BigWhale & brother (feat. MuckPls) does Vegas - 2025 edition (21st-31st March)
Hello people,
I can't believe it's been 6 months since I have been in Vegas, and we cannot let that go on for much longer! I will fly to London on March 20th after work, relax at a hotel there overnight, and then fly direct from there to Las Vegas on Friday the 21st (just in time for March Madness).
My brother will finally join in as well; he actually has a business trip to the US coming up in a few days, so when he is done with work he is already in the country. He will also head out to Vegas on the 21st of March.
A late addition to the trip is also 'MuckPls' who said YOLO and booked his own trip as well. I'll let him post the details on his end.
With this being the middle of March, and MGM having slashed my previous reasonable offers, it was not super easy to find cheap hotels. As of such, I have to stay at 3 different hotels to take advantage of the comp nights I had available (although I have to pay full resort fee). I will be staying at:
- Excalibur (2 nights)
- Flamingo (4 nights)
- MGM Grand (4 nights)
That said, it won't be too much stress to switch between the hotels. For MGM properties I can obviously check in and get digital room keys through the app. And for Flamingo I will just show up early and pay the (ridiculously high) early check-in fee to avoid gigantic lines.
It's March Madness time in Vegas when we are there, so I have high expectation of there being a lot of games to play and hopefully some good action as well. But regardless, it should be a fun and hopefully profitable trip. I will come back with some more thoughts + picture of shoe and bankroll in a few days.
As always, you guys can expect a lot of hand histories as well as random pictures from my end. Hopefully I can get brother to post a bit as well. And MuckPls will obviously also contribute with his own degen stories 
This is only the first of many trips to Vegas for me in 2025, but we can get back to that later. I am regardless stoked for the trip, and it will be nice having someone to share the excitement with as well!
Good luck boys and savour the next few days - the excitement and anticipation of the final few days before a Vegas trip are some of the best feelings
I think those cards are marked.
Spoiler
No, the players' cards!
I know you guys seldom stay at Caesars hotels, but they have this going:
10X TIER CREDIT MULTIPLIER
Valid: March 23 - 28, 2025
That puts Diamond card status in reach (15,000 tier credits), which means no resort fees and free parking through 2026. There are also daily bonuses, but only pre-10x bonus credits count towards them.
I know you guys seldom stay at Caesars hotels, but they have this going:
10X TIER CREDIT MULTIPLIER
Valid: March 23 - 28, 2025
That puts Diamond card status in reach (15,000 tier credits), which means no resort fees and free parking through 2026. There are also daily bonuses, but only pre-10x bonus credits count towards them.
Oh nice. Works out perfectly, as I am staying at a Caesars-property (Flamingo) from 23rd-27th.
Other than that I have no idea in terms of plans. Land, convert my $375 free play into at least $100k, retire.
Solid plan, love it!
I will for sure enjoy this trip report.
Enjoy, and thanks for sharing!
(and my last visit over there - I spent some time at South Point for my very first time, and liked it)
I know you guys seldom stay at Caesars hotels, but they have this going:
10X TIER CREDIT MULTIPLIER
Valid: March 23 - 28, 2025
That puts Diamond card status in reach (15,000 tier credits), which means no resort fees and free parking through 2026. There are also daily bonuses, but only pre-10x bonus credits count towards them.
Yeah, this has to be done.
Some crazy muppet even flew over specifically for one of these in January - TR here showing exactly how it was done. 😃
Bankroll for the trip:
Heading to the airport in a bit over 12 hours. Really not looking forward for the flight over this time, with a 6 hour long layover in LHR.
Oh and bonus, for those of you who have followed previous TRs. We mentioned a friend who once joined and ran $500 up to over $15 000 playing Big O at the Wynn. He is flying out same day, same route but with BA and we land the same time! Only found out about it yesterday.
Yeah, this has to be done.
Some crazy muppet even flew over specifically for one of these in January - TR here showing exactly how it was done. 😃
Hehe, impressive dedication. Seems you only used 4-5 hours of play in total to reach the 15k (or, 1500) points, doesn't sound too terrible. Seems very doable to get that kind of volume in, especially if spreading it over 2-3 days.
Are there other good perks apart from the no resort fee? (too lazy to Google).
Hehe, impressive dedication. Seems you only used 4-5 hours of play in total to reach the 15k (or, 1500) points, doesn't sound too terrible. Seems very doable to get that kind of volume in, especially if spreading it over 2-3 days.
Are there other good perks apart from the no resort fee? (too lazy to Google).
