The world’s premier poker event, the 42nd Annual World Series of Poker (WSOP), kicks off today (May 31) at Rio Las Vegas.

The World Series of Poker is the world’s largest, richest and longest-running poker tournament. Not only that, it looks darned handsome in an ascot. (We have no idea what that means, so let’s move on.)

The poker action starts off with some of the biggest names in the game competing for bragging rights in an exclusive $25,000 buy-in Heads Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship. If all those words sounded akin to a chicken in heat to you, it’s time to brush up on one of the world’s most popular card games. Get all the information you could ever want at the official WSOP site.

Answer: Happy to see you.

On Jun. 4, thousands of poker players and fans will make their way the Rio for a $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament at noon. Other WSOP highlights include the Ladies No Limit Hold’em Championship on Jul. 1 and Poker Players Championship on Jul. 2.

The climax (in case you forgot which blog you’re reading) to the World Series of Poker is the Main Event. The Main Event runs Jul. 7-10. The grand prize is the coveted World Series of Poker Gold Bracelet. Oh, and mammoth stacks of millions in cold, hard cash.

Last year's Main Event champ, Jonathan Duhamel. We were not kidding about the stacks of cash.

Overall, the WSOP features 58 events, and viewing of the World Series of Poker is free and open to the public (21 or older). Players from more than 100 countries are expected to participate in this year’s World Series of Poker.

Learn more about the WSOP, and let us know if you enter and win. We’ll take your picture.

This morning (May 31), Rio Vegas headliners Penn & Teller met with Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman to receive a key to the city in honor of their community service.

This year is the duo’s tenth anniversary of performing their irreverent show at Rio Las Vegas, and during that decade the pair has raised nearly $710,000 for Aid for AIDS of Nevada (AFAN) to combat HIV/AIDS.

Penn and Teller kept Mayor Oscar Goodman in stitches during the key presentation. Likelihood you're surprised by that: 1.76%. That's just how they roll.

The magicians sponsor the annual Penn & Teller Challenge as part of AIDS Walk Las Vegas, matching the donations of those who take part in the challenge. They’ve served as Grand Marshals for the event for the last 10 years.

Though their cause is a serious one, the meeting with the mayor was a lighthearted event.

Yes, we have exclusive video. We thought you’d never ask.

While we tried our best, we couldn’t elicit any comment from Teller. (Teller does speak, of course, just not on camera or while onstage.)

We knew the gathering was off to a fine start when Penn entered the waiting room outside the mayor’s office and said, “Forget the key to the city, can I get the key to the men’s room?”

Penn's wife Emily snags a pic of Teller for the Interwebs.

Mayor Goodman, the “happiest mayor in the universe,” is in the final months of his mayorship before he’s ousted due to pesky term limitations. We asked if this would be the last key to the city he’d bestow, and he replied, “I can guarantee it’s the last key I’m going to give out this month.” (Note: It’s May 31.)

Reason 1,453 this blog will miss Mayor Oscar Goodman.

When asked what the pair will do with their key to the city, Penn said, “We’ll probably find a place where no one’s watching and fight over it.”

In a nod to Las Vegas being home to innumerable hotel rooms, upon receiving the key to the city, Penn added, “I almost expected we’d get the keycard to the city.”

The actualy key, in case you'd like to make one for yourself. Which you shouldn't do, probably.

Learn more about AFAN, and see Penn & Teller live at Rio Las Vegas in one of this blog’s favorite Vegas shows.

If the Pulse of Vegas Blog Awards existed, one would have to go to this sign we spotted at the Bonanza Gift Shop, billed as the “Biggest Gift Shop in the World.”

After the requisite double-take, we admit to experiencing a serious LOL.

The Bonanza Gift Shop is located just across from the recently-closed Sahara. (Don’t get us started.) We’ve posted about the Bonanza Gift Shop in the past, so read more. It’s a great place to get some Las Vegas tchotchkes to take back home.

Thanks for the chuckle, Bonanza sign putter-upper dude and/or woman!

Las Vegas casinos in the Caesars Entertainment family have upped the ante with a new $1 million jackpot in its popular Three Card Poker table games.

Players can win $1 million in just one hand with the “6 Card Bonus” side bet (with a total wager of as little as $15). The winning hand is a “Super Royal” in diamonds, or the 9, 10, J, Q, K and A cards.

