best of vegas

hey guys, this is going to be my first trip to Mandalay Bay's TheHotel

can any of you me details about their blackjack games? if its not great there, are there any other that you would recommend? (preferrable low limit tables 5-25)

i am a hi-lo counter newbie, jus trying to get a lil more practice before i bring the real money...

also, what are some of the betters bars, clubs, shows, etc. It's my brothers 23rd brother and we usually just gamble, and go to the bar. but i'm interested in taking the group to a show, club or nice place to eat.

Not a bad place to play 6D

Manadaly Bay, depending upon how busy they are, generally will have a 6D shoe game, minimums between $15-$25 which are S-17.da, das, split to 4, rsa and lsr. A house edge of .26%

In your immediate area you can find some similar games at Trop, MGM and MonteCarlo.

If you are looking for S-17DD in that area, NYNY and MGM have it but generally at $100 minimum and last time I checked MGM had only one table.

ihate17

THEhotel doesn't have its own tables, so the closest ones will be Mandalay Bay. Mandalay Bay / THEhotel are both MGM properties and pretty much have the same games as all other MGM properties in Vegas. There's a 6D, H17, LS, DAS, DOA, RSall shoe game and a few scattered DD games (which I'm not familiar with).

In the vicinity of Mandalay Bay, Luxor and Excalibur have the lowest limit shoe games, but they also have the worst penetration. MGM Grand and NYNY have games comparable to Mandalay Bay, but I don't know about the limits as they seem to have changed recently. Tropicana probably has the best shoe game in the vicinity because they have S17 rather than H17 and low limits. If you're willing to venture even further, Monte Carlo has a good game too.

Restaurants: Most of the places I'll list are $30-$50/entree. I'm not sure if that's your price range, but I think you meant nice place for a birthday, so I figure you're looking a little more upscale than a $5 bettor would normally look.

I went to Mixx (@THEhotel) last year, and it was a good (but not spectacular) meal at a good (not cheap, but not horrendously expensive) price. You can roll over into the lounge after dinner (I believe there's a cover charge otherwise).

I've been to Aureole (@Mandalay Bay) in the past and was impressed. The meal was very good at a good price. If you're a wine connoisseur, you'll love the wine tower.

Nob Hill (@MGM) is another nice place to eat. It was comparable to Aureole, minus the wine tower.

My favorite restaurant used to be the Prime Steakhouse (@Bellagio), but that fell out of favor recently due to them dropping some of my favorite items from the menu. Still, worth considering if you want to make the trip from Mandalay.

Bars:

My favorite, hands down, is the Shadowbar (@Caesars). Unlike a lot of other places, it's not pretentious nor do you feel grossly out of place if you don't have model quality looks.

The center bar at Hard Rock Cafe is another cool place to be in terms of hanging out. The crowd is younger than at Shadowbar, and (in my opinion) the bar is set how a casino bar should be - in the middle of the floor so you're surrounded by action. It makes the casino floor really loud, though.

Ghostbar (@Palms) was really hot when I went there, but I just felt out of place because I don't really fit in with the LA hipster crowd. 99% of the women there were out of my league, so if that's the kind of place you want to be, go for it. It's an experience.

Clubs:

Clubs in Vegas get hot and cold pretty quickly. My opinion is that they're more or less the same, just find out which one is the hottest at the moment and be prepared to pay (on top of the cover) your way in unless you've got either (a) a group of >90% women and they're not ugly, or (b) a group of >50% women and they're attractive. Bribing the bouncer or buying table service are the easiest ways to pay your way in - table service is far more expensive, but you'll have an endless stream of slutty chicks coming by for free drinks (whether that's a plus or minus is up to you).

Note that any "VIP" passes you get for clubs are worthless. All it does is get you onto a separate line, but since it's the bouncers' discretions which line to advance and who to cut in front of who, it's absolutely worthless.

Shows:

They're all average-quality shows for absurd prices, in my opinion. You can watch the same shows in any big city for half the price.

There are always low $5 tables at the north side of the strip i actually like the stratosphere for some reason. There are many good games down on freemont street as well.

