Cool Jazz

If you want to keep cool and listen to some cool jazz, you might want to drop into the Green Valley Ranch Resort, which is celebrating summer by bringing the great sounds of jazz by popular local and national jazz performers to its backyard pool. The jazz series will run every Wednesday from 6 to 9 p.m. In addition, there will be a new Sunday brunch at Terra Verde Italian Cuisine inside the resort, with live music every Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., featuring music by Calvin Brooks.

Here are the dates and performers for the jazz series: May 28, The Release All Stars; June 4, The Brothers Ali; June 11, Michael Ward; June 18, Gipsy Knights; June 25, national artist Lao Tizer. And if you're not familiar with Calvin Brooks, this jazz guitarist and singer hails from Detroit but has been a Las Vegan since 1999, and has worked with Aretha Franklin and Lou Rawls. All of these jazz musicians are great, so if you get a chance when you're in town, drop by and listen. While you're there, you might even win some money (yeah, right!).

Some big changes taking place downtown at the Four Queens. In a bid to attract gamblers, the casino is offering some new games, like Progressive Fortune Pai Gow Poker. Here's how it works. Players make a standard Pai Gow wager and have the option to bet on the Fortune Bonus wager. Players making at least a $5 Fortune wager qualify for Envy Bonus payouts, which wins whenever someone else at the table receives a four-of-a-kind or higher. The Four Queens is the only downtown casino and one of only two casinos in Las Vegas to offer the progressive version of the game, in which a $1 wager on the Progressive makes the player eligible to win 100 percent of the Progressive Jackpot, which starts at $10,000. Not too shabby.

Other games offered are California Draw Poker where players are dealt four cards with one card dealt face up. The dealer receives five cards but must use the face-up card to solve his/her hand. Players are allowed to discard and draw one new card in order to make the best four-card poker hand. Any four-of-a-kind pays 300 to 1 plus an ante bonus. The Four Queens is the only casino in Las Vegas to offer the game.

If you decide to play World Championship Three Card Poker you could win an entry into a satellite event for a chance at a seat in the $1.2 million World Championship Tournament in December.

And speaking of games, the Rio has launched a new card game called Asia Poker. Based on an ancient Chinese game called "13," Asia Poker combines the elements of the increasingly popular Pai Gow Poker and the speed and excitement of the American game of Heads Up Poker.

To play Asia Poker, each player at the table is dealt seven cards, which the player arranges to make three hands: a one-card hand, a two-card hand and a four-card hand. Each player sets their hands in a ranking order, arranging the cards into a high hand, medium hand and low hand. When setting the three hands, the four-card high hand must be equal to or higher in rank than the two-card medium hand, and the two-card medium hand must be equal to or higher in rank than the one-card low hand.

A player wins if any two of the player's three hands (high, medium or low hand) are higher in rank than any of the dealer's corresponding three hands (high, medium or low hand). If any one of the player's three hands is identical in rank to the corresponding hand of the dealer this is a tie. Ties are also called "copy hands," and the dealer wins all copy hands.

Talk about turning a win on a TV show into a life-changing gig. Terry Fator, winner of NBC's "America's Got Talent," has signed a five-year deal, with an option for an additional five years, to perform at The Mirage. The deal is said to be worth $100 million for this puppeteer with the celebrity impressions. He will replace Danny Gans when Gans moves to Wynn Las Vegas. In fact, the Danny Gans Theatre will be changed to the Terry Fator Theatre. Fator will perform five shows a week beginning in February 2009. Tickets go on sale later this year. In the understatement of the year, Fator said, "This is an unbelievable dream come true."

If your wife/girlfriend is having a birthday soon and you want to impress her, you might want to book a suite at the Bellagio, which has just spent $60 million on a suite redesign. Located in the Bellagio Tower, the dramatic new look of seven suite types -- Salone, Bellagio, Cypress, Tower, Penthouse, Lakeview and Grand Lakeview -- combines high styling with high-tech amenities. I'm talking beauty, elegance and luxury. Of course, at rates ranging from $450 to $8,000 a night, would you expect anything less? You can reserve one by calling (888) 987-6667 or by going online to www.bellagio.com.

Don't know how 2008 will be, but last year was another good one for Nevada casinos as they reported their highest net income ever -- $2.3 billion. And guess where all that money came from? On the down side, the big resorts reported $123 million in bad-debt expenses. They also paid out $2.1 billion in comps to high-rollers.

If you're coming into town expecting to see Toni Braxton, you're going to have to wait until at least June 6 when she's expected to return to the Las Vegas Flamingo. It will be good to have her back as she puts on a great show in my opinion.

Good luck and I'll see you on the Strip. And don't forget to check out www.valleyblogs.com. If you have a question or a Las Vegas experience you would like to share with my readers, please e-mail me at lennylasvegas@gmail.com Please include your full name and the city or town where you live.