Check out this video that shares the low-down. Or the skinny, whichever you prefer.

As usual, we do not have the time or energy to calculate what the odds are of hitting the “Super Royal in Diamonds” hand, but we will certainly “borrow” that information for this blog should an actual journalist or mathematician care to bust out an abacus.

What we do know is that analysts estimate there could a $1 million winner about three times a year.

There are other ways to win big at Three Card Poker, of course, including $100,000 payouts for the “Super Royal” in hearts, clubs or spades.

With more than 1,500 Three Card Poker tables worldwide, the game (licensed by Shuffle Master, Inc.) is the most popular specialty game of all time.

Somewhat unrelated fact: Shuffle Master, Inc. gets bonus points because it’s a supporter of one of our favorite Vegas charities, Spread the Word Nevada, a literacy nonprofit for at-risk youth.

Caesars Entertainment has exclusive rights to the $1 million payout for the Three Card Poker “6 Card Bonus,” and Las Vegas is the only city currently offering the jackpot. Translation: Only in Vegas, baby.

Sorry, stock photography agencies, you just got schooled by this blog. And a guy named Eric's hand.

Some small print, of course: To be eligible to make the “6 Card Bonus” $1 million wager, a player must place an ante wager and a “Pair Plus” wager based on the posted table minimums.  The “6 Card Bonus” wager is offered at $5-$100 with odds paid on all hands of three-of-a kind or better, except for the $100,000 and $1 million “Super Royal” hands, which are fixed payouts.

We’ll see you at the Three Card Poker tables! We’ll be the ones rolling around in our million, naked. Actual results may vary. Thank heavens.

The Las Vegas Weekly has released its 2011 Las Vegas Weekly Awards, and as always, the results are surprising, intriguing and endlessly entertaining. See all the results.

Among the results that caught our eye?

In the “Food” category, “Most Fun Use of Chocolate” went to Max Brenner’s chocolate syringe (pictured below). No argument there! Max Brenner: Chocolate by the Bald Man is located at The Forum Shops inside Caesars Palace. See our sweet, creamy post about Max Brenner’s.

Chocolate simulates love, so these could reasonably be called "love injections." Hey, we don't make up the news.

The award for Best Use of Processed Meat went to the fried bologna sandwich at Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar inside Harrah’s Las Vegas.

Best Wine List in Las Vegas went to Guy Savoy restaurant at Caesars Palace. That’s really saying something in Las Vegas.

“Best Veggie Burger” went to our friends at KGB: Kerry’s Gourmet Burgers inside Harrah’s Las Vegas, and “Best Burger” was snagged by P.J. Clarke’s at The Forum Shops. Read more.

Chef Kerry Simon, the man behind the burgers at KGB inside Harrah's.

In the “Arts & Entertainment” category, Absinthe at Caesars Palace won “Best New Strip Show.”

It looks like two performers have been designated “Best Strip Headliner.” The ever-incredible Mac King (see him at Harrah’s Vegas) and Celine Dion (she’s at Caesars Palace).

The new Chateau Nightclub at Paris was named “Best Celebrity Spotting” in the Nightlife category.

Krave at The Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood nabbed the Best Gay Night Out honors. Or as the mag says, “Krave is not only the best gay night out, it’s one of the best nights out, period.”

Of course, no Las Vegas award list would be complete without Holly Madison, star of Peepshow at Planet Hollywood, being confirmed as Best Vegas Mascot. We may have done a blog post or two about Holly Madison in the past, so check them out. The blog posts, that is.

This blog loves it some Holly Madison.

In another quirky category, the staff of the Las Vegas Weekly picked Rao’s in Caesars Palace as having Sin City’s Best Jukebox.

Congrats to all the winners! See all the Las Vegas Weekly Awards here.

How on Earth did we effectively waste time at work before YouTube?

Who knows? But lately, there’s been a flood of YouTube videos featuring Las vegas-related goodness, so it’s time to dive headlong into the shallow end of the videographic wading pool. Or something.

First up, it’s Chumlee! He’s one of our favorites from Pawn Stars, the History Channel reality show set in downtown Vegas’ famed Gold & Silver Pawn Shop. It appears Chumlee recently went on a mission to find singer-songwriter Bob Dylan on the Strip, specifically at Caesars Palace. We won’t spoil the ending.