The best one is during the WSOP. You get a separate registration area for tournaments. 7 Star gets priority but there aren't many of those. And you get priority on all poker room (there might be 3 of them in a few months!) lists, behind 7 Star. You get a separate hotel registration line, even a different check-in room if you get there before 7 pm. They will usually give you a couple cold free waters if you ask. Free early check-in, late checkout free, till 1 or 2 pm, I can't remember. A lot of little stuff that you really miss if you had it, then lost it.
BTW you don't need a whole 1500 because before you get that many you'll trigger a daily bonus. Only the tc's you actually earn count towards the daily bonus, but it's something.
Another thing, there is sometimes a host in the Diamond check-in room. If not, ask one of the desk people to talk to one. They might be able to get you a Diamond card on this trip, especially if you earn it on your first or second day. Normally it takes a couple weeks for the 10x credit to hit your account, but it can't hurt to ask. A host can look up your past play and if they see a lot of blackjack and craps degen play... you never know.
Bankroll is a bit short, Whale. 😀
Hehe, impressive dedication. Seems you only used 4-5 hours of play in total to reach the 15k (or, 1500) points, doesn't sound too terrible. Seems very doable to get that kind of volume in, especially if spreading it over 2-3 days.
Are there other good perks apart from the no resort fee? (too lazy to Google).
Not really other than what's mentioned above. Free valet parking and the $100 Diamond dinner (which you'd get twice, once in 2025 and once in 2026 as you'd stay Diamond until Jan 2027) but other than that not much. Because we go over for longer trips the money we save in RF's makes it worth it imo, and if you're playing loads of cash at Horseshoe then that top of the list perk is epic.
If you spread it over 3 days you need 500 TC's per day ($2500 coin in on slots, $5k on VP). If you do it in one you need 1400 TC's total ($7k coin in slots, $14k VP) as you get a 1K TC bonus for 1K TC's in a day.
Mount Etna volcano on my way from Malta to London:
Now chilling in London and waiting for my flight to leave in 2 hours. Land in Vegas at 8pm, same time as my friend who is going from London as well but with BA. We are staying close to each other (NYNY and Park MGM) so will share a cab and then go to dinner to Bavettes followed by hopefully passing out for 12 hours or more.
That's a pretty cool picture!
Welcome Whale!
Also, hello Leon!
The run good started early - You could have been stuck in Europe due to this mess:
(Heathrow closed)
Have fun and enjoy!
The run good started early - You could have been stuck in Europe due to this mess:
(Heathrow closed)
Yeah, about that...
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We're sorry to advise that VS155 to Las Vegas has been cancelled due to the temporary closure of London Heathrow airport for all departures and arrivals.
Our teams are in the process of rebooking customers onto a new flight to ensure they can complete their journey to their final destination. Due to the high level of disruption caused by the incident at Heathrow, processing your flight change or cancellation will take longer than usual or we may face challenges with availability. We understand this is frustrating and appreciate your patience while we work through the impact. In the meantime, we kindly ask that you do not call our contact centre.
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I arrived at Heathrow yesterday, and have spent the night in an airport hotel, before I was supposed to fly out to Vegas today. That's not happening apparently. Feeling very frustrated now.
Seems the area I was in of the airport was not affected or near the fire, because it's been super quiet here all night and I didn't hear anything. But basically Heathrow is closed all day, and who knows when or how I can get to Vegas. I am stuck here in London, unless I find another airport, but flights from there will be packed as well. And whatever new routing that Virgin Atlantic are able to find for me, will likely be crap and take 30 hours to get to Vegas.
Fun, fun, fun, fun.
Yeah, about that...
--------------
We're sorry to advise that VS155 to Las Vegas has been cancelled due to the temporary closure of London Heathrow airport for all departures and arrivals.
Our teams are in the process of rebooking customers onto a new flight to ensure they can complete their journey to their final destination. Due to the high level of disruption caused by the incident at Heathrow, processing your flight change or cancellation will take longer than usual or we may face challenges wi
F**k.
I am sorry. This sucks.
Gatwick -> Amsterdam -> KLM to LV?
I hope they find you a route to go, and if I remember correctly, Virgin goes from both Heathrow and Gatwick to LV? Or was that BA?
Anyhow, I really hope you get there ASAP.
Yeah, about that...
--------------
We're sorry to advise that VS155 to Las Vegas has been cancelled due to the temporary closure of London Heathrow airport for all departures and arrivals.
Our teams are in the process of rebooking customers onto a new flight to ensure they can complete their journey to their final destination. Due to the high level of disruption caused by the incident at Heathrow, processing your flight change or cancellation will take longer than usual or we may face challenges wi
The only route I can think of that might be doable for you is Virgin MAN-JFK at 2pm UK time if you can get a train up there, then Delta 9pm JFK-LAS, land Vegas at midnight Vegas time. Gonna absolutely suck but hopefully get you there.
sorry mate, super super ****
