Sin City, NV

My girlfriend and her parents are currently on a trip around the West Coast and over the past weekend, I joined them as they stopped over in Las Vegas for a couple of days. I must say that Las Vegas is a truly bizarre place! From the amazing buffets to the pyramid-shaped hotel, it's like some enormous theme park with no entrance fee (unless you have a gambling addiction).

Here are some tips for those of you who may be thinking of visiting Sin City:

1. Coupons are your friends (you can save quite alot of money from having the right coupons which are easily available from magazines all over the place)
2. Try to avoid weekends (we stayed at Harrah's on Wed and Thurs for around $59; over the weekend, the rates shot to $300+)
3. Choose a hotel as close to the strip as possible (location is everything!)
   
4. Join the Player's Clubs at casinos since they are free and some give you good perks (e.g. at Imperial Palace, you get a room upgrade plus 2 free buffets)
5. Ignore offers of free $50 slot play coz they relegate you to a machine that has terrible odds
6. Go to the Carnival World Buffet at Rio (remember to bring $5 off coupon) -- it's AMAZING!
7. The only swimming pools worth visiting are at Mandalay Bay and Caesar's Palace
8. A DIY day trip to the Grand Canyon is possible if you head to the West Rim instead of the South (See my Tripadvisor post for more info)
9. The Cyber Speedway driving simulator at Sahara sounds more exciting on paper than it is in real life (i.e. there is now absolutely no reason to visit Sahara)
   
10. Don't bother with the animatronics show at Caesars -- it sucks!
11. Sirens at TI is probably not worth the wait either, except for the cool explosions :P
12. The Bellagio fountains are AWESOME! (8pm - 12MN)
13. Excalibur has discontinued its free magic shows
14. Circus Circus and Rio also have some free entertainment albeit rather short
15. You should be able to find free parking (or free validation) in most places
16. There's a free museum at Tropicana which gives you some nice background of the development of Las Vegas
17. The white tigers at Mirage go to sleep at 5pm, while the lions at MGM stay out till 10pm
18. Go to the Freemont Street Experience at night coz it probably doesn't look as nice in the day
19. I'll add to this list as I remember more stuff...

A thought on gambling at casinos: Considering how the odds are obviously against the player, it seems that the only way that you can increase your chances of winning is to bet large and play less. Why? In the long run, your expected earnings are negative (otherwise the casino goes out of business) and the longer you play, the more likely your average return will be negative. The less games you play, the higher the variance of the distribution, hence the more likely that you might actually come out on top. Of course, that also means a greater risk that you may come out way below the long run expected earnings, but since that is negative anyhow, you kind've have less to lose. Bottom line: gambling is silly.