Many poker rooms will award you comp dollars or points for the hours you put in at the table. At some games, your profit margin may be slim enough that any dollars you can add to your bottom line can be a big help. For example, at the Rio poker room, you can pick up 300 Total Rewards credits for each hour you play before noon; that's like earning an extra $3.00 an hour. They'll throw in a $100 cash drawing every two hours, too.
It's not uncommon for Vegas clubs to have multiple happy hours, but you can add the High Roller to that list too. Book a ride in a Happy Half Hour Cabin and your trip includes an open bar! The only question is: can you drink your $24.95 worth (from 4 to 7 p.m.) or $39.95 worth (from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.) in just half an hour? One way to find out. In either case: enjoy the view.
While you're exploring the Rio, check out this chance to get your picture taken at an actual World-Series-of-Poker-used table sitting on a mountain of chips. Re-enact a bracelet moment with your favorite hand. (Mine's a 9-4, "double suited" as Daniel Negreanu would out it.)
The Westwind Drive-In wants to treat you to movie night tonight. The open-air multiplex at 4150 W. Carey is hosting free screenings of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Maleficent, How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Think Like A Man 2 with show starting at 8 p.m. For more event details, give them a call at (702) 646-3565 or check out their website.
If you miss the old-school slot action, The D has you covered. Head for the second floor and their Vintage Vegas Casino, with lots of old coin-fed slots. It's almost a slot museum, with its Pinball Hall of Fame vibe. Maybe you'll even spot some of those 7/10 pay schedule video poker machines. Just be prepared to get your hands dirty, because if you hit a big win you'll be scooping up buckets of nickels.
Just a reminder (and a line-up change), the last of the free Fremont Street Experience summer concerts will be Saturday, August 30, when Fuel, Drowning Pool, Royal Bliss and Local H take the First Street Stage at 9 p.m.
Here's to the Miscos, the New Hampshire couple who this weekend hit one of the most elusive jackpots in Vegas, a $2.4 million dollar progressive at MGM Grand's Lion's Share slot machine. One of the original slots that had been on the floor since the MGM opened, the notoriously tight machine hadn't paid out the jackpot in 20 years, so if you feel like jumping on it now that it's hot...well, you never know, I guess.
Want to score a free stay at the Stratosphere? Southwest Airlines will try to hook you up. Enter here by August 31 to win three nights in a Stratosphere Select room, dinner for two at the Top of the World, and two tickets to PIN UP starring PMOY Claire Sinclair. Best of all? No resort fees.
Didn't manage to score tickets to September's iHeartRadio Festival before they sold out? Still want your chance to catch Taylor Swift and 50 Cent and the other artists who are hopping aboard, including a meet-and-greet with Macy's-anointed rising stars Before You Exit? There are plenty of ways to try and score tickets along with a Vegas getaway right here. If you stay tuned to your local iHeartRadio stations, you can even score the mother of all prizes: a trip that includes airfare for four, a stay at the Lofts at MGM Grand, a car and personal driver, your own personal photographer, and your picture on a digital billboard in Vegas!
Fans and scholars of HMS Titanic, the Las Vegas Review-Journal is giving away two tickets to Titanic: The Exhibition at the Luxor! Walk recreations of the ship's decks, and view more than 300 recovered artifacts, including a section of the ship's hull, all 15 tons' worth. Hurry and enter here by August 25; winners have until August 27 to pick up their passes.
What better way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre this Halloween than with a trip to the Fright Dome at Circus Circus? Chainsaw and Poltergeist director Tobe Hooper is teaming up with the attraction this October to present a TTCM-themed haunted house. If it's always been your dream to live through that experience, this is your year.
Time was, if I was pitching a Vegas vacation to folks who said they were happier driving their RV cross-country, I could point out there was an RV park right on the Strip. No more. Come September, Circus Circus plans to get rid of the KOA Campground in their back parking lot and replace it with yet another outdoor festival. Well, there's always that RV park over at Sam's Town...
