Each year since 1984 the adult film world has been taking a day off from the sweltering Hollywood, Ca. film sets and flocking to Las Vegas, to be honored one night a year for the work they have accomplished throughout the year. The AVN awards were founded to award the actors, actresses, and the crew behind the cameras in the erotic film industry. Their goal is to honor the industry’s pledge of erotic originality and free spirit. The AVN awards are supported and sponsored by Adult Video News which was founded in Chatsworth, California.

The 2008 AVN Vegas was a highlight for the event, since they were commemorating their 25th year of the awards. The insanely popular Vivid Entertainment Group received the most awards in 2008, where they were credited with a handful of awards in a range of different categories including Best Film and Best Director.

While you might suspect that the only people you would spot at this awards show are busty blondes and toned guys, you would have guessed wrong. It is very common to find porn actresses mingling with some very famous Hollywood mainstream celebrities at the Adult Show Vegas ceremony. A few unlikely individuals who have been spotted or even given out awards in past events include Dustin Diamond, Christina Aguilera, Criss Angel, Carrot Top, Sean Penn, Eddie Van Halen and Dave Navarro among others. Even rappers are involved in the adult entertainment world these days; some people say that Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent have been funding porn movies for a while now.

The 2009 Las Vegas Adult Show will contain over 100 categories with everything from best sex scene to best supporting actress and all other categories connected to porn movies you can imagine. The awards presented to the winners are called “Woody’s” and the recipients of a Woody are chosen by industry colleagues and other highly qualified experts and critics of the porn business. Nominees for the Las Vegas Adult Show must have movies available for purchase in at least 100 video stores, and the movie should have been released before the 30th of September of the previous year. The 2009 AVN Awards Show is going to be held on the 10th of Januaryin the Mandalay Bay Resort Hotel in Sin City.

The game of poker was a game accessible only in Sin City casinos or from video poker machines, but now it is more widespread than ever in Vegas thanks to the the internet.

The famous Venetian, is now banking on this new found popularity with its new audience-participation show called “The Real Deal!” in its showroom in the Venetian Hotel and Casino, starting in October.

Their new show will mix comedy and game show elements to entertain its live audience. The audience will also be able to join in the well loved game of Texas Holdem’ alongside the some famous poker stars. Many prizes are available for the audience including a chance to win 1$ million.

In “The Real Deal!” the audience will play with players like Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu. Around 10 professional players have already signed up for the poker game show. The audience will be able to play along with the 90 minute game thanks to handheld, wireless, touch screen devices located on each seat.

“People who take a trip to Vegas casinos want to play poker,” Negreanu says, “but obviously they can’t play in a big game with the people like Doyle or Phil Hellmuth. But, in this show, they actually can.” At the beginning of each show, six audience members will be chosen to sit at the poker table on stage with two pros. Each audience member is then involved in the action by being dealt a unique hand on their devices. Everyone in the showroom is then involved in the action with big-screen monitors located on stage.

The show’s creators say that you don’t have to be a pro poker player to play in the poker tv show. There are other ways to build your point total, that doesn’t involve playing poker necessarily. Betting on the suit of the next poker card or trying to guess which state a particular audience member is from, are just some of the ways to come out a champ in this game.

Creators of The Real Deal are also placing bets on the personalities of the pro poker stars to create some interesting moments. People like Scotty Nguyen, the flamboyant five-time winner of the World Series of Poker, definitely has an idea how to entertain the crowd and is a sure bet for some great TV moments in this new idea for poker .

The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino is aiming to draw a whole new set of clients with the unveiling of Las Vegas, Nevada’s first poker lounge. This unique idea from the popular hotel and casino is already attracting the attention of the world’s greatest poker players. This lounge is also well suited for high-end bachelor parties and private events, with its 18 poker tables. This exceptional lounge will include five private high limit tables and a full menu of food options available 24 hours a day.

Some of the qualities exclusive to the lounge will be: A complete sports betting kiosk, certified masseuses for the poker players, a V.I.P. host staff consisting of only women, high- limit slot and video poker machines, private rooms that include large-screen televisions and Ipod docks for private events or bachelor parties, team poker events for your business and coworkers, special poker lounge comps for Las Vegas performances as well as backstage passes for these events.

The idea of the lounge will be to offer any game, any limit, at any time however, the lounge will also feature limit and no-limit hold’em cash games available at any time. The game stakes offered will include $2-$4, $4-$8, and $8-$16 limit hold’em with a kill or no kill, and no-limit hold’em with $1-$2 blinds ($200 minimum-no cap buy-in), $5-$10 blinds ($500 minimum-no cap buy-in), and $25-$50 blinds ($2,500 minimum-no cap buy-in).

So, how much will it set the Hard Rock franchise back? The 7000 square foot space is anticipated at $30 million and it is all part of the company’s $800 million restoration and expansion. This unique lounge located in front of the Pink Taco restaurant is already drawing the attention of top poker players, Hollywood celebrities and millionaire athletes.

Can you imagine walking into a well known Vegas hotel and seeing no poker dealers, chips, or cards? Well if this seems difficult to believe, you may be in for a big surprise. The Las Vegas based casino Excalibur is now testing with this new radical idea of automating everything from the dealers, to the actual poker tables. Chairmen from the hotel are going to equip the game rooms with 12 digitial machines for a six-month trial period.
The North-Carolina based company PokerTek is in charge of the electronic machines, which are revolutionizing the way poker will be played in Sin City. The enterprise already has 230 computers around the world, with the biggest located in Casino du Montreal (a total of 25 machines were installed in this Canadian casino).
So what are the negatives of this change? For starters, about 40 Excalibur poker dealers will be searching for new employment. Some of these dealers have been working at the hotel since its opening in 1990. Todd DeRemer, Excalibur’s Vice President of Casino Operations, says that the poker dealers will be offered other dealer careers in the same hotel.
According to DeRemer, the modification is being made to give rookie poker players a chance to play this popular game without feeling intimidated. He had already played these new machines before deciding upon the change. “It’s not overpowering”, he says, “We think that element will bring back the gamblers”.
The new computers will allow the players to play Texas hold’em, seven card stud and Omaha. 40-inch flat screen monitors, which are located in the hub of the table, will display each table’s community cards, gambler’s stakes and the pot.