Hey -

I went to UNLV and lived in Las Vegas for 5 years + have participated in at least one event every year for the last 7 years.

Where to stay 
A few factors go into this.  What is the purpose of the trip?  Are you looking to grind the entire time and use your hotel room only for sleep?  If that's the case you should be able to find some extended stay places or cheap hotel rooms with very spartan accommodations.  Golden Nugget is right next to the Rio and will be cheaper than most other places.  That and the Palms are the only two hotels that I would consider to be within walking distance of the Rio so you would save money on the cab fare by staying at one of those two hotels.

If you're not a total robot and want to mix in some fun on the trip, there are options with nicer accommodations that will cost a bit more.  I like any of the properties at City Center (Aria, Cosmo, Vdara).  They have great pools, restaurants, gyms and I think the Aria poker room is the best in Las Vegas.  You should call each of those and tell them that you're looking to book for an extended stay as this should drop the rate a bit.  City Center is about a 9 minute cab ride away from the Rio (figure about $13 each trip) so you don't have to get up that early if you plan on playing tournaments.  Caesars is also an option and I believe they have rooms built for extended stay although I've never stayed there so I can't say for sure.  It's close to the Rio, though not walking distance.  You will not get comped rooms anywhere if you're not playing table games.

Where to play
There are really only 3 options in my opinion: Rio, Aria, and Bellagio.  Rio hosts the WSOP tournament and they have a huge room of cash tables.  They're going to have the widest variety of games offered as well (PLO, NL, 5 card PLO, 6 card PLO Hi/Lo, HORSE games, Chinese etc).  Action is good but it can be a little crowded and if you get there at peak times you will be waiting for a while before you're able to get a seat.  Aria is the nicest of the three and usually has at least a 5/5 NL game running (which turns into 5/5/10 the bulk of the time).  Bellagio is basically an older version of Aria occasionally will have more HS ($25/$50+) action than at the Aria.

Money
This can be tricky and I am a US citizen so I can't say for sure about the hassles that you will experience as a foreigner.  I am pretty sure that you will not be able to open a US bank account on a tourist visa.  I know for sure that you will be able to wire money to the casino that you're staying at.  You'll pick up your money at the cage and you'll either lose (that's easy, you just go home) or win and want to wire more money home than you came with.  That usually involves a series of phone calls to the poker room managers of the rooms that you played at to verify that you played there.  Most of the managers will verify but just to be sure, you might want to introduce yourself to the manager of the room you're playing at so he knows you.  

The easiest way would be to find someone that wants GBP for your USD or wants Stars/FTP for cash or something but that might be a tall order for your timeframe.  You won't get ripped too hard on the exchange rate if you're forced to go about it that way.

Good luck and make sure you stop by the Run It Once lounge at the Rio.  We'll be in the same spot as last year - just off the hallway connecting the casino to the WSOP rooms.

wiring to the casino works fine (worked for me at least from Sweden a few years ago). 

Another option is to look to trade in the high stakes exchange thread on 2p2. Could do pokerstars for cash in Vegas for example. 

No I wired bank to bank. So just make a withdrawal and then wire it? Didn't think about not being able to log in. A way to solve that (albeit a bit complicated) is to first exchange your Stars vs bitcoin and then do a bitcoin vs cash in Vegas. 

thanks for that in-depth reply it was really helpful!! 

Main thing would be to grind i guess.. i have a limited time frame and wanna max my time at the table!! - True degen. 

Accommodation has been sorted by a friend - still waiting for those details to come through. 

Now just the money problem- I havent done any trades with the 2+2 guys so im not sure how comfortable i am doing a large transaction off the bat. 

I found a site -  currencyfair- that seems pretty legit. Hopefully they will allow me to xfer to the casino cage. 

If not-im stuck unless i can get a bank account.  

when is the RIO lounge opening? i thought i was late june.. 

Perfect timing..  that's the day I'll arrive.

Hey boshd - have you tried this yet and did it work? I am also from the UK and in the same predicament! Thanks

Is it possible to send dollars from Moneybookers to let's say the casino, and they'll give you the cash? Or do you need to have a card?
Just opened a dollar account, but I'll be gone before they'd have the chance to send it to me.

We can't use Money Bookers in the US so I doubt it. You don't have to up a US bank account, you just need to wire money from your bank to w/e casino you want to pick it up at. If it's in a different currency you'll lose some to conversion and once you're ready to leave have the casino wire it back to your bank.

If anyone in LA or Vegas has cash they want to trade for Stars funds, please let me know.
I'll pay you for the trouble.

Chael trade stars for bitcoin and then go to the bitcoin atm in Vegas and withdraw your moneys

Hey guys, can someone help me out here?
I've read about moneygram. Is that an option? Does that mean I have to bring real money to a post office?

Otherwise I'll have to buy bitcoins. Has anyone ever done this, and could they help me out a little?
Which company do you use to buy and sell bitcoin?

I had no problem using MB to withdrawal cash from ATMs there, and using the card to pay for food/hotel etc etc, when i was in usa last year.

But there was something about i better should not login to my account while im in USA cause MB being banned there.

Neteller seem to be one of the sponsors this year so will email them to see if they can help. Otherwise its going to have to be cold hard cash.