Las Vegas bound!!!

[albertGQ]

So I'm finally going to Las Vegas! I've been wanting to go since I turned 21. I'm 28 now, but man am I still stoked. I love to gamble, I love to party, and I love hot chicks. I am definately ready for Sin City.

Anyway, so there will be about a dozen of us going for a buddy's stag. We are leaving Calgary on Wednesday and coming back on Saturday, so the usual three nights and four days.

We won't be getting to Vegas until about 10pm on Wednesday night. What is there to do that late? Will it be too late to hit up a club? I know the night life doesn't start till much later, but will the line ups be too long? I despise waiting in line (never have to in Calgary so I know I'll just snap if I have to wait longer then 10 minutes). If we did decide to go to a night club and there is a long line, how much grease money is standard to skip the line?

Thursday night is ear marked for the strip club. I think we are going to Spearint Rhino. I'm pretty sure I've heard of this place before so is it a well known strip club? What do they offer there besides the traditional nude shows? In Montreal we were allowed lap dances and lesbian shows. Is Vegas the same thing?

Friday night is reserved for the actual bachelor party at Studio 54. I know this is a good club cause there is a fricken movie named after it. What is the crowd like? Are the chicks all gold diggers? Are drinks pricey? I would imagine so.

And we're staying at the MGM. I also heard that this hotel is kick ass. What is their casino like? I heard the other poker players are all crappy cause its just tourists trying their luck while their on vacation. If this is the case, I would love it. I'm gonna try to win my trip back at the poker tables!!!


Any hints, suggestions, and tips to make my first Vegas trip more memorable would be greatly appreciated

Thank you guys!!!

[ken0042]

Two words- Spearmint Rhino.

And every girl in Vegas who is working at a strip bar is a gold digger. But use that to your advantage. Spend a little bit, and you will have so many others hitting on you it won't be funny.

Edit- Whoops, I missed that you were already going there. Good call.

Edit2- pay cash for your drinks at the Rhino. If you run a tab they will ask for a credit card, and then if one of your buddies doesn't realize that he is paying by the 5 minutes for the time in the back room, he will spend the rest of the trip bitching that it ended up costing him $800 just to talk to a girl for a while.

[BlackArcher101]

nm!

[philip1985]

We went to Vegas last year a group of us and had the time of our lives. We stayed at the Luxor so at the end of the strip but that was ok. The tables at Luxor weren't the best for playing poker. I found playing the tables at the Venetian absolutely incredible. I pretty much paid for my trip and all the spending I did in Vegas by playing there a few times. I found the tables really easy if you've ever played poker before. The people that were playing there were very inexperienced I found, a lot of tourists that normally wouldn't gamble were just there to enjoy the experience. I would recommend going to the Venetian, very nice tables, with great atmosphere and a chance to win quite a bit if you know what you are doing.

As for night life I found the club inside Mandalay Bay the best, it was called Rum Jungle. Me and my buddies definitely had a blast there, lots of ladies and drinks weren't too bad either if I can remember correctly.

Other then those two recommendation I would suggest Premium outlet mall if you have time, lots of stores there and the discounts are quite significant. Lacoste shirts were about 50$, it was just they don't have a huge selection but it's still good. Also the buffet in the Rio is excellent so much food, the Aladdin was good too if you like sushi. Hope this helps, have a good time

[browna]

I've been on 2 stags down there, my own included. Always lots going on.

Clubs will be dead Thursday, and not really worth it. Get something to eat at an all night place (regular restaruants close around 10) and the clubs usually close early (like 1am)...Friday Saturday sure, they are open until 4 probably, but any of the major Strip hotels you either have to be waiting in line early (ie near the front) or wait it out, or, dig deep to grease.

To be honest, any major clubs, you're looking at least $30 per guy (probably more), + the nominal $20 cover easily to grease. Almost to cheaper to shell out for a table with a bottle service (I cant recall, maybe $600?) if you don't want to be waiting anywhere. That usually gets your group in without line and extra cover, plus a reserved table, plus a bottle (a 24) of spirits.

If you're in a big group of guys, expect no breaks. Hot women don't get a break either to skip line (unless they are locals). But, you can line up early (say around 9) and have a good chance of getting in just for cover charge...but you have to be willing to wait it out.

