Kimo’s Vegas

Poker champ Annie Duke

WELCOME TO Kimo’s Vegas … The Player’s Edge!

MISS MICHIGAN Rima Fakih won Donald Trump’s Miss USA crown and will be making a return trip as one of the 80 beauties who’ll vie for the title of Miss Universe. The out-of-this-world pageant will happen Aug. 23 at Mandalay Bay and will broadcast live on NBC. The question on the minds of folks who follow this stuff is: Will it be a three-peat for Miss Venezuela?

THE MISS AMERICA pageant has signed a deal to return to network TV on ABC … The 90th annual contest airs Jan. 15 and hopes to feature at least 60 prior Miss Americas: calling Carolyn Sapp and Angela Baraquio! … Still no confirmation whether the show will continue to originate from Planet Hollywood or Las Vegas.

IN THE WORDS of Alicia Keys, “What goes around comes around. What goes up, must come down,” but Las Vegas real estate investors are wondering: Does it have to keep going down? According to the Standard & Poor’s Home Price report, prices for Vegas homes were down 0.8 percent from February to March.

ANNIE DUKE won the 2010 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship at Caesars. She said, “My plan to get lucky has come to its fruition.” So being the first woman to win the tourney and the $500,000 in first-place cash was all part of the plan.

H&M IS A Swedish clothing company with 2,000 stores in 37 countries. It will be one of the newest tenants of the Caesars Palace Forum Shops, occupying the space that FAO Schwarz once called home.

THE TROPICANA is undergoing a $165-million face lift, its first major renovation in 25 years. The hotel is targeting the Luxor/TI type customer … Ask for the Paradise Tower to check out the hotel’s new South Beach feel.