I just returned yesterday from Vegas. Great time! I heard from a reliable source that the Rio has been sold and while the World Series of Poker is starting, the final table is planned to be at Planet Hollywood due to the sale. Could the buyer possibly be George Maloof?

You noted in the May Las Vegas Advisor that the World Series of Poker will have some $550 tournaments available this year. On their web site, however, other then the Casino Employee $500 event, the lowest priced entry I found was $1,000. Can you elaborate on the $550 deal?

In this month's LVA newsletter, with regard to gaming drop, it says the average budget per person, per trip is $481.57. How many days make a trip?

Question 1: As a follow-up to your answer to today's question (QoD 4/9/10) about casino hosts, my question is, how much do you need to bring to Vegas in order for the casino hosts to be interested in hosting you? Question 2: What size bankroll does one need in order to feel they can enlist the services of a casino host? If you tell them you have a certain size bankroll and you don't put it in action, what can you expect the repercussions to be, if any?

We'll be there in June to catch some World Cup matches. Where, besides Crown & Anchor pub, are good places to catch the matches.

"Always split aces and eights." I have two 8s and I’m looking at a dealer's ten card. Seems like I’m asking to end up with two losing 18's. What say you?

I read an article a while back about a whisper around Las Vegas that some casinos were thinking of bring the coin-in/coin-out slots and video poker machines back. Was that just some old Las Vegas ghost or is there some truth to it? Sure do miss those machines and the pleasure we had playing them.

What exactly is a casino host and how does one go about getting one?

Several months ago, a multi-million dollar slot winner in Florida was denied payment. The casino cited a malfunction. Now this week in Colorado, a woman was denied $42MM+, again citing equipment malfunction. What is going on? I am interested in knowing how often and where (specific casinos) these malfunctions occur. I am sure this will not be a popular question for casinos, or if they will even share the information.

I recently visited a casino and put a $50 bill on the crap table, asking for chips. It was very busy, with players on either side of me playing with a lot more money. When I received my chips, I noticed I had been given $150 by mistake. I chose not to say anything, played a few rounds, and cashed out as quickly as I could without looking suspicious. Every time the phone rang or a supervisor walked by I got a bit nervous. Would the casino have been able to ask for the chips back if the "eye in the sky" noticed the error? Could I have gotten in trouble for not saying anything?