you remember my trip report from last year, you’ll remember that we saw lots of shows, but didn’t make out so well with the gambling. I didn’t cash at the World Series of Poker, which was pretty depressing at the time. Will this year be any different? Who knows? I do know that I’ve planned even more than last year, so we’ll certainly be busy. And as a pre-emptive strike against my mother’s propensity to forgo the planned activities if I haven’t bought tickets yet, I’m paying for almost everything in advance.

Once again, it will be just my mom and I going on this trip. I really did want to bring my wife with me and enter her into the WSOP $1000 Ladies event on July 1, but once again, she didn’t want to leave our 2 daughters behind for 8 days, or take them out of school for the last week of June.

Ever since “Black Friday” (April 15) when the United States Department of Justice shut down online poker in the United States, the pickings have been pretty slim in the form of poker I play. (Omaha High/Low 8 or better) It seems the rest of the world prefers No Limit Hold’em. That said, I have a decision to make before embarking on this trip. Since my poker bankroll has not grown by as much as I would have liked, I have to limit which poker tournaments I will be playing in over the next 8 days. Here they are:

$210 Pot Limit O8B H/L @ Binions – The Binion Classic on June 28
$1500 Pot Limit O8B H/L @ the Rio – The World Series of Poker on June 30
$560 Limit O8B H/L @ the Golden Nugget – The Grand also on June 30
$560 Pot Limit O8B H/L @ the Golden Nugget – The Grand on July 1
$75 limit O8B H/L @ the Orleans – July 4

I will play in the Binion Classic no matter what, but my bigger dilemma is whether or not I should play the in the $1500 WSOP event or play in both of the $560 Golden Nugget events. I’m not really keen on playing Binions, the WSOP, The Grand (if I don’t make day 2 of the WSOP) and possibly the Orleans tournament for a total of $2345 in poker tournament buy-ins. That total of $2345 as you’ll soon see, is more than the cost of the entire trip I have planned!

In order to save myself some writing time after the trip is over, I’m going to type up now, what the schedule will be like and some other budget information. Sorry if this pre-trip report is boring, but I know I find a lot of useful money saving information in the trip reports of others, and I hope some of you will find some useful information here.

Hotels:

We are staying in several different hotels for this trip, and most of the nights will be at Harrah’s / Caesars Entertainment properties since the Venetian shafted all their mid level players. When I finally did receive some offers from the Venetian, I was already booked at other properties, so I won’t be staying at the Venetian on this trip for the first time in almost 8 years. There are some overlapping stays.

*Golden Nugget 2 nights*

I received an offer for $39 per night and it includes $50 in free slot play. I could have stayed at the M for free, but I wanted a hotel room downtown while I play in the Binion Classic so that my mother would be close by.

*Las Vegas Hilton 3 comped nights*

This is a great offer, and I don’t know how I ever qualified for it. It includes 3 nights, $100 in free slot play, $50 in dining credits, 2 free buffets and 2 free tickets to see Trent Carlini.

*Flamingo 3 comped nights*

I still have nightmares and get the shakes when I think about this casino busting my ass, but I was offered a GO room, so I decided to give them another shot.

*Paris 2 comped nights*

I haven’t stayed here in 8 years or more, but a Red Room was offered, so why not check it out?

*Gold Coast 2 comped nights*

This offer includes $30 in free play per day and $25 in food credit per day. I’ve never stayed here before and am not one to turn down free food.

*Caesars Palace 2 comped nights*

This is actually an offer that my mother received. It includes 2 free buffets and 2 free tickets to see Divas Las Vegas. We booked the Augustus Tower and neither of us has ever stayed here before.

*Attractions: (Total savings of $83.90)*

*The Atomic Testing Museum* - A tip from “westie”, and I was able to get 2 tickets for $12. Full retail would have been $12 per person. (Groupon)

*The Mob Experience* at the Tropicana - Another tip from “westie”, and I was able to get 2 tickets for $38. Full retail is $39.95 per person. (Groupon)

*Bodies: The Exhibition* – And yet another tip from “westie”, and I got 2 tickets for $34. Full retail price is $32 per person. (Travelzoo local deal)
We might check out the *Springs Preserve* while we’re there as well.

Shows:

Once again props to “westie” for all his great money saving posts and tips.

