Tri-Card Poker is a simple game to play. There isn’t a lot of strategy involved in playing it properly, and the house only holds a 3.4% edge over the player. That’s not bad when it comes to casino table games. The strategy for the game involves only one rule to follow: You should play with hands of Q-6-4 or higher, and you forfeit your ante bet with anything lower.

Hands between Q-6-4 and K-Q-10 have a negative expectation to win, but it’s still better than not playing them and forfeiting the ante bet each time. Over time, the loss will be less. Hands with an ace hold a positive expectation for you to win, and should always be played.

If you can stick to that simple rule, and some luck smiles upon you, you could get rich playing Tri-Card Poker. There are certainly worse odds in the casino.

UNLV associate professor Kathryn LaTour is another in a long list of social professionals that think it’s time to legalize online gambling. She has done a study that says the best option is to legalize online gambling and use the money to help problem gamblers and to stop underage players.

“It should be regulated,” LaTour said. “When you get deeper into it, it’s a battlefield. The integration of online gambling in the home can more easily turn gambling behavior into a component of a consumer’s everyday life, like watching television.”

Despite the negative results internet gambling can produce, the damage can be limited if regulations are put into place. The report is called “Blackjack in the Kitchen: Understanding Online Versus Casino Gambling,” and will be published in February in the Journal of Consumer Research. The funding for the study did not come from the gaming industry, but from a hotel school.

There are lots of stories about people who worked in a casino and went on to become a famous poker or blackjack player who won millions. I don’t think that it’s because they worked in a casino, it’s because they dedicated their life to becoming a great player. If you work in a particular casino you usually are not permitted to play there.

As far as the pay is concerned you can make good money in some casinos. In states like Florida and a few others dealers are paid a lot of money. It’s hardly enough to consider yourself rich, though. Working at a casino can turn you into an advantage player, if you study the games and learn all the edges you can, but that will require much more effort.

There are definitely some skill games that online casinos could offer. They could provide competitive chess, where the skill set will be divided by the bigger buy-in fees. Weaker players would play for smaller stakes, and a player’s win/loss history should be on display so you know who you’re playing against.

Backgammon is another game that online casinos should offer. This game has money tournaments already, and casinos would get a lot of action on this game if they made it readily available.

There are lots of other card games that could be offered. Hearts and trump games like Rummy or Bridge would also be a profitable endeavor for any online casino that provided them.

Instead of a rake like in poker, online casinos can charge a fee to play a game like they do in a poker or blackjack tournament. I’m sure we’ll see some of these games eventually.

Getting killer comps in a casino can be done a few ways. If you’re a high roller you just need to ask, the casino will provide you with anything you may want. But if you’re not, you’ll need to make sue that you keep track of every dollar you gamble. Don’t play unless you have your comps card with you because everything adds up over time.

Another way to get good comps that may people don’t know about is to simply ask for them while you’re playing. Wait for a situation where no other gamblers are present at the game you’re playing. Then ask the pit boss if he or she has any comps they can give you. Ask in a nice way, because it’s completely his or her discretion whether or not to hand them out. Most pit bosses are given a number of comps to give to patrons.

Las Vegas is certainly a place where the rich get richer. When casino revenues go down, like they did this year, the games are altered to increase the house edge. Many Vegas casinos are offering blackjack games that only pay out 6/5 on a natural blackjack.

Expansion continues within the city, and new and improved mega resorts are being built and planned for the future. Steve Wynn is one of the richest men in the world, and even Donald Trump is building in the city now. Entertainers in the city make ridiculous amounts of money. Comedians and musicians sign contracts worth over a hundred million dollars. That’s why we pay so much to see them.

The rich have been able to create a mindset in vacationers that it’s ok to spend too much money on something in Vegas. We’re supposed to waste money here, that’s what Vegas is all about.

High rollers are not affected by an expense like rising gas prices. Most won’t even see a gas bill, let alone care about what the size of it is. They usually pay a premium to get from one place to another, whether it’s by limo or personal driver. Unless that high roller owns a fleet of trucks, or a heavy machinery company, rising gas prices don’t threaten their bankroll. When you’re betting $10,000 a hand, filling the tank of your car is of little concern.

Las Vegas will still attract big-money players regardless of the economic conditions of the country. Players with wealth are above the everyday economic shifts that occur when commodities fluctuate up and down. The high rollers will have all their travel expenses covered by the casino they’re staying in anyway. That includes flights to town, free rooms, meals, and limos once they get there.

If you’re not going to be around your family this 4th of July, the casino is a great place to spend the holiday. It’s usually hard to get anywhere on July 4th, so staying in one place makes it so much easier. Most casinos will have some sort of promotion going on to bring in people looking to get out of the heat on one of the country’s busiest days.

The poker room is sure to be full of half-drunk novice players who are pickled enough to try their luck in a no-limit cash game. Just sit and wait for big cards and let them dump their chips. Everyone is in a giving mood and looking to have a good time.

If you’re at a resort casino you’ll be sure to get a great fireworks show. And maybe you’ll actually have more money at the end of the day.

There’s no doubt that you can get rich cheating at casino games. Many have done so in the past. Gonzalo Garcia-Pelayo and his family made $1.5M cheating at roulette, and card sharps like Ken Uston and Ida Summers made fortunes counting cards and shuffle tracking on the blackjack tables.

It takes a lot of ingenuity to come up with a system that can beat modern security in today’s casinos. Even if the house can’t figure out how you’re winning, they will still stop you from playing if you win too much. You won’t get roughed up like in the old days, but you’ll get blacklisted and will have to disguise yourself to find action.

And if you get caught, you can bet that the casino will charge you to the limits of the law. Card counting may not be illegal, but cheating is. And law officials frown on it in Nevada.

Paris Hilton has made a lot of money just for being famous. The heir to the Hilton fortune has played a big role in the recent development of the City of Las Vegas. Just about any new nightclub or resort that’s planning a grand opening wants to have recognizable celebrities in attendance. Paris leads the field in desirable celebrities; more than Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan combined.

Bars will pay her ridiculous sums of money to make an appearance. Paris has the run of the city when she’s in town, with every casino trying to cater to her and her friends. It’s been rumoured that she gets as much as $500,000 to appear, a claim she has denied and called inaccurate. I doubt it’s far off that number, though. Her latest was an appearance at TAO Las Vegas to film scenes for new MTV reality show “Paris Hilton’s My New BFF.”