Vegas Popular

As if watching 'Surreal Life Fame Games' wasn't fun enough, now people are betting on the outcome of the VH1 "Celebreality" series, and cast member Andrea Lowell is an odds-on favorite to win it all.

According to the odds, Lowell is a 3 to 1 favorite. Of course, it should probably be noted that Lowell happens to be a representative for the company setting the lines. Either way, here are the odds for the entire cast:

Andrea Lowell: 3 to 1

Vanilla Ice: 7 to 2

Ron Jeremy: 4 to 1

Verne Troyer (Mini Me): 5 to 1

Traci Bingham: 8 to 1

Chyna: 12 to 1

Brigitte Nielsen: 12 to 1

Emmanuel Lewis: 16 to 1

C.C. Deville: 16 to 1

Sandra 'Pepa' Denton: 12 to 1


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LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:HET - News) said today the 2007 World Series of Poker Presented by Milwaukee's Best Light will offer the most diverse event schedule in the tournament's illustrious history.

The 38th edition of the world's most prestigious poker tournament, set for June 1 through July 17, 2007, at the Rio® All-Suite Hotel & Casino - and televised exclusively by ESPN - features 55 bracelet events with buy-ins up to $50,000. Among the additions to the schedule are $2,500 HORSE event and $5,000 Mixed Hold'Em Events and a $5,000 Heads-up No-Limit Hold'Em World Championship.

"The 2007 schedule offers something for everyone," said Jeffrey Pollack, commissioner of the World Series of Poker. "As part of our commitment to innovate for the benefit of all players, we've added nine bracelet events and created more opportunities for both amateurs and professionals to win poker's most coveted prize."

The 55-event 2007 WSOP schedule compares with 46 events in 2006, when more than 42,000 entrants from 56 countries generated a total prize pool exceeding $171 million - the largest purse in competitive sports. The 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event - the $10,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'Em World Championship - attracted a field of 8,773 players. More than 870 players won money in the 2006 WSOP Main Event, including reigning world champion Jamie Gold, who captured the top prize of $12 million.

In addition to an expanded schedule, the 2007 World Series of Poker will offer players more space, with up to 300 tables available for tournament and live-game play. The additional tables will enable tournament officials to reduce the start days for the WSOP Main Event to three. As in 2006, World Series of Poker officials will allow players entering the WSOP Main Event to choose their start dates as long as seats are available on the selected dates.

For the third straight year, the Rio Hotel & Casino will host the annual Gaming Life Expo July 5-8. A free consumer show featuring exhibitors from around the globe, the 2007 World Series of Poker Gaming Life Expo will showcase a broad array of gaming and poker products, memorabilia, books and clothing. In 2006, more than 100,000 people visited the Expo.

Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. is the world's largest provider of branded casino entertainment through its operating subsidiaries. Since its beginning in Reno, Nevada 68 years ago, Harrah's has grown through development of new properties, expansions and acquisitions. Harrah's Entertainment is focused on building loyalty and value with its customers through a unique combination of great service, excellent products, unsurpassed distribution, operational excellence and technology leadership.

More information about the World Series of Poker or Harrah's is available at the Web sites www.worldseriesofpoker.com or www.harrahs.com. To learn more about the 2007 Gaming Life Expo, please visit www.harrahs.com/gaminglifeexpo.

The complete schedule of 2007 World Series of Poker events follows:

It was easy to tell when Michael Gaughan bought South Coast Casino from Boyd Gaming. The first thing he did was change the name to South Point. When I first heard the name, I thought it sounded like a name suitable for a hospital soap opera or evening drama, but the name has grown on me. And officially, it's Michael Gaughan's South Point Hotel, Casino and Spa.

The Las Vegas Blvd. marquee, casino chips, players' cards and internal signage have already changed names while parking garage rubbish bins, the main sign and random "coastal" clues remain.

Non-cosmetic (and more welcoming) differences can be found inside on the casino floor. Except for the mandatory dinging of the army of slot machines, South Coast's casino was rather dull. When the casino was originally built, they made it look pretty, but there was no soul. Now, the atmosphere is more exciting and the property is definitely going for a niche. The pit crews wear cowboy hats while some of the cocktail servers dress like they're from Hazzard. Music is pumped into the casino floor and they've brought in dueling pianos that entertain nightly near the sports book. Overall, It's a little but country and a little bit rock 'n' roll and on Friday and Saturday night, it's a little rowdy.

Without recreating a Hee-Haw sketch or a Crook & Chase TV set, the subtle touches are perfect and as a theme, fit in nicely with the equestrian center.

