Average Tropicana Casino and Resorts Salary - Page 3

Team has been involved in a substantial number of the digital media, sports, entertainment, leisure and gaming industries’ most significant merger and acquisition transactions, holding key positions at, and transacting with Scientific Games Corp, Inspired Gaming Group, FOX Bets, Ocean Casino Resort, Resorts International Holdings, PokerStars, DraftKings, Mohegan Sun, Caesars Entertainment Corporation, Harrah’s Entertainment, Tropicana Entertainment, Inc., TSG/Sky Betting & Gaming, Facebook, Inc, Wynn Resorts, Dubai World/MGM Resorts
Here's all the Bios. These guys are stellar! TEKK closed at $10.30 today. Still cheap!
If you don't like to read... you don't like to make money!!!!
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Matthew Davey — Chief Executive Officer and Director
Mr. Davey has over 25 years of experience within the digital media, sports, entertainment, leisure and gaming ecosystems, as well as experience in the public sector. He is an experienced public company executive officer and board member. He has served in executive management positions across the gaming technology arena. Over the course of Mr. Davey’s career, he oversaw more than ten mergers and acquisitions and over $1.2 billion in debt and equity capital raised to support the companies he has led.
Most recently, Mr. Davey was Chief Executive Officer of SG Digital, the Digital Division of Scientific Games Corp. (“Scientific Games”) (Nasdaq: SGMS). SG Digital was established following the purchase by Scientific Games of NYX Gaming Group Limited (“NYX”) (formerly TSXV: NYX), where Mr. Davey served as Chief Executive Officer and Director. The NYX acquisition provided Scientific Games with a vehicle to significantly accelerate the scale and breadth of its existing digital gaming business, including the strategic expansion into sports betting. In his capacity as Chief Executive Officer of NYX, Mr. Davey developed and implemented a corporate strategy that generated strong revenue growth. Mr. Davey shaped company strategy to focus on digital gaming supplier platforms and content that provided various gaming operators with the underlying gaming and sports betting systems for their online gaming business. In 2014, Mr. Davey oversaw the initial public offering of NYX, and his experience in the digital media, sports, entertainment, leisure and gaming industries helped NYX recognize momentum as a public company. After the public offering, from 2014 to 2018, Mr. Davey oversaw seven acquisitions which helped establish NYX as one of the fastest growing global B2B real-money digital gaming and sports betting platforms. These acquisitions included:
• OpenBet: In 2016, NYX completed the $385 million acquisition of OpenBet. This was one of the more complex and transformative acquisitions that Mr. Davey oversaw at NYX. Through securing co-investments from William Hill (LSE: WMH), Sky Betting & Gaming and The Stars Group (formerly Nasdaq: TSG, TSX: TSGI), Mr. Davey was able to get the acquisition from Vitruvian Partners completed successfully, winning the deal against much larger and well capitalized competitors. By combining two established and proven B2B betting and gaming suppliers, NYX was well positioned to provide customers with exciting player-driven solutions across all major product verticals and distribution channels. This allowed NYX to become the leading B2B omni-channel sportsbook platform in the market and the supplier to over 300 gaming operators globally with an extensive library of desktop and mobile game titles, including more than 700 on NYX platforms and more than 2,000 on the OpenBet platform.
• Cryptologic/Chartwell: In 2015, NYX completed the $119 million acquisition of Cryptologic and Chartwell. The acquisition provided NYX with more than 400 titles of additional leading gaming content, a broader customer base, and direct exposure to PokerStars and Intercasino, part of the Gamesys Group (LSE: GYS) — two of the world’s largest online casino offerings.
• OnGame: In 2014, NYX completed the distressed acquisition of OnGame, a premier poker content, platform and service provider. This acquisition provided NYX with one of the best poker products in the industry, access to several regulated jurisdictions, and a valuable talent pool that was instrumental in the growth of NYX. The addition of OnGame further established a path for NYX to continue its growth in both European and U.S. markets.
These acquisitions, together with meaningful organic growth, increased NYX’s revenue from $24 million in 2014 to $184 million annualized in 2017. During that time, Mr. Davey helped build NYX to have over 200 customers in the global gaming industry and a team of 1,000 employees. Mr. Davey’s success at NYX ultimately led to its sale to Scientific Games for $631 million in 2018.
Mr. Davey joined Next Gen Gaming, the predecessor to NYX, in 2000 as the Vice President of Technology, was appointed as Executive Director in 2003 and named Chief Executive Officer in 2005. Prior to that, he was the Senior Consultant for Access Systems, a company that specializes in the provision of back-end software for licensed online casinos. Prior to joining Access, Mr. Davey worked for the Northern Territory Government specializing in matters pertaining to the internet and e-commerce along with roles in the Department of Racing and Gaming. Mr. Davey received a Bachelor of Electrical & Electronic Engineering from Northern Territory University, Australia (also known as Charles Darwin University).
