Vegas Popular

The Hard Rock Poker Lounge opened in grand style over the weekend with a poker tournament that brought out Vegas's pokerati and a familiar name winning the grand prize.

His Honorable Mayor Oscar Goodman cut the ceremonial ribbon, a sexy black number, evoking the new feel of the Hard Rock innovations capped with the Poker Lounge and including the anti-club Wasted Space.

Mayor Goodman was joined by Hard Rock Prez Randy Kwasniewski and poker legend Doyle Brunson.

5. Vegas Vic --

6. Circus Circus --

7. Binion's Casino --

8. Stardust

9. Margaritas By the Yard -

10. Riviera Splash -

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When anyone asks me where to stay, eat and play while in Vegas, I answer the question with a question: "How much money do you have to spend?" Let's face it, money is the reason Vegas exists. There is something fun for every budget, but before I can dispense recommendations for a French restaurant, I need to know if we're talking Guy Savoy at Caesars or the Chicken Cordon Bleu sandwich at Arby's.

What if you had $1 million to spend in Vegas and 48 hours to do it? It's easy enough to put that chunk of change on the roulette wheel or play a few hands of high stakes poker, but that's a few minutes of fun and then what?

Here's some of the best ways to blow your noveau fortune:

WHERE TO STAY
First thing you need to do is find a suitable suite to brush your teeth and gussy up before heading back out to the tables or clubs. If you actually find the time or energy to sleep, good luck, but in any case, you have a million dollars, the money isn't going to spend itself and you have appearances to keep.

Vegas' most opulent suites used to be reserved exclusively for invitation-only casino high rollers -- "whales" with multi-million dollar credit lines and minimum bets of $100,000 a hand. Now, a lottery scratch-off winner, reality show winner or anyone with the cash, can reserve one of these neon palaces.

The most expensive suite in Vegas, and perhaps the world, is the $40,000 a night Hugh Hefner Sky Villa on the 34th and 35th floors of the Palms Fantasy Tower. For the $.46 you're spending each second, you may want to invite 20-30 friends to hang out with you in the cantilevered outdoor pool jacuzzi (pictured). The suite is modeled after the Playboy Mansion in California and also features a round, revolving bed with mirrored ceiling and artwork including Hef originals and prints of the Marilyn Monroe and Pamela Anderson Playboy photo shoots.

If $40,000 a night seems too extravagant, try some of the Palms Fantasy Suites. The more modest Hardwood Suite houses a basketball half-court, a bar, a locker room, an oversized bed and great views for only $25,000 a night. For $15,000 each night, you can bowl naked in the Kingpin Suite which features two bowling lanes, a bar and plenty of room to spread out.

If you want to divert even more of your lodging funds to your gambling budget, try the Crib Suite (pictured above) for $4000 a night. You can hire a star DJ for a few thousand dollars and throw a great party. In keeping the hip-hop theme, the hydraulic beds make for a great time, but will ruin you for regular, non-Craftmatic beds. The Crib Suite also has one of the fantasy suite Show Showers which translates "a pole in the shower with windows." You can figure out the uses.

If you're looking for something more classic Vegas, try the Verona Suite at Las Vegas Hilton which has more than 25 televisions, six fireplaces and his and her jacuzzis. The nightly tab is $17,500 which is a little more than $1 a square foot.

TOYS & OTHER VICES

Exotic Cars at Caesars Palace has more than 40 cars priced more than $1 million and it is the only Koenigsegg dealer in the U.S. As such, this hot rod heaven is the only place around here to get the Koenigsegg CCX, the U.S. version of the world's fastest production car. The highly sought super-car will set you back around $700K before options so trick it out a little bit, but keep a little cash so you can afford the continually rising gas prices.

Whether it's suites or cars, Vegas casinos are competing for high rollers from Macau to Dubai and if one of the luxury casinos gets an exotic car dealership, chances are they'll all get them. Wynn Las Vegas has a Penske Ferrari Maserrati dealership and in the last couple of years, a Lamborghini dealership opened nearby and King of Cars has a Rolls Royce Bentley dealership.

Feeling active? Treat a few friends to $500 rounds of golf. If you're staying at Wynn Las Vegas, you can play the only course on the Strip (above) even getting a suite right on the links. If you're pimping it up at Bellagio, the Mansion or the Sky Lofts at MGM Grand, you're eligible to play Shadow Creek and if you're at Caesars or any of its sister properties, go to Cascata.

Before hitting the links, head over to one of the Davidoff shops in Vegas to grab some stogies. Spend 1 percent of your fortune on a $1,000 box of Fuente OpusX cigars and for added effect, you can either light your cigars with $100 bills or splurge on a $40,000 lighter.

If fashion is your passion, you can probably unload one-third of your million dollars on clothes, shoes and accessories, easy. Your first stop should be The Forum Shops at Caesars. There, you can clean out Jimmy Choos with shoes about $500 a pop. You'll probably spend the rest of the day at boutiques like Armani, Versace, Gucci and Robert Cavalli, but if you have the time, stop by Harry Winston's for a $12,000 watch.

If you still have a shopping bug, cross the Strip and swing into the Esplanade at Wynn Las Vegas. Cartier, Manolo, Gaultier, Chanel and Vuitton will help your mission by taking some of that cash off of your hands in exchange for luxury goods. The quintessential mall in Vegas is Fashion Show Mall and while there are some high-end options there, you only have 48 hours so it's better to stick in the boutiques where it's much easier to drop $20,000 for a couple of outfits. If you do make it Fashion Show Mall, focus on the Sharper Image for the $1,000 Connoisseur Collection of Trump Steaks, a $4,500 robot massage chair, a $5,000 Lord of the Rings pinball machine, a $5,000 7-foot Superman statue and a $9,000 Harley-Davidson jukebox. This might put you over your carry on limit for your flight home, so you may need to set some cash aside for shipping.

