1. There’s more action than anywhere else, in any variation of the game.

2. The best players in the world are in Vegas to test your skills against.

3. There are lots of weak players on vacation to take advantage of and win money from.

4. Las Vegas has so many other things to do after you play poker.

5. You can always find the right stakes for your bankroll in Vegas, with little waiting time.

6. There’s more tournament action than anywhere else on the planet.

7. The poker rooms are the newest and biggest you’ll find anywhere.

8. You can play on automated tables at the Excalibur; or on regular tables with dealers.

9. If you win money playing poker you can turn it into more in the casino.

10. You’re bound to run into lots of poker stars at the poker rooms. Most of them play there.

“Jumping the Shark” is a show business term that refers to a form of entertainment which is pulling out all the stops to entertain an audience. It comes from an episode of Happy Days when Fonzie jumps over a shark with his motorcycle. So is Vegas “Jumping the Shark” to get people to come to town during this downswing in the economy?

As far as I’m concerned Vegas has been jumping the shark since it first began. The city has had to top itself over and over to stay fresh. It’s been one big shark jump after another. Attraction is the name of the game, and the competitors have to get more flashy and shocking than anything previously done.

Some people think that it’s becoming too much. I think that Vegas should stick to what got them to the show, and keep on jumping sharks at every opportunity they have.

Sure Michael Phelps is a shark in the pool, but can he play poker like one?

A guy like Michael Phelps doesn’t have a lot of time on his hands. He spends most of his time training to become the champion that he is. But when asked what he would like to do after all the Olympic fuss calms down, he said that he’d like to go play poker.

“I think it would be cool to play in the World Series of Poker,” Phelps said. “My game is a little off right now, so I’ll have to start improving it a little bit. But I think that would be cool, and it would be cool to meet some of those poker guys.”

That has to say something about the game of poker. After he achieved everything he worked so hard for four years to attain, the one thing he wants to do is play poker. See you on the tables Michael.

The Las Vegas Strip

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority stated on August 11 that room rates across the valley fell 16 percent from last year, as the economic downturn took its toll on the city. The high cost of living is keeping visitors away from the city more than ever, and revenues are down in all sorts of areas of Vegas. Visitation was flat January through June, while rates are down six percent during that time period.

Traffic through McCarren International Airport is down seven percent in June and vehicle traffic is down six percent for the month. Even with the WSOP being held at that time, the numbers have still dropped that much. Fortunately convention traffic is up slightly from last year, but only by two percent.

The downward trend will continue until the economy turns around and people have more disposable income to waste on vacation in Sin City.

A few Finnish professional poker players are being targeted by local governments to declare online and land-based poker winnings. Letters have been sent to players who have had winnings posted on websites from both online and regular casino tournaments. The request has already caused confusion about the tax status of the tournament organizer, or whether the poker tournaments were registered within the European Economic Area.

The governments are sure to run into the same issues that they ran into when they tried to stop the online game. Trade laws within the European Union make internet laws even cloudier than they already are, and it becomes difficult for any one country to regulate the game individually.

It also opens up the question of whether losses should be deductable if winnings are considered income. If they’re going to be taxed on winnings, they should be able to deduct all their costs.

Back in Bugsy Siegel’s day, the Flamingo was home to card sharks and the mob.

The Flamingo Casino was the first all-in-one resort casino. William Wilkerson was the creative force behind the creation of the hotel, starting the construction in 1945. He quickly ran into funding problems by 1946, and after taking on partners from the east coast, Bugsy Siegel began his control over the construction of the project.

Bugsy spent a ridiculous amount of money to complete the casino, which created many enemies who wanted a return on their investment. When it opened on December 26, 1946 the casino was in the red $275,000 after two weeks. The poor opening, plus the fact that some investors felt that Siegel was skimming the profits, led to him being shot to death in June of 1947.

The hotel reopened in March and started to make a profit immediately. The hotel was bought by the Hilton Corp. in 1972. The’’ve made many renovations over the years.

The Venetian has come up with an exciting new way to entertain their patrons with its new “The Real Deal!” promotion. It’s a combination poker tournament and live show, featuring some of the biggest names in poker. From the crowd six amateurs will be chosen to play the pros. The remainder of the audience will participate on their mobile touch-screen PC’s, making bets on the action as well as other side bets or props.

The chip-leading pro, the last remaining amateur, and the highest point scorer from the audience will play off three-handed in the final. Everyone in attendance will have a chance to win cash and prizes, including the grand prize of a cool million bucks.

The Venetian will tape the show in the 750-seat Venetian Showroom, and will have six regularly-scheduled shows each week at 4 pm, and 7pm shows taped on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Card sharks over at the Wynn Las Vegas are cleaning up.

It’s no secret that Macau is growing faster than Vegas. Now that the economy is on a down trend in the U.S., and quite the opposite is going on in China, Vegas revenues are down while they continue to soar in Macau. Wynn Resorts has reported that preliminary second-quarter data show earnings at its Las Vegas casino fell in a range of 65% to 72%, but its profit in the Chinese gambling Mecca of Macau nearly doubled.

The casino has authorized a $500M increase to the previously announced $1.2B share-buyback program, and Wynn’s stock shot to $79.94 after the news was released. It recovered from the 9.8% it had dropped earlier that day. The Wynn Vegas expects a small profit of around $20M this year, compared to an estimated $106M in profit from the Macau resort. The Wynn Vegas had revenues of $63M last year, and Macau produced $53M in profit in 2007.

Mike Matusow has done well for himself at the WSOP

This year’s WSOP was a return of the professional. For the last few years the WSOP was dominated by amateur players, with few big-name professionals winning bracelets. But 2008 saw 11 professionals win bracelets, and John Phan won two. Winners include Erick Lindgren, Daniel Negreanu, Mike Matusow, Barry Greenstein, Kenny Tran, Dario Minieri, Layne Flack, David Benyamine, J.C. Tran, and Scotty Nguyen.

The highlight of this year’s event was Scotty Nguyen’s $50,000 HORSE Championship. After Scotty’s painful exit from last year’s main event, this win was just what he needed to forget his near miss of becoming a two-time champion. (He spent three days in bed after losing the tournament.)

The low point was poor David Sklansky making two final tables in one week, only to bow out of both events. The losses keep David’s 25-year WSOP streak of never winning a bracelet alive for one more year.

Scotty Nguyen was one of the best players at the WSOP last year, and he’s showing why he’s one of the best all-around poker players in the world again this year. Scotty won the most prestigious poker tournament in the WSOP, the $50,000 HORSE Championship event. He did this a few days after finishing seventh in the No Limit Holdem event #31. The two cashes total over $2M, not bad for nine days work.

He was able to outlast 147 of the best poker players on the planet to win. He had to battle a final table that included Erick Lindgren, Barry Greenstein, and Huck Seed; eventually defeating amateur Michael DeMichele for the victory. Scotty joins the late Chip Reese in becoming the second player to win the WSOP $50,000 HORSE event and the $10,000 main event. It’s his fifth WSOP bracelet, and it brings his total tournament winnings to over $9M.