Robin Chhabra — President
Mr. Chhabra has been at the forefront of corporate acquisition activity within the digital gaming landscape for over a decade. His prior experience includes leading corporate strategy, M&A, and business development at two of the global leaders in the digital gaming industry, The Stars Group (“TSG”) and William Hill, and a leading supplier, Inspired Gaming Group (Nasdaq: INSE). Mr. Chhabra served on the Group Executive Committees of each of these companies. From 2017 to May 2020, Mr. Chhabra served as Chief Corporate Development Officer at TSG and, from 2019 to August 2020, he also served as the Chief Executive Officer of Fox Bet, a leading U.S. online gaming business which is the product of a landmark partnership between TSG and FOX Sports, a transaction which he led. During that period, Mr. Chhabra led several transactions which transformed TSG into the largest publicly listed online gambling operator in the world by both revenue and market capitalization and one of the most diversified from a product and geographic perspective with revenues of over $2.5 billion. Mr. Chhabra’s M&A experience is extensive and covers multiple global geographies across the digital gaming value chain and includes the following:
• TSG/Flutter Entertainment Merger: In 2019, Mr. Chhabra led the TSG M&A team that was responsible for TSG’s $12.2 billion merger with Flutter Entertainment (LSE: FLTR). The merger between TSG and Flutter Entertainment is the largest transaction in the digital gaming industry to date. The combination created the largest publicly listed online gaming company with approximately 13 million active customers and leading product offerings, which include sports betting, online casino, fantasy sports and poker. The combined entity includes some of the world’s most iconic digital gaming brands such as Fanduel, Fox Bet, Sky Bet, PaddyPower, Betfair, PokerStars and SportsBet. TSG/Flutter Entertainment is one of the most geographically diverse digital gaming and media companies with leading positions in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Germany and Georgia.
• TSG/Sky Betting and Gaming (“SBG”): In 2018, Mr. Chhabra led the acquisition of SBG from CVC Capital Partners and Sky plc, Europe’s largest media company, in a transaction valued at $4.7 billion. At the time of the acquisition SBG was the largest mobile gambling operator in the United Kingdom and one of the fastest growing of the major operators having doubled its online market share in three years. The acquisition of SBG provided TSG with (a) greater revenue diversification, significantly enhanced expertise and exposure to sports betting just ahead of the judicial overturn of The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) by the U.S. Supreme Court, (b) a leading position within the United Kingdom, the world’s largest regulated online gaming market, (c) improved products and technology as a result of the addition of SBG’s innovative casino and sports book offerings and a portfolio of popular mobile apps, and (d) expertise in deeply integrating sports betting with leading sports media companies, positioning TSG to create more engaging content, deliver faster growth and decrease customer acquisition costs.
• William Hill (LSE: WMH): At William Hill, from 2010 to 2017, Mr. Chhabra served as Group Director of Strategy and Corporate Development where he led several transactions which contributed to William Hill’s transformation from a land-based gambling operator in the United Kingdom to a leading online-led international business. Mr. Chhabra led William Hill’s entry into the U.S. sports betting and online lottery markets with the acquisition of four businesses, including the simultaneous acquisitions of three U.S. sportsbooks, Cal Neva, American Wagering and Brandywine Bookmaking, in 2011 for an aggregate purchase price of $55 million. These businesses ultimately led William Hill to achieve a leading position in the U.S. sports betting market with a market share of 24% in 2019. Additionally, Mr. Chhabra played a key role in structuring William Hill’s successful joint venture with PlayTech Plc (LSE: PTEC) in 2008. The combined entity created one of the largest online gambling businesses in Europe at the time of its formation and led to William Hill’s buyout of Playtech’s interest for $637 million in 2013. Prior to the transaction, William Hill had struggled in its attempt to establish a strong online gaming platform and a meaningful presence outside the United Kingdom.
Mr. Chhabra has also successfully completed four transactions worth over $1.2 billion in Australia, the world’s second largest regulated online gambling market, and various partnerships in Asia. Additionally, he completed several technology and media related transactions, including William Hill’s investment in NYX, where he worked with Mr. Davey on NYX’s transformational acquisition of OpenBet.
Prior to working in the gaming sector, Mr. Chhabra was an equities analyst and a management consultant. Mr. Chhabra received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Eric Matejevich — Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Matejevich is a seasoned gaming executive with extensive experience in both the online gaming and traditional casino industries. From February to August 2019, he served as Trustee and Interim-Chief Executive Officer of Ocean Casino Resort (“Ocean”) (formerly Revel Casino, which had a construction cost of $2.4 billion) in Atlantic City, where he successfully led the management team through an ownership change and operational turnaround effort. Over the course of seven months, Mr. Matejevich managed to reduce the property’s weekly cash burn of $1.5 million to an annualized cash flow run rate in excess of $20 million.
Prior to Ocean, from 2016 to 2018, Mr. Matejevich served as the Chief Financial Officer of NYX. At NYX, he focused his efforts on integrating the company’s many acquisitions and multiple debt refinancings to simplify its capital structure and provided liquidity for growth initiatives. Additionally, Mr. Matejevich was instrumental to the executive team that sold NYX to Scientific Games for $631 million.
Prior to NYX, from 2004 to 2014, Mr. Matejevich was the Chief Financial Officer of Resorts International Holdings and later, from 2011, also the Chief Operating Officer of the Atlantic Club Casino, a property under the Resorts International Holdings umbrella — a Colony Capital (NYSE: CLNY) entity. As Chief Financial Officer, he provided managerial oversight for all finance functions for a six-property casino company with annual gaming revenue exceeding $1.3 billion, 10,000 gaming positions, 7,000 hotel rooms and over 11,000 staff members during his tenure. Mr. Matejevich led the transition effort to integrate a four-casino, $1.3 billion acquisition from Harrah’s Entertainment and Caesars Entertainment (Nasdaq: CZR). As Chief Operating Officer of Atlantic Club, he lobbied for and was successful in obtaining the first internet gaming legislation passed in the United States. The Atlantic Club was the sole New Jersey casino proponent of the legislation.
