APA Vegas Advice - 18 Time Veteran

B

BarTableMan

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
As an APA lifetime veteran (30 plus years) I can say that I love the format and the league has treated me well. I've earned 18 trips to Vegas and am proud of every one of those trips. Here is my advice to 1st timers and repeats trip takers:

* Westgate is too expensive...don't stay there. Always stay at a less expensive hotel and rent a car.

* With a car, do something in Vegas other than play pool. Go see these things:
- Red Rock Canyon
- Hoover Dam
- Mt. Charleston Lodge (This is a beautiful drive and a fun dinner stop.)
- Road Kill Grill (Hot outdoor eating, but delicious.)
- Nelson's Landing Cliff Jumping ( Colorado river swim is awesome.)

* Buy a cooler and go shopping for sandwich makings. You will save a ton of money doing this for lunches and diners.

Although I may disagree with numerous APA management decisions... I love the league and always play to win every match. Still exciting.

Bartableman :)
 
Wow ! 30 years and 18 trips ! I may have met and talked to you in my one and only trip to Vegas.

Did you go to 9 ball nationals in 2013 ...stop and talk to a s/l 5 in the lobby of the riv and compare his level of play vs one of your players the day before as being at the level of some 7's in your area ?

The reason I am asking is this guy that stopped me told me he had been in apa 25 years and had been to Vegas 17 times. The time line adds up...not sure about the trips.
 
APA Trips - Vegas

Sorry, not me. I don't play in the 9-ball league. Only 8-ball. Coming up to 2,000 matches.
 
BarTableMan said:
Sorry, not me. I don't play in the 9-ball league. Only 8-ball. Coming up to 2,000 matches.
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Thanks for responding. I have only played apa for 7 years and highly doubt I will reach 2,000 matches considering my age but I have accumulated quite a few matches in those 7.

790 in 8 ball and 650 in 9 ball for a total of 1440 matches.

During my one trip so far I did one thing you suggested. Bought a cooler and got drink and snacks for it. I also used coupons supplied by the casino for dinners. I went ti olay pool ....not sight see but we did rent a car for 2 days after we were put out and went sight seeing to the Hoover dam one day and the grand canyon the next. Only because my then girlfriend won 2,000.00 on a penny slot machine after sticking a 20.00 in it.
 
I took a 16 year old to the BCA juniors to Vegas in 1995....
....the Hoover tour bored him so I cut it short....
..but he loved Lake Mead....

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I'll be there August 9 - 13th for the 9 ball tournament. First time. I agree with the comments about getting out of Vegas if possible. I really liked the Hoover Dam (the latent engineer in me?) and the views from the Pat Tillman bridge was amazing...

In the city, the views from the top of the Stratusphere are really good on a clear day...
 
2nd time in 3 years - 9 ball this time. We're renting a 5 bedroom house for the 8 of us. For under 5 grand we got all the plane tickets, the house for a week, and 2 rental cars. Only way to travel. There for the pool - but after we've got a house with swimming pool, hot tub, fire pit, BBQ grill. No cheaper way to relax.
 
Google The Gun Shop and go shoot a Thompson submachine gun.
What a rush.
Do it everytime I'm in Vegas.
 
measureman said:
Google The Gun Shop and go shoot a Thompson submachine gun.
What a rush.
Do it everytime I'm in Vegas.
Click to expand...

You beat me to it! ��

Only been there once, but I did that very thing...
Tommy’s ROCK!!

As a side note, I also fired a Sten gun 9 mm (the British side-fed sub machine gun ) lots of fun, but quite anticlimactic after the rockin n rolling of the .45... if you are into this sort of thing, do the 9 millimeter subs first.....
 
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So if you "win a trip" to Vegas, you don't actually "win a trip" or is this something else that they do? To me getting a Vegas trip in a league would mean hotel, flight, event entry are covered for you, so cost of hotel should not be an issue there. Or does APA just give you some money for the trip and you can do what you want with it?
 
hang-the-9 said:
So if you "win a trip" to Vegas, you don't actually "win a trip" or is this something else that they do? To me getting a Vegas trip in a league would mean hotel, flight, event entry are covered for you, so cost of hotel should not be an issue there. Or does APA just give you some money for the trip and you can do what you want with it?
Click to expand...

I think every LO does it a little bit differently. Ours provides the airfare, two rooms at The Westgate and event entry. If you need or want different flights than what they provide to all their teams, they will reimburse you to the amount they paid for each ticket

(We live over two hours away from the airport the LO provides tickets from. One of my players chose to fly out of our airport at home, for example. Ticket prices are vastly different, so I don't fault the LO for choosing the other airport, he's sending three 8-ball teams, three 9-ball teams, one or two Masters teams, some Scotch doubles teams and a couple Captains tournament teams. There is an economic factor to this, too...)
 
hang-the-9 said:
So if you "win a trip" to Vegas, you don't actually "win a trip" or is this something else that they do? To me getting a Vegas trip in a league would mean hotel, flight, event entry are covered for you, so cost of hotel should not be an issue there. Or does APA just give you some money for the trip and you can do what you want with it?
Click to expand...

For APA 9 ball tourney, we got tickets (Spirit Airlines) and three hotel rooms at the Westgate for 6 nights for the 8 of us. The team also gets $350 cash when we register. Spirit is a very barebones airline. They even charge for any carry-on luggage that does not fit under the seat in front of you. My team is looking into how to get the cues and what we need for the trip out there without spending too much.

There are some people that go to the tourney that did not qualify so there expenses are their responsibility.
 
hang-the-9 said:
So if you "win a trip" to Vegas, you don't actually "win a trip" or is this something else that they do? To me getting a Vegas trip in a league would mean hotel, flight, event entry are covered for you, so cost of hotel should not be an issue there. Or does APA just give you some money for the trip and you can do what you want with it?
Click to expand...

Our LO presents us with a cash prize that should cover flight and room (doubling up) for which ever event we qualify in,
and we sign an agreement that if we don't make the trip and participate at the event we will return the money. It's all in how you use it.
 
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