How are you and the wife on walking?
The Las Vegas strip is 4 miles long. Mandalay Bay is at the very south end, and is the home of the Cirque MJ show. Lets call that mile zero. The best shopping is Caesars and/or Fashion Show mall, at mile 3.5. Both are on the west side of the street, which is not a straight walk. Sidewalks are detoured because of a building tear-down in progress, and walking past Caesars is a picturesque maze of fountains and gardens. It is a beautiful stroll, but crazy long. Cabs are always available at hotels (by law, you cannot just hail one on the street), but you would have to account for that ($15-$20 each way depending on tip).
Best Poker rooms are Aria Sands (Venetian) Wynn (miles 1.1, 2.1 and 2.6 respectively). Players there will offer solid competition, with knowledgeable fish at the lower levels. Caesars (mile 1.7) has my favorite poker cash game action, because players are about my skill level, though they recently moved their room to make more room for a nightclub, making it smaller and closer to the casino floor. Double frowny face in my opinion.
My suggestion would be to stay at the Flamingo (mile 1.7, across the street from Caesars).
Their "Go" rooms are on par with a Holiday Inn.
To continue, Proximity/access to the sites/strip is a plus. Access to a pool area would be nice, but not required... I think the time of year will be a limiting factor, pool-wise. Since the wife will not likely be gambling, having something for her to do would be nice... Shopping, shows, etc... I then do to think the trip itinerary will go something like this...
As mentioned, the pool will be closed. Temps in December are low 40s to mid 50s. Flamingo does have a nice garden though to lounge around in.
day 1, explore a little, I check out the hotel's card room, wife settles into our room. Meet for dinner, walking the strip, people watching, wife heads back to the room, I hit a card room until God knows when. I head back to room for a couple hours of sleep.
Flamingo has a decent poker room (and wonderful, new this past summer chips).
I will mention here that the "Bravo Poker Live" app is the cash game player's friend. Live updates of what games are playing, where, and how many tables are playing/how long the wait list is. It also has the phone numbers to the all card rooms using the Bravo Genesis system, so when you are ready to head to a card room you can see if it is worth the walk/wait, and you can call ahead to reserve your seat.
After dinner, you can walk the strip north. Most people stop and turn back at Desert Inn road (mile 2.8), because the hotel - casinos really thin out from there. If you are froggy, you can continue up to SLS (mile 3.8), and if you are a thrill seeker, the Strat (mile 4), before turning back and catching Circus Circus. I have not been to SLS, so I cannot comment. Except when I'm staying at the Strat, I do not travel the strip north of Desert Inn. On the way back, you will identify the Fashion Mall (thus encouraging her shopping trip tomorrow while you are gamboling) and enjoy Caesars. If you are early enough, you can check out the white tiger habitat at the Mirage (if your wife is into that kind of stuff).
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day two:
wife and I grab brunch, wife goes shopping, I hit up a card room, go exploring the strip for souvenir chips (advice on this appreciated), wife and I meet up with other couple for nice dinner, possibly a show, wife wants to see MJ. Then more people watching, maybe dancing, drinks, etc... Wife goes to bed around midnight, I hit the tables... Play till 7am, when my wife comes looking for me to say, "WTF"... I sleep on e flight back, and in the doghouse when we get home, lol
If your expenses can take it, get your wife reservations at Qua, the spa at Caesars. Qua=one get out of jail free card for you. I can provide you with details on that if you wish. Technically Mrs. Poker Zombie will provide details, I've never gone. I play cards and she's being turned into jello. I could tell her I won $2000 and spent it on hookers, and she would be all like "I had a great time".
When you head to the show, you can take the monorail south to the MGM (mile 0.6) making the walk to Mandalay Bay for MJ short and sweet. After the show you can stroll back north, pausing along the way to check out different places (nothing breaks up a long walk like pausing for another drink, an awesome dessert, or just to watch a street performer. This will also give you the complete Vegas strip sight-seeing stroll.
By the time the wife goes to bed, you will be back on the app finding the lively 1/2 games. I will give you a rundown of poker rooms in my next post...
