Both our December 2001 and April 2002 trips were similar in that we stayed at the luxurious Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino. Actually the April 2002 trip was planned at the Luxor, but after a 5-6 hour wait for an overpriced jacuzzi room and a few other creature discomforts, we decided to "move" down to the Mandalay where we knew the accomodations were wonderful.

Spacious, luxurious rooms at Mandalay Bay

The rooms at Mandalay Bay are some of the nicest rooms I've stayed at. They are spacious, have individual closets, dual sinks, a separate tub and shower, separate toilet stall, and floor-to-ceiling panes of glass on the outside wall offering a spectacular view of the strip and surrounding mountains. The rooms, hallways, and hotel in general are very clean and there seems to be a lot of fresh air exchange. One nice thing is that you can check-in and go right to the elevators and to your room *without* going through the casino...a nice change. The restaurants are second to none (although a bit pricey) and high-profile entertainers and sports events are common. The only thing I did notice is that if you are in the casino at night when an event leaves out, many mostly younger drunk people stumble past you while you're trying to enjoy your slot session. However I was propositioned here by a "woman-of-the-night" so I guess it could be worse...

One of the coolest things about staying at Mandalay Bay is the "CSI" strip view you get from your room every night!

I recall that both of these trips were similar to our other gambling experiences. You'll be down and times and up others, but if you are cautious and frugal, have self-control, and aren't afraid to play through the down times, usually in the end you will not have spent as much on gambling as you planned for the trip. During both trips, we played mostly higher denomination slot machines ($1-$10) and did fairly well, at one point hitting the (3) Triple Diamonds on a $5 WOF machine which paid $1600. We hit another $5 Triple Diamond $5 machine for about $900 as well.

We played a decent amount of blackjack and it seemed like we actually came out ahead at the tables. The pattern was similar to this: lose money in the $1 slots, go to the blackjack table and usually make it back and a little more, then go lose it in the $5 slots, then head back to the blackjack table, etc. We actually played a blackjack session at a $25 minimum table and it treated us well. I doubled my money within the hour and got to take my first pink chip ($500) to the cage. There was also some loser who came in at the $5 table and got a marker for $5000 and wanted his chips in reds and greens ($5 and $25). The pit boss said no and made the dealer pay him mostly in black ($100) chips. He had his assumed son-in-law with him who was feeding the "big man" advice from the $1.99 blackjack strategy card he bought at the casino gift shop. If I recall correctly, the guy lost around $800 within a 1/2 hour before he got up and moved to the $25 table. I'll bet the casino liked him...well at least his money.

Game playing at Mandalay Bay is fabulous...where else could you have such a good time losing your money? The ceilings are high, the ventilation is great, the tables are clean, lighting is good, and the whole casino and hotel just "smell good" compared to others in my opinion. The machine games are well spaced and aisles have plenty of room. I think others will agree that a majority of the cocktail waitresses at Mandalay far outperform their counterparts in other casinos in regards to service and eye-candy value.

One new thing we did for the April 2002 trip was learn how to play pretty good basic strategy for Jacks or Better Video Poker. Interestly enough, Mandalay had a good number of 9/6 payout single hand machines available. Using decent basic strategy, you can play $1 single-hand VP for a pretty long time on $100. After we became comfortable, we graduated to the high limit slots area and spent a good deal of time playing a multi-play multi-denominational video poker machine. What I liked about this machine is you could play *any* number of hands from 1 to 50 playing 1 to 5 coins of several different denominations. This is great because you can vary the parameters as you desire at any point in the game. At one point we actually hit a royal flush on a multi-play draw, but I think it paid $400 or so because we were not playing full coin. We also saw a guy get a royal for $4000 on a $1 single play machine. The point is, royal's can be hit, sometimes quite frequently.

During the December 2001 trip we saw comedian Kevin James ("King of Queens") at the Paris Theater. His show was tasteful and great, as usual. Our seats were front row center which provided a refreshing view of a performer. During the April 2002 trip, we saw Natalie Cole perform at the Paris Theater. Although I still enjoyed the May 2001 Lou Rawls/Nancy Wilson performance more, Cole's show had the best sound setup I've ever heard! We sat near the center, about 16 rows back, and the sound mix was perfect throughout the entire show. I look forward to seeing more performances at the Paris Les Theatres d'Arts.

We visited the newly opened Palms resort in December 2001, and made note of their 10/7 video poker machines. I suppose the Palms is more for locals, but nothing stood out in my head as being wonderful about the place. Maybe I'll check it out again on the next trip. We also always make a trip out to the Rio and do the grand buffet and poke around. They have good payouts on their video poker machines as well and it's a neat place to hang out for a while. A lot of locals hang out there.

Additionally, during our December 2001 trip we visited the downtown area and the Fremont experience. It was really neat checking out the all the older casinos like Binion's, the Four Queens, and the Golden Nugget. We also, as usual, went through NYNY and played a little, and went into the MGM Grand to catch some good live entertainment.