One of the greatest Las Vegas summits ever!

Next, it’s time for Oprah’s heir apparent, Ellen, to try her hand at dealing blackjack in Las Vegas. She donned a bunny suit at the Palms to raise money for two animal advocacy groups, the Gentle Barn and the Farm Sanctuary.

Always split 8s. Just trust us. The book says split 8s.

The dance-happy talk show host gets a crash course, then hits the casino floor. Upshot: It’s not as easy as Vegas blackjack dealers make it look.

The fun continues with a new ad campaign for Las Vegas from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

What do you think of the new tagline, “Life is short, summer is shorter”? As always, this blog remains neutral. Although, who decided life is short? Try attending an opera or listening to that guy who plays the sax on Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas. Sometimes, life seems to drag on forever.

Onward!

We love this slickly-produced video for Sea Thai at Bally’s Las Vegas. Granted, we mostly love it because the music is by Napat Snidvongs, which we think just might be the same sound a bowling ball makes when it’s dropped into an open piano.

Sea Thai is actually fairly awesome, and it’s also one of the only Thai restaurants on the Strip, so read more and enjoy some of our best food photos ever.

One more YouTube video for your edification, whatever an edification might actually be. Angel Porrino, of TV’s “Holly’s World” and Peepshow at Planet Hollywood fame, is now a featured performer in Absinthe at Caesars Palace. When we first started describing her act by saying “she tap dances virtually topless in a giant balloon,” people kind of looked a us funny. Now, video vindication.

As promised, “Absinthe” is sexy, strange and supremely original. Catch “Absinthe” live, because as good as YouTube is, it still doesn’t dispense beer.

In June, the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood will team up with Aid for AIDS of Nevada (AFAN) in honor of National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Month.

For the entire month, the fountain at the Miracle Mile Shops will feature a multi-colored glow between its regularly-scheduled shows. Coins tossed into the popular fountain during Jun., as well as the shopping mecca’s indoor rainstorm, will be donated to AFAN.

Vegas even does its water neon-style.

The Miracle Mile’s free fountain shows take place at the top of every hour from noon to 11:00 p.m. each day.

Take a look at more free shows in Las Vegas.

There are definitely ways to tell if you’re a Las Vegas icon. You might have a star (or two) with your name on it along the Las Vegas Walk of Stars.

You might pop up on a game show from time to time.

You might even have your photo plastered across the side of a Las Vegas hotel.

Or, as Rio Vegas headliners Penn & Teller did yesterday, you might be featured in a Jumble puzzle and appear in hundreds of newspapers all across the country.

Impress your friends at dinner parties by knowing Jumble was created in 1954 by Martin Naydel.

Yes, people still read newspapers. Your insolence is duly noted.

How cool is the Sugar Factory? Here’s how cool.

Sugar Factory, with its newest location at Paris Las Vegas, and Opportunity Village, a nonprofit organization that serves people with intellectual disabilities, have forged a unique partnership that provides gainful employment to special needs individuals in Las Vegas.

Opportunity Village got its start in 1954.

When we first heard about this innovative partnership, we had to find out more, so this blog dropped by one of the Opportunity Village locations here in Vegas, its Ralph & Betty Engelstad Campus.

What we found were funny, warm people enthusiastically assembling Sugar Factory’s famed Couture Pops in a supportive, bustling environment we had no idea existed.

The first step in assembling a Sugar Factory Couture Pop.

Sugar Factory keeps about 30 individuals with intellectual disabilities busy and employed, each mastering steps along an assembly line with the goal of producing pops enjoyed by customers at Sugar Factory stores in Las Vegas.

Aside from the new Paris Vegas location, there are also Sugar Factory retail stores inside The Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood and in the Mirage.

A well-oiled machine!

For such a seemingly simple product, the process of getting Couture Pops ready for store shelves is actually fairly complex. Handles are unpacked and painstakingly screwed into pop heads. (That may not be the technical term.) Boxes are scored and folded. Stickers denoting the pop flavors are carefully affixed.