Prior to serving in various gaming positions, Mr. Matejevich was a Vice President of High Yield Research for Merrill Lynch, where he managed the corporate bond research effort for the gaming and leisure sectors and marketed high yield and other debt transactions totaling $4.8 billion. Mr. Matejevich received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from The Wharton School and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from The College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania.
Our Board of Directors
Morris Bailey — Chairman
Over the past 10 years, Mr. Bailey has been a leader in turning around Atlantic City, as well as being among the first gaming executives to embrace online gaming and sports betting in the United States. In his efforts, Mr. Bailey partnered with two of the largest digital gaming companies in the world, PokerStars, part of the Stars Group, and DraftKings (Nasdaq: DKNG). In 2010, Mr. Bailey bought Resorts Atlantic City (“Resorts”) and initiated a comprehensive renovation which allowed for the property to be rebranded and repositioned. In 2012, Mr. Bailey signed an agreement with Mohegan Sun to manage the day-to-day operations of the casino. In addition to Mohegan Sun’s operational expertise and ability to reduce costs via economies of scale, Resorts gained access to their robust customer database. Soon thereafter, Mr. Bailey and his team focused on bringing online gaming to the property. In 2015, Resorts established a platform to engage in online gaming by partnering with PokerStars, now part of the $24 billion Flutter Entertainment, PLC (LSE: FLTR), to operate an online poker room in Atlantic City. In 2018, Resorts announced deals with DraftKings and SBTech to open a sportsbook on-property and online. For 2020 year-to-date, Resorts has performed in the top quartile in internet gross gaming revenue in New Jersey. Mr. Bailey’s efforts in New Jersey helped set the framework for expansion of online sports and gaming throughout the United States.
In addition to his gaming interests, Mr. Bailey has over 50 years of experience in all facets of real estate development, asset M&A, capital markets and operations and is the founder, Chief Executive Officer and Principal of JEMB Realty, a leading real estate development, investment and management organization. Mr. Bailey has notable investment experience within the energy, finance and telecommunications sectors through investments in the Astoria Energy Plant, Basis Investment Group and Xentris Wireless.
Tony Rodio — Director Nominee
Mr. Rodio has nearly four decades of experience in the gaming industry. Most recently, Mr. Rodio served as the Chief Executive Officer and director of Caesars Entertainment Corporation (“Caesars”) (Nasdaq: CZR), one of the world’s most diversified casino-entertainment providers and the most geographically diverse U.S. casino-entertainment company, from April 2019 until its acquisition by Eldorado Resorts, Inc. in July 2020. Mr. Rodio led Caesars through its $17.3 billion merger with Eldorado Resorts, one of the largest transactions in the gaming industry to date. Additionally, Mr. Rodio was instrumental to Caesars’ expansion into the digital gaming industry and oversaw the implementation of new digital segments such as its Scientific Games powered retail sportsbook solution that now operates in various states throughout the U.S. From October 2018 to May 2019, Mr. Rodio served as Chief Executive Officer of Affinity Gaming. Prior to Affinity Gaming, he served as President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of Tropicana Entertainment, Inc. (“Tropicana”) for over seven years, where he was responsible for the operation of eight casino properties in seven different jurisdictions. During his time at Tropicana, Mr. Rodio oversaw a period of unprecedented growth at the company, improving overall financial results with net revenue that increased more than 50% driven by both operational improvements and expansion across regional markets. Mr. Rodio led major capital projects, including the complete renovation of Tropicana Atlantic City and Tropicana’s move to land-based operations in Evansville, Indiana. Each of these initiatives, among others, generated substantial value for Tropicana. Ultimately, Mr. Rodio’s efforts at Tropicana led to its sale to Eldorado Resorts in 2018 for $1.85 billion. Prior to Tropicana, Mr. Rodio held a succession of executive positions in Atlantic City for casino brands, including Trump Marina Hotel Casino, Harrah’s Entertainment (predecessor to Caesars), the Atlantic City Hilton Casino Resort and Penn National Gaming. He has also served as a director of several professional and charitable organizations, including Atlantic City Alliance, United Way of Atlantic County, the Casino Associations of New Jersey and Indiana, AtlantiCare Charitable Foundation and the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming Hospitality & Tourism. Mr. Rodio brings extensive knowledge of and experience in the gaming industry, operational expertise, and a demonstrated ability to effectively design and implement company strategy. Mr. Rodio received a Bachelor of Science from Rider University and a Master of Business Administration from Monmouth University.
Marlon Goldstein — Director Nominee
Mr. Goldstein is a licensed attorney with nearly 20 years of experience in the gaming space. He joined The Stars Group (Nasdaq: TSG)(TSX: TSGI) in January 2014 as its Executive Vice-President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary until his retirement from the company in July 2020 following the merger of TSG with Flutter Entertainment, PLC (LSE: FLTR). Mr. Goldstein also previously served as the Executive Vice-President, Corporate Development and General Counsel of TSG. Mr. Goldstein was also the senior TSG executive based in the United States and was one of the primary architects of TSG’s strategic vision for its U.S.-facing business. During his tenure, TSG grew from an approximately $500 million market-cap company to an approximately $7 billion market-cap company through a combination of organic growth and strategic mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Goldstein participated in numerous M&A transactions and capital markets offerings at TSG, including several transformational transactions in the digital gaming industry. Notable transactions in which Mr. Goldstein was involved include:
• TSG/Flutter Merger: In 2019, TSG merged with Flutter for a $12.2 billion transaction value, the largest transaction in the digital gaming industry to date.
