Icaahn might buy the building, skip continuation of casino construction and sell it as a bank building or whatever. FBI tower, CIT, KGB, whatever. He knows why he's waving the carrot for....

I live in Switzerland and visit Vegas 2x/year. Because of the extremely long flight from Europe to the Mid West of the U.S. I usually stay 3 weeks in Vegas. Sometimes longer. But never less than 3, as it's not worth the long flight.
Because of that I need a huge bankroll to gamble all the time and still need to be on a budget as otherwise the second half of the stay could become a boring wait till my flight back home departs. It is essential to play on a limited budget and also, play the right games. Must be tough to see things go out of control and not do anything about it till it's too late. I never returned back home broke from VEgas, but hardly ever won anything. I think my record was a 2000 Dollars Plus after 3 weeks in the desert. This barely made up for all the expenses I had but was the biggest fun ever. Not to lose , even after having gambled 3 weeks in a row. My worst trip cost me about 4500 usd, plus expenses. But this was a 4 weeks' stay, so after all, still something I can live with.
If I would have to live in Vegas, I probably had to work out a special game plan from the beginning and not spend more money than I can afford. Everything else is the absolute suicide mission for Vegas citizen. Don't gamble, or gamble on a limited budget, or you will go down.

Greetings from Switzerland

Icaahn ist waving a carrot and the donkeys keep running at him....unbelievable, this guy get's everything he wants for super low bargain rates. He made millions on the CIT bankruptcy and now he's raking in the Fountain Bleau. That's extreme action info.

So, this rises the following question: How much luck is needed to compensate skill, and how much skill does an unlucky player need to become a winning player? Or how about this....how much "time" (played hours, tournaments) does an unlucky, but skilled player need to come out a winner, or, how is this....how much time is needed to break a lucky , but unskilled, player and make him a loser? I am sure that there are some mathematicans among the readers who see the problem and could figure out the right formula for these questions. My money says that an unlucky but skilled player needs a huge bankroll to overcome bad days. This could take months, if not years , for him to come out a head, AS A PRO. And a lucky player who happens to win some major tournaments in a relatively short period of time, and therefore believes he's the greates player in the world, will probably be broke again within 2 or 3 years unless he masters the game from within.
Any comments on that one?

You only hear of the current heroes. they're the super heroes at the tables right now. You don't hear of the thousands of so-called pros and the ones that used to be successfull (or lucky?) and finally ended up broke because they liked their new life and thought how easy it is to make a money as a poker player. Would be interesting to find out how many Stu Ungars are grinding along and besides this collecting social security or unemployment benefits to make it ..."as a pro".

Good luck

Bonus-Info: Poker may be a beatable game,....but only if you're a master of the game and probabilities, psychologies, etcn, plus, you're not sitting at a table with 9 other players who think the same and have equivalent skill. Even 1 "not-so-strong" player is probably not enough to make up for the rest of the table to win. What you need is 3 or 4 "party animals" with money to burn, otherwise forget it. The readers who disagree and still keep going to the Mirage 3/6 limit game at 2 p.m. on Monday afternoon must be living in a dream world. These tight players give only action if they got a real hand, and then it's a crap shoot whether you can win the pot or not. I would rather go to the movies at this time of the day than thinking of how to make money in 3/6 limit hold'em.

Poker from 15/30 and up and 2/5 nl and up may be a beatable game. Everything below that is too tough to beat because you also have to beat the 10 per cent highway robbery house rake.

What's the definition of "success"? By visitors, by creating new ideas of fighting the crisis, or perhaps by creating new jobs?

grandmacrabby, of course you're right. They talk about luck and bad luck (s.o. on the river, etc). But the point is that when you watch these puppets sitting a the tournament tables, you may get the feeling that they believe they're all Superman or PopEye playing against each other. All these Ipods, sunglasses, cool looks. Would be funny to look behind the curtain and see what they really think. So much over-estimation, "professional poker". What a joke. I played 1 single tournament last year while I was in Vegas, 170 players, the Binions Classics, in May. I ended up at the final table and thought what a great player I was. Well, I am not. I like videopoker and normally I play 1-2 and 2-5 no limit. Once in a while I try a tournament and this time I made it to the final table. You know, when they win, it's all skill, but when they lose, it's bad luck. I am sick or listening to all that. That's why I prefer listening to my Ipod music or play videopoker vor relaxation instead of being impressed by these super heroes.

From Switzerland

I thought the IPO was meant to be a week after. Would be nice to find out what companies got their allotment. Anyway, I believe that the stocks will correct a bit and be valued a bit lower in the next weeks, just like Wynn Macau stocks did. Las Vegas Sands is totally overpriced with a P/E of approx 36 to 38 based on rough estimates on 2010 earnings. That is approx 2x as much than all other gaming stocks. Even Boyd Gaming after its missed taked-over offer of Station Casinos is valued at a much better price. And so is Wynn and MGM Mirage. Therefore I can't give my personal OK to buy this stock at this time. Good luck to all investors, anyway.
From Switzerland