Don’t blow that student loan check on a trip to Vegas quite yet; there’s plenty of convenient gaming action to be had right here in the cloudy city.”Caesar’s Palace,” by Interplay Software, recreates blackjack, craps, roulette, slots and video poker without having to leave the comfort of your home. If you plan on doing any casino gambling anytime soon, this game just might be for you.After an obnoxiously long install time on my minimally-required Pentium 90, I began the gaming adventure with the disappointing slot machines.Not only did they miss most of the excitement of real slots, the pseudo money factor made me remember all the fun I had playing with a calculator as a youth. The slots didn’t give me the opportunity to pull something, and I had to forgo the awesome clink-clink of coins hitting metal.Roulette was the next gaming experience on my agenda. It’s just like the real game: it’s got the worst odds in the casino, and I kind of enjoyed continuously losing money playing it.Blackjack came next, and if you’ve played, you know that it’s really hard to screw up, unless it’s on a Commodore 64. Blackjack is always fun to play, and you can win regularly if you don’t get greedy.Having curbed my gambling cravings with several past trips to the actual city of sin, I inadvertently saved my favorite table game for last. Although some people find craps one of the most difficult casino games to learn, there’s no better way to continually win cash, albeit slowly.Though it’s missing the intoxicating allure of real dice in your mitts, the sheer technicality of the game makes it excellent practice for the real thing, minus the drunken fog caused by free liquor.Pass, don’t pass, play six through ten, bet the field, throw your rent down on the hard eight. It’s almost as fun as a Sony PlayStation and a bottle of Boone’s.While practice is good for the real thing, “Caesar’s Palace” just can’t recreate the unforgettable ambiance of an actual casino. Although authentic down to the insignia on the tables, the stumbling drunks, obnoxious senior citizens, screaming slot winners and an over-the-limit Visa are just a few of the amusing things that can’t be recreated on CD-ROM.Even if you don’t know squat about gambling, the video tutorials for craps, roulette and blackjack will have you throwing them bones, losing and taking hits like Dave Chappelle, respectively.With multiple decks, double odds, progressive payouts and the whoop-dee-do-da authentication by gaming expert William Bertram, you’ll be pissing away your virtual cash like a seasoned addict in no time. Although I’d personally rather save the $39.95 retail price for actual gambling, I’d say “Caesar’s Palace” would make the perfect practice for those who would like to polish up on losing money before actually doing so.