*Gordie Brown @ the Golden Nugget* - $39.95 Full retail on the special reserved seat would have been $72.61. (Travelzoo)

*Piano! Las Vegas @ Planet Hollywood* - $42.00 for 2 VIP tickets. Full retail is $55.79 per person. (V Theater sale)

*Platters, Coasters, Marvellettes @ the Rio* - $29. Full retail for the VIP ticket is $79.40. (Groupon)

*Donny and Marie @ the Flamingo* - $99.58. Full retail for main floor seating is $129.03 (Best of Vegas)

*Barry Manilow @ Paris* - $159.35 for 2 tickets. Full retail would have been $113.70 per ticket. Thanks for the recommendation “noahcat”! (Travelzoo)

*Love @ Mirage* - $127.90 for 2 tickets. Full retail would have been $84.85 per ticket. (Summer of Cirque $55 promotion)

*Mystere @ Treasure Island* - $130.00 for 2 tickets. Full retail would have been $88.40 per ticket. (Summer of Cirque $55 promotion)

*Jersey Boys @ Palazzo* - $190.20 for 2 tickets. The full retail price for the seats we have is $161.10 each. I actually received a discount on these tickets because I have a gold Venetian card, but a similar discount is available through Travelzoo.

We are also seeing *Divas Las Vegas* and *Trent Carlini*, but as mentioned earlier, those tickets are comped. If time permits, we’ll also check out the new show *The Magic of Paris*. We’ll probably wait until we’re there to buy tickets, as I’m sure there will be coupons available.

I also bought a ticket to see UFC 132 at the MGM Grand Garden. Full price unfortunately.

The full retail costs I’ve included here are from the LVA website. Of course other discounts are available (magazines etc.). According to my calculations, the full retail price on all the shows we’ll be seeing is $1288.72 and I paid a total of $817.98 for a savings of $470.74. I ended up paying on average 36% less than the full retail price, so a little work can save you some money!

So far, the cheapest rental car I can reserve is through Advantage @ $165.95 taxes included. Our round trip flights from Toronto are cheap at just $319.92 apiece, but are not direct flights.

We’re not foodies, and most of our meals will be at the buffets. I have 2 for 1 coupons for all the buffets we’ll be eating at and some small amounts of comp dollars or meal credits at the various casinos.

In total, I estimate that the entire trip will cost $2252 (includes food) for the both of us. As I said earlier it’s pretty hard to justify spending $2345 on those poker tournaments when the entire trip costs less than that!

So there you have it! We fly out on June 27 and return on July 6. Wish us luck!

Thanks for sharing! Good luck in your poker tournaments! Who are you flying with out of TO for $319.? I am about an hour and a half from Pearson and usually drive to Detroit because it is so much cheaper, but $319 is not bad.

DF

It's an American Airlines flight. It's a connecting flight, and the return flight is a red eye , but the price was right. That's probably the cheapest I've ever flown to LAS from YYZ.

If you haven't been to Springs Preserve, it is fantastic. I purchased a family membership last year so my kids and I could go a couple of times during our 10 day trip. I enjoyed it as much, maybe more, than the kids! Especially loved the solar panels over the parking lot, they generate the power for the complex AND they keep your car cool! I've wanted to return when it wasn't as hot to enjoy walking the desert gardens more.
diane

Sounds like a nice trip! There is actually a chance that I might be in LV from some point on Sunday 6/26 and come back home (to Los Angeles) on Thursday 6/30. If so, and if you'd like, maybe we can meet up!

RecVPPlayer

Well keep us updated if you are going to play in the WSOP I will track for you like I did last year. I like checking the tourny updates. Hope you cash this year and if all gos good even WIN!!!

Rec,

We'll be downtown at the Golden Nugget on the 27th and 28th. Where do you normally stay?

I've read that the entire scene at the WSOP this year is a sombre one. A lot of broke / desperate players who can't get their money out of the online poker sites that were shut down.

I just got an offer for 2 free nights at Main Street Station, so I could still play the 2 events at the Golden Nugget and have my mother nearby to check up on periodically.

Read your previous TR and enjoyed, keep us posted.
You seem to have your trip set up well. Hope you do well in one of the early tournaments to give you extra seed money

I tend to stay at Plaza/Las Vegas Club and/or Four Queens normally.

I really prefer staying Downtown for the better games (rules/pay schedules) offered, it's easier to walk between casinos and there tends to be less play needed to get comps out of the casinos.

And so I vastly stay in hotels downtown for my entire usual visit.

RecVPPlayer