• TSG/Fox Bet Partnership: In 2019, TSG entered into a partnership with FOX Sports to create FOX Bet in the U.S., a leading U.S. online gaming business. Wall Street Research estimates an approximate $1.1 billion valuation for Fox Bet post-partnership with The Stars Group.
• TSG/Sky Betting & Gaming: In 2018, TSG acquired Sky Betting & Gaming, the largest mobile gambling operator in the United Kingdom at the time, for $4.7 billion.
• TSG/CrownBet and William Hill: In 2018, TSG simultaneously acquired CrownBet and William Hill, two Australian operators, for a total of $621 million in a multi-part transaction.
• TSG/PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker: In 2014, TSG acquired The Rational Group, which operated PokerStars and Full Tilt and was the world’s largest poker business, for $4.9 billion.
Through his ability to legally structure large and complex transactions, Mr. Goldstein was integral to TSG’s vision of becoming a full-service online gaming company. Additionally, he assisted in structuring TSG’s capital markets activity, which generated liquidity for acquisitions and strengthened its balance sheet.
Prior to joining TSG, Mr. Goldstein was a principal shareholder in the corporate and securities practice at the international law firm of Greenberg Traurig P.A., where he practiced for almost 13 years. Mr. Goldstein’s practice focused on corporate and securities matters, including mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings, and financing transactions. Additionally, Mr. Goldstein was the founder and co-chair of the firm’s Gaming Practice, a multi-disciplinary team of attorneys representing owners, operators and developers of gaming facilities, manufacturers and suppliers of gaming devices, investment banks and lenders in financing transactions, and Indian tribes in the development and financing of gaming facilities.
Mr. Goldstein brings experience and insight that we believe will be valuable to a potential initial business combination target business. Mr. Goldstein received a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in accounting from Emory University and a Juris Doctorate with highest honors from the University of Florida, College of Law.
Sean Ryan — Director Nominee
Mr. Ryan is a digital media and technology operator with extensive global experience in online payments, e-commerce, marketplaces, mobile ad networks, digital games, enterprise collaboration platforms, blockchain, real money gaming and online music. Since 2014, Mr. Ryan has been serving as Vice President of Business Platform Partnerships at Facebook, Inc. (“Facebook”) (Nasdaq: FB), where he leads a more than 500 person global organization that manages the Payments, Commerce, Novi/Blockhain, Workplace and Audience Network businesses. Prior to his current role, Mr. Ryan was hired in 2011 as the Director of Games Partnerships to lead and grow the global Games business at Facebook. While the Director of Games Partnerships, Mr. Ryan focused on re-shaping Facebook’s games and monetization strategies to derive more value for Facebook, its users and its partners, including the addition of a Real Money Gaming offering in regulated markets. Mr. Ryan’s team helped accelerate a major trend in engagement through cross-platform games and therefore the opportunity to increase users through establishing games on multiple platforms. Prior to joining Facebook, Mr. Ryan created the new social and mobile games division at News Corp, an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by Rupert Murdoch. While at News Corp, Mr. Ryan led the acquisition of Making Fun, a San Francisco social-game start-up, that created News Corp’s games publishing division.
Before joining News Corp., Mr. Ryan founded multiple digital businesses such as Twofish, Meez, Open Wager and SingShot Media. Mr. Ryan co-founded Twofish in 2009, a virtual goods and services platform that provided developers with data analytics and insights for individual application’s digital economies. Twofish was later sold to online payments provider Live Gamer, where Mr. Ryan served on the board of directors. From 2005 to 2008, Mr. Ryan founded and led Meez.com, a social entertainment service combining avatars, web games and virtual worlds. The white label social casino gaming company Open Wager was spun out of Meez and was later sold to VGW Holdings, Mr. Ryan also co-founded SingShot Media, an online karaoke community, which was sold to Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: EA) and merged into its Sims division.
We believe Mr. Ryan’s experience will be valuable to a potential initial business combination target and would provide an expanded perspective on the digital gaming landscape. Mr. Ryan received a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Tom Roche — Director Nominee
Mr. Roche has more than 40 years of experience in the gaming industry as a regulator, advisor and independent auditor. Mr. Roche joined Ernst & Young (“EY”) as a partner in 2003 and opened its Las Vegas office. He was subsequently appointed as the Office Managing Partner and Global Gaming Industry Market Leader. In 2016, Mr. Roche relocated to the EY Hong Kong office to supervise the expansion of the EY Global Gaming Industry practice in the Asia Pacific region. Mr. Roche has been integral to numerous transactions that have shaped the current gaming landscape, including:
• Wynn Resorts (Nasdaq: WYNN) initial public offering: Mr. Roche was the lead partner on Wynn Resort’s initial public offering, which raised $450 million in 2002.
• Harrah’s Entertainment/Apollo Management Group & Texas Pacific Group: Mr. Roche headed the regulatory advisory services on the buyout of Harrah’s Entertainment, the world’s largest casino company at the time, for $17.1 billion.
