Vegas Q's

[Knytestorme]

Hey guys, with the talk about vegas for next wsop I'm thinking about taking a trip over there for the 10 days before xmas to try and get the newness of the place out of the way before I need to be more focused so thought I'd ask a few Q's here first.

1. I'm looking at staying somewhere reasonably cheap as I'll be by myself most likely and after looking over room prices at lasvegas.com I'm considering somewhere like Hooters (hell, just sounds like a fun place) but am definatly up for some suggestions on if I should totally rule it out or other places I should consider when taking into account distance to the strip, safety, etc.

2. What sort of budget should I look at in regards to food/drink given I'll have nowhere to cook realistically and I'm not one for hugely expensive/exotic/high-class food for the most part?

3. What sort of budget for live poker given that the only games spread live in my town are 5/10 LHE and NL (am thinking it will be around the $1k or so Fnord mentioned in the other thread) and what exactly is beating the rake in live poker? I always have just assumed that if I walk out with more money than I started with then I have won.

4. What is free ....but seriously I've heard that drinks while playing are generally free, is this the case, etc?

5. Tipping...here tipping is generally not done, and used to be considered an insult up until the past 20 years or so, so it's not a thing that I have much experience with (basically I also don't see the point of me paying someone extra to do their job but meh) so who am I expected to tip and how much?

Hopefully you guys can provide me with some accurate intel and am sure I'll probably just come up with more questions as things are answered so...have at it

[Roco415]

5. Tipping...here tipping is generally not done, and used to be considered an insult up until the past 20 years or so, so it's not a thing that I have much experience with (basically I also don't see the point of me paying someone extra to do their job but meh) so who am I expected to tip and how much?

you obviously haven't worked in the service industry or restaurant business. Dealers, Waitors, and Servers get paid a low base salary and make more money off tips than they get on their pretty much insignificant paychecks. You're not really paying them any extra. The point of a tip is if you think a dealer is doing a good job. If you think they're shitty, then don't tip.

[pgil]

drinks are free, and if you don't tip, the waitresses probably won't be coming back to see you very often. I threw a dollar per drink, as I was playing at the 1/2 tables, and that seemed to be the norm.

[Knytestorme]

you obviously haven't worked in the service industry or restaurant business.

Parents owned takeaways, restaurants and bistros most of their working life and I worked as waiter and sommelier for them and other places from around 16 until 26 (putting myself through uni at the end)

The fact of the matter is that here in australia we actually get paid our minimum wage and businesses aren't allowed to count tips towards your wage thus tipping someone here is giving them extra for doing their job, and since I don't tip my doctor or my isp help desk or my solicitor then I don't see the point to tip others.....that being said, since I do know what they go through I will tip someone that provides me with service at least equal to what I would have given.

That all is by-the-by though, as my questions were to get answers to avoid cultural gafs, I just hate when people make incorrect assumptions

[UG]

1. Check out the website cheapovegas.com and a lot of your questions will be answered there about hotel rooms. You can find stuff for every price range, just depends on how swanky of a place you want to stay in.

2. All of your favorite fast food chains are on the strip. When we stayed at The Flamingo there was a dumpy casino next door that had a Subway, Burger King, Ice Cream Store, and crappy pizza joint in the back. Prices were a little more than normal but only by a couple of bucks. If you do it right you can get by on $25-30 a day if you don't eat at swanky places. Also, check out comps in whatever poker room you're playing in...if you play long enough you can get free meals that way.

3. $2k is probably preferred, but I got by taking only $500 out there the three times I went. I covered food/strippers/etc the first time, covered flight/hotel/food/strippers second time and came home with a decent chunk of change....this last time I spent my $500 plus about $100 or so on my debit card for poker and food (ran bad and probably played worse). I only played NL 1/2 which has a max buy-in of $300, I usually bought in for $200.

4. Drinks are free at all of the tables I went to. Tip your waitress a dollar each time she comes around. At most places I've been to you can get drunk as a skunk in four or five hours of play because waitresses come by every 20-30 minutes.

5. Tips aren't mandatory but c'mon, these people are trying to make a living. For super small pots, or if you just take down the blinds you don't necessarily have to tip and I usually don't. But for medium sized pots tip a buck or two, if you win a HUGE pot or end up hitting a high-hand jackpot or something tip a little more.


Again, cheapovegas.com is pretty informative and helpful, it'll give you a rundown on all of the hotels out there...

[Knytestorme]

Coolness, thanks for that UG though kinda moot now :/

On the calendar for work here we have from the 13th dec till 2nd Jan off but as my area has been subsumed into an in-effect outsourced department we only get form the 23 till the 2nd so don't see the point to onlydoing 5 day trip since I want to save my leave for the '08 WSoP