There's still work to do on the gaming front. The poker room isn't much of a room as it is more of an enclave en route to the bowling alley, massive (and highly recommended) bingo hall, arcade and movie theater. Noticeably absent is Let It Ride which, along with Three Card Poker, is popular with the cowboy set.Three Card Poker is well represented in the mix of table games, but if it were up to me, I'd install the Let It Ride/Three Card Poker hybrid game available at a few of the other casinos.

As much as the atmosphere is improved, there is still something missing that ropes the experience all together. It seems like the experience could be do something similar to the Party Pit at Harrah's and set up a rock 'n' roll zone, preferably close to the popular center bar. The property is installing a club/showroom which should provide additional entertainment opportunities for the growing South Strip area.

The restaurants are good enough and pretty standard offerings for a locals casino. The sports book is big and a good place to watch Sunday football. The casino is a few minutes from a Lee's Liquor, but one thing I really appreciate here is the liquor store in the gift shop. The prices are incredible for a casino. A bottle of Grey Goose is on par with grocery store prices in the $25-$35 range. So if you're at South Point for bingo or bowling and need to pick up a bottle, you're set. I also like that the ATM withdrawal fee is only $3.

I hope they're able to right the rodeo as it were and continue with the improvements. If they can successfully get their message out, they'll be just fine, now or in the distant future, when there are more casinos on the South Strip.

I'll offer the obvious slogan for t-shirts, ads and MySpace banners as a conclusion for this post: "Get to the Point"

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Remember when actors wanted to be singers? In a 'Heartbeat,' Don Johnson went from Crockett to rock it, Patrick Swayze cut 'She's Like the Wind,' Bruce Willis became 'Bruno,' and we won't even talk about J-Lo, who is still pretending to be a singer. Nowadays, instead of having a guitar or microphone in their hands, actors are more apt to be holding cards and chips. Nowadays, actors want to be poker players.


That turned out to be a great thing for The Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, who benefited from all the wannabe poker players that turned out for The Comedy Festival's Charity Poker Tournament at PURE in Caesars Palace. All prceeds for the event went to the hospital. (We just hope the check does not have the wrong name on it.) Just a few of the actors and other celebs on hand for the $15,000 buy-in tournament included Mark Wahlberg, the cast of 'Entourage,' (seen above with The Pussycat Dolls), Rita Rudner, Steve Schirripa, Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Andre Royo and Gbenga Akinnagbe from HBO's 'The Wire,' Roseanne Barr and many others, who were all coached by poker pro Daniel Negranu and former FBI counterintelligence expert Joe Navarro. Stay tuned for more photos from the tournament and results from the tournament.

If you've ever had to sit through an episode of Celebrity Poker Showdown, you know how excruciating it can be watching non-poker players toss chips around. With that in mind, imagine what kind of brilliant play you'll see at The Comedy Festival Poker Tournament, a $15K buy-in event featuring A-list comedians. What's great about this tournament, however, is that the celebrity players will have help when deciding whether they should call with 7-2 off suit.

Poker pro Daniel Negreanu and FBI counterintelligence expert Joe Navarro will be on hand to coach players during the tournament, which takes place Nov. 17 at PURE in Caesars. Just a few of the celebrities already signed up for the tournament includes Kevin Connolly, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara, Jeremy Piven, Rita Rudner, Susie Essman and Rosanne Barr.

The tournament is hosted by Billy Crystal, Whoopie Goldberg, Robin Williams, Mark Wahlberg, and Chris Albrecht of HBO and proceeds will benefit the Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

During this year's World Series of Poker, Pamela Anderson joined with legend Doyle Brunson to launch Pamelapoker,com. Now, just a few months later, the site has been shut down, with Anderson writing in her online diary, "I really don't want to encourage people to gamble."



Oh Pamela. We all love to gamble. Some of us gamble playing online poker, while some of gamble by marrying rock stars. Chances are the site's closure has a lot more to do with the recent anti online gambling legislation, and a lot less to do with Pam not wanting us to gamble. Either way, she made sure not to say anything negative about Brunson, which would cause more ire from poker players than her shutting down her poker site. "Good luck to Doyle's Room. I love him," she said. "He is authentic to the game. I made a mistake getting involved in something I know nothing about for a quick buck! Yuck. So unlike me. Glad it's over."

From:	David Williams
Date:	Sep 25, 2006 9:10 AM
Subject:	Vegas Nightlife!
Body:	If you live in Vegas or are visiting and want to go out, I highly recommend Light in the Bellagio. They have unmatched customer service and it's one of the hottest clubs in Vegas. If you would like a table and bottle service please contact "Steve@Light" in my toplist. He'll take great care of all your needs. Thanks, David