At the Sahara, your biggest gamble will be on the room. THey range from acceptable to horrid. GIven the low rates the casino sometimes fills up -- which means that even with a nice tip you still end up in a cruddy old room. On the other hand, when they're empty, you can usually bribe your way into a top-floor suite for a $20. (This is easier to do on shorter stays than long ones, since on long stays they don't want to tie the suite up for the whole stay). THe suites are great, but I've also had rooms with so much noise that even with a Percoset (for unrelated problems) I couldn't sleep. On the bright side they have $1 blackjack and $3 craps. No $3.50 on the 6 or 8.

One thing you may want to consider (depending on bankroll of course) is getting a high-end suite at a lower-tier casino. Sure, you won't get the $29/night rate, but you can book a Jacuzzi suite at a place like the Topicana or a top-floor suite at the Sahara for less than you'd pay for a basic room at a mid-level strip property like the Luxor. Pretty much every casino maintains their suites much better than their basic rooms, and some of them are gloriously tacky in an old-Vegas way (unfortunately, I think the Trop recently took the Giligan's Island style volcano Jacuzzis out and replaced them with something classier -- I loved the old ones.)