There’s always something new in Las Vegas, and that includes downtown. The historic area north of The Strip has been bustling with activity in recent months, and we’re not just saying it’s bustling as an excuse to type the word “bust” a couple of times. Probably.

During our last visit to the Golden Gate, the oldest operating casino in Vegas, we noted they’ve recently opened a high limit salon. And it’s precious.

Photos of the dancer-dealers is allowed, with their permission. Which we're 31% sure we were given. Hey, it's loud in there.

The “intimate” high limit room has two shoe blackjack tables and one double-deck game. We hear the room may add a baccarat table in the near future.

The room features plush, high-backed chairs, in case your feet get tired from all the, you know, sitting you’re doing while playing blackjack.

Comfy.

The new high limit room isn’t all that high limit when you compare it to The Strip, with two tables having a $25 minimum and another with $50.

The tables are manned, or rather, “personed,” by the casino’s popular go-go dealers. In fact, the only tables we saw personed by male dealers in the entire casino were at the craps tables. This blog does not generally have a problem with this trend, as long as the dancer-dealers know what the heck they’re doing.

Let us know if you spot anything new in downtown Las Vegas, and we’ll use it as an excuse to visit and snap some pics.

Perhaps not surprisingly, this blog loves casinos: The eye-popping carpeting, the slang, the clicking of gaming chips, the whole nine yards. This blog also happens to love dogs.

So, we were especially thrilled to discover the Dog Casino.

Why should humans have all the fun?

We quickly whipped out our wallet, stuffed with Blazing Sevens winnings from the night before, and acquired the Dog Casino to share it with you. We also thought it would make a great Mother’s Day present, but that’s beside the point.

While we didn’t immediately see the casino tie-in to this “fun interactive game,” we were comforted by a blurb on the box that said the game is slobber-proof.

Even the most modern human casinos in Las Vegas aren't especially slobber-proof.

The Dog Casino, it turns out, is like a puzzle for your pooch. The box gives fair warning that it’s challenging. Along with photos of dogs in hats. The international symbol for skill level in dog casinos.

Don't let these cloned dogs in graduation hats intimidate you.

So, here’s the “casino.” It’s a set of bones that rest on the top of a game board thingy.

Irrelevant Vegas trivia: Craps dice are often called "bones."

Doggie treats are placed in small drawers along the edges of the game, and they can only be opened when the corresponding bone is removed.

Remove the correct bone, and dogs get the equivalent of a slot machine jackpot, but without the irksome tax obligations.

Forget this ticket-in ticket-out business. It's treat time.

If all this seems a little complicated, don’t worry, there’s a training manual for pet owners included (as well as a CD we didn’t actually use).

Yes, there's some reading involved. People still do that, you know.

We found the Dog Casino game in a local store here in Vegas for a hefty $64.99, but it sells for much less online (in the $40 range). Our local store split the difference.

While the similarities to a real casino are a tad tenuous, we still think this is a fun way to see just how clever your dog is. Like the box says, it’s challenging, and our test subject, Bonnie (below), seemed to prefer receiving her treats the old-fashioned way.

Mom loved her Mother's Day present, by the way. The jury's still out for Bonnie.

If you dig dogs, too, you might want to read up on the dog-friendly PetStay program available at a number of Las Vegas hotels. Yes, treats are included. Delivered the old-fashioned way.

We can’t say it enough. This blog loves it some free Vegas stuff! The free Imperial Palace slot tournament, where you can win up to $1,500 in free slot play, definitely qualifies.

Here’s how it works. It’s complicated, so pay attention. Not the kind of attention you pay to your spouse. The real kind. You go to the Imperial Palace. You play a fake slot machine for five minutes. Top players of the day get prizes.

Fact: $1,500 in free slot play is better than a shoulder massage from a Las Vegas showgirl. Actual results may vary.

The only caveat is one must be a Total Rewards loyalty club member to enter. It’s free to join, and heck, you can even sign up online from the comfort of your bath tub, French villa or cube farm.

The free Imperial Palace slot tournament moved recently, so you do actually have to pay attention this time: The slot tournament area is now on the third floor of the hotel’s Pagoda Tower, near the Race & Sports book and the theater Human Nature and Frank Marino’s Divas Las Vegas call home.

