#1- Where Do I Stay/Play?

Whenever anyone asks me “Where is your go to spot on the Vegas Strip?” I always tell them Treasure Island. If you are a clubber (and I don’t mean baby seals) a high-end foodie or a luxury shopping snob, please go back to reading the latest issue of Dolce Vita and skip this overview. But if you are fun loving gambler that actually enjoys what Vegas once was, stick around for a few paragraphs. Why TI? Why not!

I’ll start with the basics when I plan any Las Vegas trip. Where can I have the most fun, find a comfy bed to crash in AND stretch my gambling budget while reaping in the comps. The answer to all three, for me, is always TI.

For fun, you are located right near all of the action. Mirage on one side, with a free tram connecting the two. From there you can skip right over to Cesar’s Palace for some decent Forum shopping. Right across the street you can easily get to Harrah’s, Venetian, Palazzo and by extension Wynn/Encore.

This is not to say TI is not home to some fun of its own, the pool is decent the eats are fine and the pirate ships are a fairly neat giant fountain. But its Vegas, so why not explore a little. This is a great jumping off point for all of the action you crave.

While the rooms are not the top end in town, they are a step above most entry level rooms for most common folks. I can usually score a petite suite on most nights and upgrades can be had at check-in in exchange for a smile fairly easily. And they are easily bribed if that smile doesn't work!

You can often find rooms on the cheap, unlike the national chains of resorts in town, TI pulls in folks however they can. It’s a very friendly place, unlike most of the monstrosity joints in town. The beds are some of the best I have slept in, the pillows are soft and the rooms always clean.

The views are usually great but you can get stuck with a mountain view. The only downside of a standard room is the potty. Don’t get me wrong, they are plenty nice and modern. But rather small. I could harder fit two circus midgets and my blushing bride in the shower at the same time. But if you aren’t into kink like me, it won’t bother you much.

Now onto the main reason while you will be staying at TI… Gambling.

While it is not the biggest joint in town, at roughly 70,000 SQFT of gaming its not the smallest either. Spread out and easy to navigate, I can spend all night in their casino and not feel like I’m missing out. The slot selection is always fantastic and they have a large assortment of older games on hand. Video Poker is fair (by strip standards) while the High Limit room might be lacking, it is so almost by design. TI is made for folks like us, not the stuffed shirt that wants to sit on a $100 Top Dollar machine for hours on end.

So what’s the gaming draw Grid? Get to the point!

The draw is that you can actually win in their casino, or not lose much, after all it is gambling. Some might argue its anecdotal evidence, but in my vast experience I can play longer, and win more often, here than any other place in Vegas.

Take a look at my trip reports, see how well I do on their slots. If I didn’t win money that day, I surely didn’t piss it all away either. And I can sit longer on my buy-in which is always a plus. The reason why I make sure I always stay here at least once on my Vegas trips is the fair shake I have in the casino.

Beyond the loose slots, the tables are very fair as well. If you want to play in a party pit, the cost of admission is 6/5 Black Jack with shitty rules. I’m sure that’s fun to some. But do you want to know what’s fun to me? Winning more money with my bet!

TI standard rules on a $10 BJ table is 3/2 DD, DAS & RSA. In case you don’t talk table nerd, that’s 3-2 for a payout on a Black Jack. Double Down is allowed. Double After Split (you’d be surprised how many places won’t allow this). RSA is Re-Splitting Aces. These are old Vegas rules and sadly gone at nearly every other casino on the strip. But not here!

I feel like TI gives you a solid gamble, easy comps, and a great experience. Why? Well, they have to. They are not drawing in players from a national database like CET can. Or even an international database like V/P, Wynn or MGM can.

So they have to cough up a good gamble and it really shows. Rooms are easy to get if you play enough and the bounce back comps, for me, are better than anything I have anywhere else in town.

Usually my free play offers here are double that of MGM or CET. I bring the same bankroll, I play the same games but I bet their liberal players club combined with the fact that you can play longer (and cycle through more money) is the reason why they are so generous.

The Resort/Casino is privately held by an old school operator, Phil Ruffin. Dude knows how to lore in the gamblers. And unlike most of the debt heavy operators in town, Treasure Island is done and paid for. So they do not have to squeeze you for parking or steal your money in the casino. He famously once said "We want to get it right. You've only got one shot". And that's impression you get here. They want to do things right.

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