ron: first trip

[ron]

I am making my first trip to Las Vegas in mid=April.Staying at Treasure Island.Where are best places for bj.I am not a counter but consider myself a strong player.play often at Connecticut casinos and occasionally Atlantic City .My 2 mid 20's daughters are also accompanying me .Any recommendations for shows or restaurants would be appreciated.

[Marc]

*I apologize in advance for the long post*
Good luck on your first trip. I will give you a few recommendations - and will assume your funds will allow flexibility for food/entertainment. You are staying at a fairly well located resort, you will be able to walk to virtually all decent strip properties. Here goes:
1) Best shows - Blue Man Group at the Luxor. $88/ticket, hip show, your daughters will love it. Mystere' at Treasure Island. Better than the other Cirque de Soliel show 'O' at Bellagio. Also hip, also $88/ticket. If you are going in Mid-April...get tickets for shows NOW or they will be sold out. Check web sites for "dark" nights, tickets, etc. Go direct to the casino web sites to avoid service charges, etc. The best free shows include the fountains at Bellagio, the Pirate Battle at Treasure Island and the Freemont Street Experience downtown. I can also highly recommend going 20 minutes outside of town to the red rocks area if you have a rental car...gorgeous landscapes and Hoover Dam is not a bad side trip either.
2) Best restaurants - Picasso at Bellagio is incredible (Mobil 5-star), must make reservations. Fine dining at its absolute best. For Asian food I prefer Lotus Garden (Thai) in a small strip mall about 2 miles from strip, Grand Wok (Thai/Japanese) in the MGM, Pearl (Chinese) in the MGM, Noodles (Pan-Asian) in the Bellagio and Chinois (Pan-Asian) at Caesers - all are excellent and decent values. For buffets (not really my eating style) I find the Paris, Alladin and Bellagio lunch/dinner buffets the best. Avoid all breakfast buffets unless comped.
3) Blackjack/gambling - if you are not a counter and are playing Basic Strategy, then you have plenty of choices for decent 6 deck shoe games on the strip where the atmosphere and service will be much better than you can find downtown (though downtown you will find generally lower limit tables and more affordable toss games as well as some games with more advantageous conditions). The main recommendation I would make regarding non-count action would be to get a players card...since you are staying at Treasure Island (owned by MGM/Mirage), get their playing card and make sure MOST of your gambling dollars are at MGM/Mirage properties (MGM, Bellagio, Boardwalk, Treasure Island, Mirage). Also, try to have every meal, show ticket, etc. put on your room bill (i.e. eat & drink ONLY at MGM/Mirage properties on this visit.) The night before you leave, go to the casino host or marketing director at Treasure Island and get your comps. that are coming to you....I have found that MGM/Mirage generally has the best comps. of the big boys on the strip. If you play red to green blackjack for a minimum of 4-6 hours a day...for 3 days or so, you should be able to minimally get your room(s) comped and perhaps a couple of decent meals. My last trip was in early March and I ended up getting 3 room nights + 1/2 my good dining comped. You need to ask to receive...don't be shy but do be nice about it. By the way, the Boardwalk is an old, small casino near mid-strip that has decent 2deck toss with low minimums.
MOST IMPORTANT - have fun! The town will be everything you imagine and more.

[ron]

Thanks Marc you gave me very useful information.

[Battery]

> 1) Best shows - Blue Man Group at the Luxor.
> $88/ticket, hip show, your daughters will
> love it.

Ron said his daughters are in their mid 20s. It's true they will probably enjoy the show. But their age puts Ron in a generation that may not enjoy paying $87.50 to see a bunch of fake vomit.

Hip? To each his own.

[Marc]

Absolutely right...each person has their own set of tastes. I assumed that Ron was approx. 40 years old (about my age), and I enjoyed the heck out of Blue Man Group. To describe the experience as fake vomit really doesn't do it justice. It is part music, part performance art, part illusion - it does have the 5-10 minutes of food play (I presume this is the vomit you refer to). I definitely agree that the show is not for everyone (the prudish 50ish women seated by herself near me was evidence of that), but I do believe that the majority of 20-45 year olds would have a much better time at this show than say spending $120 to see Sigried & Roy's act (and the Michael Jackson-like surgical oddities in their faces) or spend $50-70 to see lame magic or impersoniation acts. I do recommend having a couple of drinks prior to Blue Man Group to loosen up and help enjoy. As far as the major shows I rate them:
1) Mystere' (at Treasure Island)
2) Blue Man Group (at Luxor)
3) "O" (at Bellagio)
4) Le Femme (at MGM) - this one is in the $50 range and is excellent - but may not be appropriate for a father and daughter trip, though the "nudity" is VERY subtle and artsy, but it is overall an erotic show.
New York/New York is getting ready to open up the 3rd Cirque de Soliel show which if Mystere and "O" are any indication ought to rate in the top 3 easily....though getting through that property is one of the least enjoyable experiences in Las Vegas (too loud, too garish, too much of a mish-mash of bad planning).
After that it is pretty much a smorgasboard of way overpriced, way overrated sameness of obvious magic, bad to decent impersonations, etc.
But I do agree with you...different strokes for different folks.

[E. Diddy]

For playing, all I can say is to avoid those God-awful continuous shuffling machines, fake double deck games, and bastardized versions of single deck blackjack.

For shows, I'll give my endorsement to Cook E. Jarr at Carnival Court (between Harrah's and Imperial Palace). I think he goes on at Midnight on Friday and Saturday nights. He's the loungiest of Vegas Lounge singers, and admission is either free or cheap. Your daughters might also get a kick out of Richard Cheese, who plays Sunday nights at Sunset Station. He sings loungified versions of modern rock songs (think Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, U2, Limp Bizkit, etc...). Good stuff.

--E Diddy

> I am making my first trip to Las Vegas in
> mid=April.Staying at Treasure Island.Where
> are best places for bj.I am not a counter
> but consider myself a strong player.play
> often at Connecticut casinos and
> occasionally Atlantic City .My 2 mid 20's
> daughters are also accompanying me .Any
> recommendations for shows or restaurants
> would be appreciated.

[Kasey]