FINE DINING & THE $6,000 COMBO MEAL
Some of the most expensive meals can be found at the top French restaurants. Both Guy Savoy at Caesars and Joel Robuchon at the Mansion will lighten your wallet by about $300 per person so be a hero and buy dinner for the whole restaurant. You're on a timeframe here and need to rack up the receipts.

You can head back to the Palms and order the $6,000 combo meal (above) from room service. It's actually a juicy $6 Carl's Jr. hamburger with a juicier $5994 bottle of '82 Petrus. Oh, you also get a side of fries.

If your spending spree could last more than a weekend to drop $1 million you could 104 straight days worth of non-stop dances at Scores Las Vegas or watch Cirque du Soleil's 'O' every day for the next 28 years or enter every event in the World Series of Poker for $194,000, but that's for a different story.

Happy spending.

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Ah, the smell of chlorine, cocoa butter, peroxide and margarita in the air can only mean one thing: It's pool season in Vegas. Now that Rehab (above), one of the biggest pool parties in the country, is open for another season at the Hard Rock , Sin City officially becomes Skin City. It's the time of the year when the days in Vegas start to get as hot (literally and figuratively) as the nights.

This year, the Vegas ''watering hole'' trends pick up where last season ended and it's clear that pools aren't just for swimming anymore. When you're here this summer, keep an eye out as the topless trend goes wild, nightclubs expand their brands and stuff so much entertainment poolside, it's like Ron Jeremy trying to fit into a Speedo.

The news that NBC's 'Las Vegas' will have a life in a post James Caan-Nikki Cox world doesn't surprise me. Other shows would have to jump the shark to keep the audience tuned in, but with 'Las Vegas,' when two of the show's stars cash out their chips, the Montecito, the show's fictional casino, is still accepting guests for at least a fifth season.

Tom Selleck is reported to take over as the fun-loving and charming owner of the Montecito in a typical Selleckian role, but one of the biggest stars in 'Las Vegas' is well, Las Vegas. Vegas is a big sexyland with an energy and aspirational lifestyle, people want to read, watch and live Vegas, if even vicariously through films television and movies. There's so many TV shows and movies made and/or set in Vegas and so many stars crawling the Vegas Strip on any given day, that the argument can be made that Vegas is the new Hollywood.

There's even a lot of stars hanging around the Montecito. For Tom, this will be the actor and his moustache's first regular small-screen gig since his days as Ferrari-driving private investigator Thomas Magnum. Both Magnum and 'Vega$' P.I. Dan Tanna had shiny red cars and were big pimpin' before pimpin' was cool.

As you probably know, 'Spamalot' star John O'Hurley is doing double duty as a host of 'Family Feud' on the CW. In a recent episode of coincidence, one of the questions asked was "Name a Las Vegas casino past or present."

Guessing along with the contestants has been the watch-at-home appeal ever since the Richard Dawson era and with so many Vegas casinos over the last 50 years, this was going to be tough. At first we thought it would be based on brand awareness which is usually equal to the size of the advertising budget. There's also size and spectacle and luxury and celebrity news and how many television shows are filmed at the casino.

We were somewhat surprised by the answers and snapped a pic of the television when all of the answers were revealed. We thought Palms was a lock to be on the list as well as Caesars Palace and MGM Grand. Palms didn't make the survey, but Caesars and MGM Grand both did.

If old-school Vegas stories weren't so popular here on Vegas Pop, we might be surprised that Flamingo took the top spot. Since the Flamingo is undergoing a brand repositioning, they're not doing as much advertising as some of the other casinos, but due to it's fabled and somewhat dubious history and continued success, it seems to embody the spirit of Las Vegas. Caesars Palace also captures that old-school decadence vibe, but also has a modern feel. The first mega-resort, the first mega-luxury resort, the Rat Pack haunt and the largest hotel in the world (for now) round out the top six spots.

Also, only 70% of the questionees are represented with these answers as the other 30 responders named a different casino with five mentions or less.

Related:
- John O'Hurley for the Dogs
- City's Best Las Vegas Casinos

This is my 40th year and 5th decade writing about Las Vegas. During the entire span the city has been referred to as "the entertainment capital of the world." Making a rare drive along the famed Strip the other night, I started wondering it the phrase meant the same today as it did when it was first coined.

I don't think so.

The entertainment of the bygone Las Vegas was the entertainers, the names on all the hotel marquees that are virtually gone today. Names such as Frank, Sammy, Dean and Joey, or Anthony Newley, Juliet Prowse, Joel Grey, Shecky Greene or Johnny Carson. The headliners and co-headliners performed two-shows-a-night, seven-nights-a-week for two, three or sometimes four weeks at a time. They started exactly at 8PM and midnight with a dinner and drink show, respectively. There were lines weaving through the casino prior to the performance with your reservation guaranteed, but your seat location depended on the toke you gave the maitre d' or captain seating you. It was part of the Las Vegas excitement that old-timers miss.

Regular readers will remember that LUXE LIFE first reported a Luxor name change in mid-January when executives were mulling over the idea of simply calling the resort, The Pyramid. The Pyramid is a good, architecturally descriptive name and now the name-that-casino buzz is expanding. Rumors are circulating that the same executives are again deciding on a new name for the casino and have added 'Shapes' to the list of new names.

I spent the drive home from watching the Stardust implosion coughing and sticky, covered with a coating of 16-year-old concrete, literally Stardust dust. I met Vegas phenom photographer Scott Doctor on the roof of one of the Circus Circus parking garages for the absolute best views of the implosion.