Originally Posted by
country978
I got back from a 5 day trip to Vegas last night. I stayed at Park MGM and thought the hotel was excellent and in a great location. Even though cigarette smoke doesn't bother me I did appreciate that the place didn't stink like people had been smoking in it for 30 years like the Excalibur.
I played cash poker 5x and won 4x. Twice at Bellagio, once at MGM and once at Resorts World. My one loss was at the Venetian when I got stacked after flopping top set. I had been told that the poker players in Vegas were very tight and that the games weren't great but I found the opposite was true. There were a bunch of terrible players at every table I played. At Resorts world $1/3 table you couldn't see a flop for less than $15.
The buffet at the Wynn is still excellent
The quality and price of the weed is not good
I met Brad Owen at the Bellagio and found him to be gracious and kind.
Downtown was pretty fun. I had good success at the Circa blackjack tables and really enjoyed the fact that the dealers (all women) would dance on tables in the pit when not dealing. Same with the D and a few others there. The Circa sports book seems world class to me. Overall I made about $1,150 playing poker and around $300 at blackjack yet, somehow only managed to come home with about $100 more than what I went with and that doesn't include money spent on my credit card (north of $400).
Aside from all the losing slots I played everything was incredibly expensive. My room at Park MGM cost $42 a night resort fee and my flight with Breeze from Bradley in Connecticut was $175. MGM gave me $100 resort credit and $50 free play while I was there.
I wanted to play a big tournament while I was there but there really was nothing beyond the daily events. I played one at MGM and did not cash. I almost played the $160 daily at Aria but decided against it then was happy with this choice when I went back 5 hours later and the thing was still going with 15 people left and 5 cash positions.
The trip from the east coast is a long one, especially with the 3 hour time change but all in all it was a good trip I was happy to have taken.
Wish I were there to have finally met you. I never seem to be in Vegas when you visit.
I assume the blackjack you played was 6:5? Unfortunately it is very hard to find 3:2 blackjack in Vegas these days, except at high limits. Really ruins the game, and most people don't realize it.
Circa Sportsbook is run extremely well, managed by the very social media savvy (and fairly young) Jeffrey Benson. He also helped get scammer Christopher Mitchell banned from the property when the matter was brought to his attention, even though it had nothing to do with his department. Class guy from what I can see.
Circa in general is very well run, and very nice for a downtown property. The "ID everyone" policy when you walk inside is annoying. They claim it's to make sure everyone on property is over 21 (no kids allowed in the whole place), but I don't believe that. There's no reason to ID people my age. In fact, they'd even ID my dad if he tried to go in. It's all about tracking who comes in.
Park MGM (aka Monte Carlo) is a good value. As you said, great location, and it's not a bad place. It's probably the best value of all MGM properties, much like Harrah's and Horseshoe are the best value Caesars properties.
Did you have a car there? I'm assuming not. I always need a car in Vegas and feel weird without one, but that's because I'm not a tourist. I'm kind of a pseudo-local. But I find that most people who visit Vegas frequently eventually get to feel antsy without a car.
I agree it's a pain in the ass to come to Vegas from the east coast -- something I take for granted as a guy who can jump in the car, be there in 4 hours, and be in the same time zone. Much like how it's a huge deal from west coast people to go to London, whereas for people in the east, it's like flying to the other side of the US. That's why I haven't been to Europe in decades.