And it was spectacular.

Upon arrival, we got upgraded to a Caesar’s Palace August Tower Deluxe Suite.  Not bad at all, with a direct view of the Bellagio Fountains.

Next, we had an early morning private helicopter ride over the Grand Canyons the next day.

Then, we managed to watch Cirque’s Mystere show for FREE (worth over $150 each).

How did we manage to pull all that off?

A few elements were involved, but for the hotel upgrade, it was a variation of the $20 trick. I shall expand on this later.

Truth be told, alot had to do with meeting the right, cool people.  For one, Vegas is full of high rollers who get access to all these cool things.  A friend of mine in fact told me that he used to get offered private planes and limos with personal butlers and unlimited suite stays for him and his friends.

So often, by just being in the right circles, you’ll find yourself reaping a few benefits.

However, if you choose the DIY approach, you may want to know how you could do this without going broke.

Well, there are a few tricks that can make you appear like a high roller without actually blowing all your cash.  Here’s a few:

1. Big Bank Roll: Few of us will be at the level of Australian billionaire Kerry Packer, the world’s highest-stakes gambler, who bets up to $375,000 per hand while playing seven blackjack hands at a time.  But you don’t need to actually gamble away your life savings to reap a few benefits.

Only about 500 people in the world have truly elite high roller status (credit line of $4-5 million).  How many of these 500 people are in the casino at one time?  Very very unlikely.  And since staff are hired exclusively to look for gamblers with ‘above average’ spending, they simply rely on cues that signal that. We will delve in this more later.

2. Rub Shoulders: The cocktail waitresses tend to serve you drinks more frequently by the stakes you play.  Just having a large number of chips (if you can exercise the discipline to not toss them all on red) in front of
you will have a similar effect.

A friend of mine is a professional poker player, and told me that by simply hanging out with high rollers, you also reap the benefits.

3. Avoid the slots: Jack playing 21 is going to get more drinks than grandma at the $0.10 slot machines.  They also
tend to be spotted more, because they are in the INNER rim of the casino. You see, most slot machines are on the outer rims, where staff pay less attention. So stick to showing your cash in the inner rims, to get maximum effect.

4. Cocktail Waitress Sexy Tip: Unfortunately you can’t get around Vegas without tipping.  Most people get stingy when it comes to this and tip the minimum.

So how do you make the most of this situation?  You may not like what I say here, but a friend suggests handing her a $20
the first time (for several drinks).

The result? You instantly are an A-lister  in the cocktail waitress’s eyes.  After that, she will most likely frequent and allow you to have multiple drinks per person.  Obviously, still tip her $1 a drink on average.

How does this work out in terms of savings? Say over the course of an evening, you buy 5 drinks.  Each is worth $5-$10 in Vegas (depending on the establishment).  Say we pay an average of $8 a drink (including a standard $1 tip in USA), that works
out as:

$8×5  = $40.

By tipping $20 up front, and $1 per drink after, you get 5 drinks for:

$20 + 5 x $1 = $25.

Obviously, don’t get too drunk and gamble all your cash away…

5. Dress well: As ridiculous as it sounds, projecting a positive image in casinos = more ‘winnings’.  Las Vegas is not all glitz and glamour.  I made the mistake on the last day (being down with a cold) dressed in a hoodie, sunglasses, sneakers and a huge black fur coat.  I basically looked like someone out of ‘Cheech and Chong: Going to Las Vegas’.  As soon as we approached the table, the woman gestures the casino manager who subsequently IDs us.  We weren’t even planning to gamble!  I still like to think it was being we looked under age or something.  Self rationalisation is great.

So dress nicely.  Casino managers are more likely to approach and offer you freebies.  I know, because the contrast to the night before was huge in the way we treated.  And if Wong can do it, you can too.

If you got tips for Vegas, feel free to share them below.

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• January 29, 2009 — Back to Blogging!

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It’s been a long time since I’ve updated my blog.

There really isn’t any excuse, except that I’ve been pretty damn busy.

Over the last few months, I’ve been focusing alot on my own personal development and growth.

I have seen some profound breakthroughs in my life, thanks to great friends and mentors.  You know who you are.  My deepest heartfelt ‘thank you’ from the bottom of my heart.  I am grateful.

So what have I been up to?  Here’s the top 10 highlights off the top of my head:

1. Reaching #1 on Google for certain keywords in my ‘day job’ that brought in offline clients.  Pretty cool!  Learned alot about SEM, SEO and SERP stuff, and writing for a top UK consumer blog that’s taught me alot.

2. Flying across the Grand Canyon on a private helicopter with friends, picnicking in the Canyon itself.  I’m sure this is the 1st of 7 (and more) wonders to experience in the world.

3. Learning alot about outsourcing and managing teams.  Will share more in upcoming posts if there’s any interest.

4. Breaking through 1k followers on Twitter (follow me @hongkongwong).  Thank you, you’re awesome! (DM or get in touch if I can help in any way)

5. Getting certified as an NLP hypnotist. Certificate and all.  Not sure what I’ll do with this yet, but I’m sure it’ll come to me in time.

6. ‘Getting’ The Power of Now.  And reaching a new paradigm shift about what life really is all about.  Profound breakthrough.

7. Meeting Eben Pagan. And getting his personal advice for my business.

8. Getting to Panama.

9. Forming my new mastermind.

10. ‘Getting’ Radical Honesty.

There’s plenty more, but that’s 10 things off the top of my head right now.  Anyway I’ll prob blog about some of these things individually later.  I want to focus on things I’m learning each and every day that I think are worth sharing on personal development, lifestyle design, travel and profound insights I’ve gained from people wiser than me.  So hopefully, you’ll learn something by reading my blog too.

I’m also hoping it won’t be much work to get back to where we were last September (reaching 50k / month readers! Thank you for reading… it means alot, and I appreciate the support).

My goal by end of 2009 would be to reach 100k readers / month on HongKongWong.  That’d be cool.

Finally, check out my friends Tynan and Todd from LifeNomadic.Com.  They will be joining me here in Panama in just a few days to begin Life Nomadic 2009.  Should be fun, as long as Tynan takes it easy with his crazy antics…

If there’s anything you particular liked me blogging/twittering about, just shout out in comments below.   Always open to new ideas/suggestions.

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• January 29, 2009 — 6 Tips To Look Like a High Roller In Vegas And Get Stuff For FREE

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