A Korean soap opera star set the world record for Wheel of Fortune dollar jackpots when she hit $9,487,583.74 at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino at 2:30 am last Saturday morning. The 52-year-old celebrity put only $6 into the machine when the bells started ringing.

Translated through a friend, she expressed her desire to bring her one-year-old grandson to Disneyland before returning home. She also will buy a house for her big sister. On this, only her second trip to Las Vegas, she was presented with a check for $474,379.18, the first of 20 annual installments.

For current totals on all Nevada MegaJackpots games, go to www.igtmegajackpots.com.

A survey released last week by Casino Journal Publishing Group revealed the favorite games, playing habits and budgets of America's slot players. Here are a few of the results:

The favorite games are Double Diamonds and varieties of this game such as Double Diamond Deluxe, followed by Red White and Blue and Triple Diamond. The reasons casino customers played slot machines were excitement, the chance to become wealthy, entertainment, they are easy to play, offer an affordable minimum bet, and the chance to win money. Regarding frequency of play, the players are divided into three equally sized groups with 1/3 playing 6 times a year or less, 1/3 playing 7-12 times per year and 1/3 playing more than 12 times per year. Almost all of those responding use a slot club (98 percent).

The full version of the Strictly Slots Slot Survey is available for purchase by calling 1-800-394-2467.

When it comes to Poker strategy, there are a few things to get straight right off the top. You could call these the Golden Rules of Poker 'cause they apply to pretty much any Poker game you're likely to play.

So here's rule number one: Don't play cash poor. As a general rule you should start with 40-50 times the table limit.

Click to read all of Max's Golden Rules of Draw Poker

Someone asked me this week why anybody would play blackjack online when casinos shuffle after every hand. Good question.

Unfortunately, very very few online casinos don't shuffle after every hand. They're afraid of being beaten by card-counting programs. The few casinos that don't shuffle after every hand have miniscule deck penetration. For example, Monte Casino advertises that they use 4 decks and shuffle after 20% of the shoe is dealt -- not enough to gain an edge.

I actually played at a land casino in Vancouver last weekend that used an instant shuffle machine. After each round the dealer gathered the cards, fed them into the machine, and they were shuffled back into play. Talk about taking the fun out of the game! Hope I never see one of those machines again.

As for online blackjack, The Sands and some other casinos advertise their actual payout percentages, which are usually around 98.5% for blackjack. So even with the shuffle rule, blackjack still tends to provide a better return than other online games.

Click for more online gambling info

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Mandalay Bay Resort has announced the opening of Shark Reef -- the newest entertainment attraction on the Las Vegas Strip.

Shark Reef is not your typical aquarium. It is a total sensory experience designed to transport visitors to an undersea ocean of fantastic sights, sounds and encounters. Featuring dangerous and unusual aquatic animals and fish from the world's tropical waters, Shark Reef will take visitors on a journey through an ancient temple that has been slowly claimed by the sea.

Shark Reef features one of North America's largest displays of sharks and other sea predators, including close to 100 different species of sharks, exotic fish, reptiles and turtles.

Some lucky people will have the chance to become millionaires in the Foxwoods $1,000,000 Treasure Quest promotional sweepstakes between July 3 and August 31. Winning will be as easy as swiping a Wampum Club Card at any one of the 24 self-entry stations located throughout Foxwoods Resort Casino.

"Joining the Wampum Club is free and available to anyone over 21," said Bob DeSalvio, senior vice president of marketing. "That means it costs absolutely nothing for people to try to win a million with one simple swipe of their Wampum Club Card."

At the self-entry swipe stations, if "Instant Winner" flashes on the screen Wampum Club Cardholders will have 60 minutes to go to Sweepstakes Headquarters to verify being a winner and begin their quest to win $1,000,000. Each Instant Winner will win an initial cash prize up to $5,000 with several Instant Winners having the chance to participate in the Treasure Quest to win the $1,000,000 prize.

For more information on Foxwoods go to http://www.foxwoods.com or call 1-800-PLAY-BIG.

He is hitting .305 with 19 homers and 58 RBIs this season. He has had over 129 home runs the last two years. It is hard to believe Sammy Sosa is still a Chicago Cub, but that will end very soon, at least according to Sportsbook.com. Sammy Sosa is a 5-7 favorite to be wearing a Yankee uniform this year.

Sosa is trading at 3-2 to move to the Boston Red Sox, 2-1 to end up with the Mets and a 5-1 long shot that he will still be with the Chicago Cubs at year-end.

Since Sammy Sosa has the power to veto any trade as a 5 and 10 player, he holds all the cards in the upcoming sweepstakes for his services. Part of any deal will be a contract extension that will make him the highest paid player in baseball for the time being.

This week I came across a new resource for comparing Vegas hotel prices. The site is called TripReservations.com. From what I saw the prices were very competitive, and the site has lots of good info on all Vegas hotels. Definitely worth checking out the next time you're planning a trip to Vegas.

Search for Vegas specials at TripReservations.com

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It seems that each time I open my email I receive another excellent gambling tip from a reader. Fantastic! I'm going to publish more of these tips next week and again give a free two-night hotel certificate to the "best tip". Your editor, Steve Johnson, .

See you next week!

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