Did you know Las Vegas has its very own walk of fame? On the sidewalks along the Strip, you can find stars dedicated to Vegas icons from Elvis and Sinatra to Wayne Newton and Liberace. In front of the MGM Grand, the selection is heavy on Latin superstars, including Vicente Fernandez and Los Tigres del Norte. There's even a star for "Cindy Doumani, Showgirl and Humanitarian." If you get to the Brenden Theaters at the Palms, you'll find a separate selection of stars who've received tributes there, everyone from Michael Jackson to Vegas film festival supporter Dennis Hopper.
Want a taste of the Elysian life in the clouds? Vdara Hotel and Spa is giving away a two-night stay in a one-bedroom penthouse suite, and the winner can use it anytime between now and June of next year. The prize also includes two massages at ESPA, a cabana rental at their Pool and Lounge, and round-trip transportation between Vdara and the airport, which I guess is great if you live at the airport. Enter here between now and September 10.
The speaker's line-up for the upcoming Life Is Beautiful festival has been announced; see which filmmakers, futurists and talk-show hosts will be sharing the dais with Vegas power brokers like Oscar Goodman and Tony Hsieh. The festival is October 24-26; the speaker series will be at the site of the former Western Hotel. More details about the Life Is Beautiful festival at their home page.
Could this be the next Container Park? Tony Hsieh's Downtown Project plans to replace the Fergusons Motel at Fremont & 11th with a retail complex including shops, taverns, an ampitheater for public events, and big-ass public art projects. This would extend deep into East Fremont Street the range of downtown that's considered cool, trendy, and, above all, safer.
Want to see The Beatles: LOVE at the Mirage? Enter to win this giveaway and Southwest Airlines will fly you to Vegas, give you two tickets to the show, put you up for two nights at The Mirage, and treat you to dinner at Portofino. Enter daily between now and August 31.
Filmmakers are seeking a distributor for their thinly veiled fictionalized account of the Ted Binion story. They're hoping for a wide release. Their name draw is Michael Madsen. Good luck with that. Actually, they make Madsen sound like a great fit for the doomed, dissolute Ray Easler (their Binion counterpart). Avid Vegas film buffs like me probably already stopped at the T/A truck stop in Kingman to pick up a DVD of Sex and Lies in Sin City, which featured Matthew Modine as the undisguised Ted, although it's hard to beat the casting of Woody Harrelson in Zak Penn's improv comedy The Grand, as a loser so obviously modeled on poor Ted that it isn't funny; at one point he's confronted in a men's room by his dad's ghost, based on guess who.
There's actually a whole 'nother movie to be made about how the squabbles between the Binion kids caused them to lose control of their father's legacy, the tragic hero of the piece being the uncut sheet of $10,000 bills that used to hang on the wall at the place.
Celebrate the King of Pop's birthday with Cirque de Soleil at Mandalay Bay's Michael Jackson ONE. Use the special code from their website when ordering your tickets for the August 29 shows. You'll get a special commemorative souvenir ticket, and hotel guests will be entitled to a birthday gift bag and an exclusive Meet & Greet with special guests.
Hakkasan is giving away a trip to party with Above & Beyond at their August 29th show. The winner will get two round-trip tickets, an MGM Grand Suite for three nights, dinner for two at Hakkasan Restaurant, a ride to and from the airport, and DJ booth access to the show. To enter, upload a picture of your "Blue Sky Action" (whatever that is) to Instagram and use the tag #BlueSkyAction, @aboveandbeyond and @HakkasanLV, then enter here.
Time for Vegas.com to throw its Summer Sweepstakes: Winner gets airfare for two, hotel, and a Vegas.com gift card that can be used for dining, entertainment, nightlife, golf, ground transportation and shopping while you're in town. You can enter once here between now and September 14.