• Dubai World/MGM Resorts: Mr. Roche headed the regulatory and due diligence advisory services to Dubai World in its approximately $5.1 billion investment in MGM. Dubai World bought 28.4 million MGM shares, or 9.5 percent of the casino operator, for $2.4 billion. It then invested $2.7 billion to acquire a 50% stake in MGM’s CityCenter Project, a $7.4 billion 76-acre Las Vegas development of hotels, condos and retail outlets.
• MGM Growth Properties (NYSE: MGP) initial public offering: Mr. Roche provided tax and structural transaction services to MGM Resorts in the creation of MGM Growth Properties, a publicly traded REIT engaged in the acquisition, ownership and leasing of large-scale destination entertainment and leisure resorts. MGM Growth Properties raised $1.05 billion in its 2016 initial public offering.
Mr. Roche also directed EY advisory services to boards and management teams for profit improvement and technology related initiatives. In addition, Mr. Roche provided advisory support to the American Gaming Association on several research projects, including those specifically related to sports betting, the revocation of The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) and anti-money laundering best practices in the gaming industry. Equally, he has assisted government agencies in numerous international locations with enhancing their regulatory approach to governing the industry especially in the online gambling sector.
Prior to joining Ernst & Young, Mr. Roche served as Deloitte’s National Gaming Industry Leader and as the co-head of Andersen’s Gaming Industry Practice in Las Vegas. In 1989, Mr. Roche was appointed by then Governor of the State of Nevada, Robert Miller, to serve as one of three members of the Nevada State Gaming Control Board for a four-year term, where he was directly responsible for the Audit and New Games Lab Divisions. As a board member, he spent a substantial amount of time assisting global jurisdiction regulators enact gaming legislation in the design of their regulatory structure. During his career, Roche has been involved in numerous public and private offerings of equity and debt securities. His background includes providing casino regulatory consulting services to casino licensees and to federal and state agencies including the National Indian Gaming Commission and the Nevada State Gaming Control Board, and industry associations such as the Nevada Resort Association and the American Gaming Association.
We believe Mr. Roche’s highly regarded reputation as a gaming auditor and advisor in the gaming industry will be valuable for us and a potential business combination target. Mr. Roche is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and is licensed by the Nevada State Board of Accountancy and Mississippi State Board of Public Accountancy. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of Southern California.

Okay, so here it goes. There may be some typos and I apologize for that, since I hate that as well, but I mainly wanted to get out my insane week in Vegas, going for the first time.
(Fortunately, I did not goto the Route 91 concert, so this story does not include any first-hand experiences from that event. If you are mainly looking for that, then this is not the post for you. Sorry :/ )
TL;DR Went to Vegas for the first time and had a wild time.
I was going to Las Vegas for a singing competition being held at Vince Neils Tatuado in Circus Circus. I had gone through reviews of hotels, airlines, places to get good deals, etc and ended up just trying to go with the lowest cost trip I could find. In terms of strictly Airfare/Room, it cost me $330 for 2 Round trip tickets from DFW/LAS and $226 for 1 week in a 1-bedroom apartment. (More on the apartment) This is not counting the amount of money I ended up spending all week on Lyft/Food/Gambling/Lyft/Souvenirs/Gambling and Lyft plus those unexpected expenses that come up, which they did. I haven't even counted it up yet, just not ready for that yet.
Spirit Airlines AirBnB
I honestly should have:
-- Gone with the package we were offered for our team in the competition, which would have been about $350/week for Circus Circus in the Main Tower facing the strip. -- Played the MyVegas app prior to going to Vegas (had I known about it) and racked up some points to get discounts at hotels -- Picked a different AirBnB further from the strip initially
Every little thing that could happen to hinder your trip/experience, or try to sway you from having a good time happened. Thankfully, there were dispensaries in Vegas which saved the day, literally at one point. I tried getting an AirBnB for 3 people since one of the other singers wanted to tag along, to make sure he had a place to sleep and stay. I could have got an AirBnb at a house,apartment,hotel, etc somewhere closer to Circus Circus and with more amenities that this one, but I settled for what I thought was a one bedroom apartment all to ourselves, 5 minutes from the Strip. Now, I have never been to Vegas and even thought there are numerous resources you can goto for information and guides on where to stay, it was pretty overwhelming and I ended up only doing about 20% of my research. The AirBnB was around Tropicana and Maryland Pkwy. I soon found out that area was interesting. The host showed up half naked, in a see-through shirt an hour late, kept the talks strictly "business". We were dropped off and I found out we had one bedroom in a 3/bdr apt, with other occupants. The couch which I thought my other friend could crash on since I paid for 3 ppl was not for sleeping, just for staring at the wall or fireplace. Maybe reading/talking if you are into that sort of thing while in Vegas. The room ended up being exactly what I paid for, and the other occupants were 2 attractive women, and we are 2 attractive men, so we decided we can make this work and to go with it. Went walking to the first dispensary, and took the Lyft back since yeah. This so far was the only highlight besides just taking in the sights. I think we were still checking out if the area was secure enough to leave our stuff in the room, so we didn't really go too far. We mainly smoked, talked to the "Tatiana's" (They were both named Tatiana <-- not sure if spelled right though) and plotted what we wanted to do the next day. We wake up to no power in the apartment. We thought it was our room only, but nope. We check the breakers, outside and confirm she didn't pay her bill. We text her and she states it is paid and they are turning it back on. I wait about 30 minutes before I tweet AirBnB and give them a call because hell no. They mentioned they needed to at least try and contact the host and get a response, which