Ain't no app for this! Winners are announced old-school.

If you’re unfamiliar with slot tournaments, entrants spend months training, often with highly-compensated coaches, building their endurance and perfecting their slot tournament strategies. We’re totally kidding. You sit and push a button. Over and over. It’s awesome because it’s all luck. No push-ups or memorizing some math-based strategy. Just have fun, already.

The most exciting five minutes in Las Vegas that doesn't involved making love to this blog.

The free slot tournament at Imperial Palace is held Monday through Friday, 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Good luck, and if you win, this blog’s usual commission applies.

The premiere name in poker, World Series of Poker, is now officially part of Total Rewards, the premiere name in casino loyalty programs. As reported by the premiere Las Vegas blog. (Note: We may have just made that last part up.)

For the first time, World Series of Poker (WSOP) tournament entrants will get Reward Credits (sometimes called “loyalty points”) for playing in gold bracelet events. They’ll also get Reward Credits for playing in daily “Deepstack” tournaments and mega-satellite events at the Rio Las Vegas, where the World Series of Poker takes place each year.

This year’s World Series of Poker begins May 27. See the full schedule.

In poker parlance, being dealt a pair of aces is called a "Cha-Ching!" hand. Probably.

Following this year’s WSOP, poker players will also receive Reward Credits for tournament play during the 2012-13 WSOP Circuit tour at Total Rewards (Caesars Entertainment) casinos around the country.

Reward Credits can be redeemed for a variety of perks, including WSOP tournament entry fees, hotel rooms, dining, shows and merchandise. They can also be used to buy this blog a cocktail. Not that we think you should do that. Just tossing out some hypotheticals here.

Find out all the details about the WSOP and its partnership with Total Rewards.

We love Vegas newness, but this blog also loves it some Vegas oldness.

Today’s random photo is a close-up of a classic slot machine.

This slot machine was so pretty, we were tempted to lick it. The feeling passed.

The colors. The textures. The history! Video screens are great, but sometimes, you just want to get your hands dirty.

This vintage slot machine is on display, along with other classics, at the Golden Gate in downtown Las Vegas. The Golden Gate is the oldest casino in Vegas. It opened in 1906.

Given the popularity of reality TV’s “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” the recent opening of Drink & Drag in downtown Las Vegas and the ongoing success of “Frank Marino’s Diva’s Las Vegas” at Imperial Palace, this just may end up “The Year of the Drag Queen.”

How cool is it to be a female impersonator at the moment? Frank Marino’s divas even have their own big wheel at Imperial Palace.

Win, and your friends will "condragulate" you. Yes, this blog is up on its drag queen jargon.

When drag queens are involved, fun is pretty much guaranteed, even with the knowledge casino big wheel games have some hefty house edges. Seriously, though, are you in Vegas to do math or have a blast? We thought so.

Each of the divas is highlighted on the table, too.

The IP felt it was time to put the divas in the spotlight. Felt. See what we did there?

Here’s more about Frank Marino’s Diva’s Las Vegas at Imperial Palace.

You better work. Or something.

What would you do with $1.2 million? A player at Rio Las Vegas is going to have to figure out an answer to that question, because on May 1, 2012, the $1 Wheel of Fortune progressive jackpot hit for $1,224,957.

This blog loves when that happens!

This is not the actual winning machine. We can't be everywhere, you know.

They should call it the “Wheel of We Hope They Don’t Take Out Too Much in Taxes.”

This blog actually made a contribution to another Wheel of Fortune progressive machine at Flamingo a few hours prior to the big win at Rio. What might have been.

We don’t have any further information about the lucky guest at Rio, other than this magical number: $1,224,957. And, honestly, isn’t that enough?

As usual, the Wheel of Fortune progressive jackpot was reset to a cool mil after the win. This blog calls dibs on the next jackpot, but you can give it a try if you’d like.

The world of poker is a fascinating one, and “All In: The Poker Movie,” a new documentary about that world, is one this Las Vegas blog would be inclined to watch.

The film’s billed as, “The definitive story of the rise, fall and rebirth of poker.” It features many of the game’s most prominent figures, including Chris Moneymaker, the man whose 2003 Main Event win at the World Series of Poker is often cited as the reason for the boom that’s kept poker in the spotlight ever since.