Drinks anywhere and everywhere at clubs are at least $7-10, beer maybe less.

Never heard anything about Club 54, but don't expect it to be much different then any other club. The last two stags (I've been 2 or 3 other tame times) we've went to the club in the Hard Rock, and had no complaints.

[CMPunk]

Studio 54 was orignially a bar in NY I think. The one in Vegas is just capitalizing on the name. Hit the Playboy club at the Palms...they have good clubs there. And if you want girls, Coyote Ugly at NYNY

[Bertuzzied]

I just got back last week. Nothing says stag like 12 front row tickets to the Celine Dion concert. It's her final year! hehehe.

It is flipping hot down there right now. 45-47c in the daytime and 40-41c at nite.

[Buff]

I stayed at MGM Grand in March and I enjoyed it. We didn't spend much time in the room other than to sleep and I found the beds to be comfortable. The only complaint was a drunk lady who kept knockin on our door asking for Precious. She couldn't get it through her head that she had the wrong room.

The casino in MGM is the biggest one in Vegas if I remember correctly. For gambling we pretty much stuck to MGM and New York New York. We only played the slots and we picked a couple of machines that we liked the best and played those ones.

There are lots of free shows at every hotel/resort. Lions at MGM, Tigers at Mirage, the entire layout of New York is neat. Of course there is the water fountains at Bellagio and the volcano at Mirage. The Sirens of TI at Treasure Island. And that is just the tip of the ice berg. Though many of those may not necesarily be the party thing to do on a stag, some random guy asked me to take a picture of his group at the Bellagio watershow and they were there for a stag so I guess it depends on your group.

We didn't do any clubbin but I noticed many people were trying to hand out/sell VIP passes to the clubs. You won't have to wait in line to get those passes, but I'm not sure what the catch is to get those passes. I never bothered to find out.

There is so much to do in Vegas, just hit the websites of all the resorts and casinos to see what they have to offer.

I'm going to a Microsoft Conference in November and will be staying at Mandalay Bay. Even though I am a geek, I'm more excited about going to Vegas, the conference is just the gimmick that gets me there for free.

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Originally Posted by albertGQ

And we're staying at the MGM. I also heard that this hotel is kick ass.

It's alright. It doesn't compare to the Bellagio's or Mandalay Bay's on the strip but it is the biggest hotel in the world.

I'm booked there in September but that's because I'm paying $69 / night. I might switch to The Signature at MGM Grand for a little over $100 more a night.

What is their casino like?

HUGE, even by Vegas standards. There are only two places I've gotten lost in Vegas - MGM's casino due to sheer size and Excalibur's casino because I was practically blinded by the tackiness.

[blankall]

I just got back from vegas last night. Stayed at the Luxor. All in all an awesome trip.

My advice... make friends with the guy who runs the cab line. We ended up getting free limo, cover, and a drink at the strip club he sent us to. The strip clubs are definately different there. The girls keep bottoms on. I'm not really into lap dances, but a ton of guys there were getting them. The lap dances giving seemed super scandelous though. A lot more touching than in Canada.

Clubs there tend to be a bit of a sausage fest unless you are willilng to pay to get into the VIP areas. The clubs do stay open til almost 5 though and there were a lot of nice ones with no lineups but be prepared to pay around 30 dollars cover. Once inside drinks arent super expensive. Plus you can get free drinks in any of the casinos. Just keep tipping the waitress a dollar every time you get one. If you have a group of 5 or 6 she will definately keep coming back to you.

If you're at all interested in guns go to a place called the gun shop. There should be a $5 dollars off coupon in those tourist books all over. I got to shoot an ak47 and a glock. Pretty damn fun.

If you like poker, I found my favorite place was ceasar's palace, but there are a ton of really good players in vegas so unless you have a huge stack and are super confident stick to the limit tables.

[calf]

Originally Posted by GreenTeaFrapp

I'm booked there in September but that's because I'm paying $69 / night. I might switch to The Signature at MGM Grand for a little over $100 more a night. .