I understood, but they were understanding of my situation. They had first asked if it came back on in the next 30-45 minutes, if that would be acceptable, and even though it would solve the situation, I had explained that this was my first time with AirBnB and Las Vegas, and this will be the experience I am left with. The rep had already given me $100 coupon for my next time, but this would not helping the current situation. After about a couple of hours of waiting, I just got a room at Circus Circus. It was Tuesday already, and I got the room for that night until Friday for $200 online. Not bad, since it was last minute. The power was still not on when we left the apartment and I felt this was more of the host defaulting on their contract as a host, rather than just a bad experience. They offered a full refund in cash, or refund plus 10% for another AirBnB. I didn't have room for Friday-Monday and accepted a workaround for accommodations for that date in a different area. The "Booking Queen" took care of everything and I ended up only paying $20 for a Condo right off Fremont street next to The Cortez. Top floor, rooftop heated pool/jacuzzi, the works. I just had to wait until Friday. Circus Circus was not bad, compared to the reviews I read. I am father or two wonderful children, so I thought this place would be great for them. The kids around me did were not bothersome, and the activities around the place was honestly great. Being a kid inside probably helps. My brother ended up spending almost all his cash on slots, even though we both knew that they had the least payout or return of all the games. He wanted to play roulette and I wanted to play blackjack, but Vegas gets you since the first slot he played was in the airport. Straight off the plane, recently turned 21, turns $5 into $35 and he was hooked. Pretty lights, colors, sounds, cartoons, etc. all around you just waiting for you to play them. We know we will lose, but we both agree to play about $20 to kill time and just have some fun. I think I ended up being up about $70 before I cashed out and he went up about $150 before he did. We did day two of our Dispensary tour and stocked back up. All our gambling throughout the entire week ended up netting us just enough money to pay for our flowefood and a little extra to gamble with for the whole week. We partook everyday and gambled everyday. Me with an initial $60 start and him with about $100. We took in the sights, avoided the street "dealers", gambled on the slots too much at Circus Circus and eagerly waited until Friday. The competition happened and ended a little differently than I expected, but it didn't prevent any good times or fun we had. Friday comes and we are checking out of Circus Circus at 11am. We cannot check-in until 4pm to the Condo, so the host mentioned we could leave our bags with the front desk while the place was cleaned, and we could take in the sights of Fremont street. We get back to the room and our flower was stolen from our bags, by the security guard, in the security office of these condos. Million dollar condos with you would think, good security and yeah, stolen. Diamond, Platinum and Gold from the Reef Dispensary. The priciest one of them all that we went to, and he just goes through our things randomly since the jars are sealed glass, and just takes them. The building cannot do anything since we are staying with AirBnB and not a resident, and even though we had a receipt, we ended up dropping it since the security guard got fired anyway. Turned those 3 grams into some pretty expensive flower. They were all honestly great, minus one bad attitude from the last one we went to, but the Reef was awesome. Khalifa Kush, Sunset Sherbert, Platinum Girl Scout Cookies, mmmm. Pricey, but honesty the same you would pay in the street, from what I have read online.
That whole 4 days we were waiting was made worse, since I had enough money to cover myself in food/lyft and to get by until Friday when I got paid. I knew I was good then, but I had to spend the rest of my money on the room for that week, just to make sure we had a place to sleep. My brother had his cash and since it was only for him, we had to pretty much make it work throughout the week for both of us, which we did. Everything was expensive too, Starbucks, McDonalds, Lyft lol, we always ended up having just enough to have a good time, have something to eat and drink and get around to where we needed to. Fremont was the best though. We wished we had ended up there in the beginning. Music, better casinos, food, culture, art on the sides of walls, talent all throughout the street, just one big party. We watched AlterEgo live which was pretty awesome. They put on a great show and the vibe around you was just great. You are laughing your ass off at some of the comedy acts on the street, wowed at others and then you also pass by performers who are wearing next to nothing. Almost naked and you want to stare, because hey, you are in Vegas, they are attractive and naked and well they are naked. It is weird, but you end up not staring and just kind of laughing at the situation. I took one last look though, just to make sure nothing changed. The zipline looks fun and next time, I would not mind taking that for a ride. The Cortez was our favorite place. I now like blackjack. I did not learn to count cards, just the basic strategy and ended up coming out on top always. I would lose some nights, but I could go back and always double or triple my money. Dealers would stare at me at times, the men in suits would come by the tables and sometimes talk with me for a bit to feel me out, but I just have that kind of luck. Either I am not winning the hands, but others around me are getting blackjack multiple times or winning, or the dealer would bust when I needed it. I should have played the Royal Match more too. I would have made so much more on that. Ended up hanging out with a blackjack dealer the next night and just chilled/smoked/laughed and then used Lyft. Really cool chick. We had plans to rent a car on Sunday, goto the Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, Red Rock, Gold/Silver Pawn Shop, Ricks Restorations, Kounts Kustoms, but no place takes debit cards for car rentals. We ended up gambling again, having some fun on Fremont street for a little more and then had plans to go check out a show or possibly Route 91 since I was dressed like a cowboy for the competition and that was working out reaaaallllyyyy well. Props from everyone in the hat and the whole look. Fun times. The Chevelle concert the night before didn't go as planned either since a fight broke out right before it started and it was so packed, we just