The person pictured below is not him.

Matt Damon is a great poker player. We hear he also acts a little on the side.

Here’s the trailer for “All In: The Poker Movie.”

“All In” was directed by Douglas Tirola and includes segments with Matt Damon, Phil Hellmuth Jr., Annie Duke, Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, Daniel Negreanu and others.

The World Series of Poker happens each year at Rio Las Vegas.

The film is currently available on iTunes and through Video on Demand. It didn’t get rave reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, but this blog doesn’t live by society’s rules, and we’re watching it, anyway.

Get all your poker needs met at the official World Series of Poker site.

The game of poker lost a legend, “Amarillo Slim” Preston, on April 29, 2012, at the age of 83.

The five-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner was one of the pioneers of modern-day poker, including raising the game’s visibility through media appearances (including 11 guest spots on “The Tonight Show”) and his colorful personality.

Amarillo Slim once bet someone that a cat could pick up a Coke bottle, and once beat daredevil Evel Knievel in golf using a carpenter's hammer.

Among his many accomplishments, Preston won the World Series of Poker Main Event in 1972. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1992.

There was even a song written in his honor.

Read more about this WSOP champ and pop culture icon on the official World Series of Poker site, and listen to a radio interview with “Amarillo Slim.”

They just don’t make ‘em like Slim anymore.

You just never know when Lady Luck’s going to slip into something more comfortable and give up the goods.

She was in an especially generous mood on March 21, 2003. That was the day the largest Las Vegas slot machine jackpot ever was paid, on a Megabucks machine at Excalibur, for $39,713,982.25.

The 25-year-old who won, for a $100 investment, will get  a cool $1.5 million a year until he’s 50.

This blog actually does have dreams about slot machine jackpots sometimes. We should probably have that looked at.

Here’s another interesting Vegas slot jackpot story you may not have heard before.

In 1987, a Vegas visitor from Arkansas, Kirk Erickson, hit a jackpot for $1,061,812 on a “Million Dollar Baby” machine at Caesars Palace. Unfortunately, he was just 19 at the time, and because he was underage (the legal age to gamble in Las Vegas is 21), the jackpot was invalid. He sued, but the court ruled against him in 1989.

No Las Vegas casino would be complete without playing cards. They’re used in blackjack and poker and a variety of other games, including Pai Gow poker, which in Chinese translates as “that card game this blog doesn’t understand because it may involve math.”

So, here’s a question about playing cards: Why are there 52 cards in a deck?

It's good to be the king.

Come to find out, many believe our modern decks of cards can be tied to astrology. The four suits, for example, are said to represent the four seasons. Not The Jersey Boys, the other four seasons. Please try and stay focused.

The 13 cards of each suit represent 13 months of the lunar new year. A lunar month (“sidereal lunar month” to be precise) has 28 days, so if you multiply 13 months by 28 days, you get 364, which is the number of days in a year in something called the positivist calendar. (It’s actually 364 plus a festival day commemorating the dead, for a total of 365.)

You may have already figured out that our 52-card decks are related to the fact a year has 52 weeks.

For the record, this blog still hates math.

The weight of an average playing card is 0.063 of an ounce. You'll win a bar bet with that one some day.

Here’s a bonus trivia item about playing cards.

Ever wonder why the ace of spades gets special treatment in terms of its design?

The ace of spades is also known as the "spadille."

The fancy design got its start under the reign of James I of England.

He created a law requiring that an insignia (usually hand-stamped) appear on the ace of spades to prove payment of a tax by card manufacturers. That special tax existed in the U.K. until 1960, and the practice of putting an ornate spade symbol on the ace of spades stuck around.

Now you know!

Here’s today’s thing you might not know about Las Vegas: The Stardust was the first hotel in Sin City to add a sports book to its casino.

We found this photo in our personal photo album. We loved the Stardust.

In a spectacularly bone-headed move (at least in retrospect), the Stardust was imploded on March 13, 2007.

What awful news. Because this blog loves karaoke. Totally.

We’re pretty much despondent having to report that the Karaoke Club inside the Imperial Palace has closed.

