Congrats to ESPN! For the second year in a row, the sports network earned a Grammy nomination for its coverage of the World Series of Poker Final Table. Read more.

The Final Table event was held at Rio Las Vegas in November, and Joe Cada took home the top prize. Find out who that guy is!

WSOP Main Event champ Joe Cada at the exact moment he realized he'd need a much bigger wallet.

Learn more about the World Series of Poker. This year’s installment happens May 27 to Jul. 17.

In honor of the college hoops mayhem sweeping through Las Vegas (and the country, come to think of it), NBA legends James Worthy and Clyde Drexler will be signing autographs, schmoozing fans and giving away some cash on the Strip this weekend.

Several lucky Total Rewards (the Harrah’s Entertainment player loyalty program) and Planet Hollywood A-List guests (the loyalty program of Planet Hollywood, until Apr. 1, when Planet Hollywood will become a Total Rewards destination), will be chosen to compete at a Flamingo’s Tailgate party for a share of $5,000 in cash.

A hoops-themed decorative touch outside the Sports Book at Bally's. Because we needed a photo for this post.

Guests who sign up for a Total Rewards Card or A-List Card through March 20, 2010 will receive one entry into the “Hoops with the Stars” drawing. In addition, existing Total Rewards members who earn 50 Base Reward Credits in one day will receive an additional drawing ticket. All drawing tickets can be picked up from Total Rewards prior to 3:00 p.m. on Mar. 20. 

Autograph sessions are open to the public, and scheduled (Mar. 20) with James Worthy and Clyde Drexler at Planet Hollywood (The Mezz Level), 1-2:00 p.m.; and 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Flamingo (Showroom entrance).

Also on Saturday, the “Hoops With the Stars” event happens at 3-4:00 p.m. in the street between Flamingo and O’Sheas, then the drawing takes place 4-5:00 p.m., including games with Worthy and Drexler.

Get into the game! It’s your chance to play “Hoops With the Stars” and maybe even take home some moolah.

The World Series of Poker is putting up a million bucks to award during the 2010 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions. The tournament will take place during the 41st Annual WSOP at the Rio. Learn more.

To sweeten the pot, ESPN will air the event in a special two-hour telecast on Aug. 3.

Known as "pocket aces," this poker hand has been known to make grown men weep tears of joy.

Just 27 players will participate in the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions, with 20 players selected by voting from the public. Voting will remain open until Jun. 15.

To qualify as one of the 20 eligible fan-voted participants, players must be a WSOP bracelet-holder. All living WSOP bracelet holders are able to receive votes, and currently there are 521 eligible players.

The three previous WSOP Tournament of Champions winners gain automatic entry, plus the reigning WSOP champion and the reigning WSOP Europe champion get seats at the table. The five shoo-ins are Annie Duke, Mike Matusow, Mike Sexton, Joe Cada and Barry Shulman.

Play will start at the Rio on Jun. 27, and will stop once the final nine players are reached. Those nine return on Jul. 4.

The World Series of Poker runs from May 27 to Jul. 17. Find out more about the world’s premier poker event.

The Holy Grail for poker players, a WSOP bracelet. The Holy Grail was, sadly, not available for a photo.

We love the free stuff, don’t you? That’s why we consider it our job to find it for you!

Which leads us to this sweet giveaway: Total Rewards (the world’s most buff player loyalty program) and the World Series of Poker (the universe’s premier name in poker) are joining forces to give away some goodies like a 16 GB iPad, two 8 GB iPod Touches, five WSOP poker chip sets and 10 $25 Total Rewards gift cards.

The World Series of Poker comes to Vegas May 27 to Jul. 17, by the way.

After you enter the giveaway, get World Series of Poker Hold’Em Legend game for your mobile device. This fast-paced game gives you the true World Series of Poker experience, with real-time multi-player gameplay, among other great features. You can even play in some of your favorite real-world casinos.

Entries for the giveaway will be accepted until Apr. 16. Enter now.

It was a weekend of firsts for women! Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win a Best Director Oscar for “The Hurt Locker,” and poker pro Annie Duke became the first woman ever to win the National Heads-Up Poker Championship. The event was held at Caesars Palace.

The Heads-Up Championship finals came down to Annie Duke and Erik Seidel, with Duke taking home the $500,000 in prize money. NBC will air 12 hours of event coverage, starting Apr. 18, for six consecutive Sundays.

Factoid: Annie Duke moonlights an instructor at the World Series of Poker Academy.

In addition to her many poker accomplishments, Anne Duke was also a finalist on “Celebrity Apprentice,” going head-to-head with arch-nemesis Joan Rivers in one of the most memorable installments of the show ever.

Read more about Annie Duke’s victory in the 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship here, here and here.

If you’re like most poker fans, you’re champing at the bit for the World Series of Poker this summer. Registration is open, so find out more about the event at Rio Las Vegas, May 27 to Jul. 17, and get in the game.

