Upgrades to close bridges at the Strip and Tropicana

The 21-year-old pedestrian bridges at the Strip and Tropicana, oldest on the Strip, have been earmarked for an upgrade. The bridges that connect MGM Grand, New York-New York, Excalibur and Tropicana will get a $26 million overhaul that includes state-of-the-art escalators, tempered glass, wind screens and other aesthetic improvements.

The shutdown of the 16 escalators, four on each corner, that serve 130,000 people per day is sure to cause traffic snarls on the south end of the Strip, but you won’t have to worry about that for a while: Work isn’t scheduled to begin until next year, with completion expected in 2017.

Last call: The epidemic of high-profile bar and club closings continues. Following the recent closing of Caesars Palace’s long-running Shadow Bar, last week saw the last nights for the Hard Rock’s Body English, SLS Las Vegas’ LiFE and the independent country-western club The Bull. The Cosmopolitans’ Book & Stage is closing this week.

Half-long bar: A new bar called Filament has opened downtown at the Fremont. Positioned at the east-corner entrance off the Fremont Street Experience, it’s a cool-looking space that looks a whole lot like the LONGBAR across the street at the D, only not as long.

Dollar blackjack back: The cool "Throwback Thursdays" promotion, featuring $1 single-deck blackjack, has returned at Binion’s. The $1-minimum games are dealt on four tables from noon to midnight. They fill up in the evenings.

Border HH: The Border Grill in the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace has a good weekday happy-hour schedule. Get quesadillas for $5, tacos and raw oysters for $2 and miniature tamales for a buck from 3 to 7 p.m.

Question: How many players are in this year’s World Series of Poker Main Event?

Answer: A total of 6,420 put up the $10,000 entry fee (or otherwise won their way in via "satellites") — a 3.9 percent decrease from last year’s 6,683. The total prize pool is $60,348,000, which will be split among 1,000 players who "make the money."

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