The billion-dollar, 93-acre, 390-room M Resort has opened. With a 90,000-square-foot casino, nine restaurants, a 20,000-square-foot spa, and a two-acre pool area, M will serve the 500,000 people living within 10 miles of it, as well as the base of tourists willing to stay about four miles south of the south end of the Strip. Room rates will run $85 to $200. Glass is the name of the design game at M, with picture windows and glass ceilings common to the lobby, porte cochere, restaurants and rooms. Plans for a 1.3-million-square-foot shopping mall, a 14-plex movie theater, and a couple thousand more hotel rooms are on hold.

HACHI HOUR: The Red Rock Japanese restaurant, Hachi, has unveiled a "38 under $8" menu. Several soups, skewers, hot dishes, tempura, sushi and sashimi choices are available from $3 to $8 apiece (a must-try is the taste-explosive fluke tiradito for $4). And if you hook it up with "Hachi Hour," Monday to Friday from 5 to 7 p.m., you can get Japanese beers for $2.50 and sake for $4.50.

KING DELAYED: After announcing a debut date of April 22, The Lion King at Mandalay Bay has pushed its opening back to May 5. A 10-day preview period will lead up to the official opening on May 15. Tickets go on sale March 14; they've been announced at $53 to $168.50.

POKER DATES: The dates for this year's World Series of Poker are out. The 40th WSOP will convene at the Rio on May 27, with the World Championship set to begin on July 3. Similar to last year, the main event will play down to nine, then reconvene the final table Nov. 7 to 10.

Q: Can you tell me about the iPhone program that counts cards?

It had to happen. An iPhone application that counts cards at blackjack has been developed. But don't get too excited. The necessity to input the dealt cards as they're played makes the "app's" use at the tables nearly impossible from a practical point of view. And while card counting isn't illegal, using a "device" to count cards is, so don't.

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