photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Way to go, Harrah's.

A rigid cap of no more than 3,000 registering players per day was set for each of the four Day 1s of the World Series of Poker that began on Friday.

The first two days were no problem, as both together combined to almost 2,000.

But the last day, today, brought out all the procrastinators and bumped registration past the 3,000 mark.

Harrah's was firm and denied approximately 500 players who wanted to fork over their $10,000 buy-in entry, including poker professionals T.J. Cloutier and Patrik Antonius.

It looks like this year will come in under the number of entrants of last year... perhaps by 500 players.

Flipchip photos from Day 1A and 1B available on the Poker Prof's Blog.

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

At precisely 9:30 pm the nine Las Vegas Station Casinos scattered around the valley lit up the night sky with over nine minutes of simultaneous and identical fireworks shows in celebration of the Fourth of July. Even in these difficult economic times Las Vegas knows how to put on a good show and birthday party.

No matter where you were in Las Vegas you had a view of the Station's pyrotechnic light show, even from the World Series of Poker Main Event happening now at the Rio. From the back doors of the Rio's Pavilion the explosive reports could easily be seen and heard.

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Old Spice, the deodorant which knows a thing or two about sweat, has rated our fine neon city as the 3rd sweatiest city in the nation.

As temperatures stay in the 3-digit range (after enjoying an especially cool June), we find this quite evident as we're applying the deodorant sticks a little more liberally (alas, not Old Spice).

Sweaty cities are actually determined based on the amount of sweat an average person would excrete while walking for an hour during the summer months.

Old Spice has been actively checking armpits since 2001.

What city was the sweatiest? That would be nearby Phoenix, which for its honor received 94 sticks of Old Spice (the average summer temperature in Phoenix is 94 degrees from 2001-2008).

The average Las Vegas summer temperature is 98.5 degrees.

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Thought the New Year's Eve fireworks were lackluster?

Station Casinos (of all places) may make up for it this Independence Day.

Stations has hired Grucci (which has done the past few Las Vegas Strip New Year's shows) to launch simultaneously with choreographed music at nine Station casinos -- Red Rock, Green Valley Ranch, Palace Station, Boulder Station, neighboring Texas Station/Fiesta Rancho, Fiesta Henderson, Aliante Station, Santa Fe Station, and Sunset Station.

The fireworks begin at 9:30 p.m.

Grucci says the nine-minute "Stations' 4th of July Blast" will be the largest fireworks event in history.

No word on whether the fireworks will be from the ground (like this past New Year's fizzlement) or the rooftops, but traditionally Las Vegas isn't big on fireworks for July 4th, so we will be first in line to our local Station Casino this weekend.

Attention Las Vegas citizens!

This weekend, you can celebrate your freedom by gaining free entry to the Palms Pool during the day, then cool off at the Rain nightclub.

Just be 21 or over and show your Nevada I.D. to gain entry to:

7/3 noon: Ditch Fridays (at the Palms Pool) with DJ AM and opening set Scotty Boy
7/3 10 p.m.: DJ AM Fridays (at Rain)

7/4 noon: Back Yard BBQ (at the Palms Pool) with DJ Stonerokk
7/4 10 p.m.: Perfecto and KASKADE (at Rain)

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

Want to own a piece of poker history? How about the main event TV table used when Greg Raymer won in 2004, Joe Hachem in 2005, and Jamie Gold in 2006? That's right, the very table where many of poker's elite traded chips in their quest to become a part of poker history.

Check out the auction on eBay for this historic poker table. According to the auction details you'll receive a table cover signed by Jamie Gold when he took down the record $12 million purse in 2006 for a WSOP Main Event.

The little-known gem that is the Pinball Hall of Fame Museum will be moving closer to the Strip.

Run by Tim Arnold and the Las Vegas Pinball Collectors Club, the current Trop location holds the world's largest pinball collection -- all in working order and ready to play by the public.

The 1,200 machines will be moved to 1610 E. Tropicana, at a warehouse in the same development as the Liberace Museum. The new warehouse is double the size of the current location.

The new location is expected to open within the next 3 months.

The museum will continue to be non-profit and operates on donations. Any extra quarters over their monthly budget is donated to the Salvation Army.

The popular Michelin Guides will take a respite from Las Vegas for 2010.

In addition to Las Vegas, the Guide will also take a break from publishing Los Angeles. Guides for both cities are expected to resume in 2011.

The Michelin Guide rates restaurants from 1 to 3 stars. To date, only Joel Robuchon at MGM Grand has 3 stars.

The down economy was cited as the reason for skipping a year.

Howard Stern cohost/comedian Artie Lange and stalwart Ronnie "The Limo Driver" Mund will be at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino this weekend as they shoot the first episode of the new Howard TV On Demand show "Artie's Party: A Search for Miss Howard TV."

Searching poolside at Hard Rock offers good odds that they will find their swimsuit gal.

The winner will get an interview with Stern on his Sirius XM satellite show, two nights in a New York City hotel, and $250 cash. There's no mention of transportation to NYC. And just $250? Really, Howard.

To be considered a candidate, just stop by the Hard Rock pool on June 27 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

You can see the episode of "Artie's Party" on Howard TV On Demand during the summer.

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

The House of Blues (at Mandalay Bay) wants you to become a House of Blues Member Ticketing.

Never mind the weird grammatical word swap. It's free to join, and just requires an email and password.

In return, you'll get weekly updates to all ticketing events at House of Blues, along with exclusive advance windows to purchase before anyone else.

You'll also gain access to the 2-for-TU (as in Tuesday) ticket offer, that lets you purchase 2-for-1 tickets to a show, provided you purchase on a Tuesday between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m.

For more information and to sign up, visit this link.