I know most people will chime in in detail with the gaming info so ill help you out with the rest.

I suggest not buying passes to any club online unless you want bottle service which is very expensive and only needed if your there with a big group of friends and plan on staying at one club for a long time. What you can do is around dusk walk down the street and there will be guys trying to hand out passes into pretty much any club you could imagine for free. The dont charge anything but will guilt you into paying them since they work for tips. Try and get as many out of him as you can say you like techno hip hop you might go here you might go there just get what you can. At the end give him a 20 each and be done with it. That 20 can buy you hundreds in at the door fees. I love going to club moon and club playboy on the top of the palms. If you saw 21 it was the part where they were going crazy on top of the roof. The place is nice and the view is absolutley amazing! Dont miss out on the palms its a great expirence. Another good one is Pure at ceasars. Its an upscale place with three rooms usally the pussycat dolls will put on a great strip/dance show in one room while one is a classic club dance floor and bar. One other room is the vip thats up the steps and is amazing but you either need to pay the big bucks or get invited up there. I actually have one free pass into pure if you would like i can send it to you i dont plan on using it anytime soon.

The variety show at planet hollywood is an inexpensive (if you look right) show that is amazing and the performers are absolutley helarious. Everyone will love it. I didnt think so at first but my gf got me to go and my god was i glad i did it was the best.As for the nice place to eat... if you have a winning night be sure to go to the eifel tower reasturant... it was absolutley amazing food! the service is outstanding and you couldent ask for a better view. Every table is set up in the mid section of the tower to give everyone a perfect view of the belaggio fountains while you eat its simply the best. It costs a bit but its well worth it. Make sure to get the desert special whatever it is they are always great. And if you like steak make sure to try the filet in the red wine sauce its 60 bucks but let me tell you i did not feel like i was wasting a penny it was the best meal... ahem piece of meat i have ever had... it dosent come with a side get one if you want but you will be full. Be sure to dress nice. Thats the only way we got in they skipped reservations to let me and my gf in it was so great. The entrance is in the casino and has its own elevator.


Do that and your guarenteed a great time and in all not to expensive one good round of craps and your set.

$20 for a full trips worth of clubs (they dont expire)
drink on the floor buy a couple drinks int he clubs $30
the best dinner you will ever have $60

110 bucks for the best night of your life. Assuming your not married yet im only 21 as well its a good time

oh and if you want a fun expirence at mandalay bay go to minus 5. Its a bar in a room thats completely made of ice. All the glasses the walls the furniture the bar all of it. Now they try and overcharge you they started at like 30 bucks to get in and one drink and no one was there. Me and my gf debated it for a sec and they said hey ya know what how about 20 we discussed it some more because we had to go to the palms and they said ok we can do 15 at that point we went and its a good expirence... they give you a jacket and gloves to wear since it really in -5. The downside is they dont let you bring a camera in to the place. they have a photographer that takes nice pics and you can buy them at the end.. which again are overpriced.. go figure why would i pay 20 bucks for just one single picture thats the standard size... because its the only all ice bar in the us of course... So debate it with someone and they too will lower that price and at that point buy it. they have a number on it that allows you to download and reprint your pic off their site. Fortunatley for me im good with computers and can take your number and get all the pics for you for free so be sure to buy one for no more than 10 bucks its worth it.

whoa

thanks for all the details

I'm definitely gonna check out a lot of these places. A few with my brother and friends...

and more with just me and my gf haha.

Hmmm, not much into wine, but we'll see how it goes, i'll open all these suggestions to the group, and we'll decide from there

thx again!!!

take just your gf to the paris resturant she will loveeeee it
the view of the fountains is great.. are great? whatever

Thunder from Down Under, baby! :laugh:

haha funny suggestions.
but for sure, stratosphere i wanna check out with her
minus 5 sounds cool
definitely gonna try to find the best blackjack games there

looks like i might have to take more than 2 or 3 trips there this year haha

In my opinion, visiting Las Vegas is kind of like eating at Taco Bell. Eating until you're not hungry is an enjoyable experience, but eating until you're full is disasterous.