1. While the Golden Nugget is the downtown jewel with its Old Vegas rat Pack glitz and polish (and many great beers on the house, even for slot players), the El Cortez is now homebase for us - they have the best comps/rates, loosest machines, and a hard-to-describe but ultracool time-warping ambience of old Vegas gangster hangout, rehab-over-replace, seasoned friendly staff, and great inexpensive food in their 24-hour restaurant (featuring Chinese entrees in the evenings).