Yes, we realize some people like karaoke. We pity and forgive them.

We can hardly contain our sadness. Because we love karaoke so darned much.

We understand the poker room will be moving into the space formerly occupied by the Karaoke Club. After an appropriate grieving period, of course.

You know how movies inspired by popular board games are almost always, well, uninspired? Oddly, slot machines based on board games are almost always great. It’s one of the many mysteries of our universe. Like why anyone would prefer Twizzlers over Red Vines. Moving on.

One of the newest board game-inspired additions to the casino floor, exclusively at Total Rewards (Caesars Entertainment) casinos at the moment, is Clue. This timeless game translates perfectly to the slot machine realm, and you can get a feel for it with a free, online “mini-game” simulation thingy. Try it out.

This ain't your grandpa's cherry and melon symbol three-reeler, folks.

In the Clue slot machine, you start your game by choosing one of the classic characters from the board game, ones you probably know by heart: Miss Scarlet, Professor Plum, Mr. Green, Mrs. White, Colonel Mustard or Mrs. Peacock. There are seven bonuses throughout the Clue mansion as players try to solve the mystery of who did what, with which weapon and in what room.

Here’s a snappy promotional video with some highlights of the Clue slot machine. We’re not sure that voice-over guy is actually British, but we’re going to let it slide because the game’s so fun.

Obviously, there’s a lot of entertainment value here, with tons of twists and turns, and after every bonus round, you get to guess the suspect, room and weapon for a shot at winning a “Solve-the-Mystery Progressive” jackpot. Which, to this blog, sounds like a good thing.

You could make a killing at this slot. We totally stole that line from the game's Web site.

As you play, you accumulate “Sleuth Points” which help open up new rooms. We tend to like hanging out in the Conservatory, just because we think it sounds cool, despite all the, you know, murders.

Here’s another cool aspect of the new Clue slot. When you play the free Clue “mini-game” online, you can unlock bonus rooms which you can then take advantage of when you’re playing in the real-world casino. Just make sure to log in with your Total Rewards player loyalty number. It’s free to join, of course, and you can sign up online, too.

We did not know that.

The new Clue slot machine is currently being rolled out across Vegas, so use the online Slot Finder to see if it’s available at your favorite casino. Let’s play some Clue, already!

It’s called a number of things. The “gambler’s fallacy,” and the “Monte Carlo fallacy,” and even “the fallacy of the maturity of chances.” We like that last one because it makes this blog sound smarter than it really is.

But it all boils down to one basic, misguided belief: In games of chance, like roulette or craps, if a certain outcome hasn’t happened in awhile, it’s more likely to occur in the future.

Seriously, black has hit, like, six times in a row. Has to be red next. Definitely.

We knew that was going to happen. It had to. Probably.

But here’s why it’s a myth. Every roll of the dice, and every spin at roulette, is its own thing. You’ve probably even heard the expression, “The dice have no memory.” As in life, just because something has happened a lot in the past doesn’t mean it’s more or less likely to happen in the future. There’s really no such thing as a certain outcome being “overdue.” The odds remain the same, no matter what’s transpired during a previous roll or spin. And not surprisingly, those odds always favor the house.

More than a few players have been stung by the Monte Carlo fallacy. (It’s called that because one of the most famous examples of this concept took place at a Monte Carlo casino in 1913. Monte Carlo is in Monaco, and it’s a lot like Las Vegas, just yawnier.)

Think your number or color has to hit soon? The longest recorded streak of one color in roulette in American casino history happened in 1943 when the color red won 32 consecutive times. In a row. The people convinced black had to hit next were absolutely right. Eventually.

We know what you're up to, illusion of predictability.

Does knowing about the gambler’s fallacy mean you can’t play your hunches or try to outguess your favorite game? Of course not. People win fortunes because of lucky streaks that defy the odds (just ask the woman who had a craps roll for four hours and 18 minutes at Borgata in Atlantic City). But do yourself a favor and know the odds you’re up against (they vary greatly depending upon the game), and don’t fall into the “double up to catch up” trap. As they say in the financial world: “Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.”

You can read more about the gambler’s fallacy on Wikipedia and WizardofOdds.com.