The toughest step in the process is the assembly of the box interior thingy (definitely the technical term), which to our mind is akin to solving a Rubik’s cube. With a blindfold. However, the folks at Opportunity Village handle their various tasks with aplomb, taking care to inspect each item carefully. The pride in their work is obvious and truly inspirational.

Pops, pops everywhere.

The Sugar Factory’s partnership with Opportunity Village began in 2009, and the industrious candy-makers at Opportunity Village have assembled more than 10,000 of Sugar Factory’s rhinestone-encrusted lollipops.

The Sugar Factory’s signature Couture Pops have become a designer accessory worn on red carpets around the country and have been touted by celebrities like Kim Kardashian, the Pussycat Dolls and Britney Spears.

The Opportunity Village facility is massive, but the hearts inside are even bigger.

Another interesting fact we discovered at the Opportunity Village vocational center: Opportunity Village clients also assemble in-room condiment and coffee packets distributed to Caesars Entertainment hotels in Las Vegas and across the U.S. (see below). More than a million of these condiment packets are assembled at Opportunity Village each year. And we thought we knew everything. Oh, well.

These packets are provided to guests at casino resorts across the country.

Find out more about Opportunity Village, an organization with a successful track record of providing its clients with vocational training, employment and social recreation services that make their lives more productive and fulfilling.

Bringing the sparkle.

Thanks to the wonderful staff at Opportunity Village for our tour, and our heartfelt kudos go out to the Sugar Factory for making such a meaningful contribution to the Las Vegas community. Vegas is definitely a town with a heart.

Take a look at our photo gallery taken during our visit to Opportunity Village. Those smiles are simply unforgettable.

What’s your favorite Akon song? Let’s just say you have a few to choose from: The prolific singer-songwriter is credited with more than 300 guest appearances on records, including an impressive 45 Billboard Hot 100 songs.

Akon will perform at Gallery Nightclub at Planet Hollywood on May 29.

Bonus Akon trivia: Akon's full name is Aliaune Badara Akon Thiam.

Memorial Day weekend is a great time to check out Gallery Nightclub if you haven’t been inside yet. The design of this new club is striking and the walls feature over-sized frames with original photography depicting voyeuristic imagery. Welcome to Sin City, baby.

Time for an Akon dance break!

Don’t miss Akon at Gallery Nightclub inside Planet Hollywood.

As a Las Vegas blog, we’re endlessly fascinated with casinos and their games, and today we’ve got some gambling jargon we’re 94% sure you didn’t know before right now.

If you’ve ever played craps, you’ve seen a variety of small discs (or tokens) with words on them like “On” and “Off” and “Lay” and “Buy.” Some discs have numbers. In craps parlance, these discs are called “lammers.”

See all the "lay" jokes we're not making here? Maturity, thy name is us.

Now you know! We love the word “lammer,” and have decided to use the word often in conversation from here on out.

Lammers are sometimes called “buttons,” too. Lammers can also be found in poker rooms (with words like “Dealer” or “Big Blind”) or at a baccarat table (reading “Bank” or “Player”).

On an unrelated note: There is a Lammer river in Austria.

We’re generally amused by Sin City “buskers.” You know, those costumed individuals who pose for photo ops along the Strip for tips. Granted, as we’ve discussed in the past, buskers are among the most useless photo ops in Las Vegas, but that’s not the point.

We recently came across this cleverly-costumed busker and thought we’d share.

In technical parlance, "Aieeeee!"

This was one of two giant snakes we glimpsed on the Strip this past weekend. He was posing for photos on the sidewalk near one of the best people-watching spots on the Strip, Mon Ami Gabi at Paris Las Vegas (note the red umbrella).

He was accompanied by one of the featured performers in a show called “Four Funny Bastards” at the Black Door Bar and Grill, wherever that might actually be. On a related note: Dear guy from this show, feel free to busk without the use of your portable amplifier, thanks. Annoyance factor: 11.

You never know what you’ll see on the Las Vegas Strip! Hey, we don’t have to condone something to chronicle it. If nothing else, it’s a reminder there’s always something new to see and do in Sin City.

If you weren’t in Vegas this weekend, you missed a lot! On May 21, Planet Hollywood hosted a flash-popping red carpet for the Las Vegas debut of “The Hangover: Part II,” the follow-up to the most successful R-rated comedy of all time.

