The February 2009 issue of the Las Vegas Advisor points out that the super-fancy and elitist Encore casino has severely restrictive and ungenerous rules for gambling, but the Eastside Cannery will have much looser and gambler-friendly rules to be revealed soon. Explain to me what I'm not understanding, but in the section under "Encore Gambling," LVA states that in 6-deck blackjack games, the dealer stands on soft 17, and the player may double after splitting, resplit aces, and surrender. Aren’t these blackjack rules so liberal and loose as to be comparable to Atlantic City rules? Is there any casino in or around Las Vegas that has such loose blackjack rules as the Encore?

I have a vague recollection that Debbie Reynolds once had a casino and hotel in Las Vegas. How’s my memory? Is it so that there was a Debbie Reynolds Casino & Hotel?

Are there any Las Vegas coffee roasters or casino coffee shops that sell whole beans online? I'd love to be able to start my day with coffee Vegas style.

Our daughter just got accepted to attending UNLV next year as a junior and she'll need to work at a job to help support herself. How much is the minimum wage in Nevada. We hear conflicting numbers, between $5-something and $6-something. Can you straighten us out?

In the 2/21/09 QoD, you said Handsome Ed Clark wasn’t the father of Clark County. So who was this "Clark" who the county was named for?

I was wondering if you could discuss the history of Piero’s Italian Cuisine on Paradise and Convention Center Drive. I’ve been told it used to have a different name and was popular mob hangout.

If comps are based on average bet X time played X type of game, why do they always want to know what you bought in for and what you left with? The company line is to keep track of the black and purple chips but isn't there more to it than that?

With some of the casino companies currently struggling financially, even some rumored to be on the verge of bankruptcy, should I start reducing the comp balances I have on the player’s cards? Basically, am I at risk of losing these accrued benefits if bankruptcy is filed, or will the casino companies respond like the airlines and take care of their players?

What do a casino host's duties include besides booking rooms and dining reservations for his clients? How much can he "give" a property visitor and is there a ladder he can climb in corporate gaming?

Is Clark County named after Ed Clark and is Cashman Field named after James Cashman?