I made my first trip to Vegas for a stag over May long and stayed at the Signature - it was very, very nice. I haven't stayed at a normal hotel room in Vegas, but I bet it's pretty standard. The Signature is more like a condo than anything. 2 flat screen TVs (one pops up from the desk in the bedroom), 2 huge bathrooms, fridge, dishwasher, nice couch, balcony, safe, etc.

[blankall]

oh yah almost forgot, save some money for the duty free shop. Got a bottle of johnny walker gold for like 55 bucks, a carton of cigarettes for 22, and a litre of jose cuervo for 21.

[ikaris]

On Thursday, I would recommend going to Tao in the Venetian. Extremely happening place.

One other place I would recommend is the Ice (it's in downtown Vegas, not on the strip). A local club, not very well known to tourists, but it's the best place in town.

[calf]

As well, after spending a lot of time on the strip, get booze at the liquor store and pre-drink to your heart's desire because the clubs can get expensive with the higher cover/slightly higher drink prices too...obvious, but a good strategy.

[psicodude]

I stayed in the MGM this past winter, and loved it. There are a lot of great restraunts in all price ranges and the place is MASSIVE. The lineups for the 24 hour poker tables were averaging around 6 hours, but I was there during superbowl weekend, so that may be longer than normal.

Club 54 looked pretty crazy from the outside, but we decided to pass on the $40 cover. There is a really cool duelling piano bar in NYNY that didn't have a cover at all and was a blast.

The bottom line is you are pretty much guaranteed to have a blast with that many guys in Vegas.

[spydermal]

Originally Posted by philip1985

I found playing the tables at the Venetian absolutely incredible.

I 2nd this. I lost 1000$ instead of winning. Mostly bad luck. I flop a full house make big raise, guy calls twice and gets bigger full house on river . I went to almost every hotel for poker except the fancier ones such as the wynn. Treasure island poker room= , Luxor is kinda crappy but I found the was easiest to win, Aladin was so so. I might also add going downtown( i forget street name ) for some historic poker.

[Ro]

I might be heading there at Xmas time and am in almost the exact same situation as yourself- mid to late 20's, gambler, always wanted to go but haven't been yet. You're gonna have a blast.

Re: poker. I've heard that the tournaments at Caesar's are great value, and have a great structure. I think one is like $75 with a $50 rebuy and the other one is $125 with a $50 rebuy. But they have the same structure and are supposed to be just about the best around for that price level.

Re: credit cards at strip clubs. Whoever brought that up is 100% correct. Happened to friend of mine at school, and he couldn't do anything about it. He went through a lengthy complaint procedure with Visa and they basically said "sorry, there's nothing we can do." They racked up a nice little $500 bill for what was supposed to be a round of drinks and a private dance for one guy. So leave that at the hotel room.

It's hard to get tix and costs a crapload of money, but any of the Cirque shows would be a good idea. Take some mushrooms like they did in "Knocked Up."

I know I'd want to check out the Bellagio and the fountains and get as close to "Bobby's Room" as I could. And I remember my Dad telling me about going to an ESPNzone restaurant and how cool it was- screens everywhere, you can tune in to whatever game you want at your table with a little mini audio receiver thing, lots of memorabilia.

Have fun, good luck at the poker tables. And try to stay away from the pit if that's a vice!

[albertGQ]

I just ran into a buddy of mine that I haven't talked to in a long time. He recently went to Vegas and suggested that I check out Pure instead of Studio 54. For those that have been to both clubs, which one of the two would you recommend?

[ken0042]

Haven't been to 54, but we went to Pure. Loved it. Great service by everybody there, and one of the bartenders dressed in a nurse's uniform had a very unique way of delivering the shooters to you.

We got passes from the people ahead of us in line, but IIRC they were available if you asked around the casino for them.

[Grunt]

Originally Posted by blankall

If you like poker, I found my favorite place was ceasar's palace, but there are a ton of really good players in vegas so unless you have a huge stack and are super confident stick to the limit tables.

Unless you are playing higher stakes, this is absolutely not true. I played mainly $4/$8 and $8/$16 limit games (as I prefer it to NL) and they were really soft. I also played $1/$2 NL and that game was ridiculously soft as well. Tons of tourists with lots of gamble. Unless you run bad your entire trip like me, you should be able to do fairly well.

Also, my favorite rooms to play poker in were the Wynn, and the Venetian.