No visit to Vegas is complete without a few hands of blackjack at the Imperial Palace with one of its multi-talented dealertainers. They deal. They entertain. And, mostly, they make sure guests have an absolute blast.

Today’s featured dealertainer is Mykia as international super-stahh Beyonce.

The Imperial Palace is the only place in Vegas where you can "double down" AND "put a ring on it."

Do you have a favorite dealertainer? Let us know in the Comments section. See all the dealertainers we’ve featured to-date.

Some people say a million bucks doesn’t go as far as it used to. Are they kidding? It’s a million bucks! And it’s all-the-sweeter when you get that million via an oversized check!

That’s what happed to John M. yesterday (Mar. 3) at Paris Las Vegas. He came out on top in the Millionaire Maker video poker tournament and won a cool million. Just another day in Las Vegas.

When John got his giant check, he suddenly made a lot of new friends.

The Millionaire Maker tournament was the culmination of a series of qualifying tournaments held at Total Rewards destinations across the country. (Total Rewards is the Harrah’s Entertainment loyalty club.) Winners of the qualifying tournaments come to Las Vegas to try their hand at winning the million. John qualified in Reno, but is from Fresno.

The next big Millionaire Maker event is a Tournament of Champions in New Orleans, Oct. 31 to Nov. 3.

Congratulations, John. Don’t spend it all in one place. Unless that place is Vegas, of course.

As plethoras go, a plethora of Vegas news tidbits is truly something your day just won’t be complete without.

♠ ”X Burlesque” celebrates its third anniversary at Flamingo Las Vegas tonight, Mar. 4. Read more.

Happy anniversary, "X Burlesque"!

♠ Yes, Virginia, there’s a Blackjack Hall of Fame.

♠ ”Human Nature” at the Imperial Palace recently celebrated its 200th performance. Congratulations are in order! See the show.

♠ Today’s Vegas factoid: New York New York is only Strip resort without its own marquee.

♠ NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon re-created the “The Hangover” experience at Caesars Palace for a recent photo shoot. See more.

♠ Hash House a Go Go will be featured on KVBC on Mar. 14 at 9:00 a.m. They’ll be talking about some mouthwatering St. Patrick’s Day specials. See our story about Hash House a Go Go.

One of the daunting Hash House a Go Go burgers. Prepare to share.

♠ Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer to be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the ShoWest convention at Bally’s and Paris, Mar. 15-18. Find out more.

♠ Here’s a handy list of all the resort fees charged at Las Vegas resorts. Please note that our Pulse of Vegas destinations are NOT on the list (because we don’t charge resort fees).

♠ Congrats to the star of “The Mentalist” show at Planet Hollywood, Gerry McCambridge. McCambridge recently celebrated his 1,000th performance, making “The Mentalist” the longest-running mentalism show in Sin City history.

Told you it was a plethora!

Napoleon loved the card game 21, the game we know today as blackjack.

In craps, just about everyone knows a roll of two is called “snake eyes.” But did you know the roll is also referred to as “pebbles”?

Don’t get us started about why we can’t call this weekend’s football-championship-extravaganza-event-spectacular by its actual name. It’s a lawyer thing!

Anyway, we found this pretty comprehensive list of “Big Game” parties. Enjoy.

OK, this one’s pretty much for the craps players. You know who you are.

Last night, we were wandering through the casino of one of our competitors in the neighborhood of Rio Las Vegas, which shall remain nameless, for reasons to be made clear in about 12 seconds.

And we stop by the craps table to see what’s up. We look down, and see this on the felt of the craps table.

Serious craps players are going into cardiac arrest right now.

Here’s the thing. Craps players are often a superstitious lot. Lots of “rules.” They don’t like it when the dice hit someone’s hands, or when they knock over a stack of chips, or when they go off the end of the table. They don’t love when there’s a change in the stickperson. They truly don’t care for a new player buying-in during a hot roll. The superstitions are part of what make craps so fun!

One of the biggest rules at a craps table is to not say “seven” out loud. Ever. (That, by the way, is why an 11 is called a “yo,” because “11″ sounds so much like “seven.”)

So, imagine playing on a table where there’s a logo with a giant “7″ right on the table!

Granted, this may mean nothing to the rest of the world, but craps players, are you with us on this? Worst. Idea. Ever.

We were saddened to hear about the passing of World Series of Poker bracelet winner Amir Vahedi. He passed away on Jan. 8.

Poker's Amir Vahedi.

Vahedi was an accomplished player, born in Iran, and even became a tutor for Ben Affleck when the actor first became interested in poker.

Amir Vahedi be missed, and as his fellow poker pro Phil Hellmuth wrote, “Amir was one of the nicest, gentlest guys on the tour and everyone loved him.” Read more.

Blackjack was originally known as “vingt-et-un,” French for “21.”

They deal. They entertain. Mush those things together as only Las Vegas can, and you’ve got Imperial Palace’s famed dealertainers. Read more.

Today’s featured dealertainer is Daniel who morphs into Elwood Blues of the timeless “Blues Brothers.”

Elwood's on a mission. To, you know, deal you some blackjack.