How would you like a trip to see not one, but two Country & Western superstars in concert? Taste of Country and Radio.com are teaming up to fly one lucky winner to Vegas to see Brad Paisley at the Cosmopolitan's BLVD Pool on August 27, plus Keith Urban playing there on August 31. Trip includes roundtrip airfare for two, a meet-and-greet with Brad Paisley, and a stay at the Cosmopolitan. Heck, any one of those would be a great prize. Paisley's show will also feature Love and Theft, Leah Turner & Dee Jay Silver, while Urban will be supported by Jerrod Niemann and Brett Eldredge. Enter here through August 14; it's one of those contests where you have to like and follow and subscribe to maximize your entries, but that's the age we're living in, folks.
The Mob Museum will host an exclusive screening of Whitey, a documentary about the Boston mobster who inspired the Jack Nicholson character in The Departed, Tuesday and Wednesday, August 12 and 13. The $20 admission includes popcorn and a beverage (museum members get 10% off). After being an FBI informant, "Whitey" Bolger spent years on the run and became the number two man on the FBI's Most Wanted List...right behind Osama bin Laden.
Hey there, Speed Racer. Ford is giving away a trip to NASCAR Champions Week in Vegas, including spending money, NASCAR apparel, and tickets to the NASCAR banquet and Ultimate Driver Tell-All. Just for gravy, they're throwing in a trip to Miami Speedway as well. Enter here through November 23.
It's the little cakes that are big these days, and nowhere more so than at the Third Annual Las Vegas Cupcake Bake-Off at the Suncoast, August 10. Admission includes an open bar (for those 21+) and all-you-can-eat sweets! Tickets benefit the Three Square food bank; last month's event raised enough to provide 18,000 meals for the hungry and working poor of Nevada. Deadline for cupcake entries was August 1, so you might want to get a head start on next year's event: the first-place baker takes down a $1,500 prize.
Here's another comedy showcase: Drinks & Laughs at Alexis Park Resort (Harmon near Paradise), featuring Smiley Joe Wylie on Friday, August 15th, at 8 p.m. Hosted by local funnyman Ryan Cole and featuring special guests Donnie Johnson, Mike Krasner & AK, you can get the lowdown on tickets and more at their Facebook event page here.
The Smith Center for the Performing Arts has announced some of the guests for its Nevada Sesquicentennial All-Star Concert, Monday, September 22 at 7 p.m. Among the Vegas regulars scheduled to appear are Jerry Lewis, Penn & Teller, Susan Anton, Clint Holmes, Veronic, Robin Leach, Waddie Mitchell, Frankie Moreno, and...Antonio Fargas?! Yeah, the Starsky & Hutch star figures in their somehow. Also appearing: cast members of Cirque de Soleil, Jersey Boys, Jubilee!, The Million Dollar Quartet, and more guests to be announced. For tickets and more information, click here.
Want tickets to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo? Cowboys and Indians: The Premier Magazine of the West is giving five readers tickets, plus a $100 shopping spree at Pinto Ranch Fine Western Wear, and two nights at the Silverton. Plus, one grand prize winner will also get a $1,000 pair of boots from Rocketbuster. Enter here through November 5.
Like Instagram, clubbing and dance music? Has Hakkasan got a deal for you. Enter here and Instagram a photo of what makes you smile to win a night at the MGM Grand on September 11, dinner for two at Hakkasan Restaurant, plus DJ booth access and a meet-and-greet with Stockholm DJ duo Dada Life. Entries will be judged on creativity so put on your thinking caps and keep smiling!
Las Vegas is full of special deals for the locals (although, sadly, I guess free admission to Vegas Nocturne at the Cosmo won't always be one of them). Check out the Luxor's specials page for locals deals, including two-for-one show tickets and a free locals night at LAX.
Hey, R&B and Jazz fans: Coming to the Venetian Theater September 18, it's Georgia On My Mind: Celebrating the Music of Ray Charles, an all-star salute featuring Vegas favorite (and Emmy winner) Clint Holmes, 10-time Grammy winners TAKE 6, Grammy-winning sax player Kirk Whalum, and (my personal favorite) Downbeat Magazine Vocalist of the Year, Nnenna Freelon. The show runs through October 29; more details here.