took off. We weren't getting good vibes and being so packed, we did not want to take any chances, which led to another Dispensary time. Before we even heard anything about the shooter, we saw about 12 cops past Fremont by the freeway with some vans. We thought it was a drug bust, but soon found out it was SWAT or some team. The concert had already started and we wanted to goto the Dispensary again before we went, just for good measure. As soon as we got in, thats when it happened. We were not really looking at the time, but you could see the flashing lights on the corners of the street which the driver mentioned were cameras and alert signals. We get to the dispensary and the guard is armed with an assault rifle. Street corners have police posted, blocking some routes and full armed as well. You don't really understand the full gravity of the situation, or what is happening. You think it is something out of the movies, a man trying to rob the casino or threatening to shoot, but you just assume Vegas has handled these types of situations all the time, and it was nothing new. We stayed the entire night at the Condo, listening the police scanners, just waiting. I couldn't sleep. The streets were quiet, maybe 10-20 people walking that you could see. We had a pretty good view from where we were and there was nothing. Fremont was empty. All of the buildings in Vegas had their rooftop red lights turn on at the same time, which was weird, but just figured it was for the situation going on. I am not going to get into the details of what I heard on the scanner or the stories from the people I met afterwards. There is plenty of conspiracy posts online regarding that, I will just say after that you just shutdown. Nowhere near what the people there went through, but just being 10 miles away from there and knowing there are people hurt, dead or just going through one of the worst experiences of their lives gets to you. You want to help, but you are torn between the police telling you to stay inside, not having your own transportation and the area being blocked off by police already. I feel like crap that I didn't try. I wasn't sure if I could, but I was more focused on just being safe. You assume everything. I thought a bomb was going to go off, that our flights were going to be cancelled, that someone was going to drive into a crowd on the sidewalk at every intersection I crossed. Just constantly on alert and knowing you are going to have to answer a lot of texts. The next day I was in a daze the whole time. Our flight ended up getting delayed about an hour and we left around 7pm. There were people crying in the airport, but mostly people trying to cheer you up. TSA was the nicest I have seen, people willing to talk to you, just the need for comfort. I know there are probably a lot more little stories I am leaving out, but being in Vegas a week becomes a blur. You never really pay attention to time except when you are checking out/in, you are immersed in a huge online video game with micro-transactions everywhere and you spend way more money than you anticipate. I want to go back again sometime, and I highly recommend looking for an AirBnB around Freemont street. Perfect location.
My little notes:
Spirit Airlines were better than I thought, compared to the reviews. Print out your ticket, buy your baggage online when you check-in prior to your flight and pick your seat. The flight was the best I had been on, really smooth and the view was amazing.
AirBnB was great. Customer Service was awesome, they really were empathetic to my situation and made a bad experience turn into an unforgettable one.
Circus Circus is honestly a really good deal and has almost everything you need. If you are a family person, or bringing your family, stay there. Vegas is not a family-friendly town I don't think. Fremont street was too much for kids and everything is sexualized, so just keep your kids at home and enjoy it by yourselves.
Play MyVegas facebook app if you have FB. You can rack up lots of points and have enough to cover a good amount of expenses for you.
Rent a car lol. I think Fox Rental was one of the lowest rates, but even some of the Lyft drivers offer rentals. As low as $25/day, you don't need a sportscar unless you just want to spend the money on it. You can get those 3 wheel motorcycle things with two seats. I saw them for around $350/day or $75/hr. Expensive, but damn it looks fun. There are also these electric scooter thingies at the Container Park off Fremont. As low as $6.50/hr, you can schedule a slot and use those to get around. I didn't know you had to schedule ahead of time, so I did not use them, but really looked fun and worth the price.
The Cortez had the best blackjack that we played at. Single deck, pays 3 to 2 and $5 minimum bet. We went to about 4 other casinos and won at 2 of them, but the Cortez had the best payout.
I had no sex in Las Vegas. Sorry if you were looking for juicy details, but I'm not going to pay for it and it's not in me to go to a bar and try to pickup a woman just to have sex. My game is not that good and it's just not me, so no crazy "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" stories, but at least I did not come back with something that stays with you after you leave Vegas.
Long ass post, but I wanted to get it out and write it down. Thanks for reading if you got through it all.
**I have pics on Instagram of the trip if you want to check them out "thethomasbeck" - iPhone 7+ and it does a pretty good job too with no other editing software except the built-on Photos app and Instagram filters/editing.

Tropicana Casino, December 25th-26th. There was a huge blizzard while we were there, but we never left the building. It was kind of a different atmosphere, though, with players holing up in the casino for the storm and dealers forced to work overtime and kind of bitter about it. One of the restaurants was closed because not enough employees could get in.
I mostly play microstakes online so it's always fun to play in a real casino. I've only done it a handful of times, and I've only kinda known what I'm doing for the last few.
I thought I'd just share my experience in case people who haven't played much live poker are interested. Feel free to skip it. :)
Important background: I really couldn't afford to lose more than $300, which was pretty stressful going in because I knew if my first session or two (at 1$/2$) was bad enough I'd have to stop, hang out for another day without being able to play, and go home down a $300 loser.
Obviously I didn't want that to happen, so I spent some time during the drive up thinking about how to minimize my variance without affecting my winrate too much.
