Hey people
I won a ticket to Vegas, playing online poker. Value around $4000.
Traveling from Denmark and hotel + some events and $500 in cash...
Gonna be 10 poker players traveling together....
It was on the top of my bucket list.
The last week or two, I'll been thinking about it and I wanted it to happen before I turned 50. Gonna be 44 this summer...
Then this Sunday I took a tournament down, where they had added a ticket to vegas in the price pool....
How lucky can a guy be...
Hoping to have time to drop by spinnatis and maybe meet
@Okku or other chippers...
The trip is gonna be from October the 7 to 14...
Any do's and don't in vegas???
Thanks from a very very excited chipper.
It's been a while since I've been, but number one in my list is,
Don't try to do/see it all. There is way too much going on, and you probably won't hit every property or sight while you're out there.
I would say it's worth at least a day downtown to experience it. It's mostly lower end, but some stuff is also cheaper down there too and there are some good bars if your group drinks.
Vegas ATMs can be expensive. You're better off finding one at a bank or drug store. The ATM will tell you how much of a fee it charges, so pay attention. Other international travelers can probably give you good advice on how to handle your cash withdrawals.
Depending on what you end up planning to do and where you plan to stay, the LV Monorail is probably not going to be worth your money. It stations in the back of most casinos and is not as convenient as it seems. The exception is, if you're staying at a property that has a monorail station or going to a convention at the convention center, it can be convenient to move you from one end of the strip to the other.
There's value in staying at a smaller property. You're going to be walking A LOT, and MGM and Caesar's may add a good mile or two per day to that just walking from your room to the front door and back.
Don't try to hail a cab when you leave your hotel. Either ask a doorman, or if they have one, get in the taxi line. It's illegal for a taxi to stop anywhere but a marked taxi stand on the Strip.
There are discount box offices around the strip and downtown that sell show tickets for same or next day shows that are likely to be considerably cheaper than full price. Tix4Tonight sometimes has tickets up to 60% off. You're rolling the dice a bit if you have a specific show you want to see, and you may not save much on a big national headliner, but it's worth a peek.
Drink lots of water, even if you're not that thirsty. You can dehydrate fast with all the alcohol and dry desert air. Always add a round of water to your meal or drinking. If it's hot enough out, you may not even realize you're sweating because it can evaporate so fast.
Be prepared to tip just about everyone. Tipping culture exists because many industries/companies in America still fail to pay a decent wage to their employees. The minimum wage for restaurant severs in the US can be as low as $2.13 per hour! However in Vegas I think it's closer to $9.
- $1-5 to the valet (if you get a car that you don't self park. There's not a lot of value in getting a car unless you're going to explore outside the strip/downtown.)
- $1-2 per bag if you have someone bring your bags to the room. I usually round up to $5 if it works out to less than that. Most of the time I bring my own bag up.
- If you have the maid come to clean your room, I like to leave $5-10 per day we let her in, but $2-5 is probably acceptable here too. I may leave $20 if we've left a mess (food containers and empty bottles everywhere. I'm a lot tidier in my old age though
)
- If I hail a cab, I usually give the doorman a couple bucks.
- If you do any guided tour, plan to tip the guide $5-10.
- 15% is fine for tipping a driver (taxi, limo). Rideshares you can tip in the app however you like.
- Food servers, 15-20% is standard. I've only tipped less than 15% 2 or 3 times in my life for really bad service. If the sever is great, but the food is not, don't take it out on the server. I'll tip 25% if the service is really excellent.
- $1-2 per pot to the poker dealers is pretty standard depending on the stakes you're playing. You can pay if you get a huge pot or really like the dealer. If a dealer is really on their game and helping the table have fun I may throw them a dollar just for the hell of it or when they're on their way out for the next dealer push, but this is more personal thing.
- Table games, I usually toss the dealer $5-10 bucks as I'm leaving the table for every hour I've played or when they're pushed out by the next dealer. If you hit a heater you can tip more. There are also dealer bets you can place in some games like Blackjack where if you win, the dealer wins. Ask one if you can place a bet for them and they'll explain it to you. I don't play a lot of table games, so others may have better advice for you here.
- Slots, I've never won enough at slots to get a hand pay, so I don't really know the etiquette here.
So budget a decent amount of cash just for tips. Since you're going in a group, you can spread some of this cost around.
