Las Vegas

Las Vegas is spanish for "The Meadows", officially the City of Las Vegas and often known simply as Vegas, is the 28th-most populated city in the United States, the most populated city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area and is the largest city within the greater Mojave Desert. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city, known primarily for its gambling, shopping, fine dining, entertainment, and nightlife.

The Las Vegas Valley as a whole serves as the leading financial, commercial, and cultural center for Nevada. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous for its mega casino–hotels and associated activities. It is a top three destination in the United States for business conventions and a global leader in the hospitality industry, claiming more AAA Five Diamond hotels than any other city in the world. Today, Las Vegas annually ranks as one of the world's most visited tourist destinations. The city's tolerance for numerous forms of adult entertainment earned it the title of Sin City, and has made Las Vegas a popular setting for literature, films, television programs, and music videos.

Las Vegas was settled in 1905 and officially incorporated in 1911. At the close of the 20th century, it was the most populated American city founded within that century (a similar distinction earned by Chicago in the 1800s). Population growth has accelerated since the 1960s, and between 1990 and 2000 the population nearly doubled, increasing by 85.2%. Rapid growth has continued into the 21st century, and according to a 2018 estimate, the population is 648,224 with a regional population of 2,227,053.

As with most major metropolitan areas, the name of the primary city ("Las Vegas" in this case) is often used to describe areas beyond official city limits. In the case of Las Vegas, this especially applies to the areas on and near the Las Vegas Strip, which is actually located within the unincorporated communities of Paradise and Winchester.

Most Popular Card Games

Poker

Although there’s different variations of poker out there, like Texas Holdem, traditional poker is a five card hand, with pretty much the same rankings you’ll find at any other poker table, such as the lowest hand being a simple high card, to the highest hand being a royal flush. The objective is to get the highest hand from all the other players.

Black Jack

Blackjack, also known as 21, is a classic card game that’s been around the casino floors for a very long time. Most likely it’s one of the easiest games you’ll ever learn, and you can find it at pretty much any casino. It’s definitely one of the most popular, if not, the most popular table game played in the U.S. Two reasons why it’s so popular is because one: it’s so easy to play and two: there’s a very low house edge.

Pai Gow Poker

If you’re familiar with the hit Chinese game Pai Gow and the classic American game of Poker, and you took those two games and combined them, you would probably end up with Pai Gow Poker, as it uses elements from both of those games. If you don’t know, it’s a game in which you play against the casino rather than other players. Each player is dealt seven cards and then needs to try and make the best five and two card poker hands, and the five card hand must be of higher value poker hand than the two card hand. If both your hands are better than the dealers, you win. If not, you lose. If you only one of your hands win, it’s a push.

Hi-Low

The game is commonly known as Higher or Lower. There are 4 cards face down and 1 card face up. During the player's turn, the player shall guess whether the next face down card has a higher or lower card value. When guessed, the next face down card is flipped over to be evaluated. If guessed correctly, the player continues, otherwise, each face up card for the player is replaced with a face down card. If the flipped card has the same value, then the player's score is reset to zero. When the player successfully guesses all 4 cards, the player gains a point, and all the cards are reset. When the player reaches 3 points, he/she has won the game.