I considered buying in for only $100 so that I could lose my stack twice and still keep playing. If I did that, I wouldn't be stressed out about getting all in preflop without AA if I thought it was the right move. (Relevant background: my last trip to a casino, I went with $300 and lost about $240 in one hand when I had KK and he had AA and we got it in pre. I was bitter and couldn't afford going back for a while. So I was a little gunshy.) I realized that with only $100 I could be missing out on stacking somebody in a good situation, so it would reduce my winrate, but it seemed worth it to minimize my risk.
Then I got there and said fuck it, if I lose my first $200 then I can play with my remaining $100. :)
The wife and I got to the casino at about 5 and had a nice dinner at Carmines. I sat with the wife for a little bit while she lost some money at low-stakes blackjack and then I went to the poker room.
My first table was great -- pretty much all amateurs who were just there to gamble it up. Most people limped every hand and then when somebody raised to 10-15$ he would get two or three callers anyway. Since I was trying to minimize variance, I decided I'd play pretty tight preflop, raising my premium hands and seeing cheap flops with pocket pairs and the occasional suited ace. I thought even suited connectors weren't worth playing because I would have no fold equity when semibluffing and any flushes I hit would be vulnerable to overflushes with so many players in the pot. But I would overlimp pretty loose if I was on the button or in the cutoff since hitting a flop would be so profitable.
The big downside to nitting it up in poker is that people who pay attention can put you on hands or at least ranges much more easily and can adjust accordingly. The good news is that at $1/$2, most players just aren't paying attention. You can literally fold for two hours and then open-raise to $15 with AA and get a couple of people to call almost with any two cards.
(Hand histories are obviously reconstructed from memory and inexact.)
One hand I limped in middle position with 5 5 and saw a flop with three players.
(8$) K 5 T
Bingo! I have a set! It checks to me and I bet 5$. Of course two players call. The turn is
($22) K 5 T3
Crap! Obviously, these guys would have called with flush draws. I check (I'm not worried about getting bluffed) a guy behind me bets $11 and the player in front of me check/calls. I figure somebody has a flush and with 10 outs to a full house combined with the fact that I still might be good it's worth a call.
The river is
($55) K 5 739
and it goes check check check. The player in front of me says "I have a King" and turns over KT offsuit. (I love live poker!) The guy behind me looks unhappy and, surprised, I'm like "Uh, I have a set," table my hand, and take down the pot.
Nothing else happens for a while until I get AK. I raise, get a couple of callers, and the flop is A-rag-rag rainbow. Sweet! I bet, one player calls and the other guy folds. Turn's a brick and I bet and he calls. River's a brick and I bet and he calls. I show my hand and he shows AJ and shrugs like what could he do and I win a big pot. Everybody at the table agrees he couldn't have gotten away from it, but of course he should have.
I'm up like $275 now, I've got almost $500 in front of me, and I'm pretty stoked. One aggressive player who seems pretty decent then takes a seat a couple places to my left, but I'm not too worried. Then a $2/$5 game breaks and three guys are moved to our table and for some reason are allowed to sit down with their $500 from the other game. (Normally, there's a $300 max buy-in, although if you move from a broken table AT THE SAME STAKES you can bring your whole stack.)
The dealer is changing and the $2/$5 players are talking like aggressive, experienced players. One of them is directly on my left and I feel like he's eyeing my stack. Maybe I'm a little intimidated. I think that in theory I probably still have some edge just because even microstakes online are so much tougher than these live games, but knowing that if I get stacked I'll only have $100 left, I realize it's not the best situation. I see that it's my turn to pay the big blind anyway and decide to call it a night before the new dealer is ready to go.
I think that kind of decision is every bit as important as any decision you make during a hand and possibly more so. I went to up to my room around 1, took a shower, and went to bed satisfied and +$275.
The next morning I woke up around 8 and decided to hit the tables before my wife woke up. Unfortunately, all the fish had left and it was just me and a bunch of regs, half of whom I recognized from my last trips over two years ago. They were pretty solid postflop, although they didn't raise nearly enough and probably folded too often. They did call and raise way too often preflop with speculative hands (suited connectors, weak aces, etc.) so I realized it was still profitable to nit it up but to start opening up my range once they adjusted (because unlike the fish they were at least paying attention) especially in position. I folded for a couple of orbits and then picked up 4 or 5 solid hands within the next half-hour -- hands as good as KK, QQ, JJ and 99. Mostly they folded preflop. Once one player called when I had the JJ and folded to my cbet on a Q85 flop, muttering about how he should have reraised preflop with his 99. Then I stopped getting hands for a while and decided to go get some breakfast. Left the table up $37 for a total net of $312.
After breakfast I went back down and had a table with a couple of fish and a bunch of decent but not really good players. I limped with a pocket pair and flopped a full house and stacked somebody with $100 who flopped trips. Just lucky, but I'll take it. I played a few more hours and I wish I could remember more details, but somehow I left the table up $280. I think I raised with something like TT and got called a couple of streets on a 9high flop before the guy folded and had a couple of other hands where I raised and flopped top pair and got some calls.
Regardless, by lunchtime of my first full day I was up over $600 and quite pleased with myself, although I knew that I couldn't win like that forever. I was obviously happy to be up but I was also happy I didn't have to worry about running out of money or even probably going home a loser.
I spend the afternoon with my wife and my sister and brother-in-law who came in to meet us, went to a solid dinner at Cuba Libre (arroz con pollo for the win!) and took in the comedy show at 9, which was actually pretty funny. Tucked in the wife around 10:30 and went back down to hit the tables.
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