We can almost forgive the filmmakers for not setting the sequel in Las Vegas, mostly because “Hangover II” is so flapping funny.

They're back!

The red carpet featured the supporting cast of “Hangover II,” including Justin Bartha who appeared in the original, and talented newcomers Mason Lee and Jamie Chung (pictured below).

"Hangover 2" players Mason Lee, Jamie Chung and Justin Bartha.

Justin Bartha won over the capacity crowd at Planet Hollywood by jumping the velvet rope and schmoozing with fans. Seeing what a nice guy he is, we were kind of bummed at how small his role is in the new movie. Oh. We probably should have put “Spoiler Alert” before that, but this blog doesn’t live by society’s rules.

Anyhoo, this sounds like our cue for some exclusive video from the red carpet. Note: “Hangover II” takes place in Thailand, hence “One Night in Bangkok.”

Like we said, “Hangover 2″ more than holds its own with the original in the hilarity department. The wolf pack is back, with Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms) and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) wreaking havoc, of course. Mr. Chow (played by Ken Jeong) returns and chills with the guys during their Thai exploits, too.

Hey, taking photos is supposed to be our gig!

Bonus “Hangover 2″ factoid: Yes, a smoking monkey plays a pivotal role in the movie. However, the monkey never actually used a lit cigarette. The smoke was done with CGI. Oh, “Spoiler Alert.” Oops.

Las Vegas favorites also strutted their stuff on the “Hangover 2″ red carpet, including Holly Madison and Josh Strickland, stars of Peepshow at Planet Hollywood, as well as Angel Porrino and The Gazillionaire, currently featured in Absinthe, the adult circus, at Caesars Palace.

Vegas fixtures Josh Strickland, Holly Madison and Angel Porrino.

Caesars headliner Matt Goss, Flamingo magician Nathan Burton, comedian Carrot Top and others also made the adulation-filled trek down the red carpet.

Matt Goss works the carpet with a dapper new chapeau.

We should also note the presence of a number of well-known professional athletes on the red carpet whom we did not recognize at all because, well, this blog is not a sports person so much. There is a reasonable probability they included Matt Barnes of the L.A. Lakers, Javell McGee of the Washington Wizards, Verran Tucker of the Kansas City Chiefs and others. Look, we are a Las Vegas blog, not a Marv Albert.

In lieu of photos of big, sweaty athletes, we're posting another pic of actress Jamie Chung. So sue us.

A highlight of the red carpet was the unveiling of the new “Hangover” slot machine. We convinced the folks at IGT (who make the new machine) to put it in demo mode so we could take it for a test drive. Cha-to-the-imaginary-ching. Take a look.

The new game is a blast, with tons of references from the original “Hangover.” Caesars Entertainment casinos in Las Vegas, and across the country, will have the game exclusively for the first two months of its release.

Of course, you’ll want to luxuriate in the pore-cleansing goodness of our exclusive photo gallery from the Las Vegas premiere of “The Hangover: Part II.”

Cafe Martorano’s at Rio Las Vegas is known for its killer Italian cuisine, but this is what we’re craving at the moment.

You have what we need, Martorano's.

Stop by for this cocktail we can’t remember the name of, or grab a couple of meatballs while you’re there. To-date, we haven’t had anything we didn’t love!

Don't even get us started.

Hot on the heels of news of a new magic show at Paris Las Vegas, we just learned “The Magic & Tigers of Rick Thomas” will bow at the Saxe Theater inside The Miracle Mile at Planet Hollywood on Jun. 3 for a limited engagement.

Rick Thomas was the headliner at the Sahara before it closed on May 16. He even performed at the storied Stardust back in the day.

We've heard of entertainers with a monkey on their back, but this?

Thomas has performed in more than 30 countries and won “Magician of the Year” honors from the Academy of Magical Arts, as well as “Stage Magician of the Year” on the televised “World Magic Awards.” His show features exotic animals including four white and orange Bengal tigers.

Here’s a little Rick Thomas preview.

The new show will have a “Tiger Encounter” VIP ticket option allowing guests to sit up front, to meet the stars of the show and then go onstage after the show to take pictures with the rare cats.

If you’re a fan of big cat magic, you’ll also enjoy Dirk Arthur’s too-close-for-comfort show at O’Sheas. Find out more.