Have you ever been to Las Vegas?
doubledragon
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in Sports Talk
It looks like another Oakland team could be heading to Vegas, MLB isn't going to charge the Oakland A's a $1 billion relocation fee if they want to move to Vegas. It is a fascinating place, I know a lot about it but haven't been there, have you ever been to the sin city?
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Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel is the one who basically started Las Vegas, he was a mobster who originally had the dream of creating a gambling mecca out in the desert, he built the Flamingo hotel and casino in the 1940s out there, and it failed and the mob killed him because of it.
In fact, the mob basically ruled Vegas for decades, they built most of the original casinos out there using Teamsters pension fund money, the FBI finally caught up with them in the 1980s and a lot of the top mob bosses went to prison for it, if you've ever seen the movie "Casino" starring Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, it's based on the true story of the mob's control of Vegas and how they skimmed millions of dollars from the casinos in Vegas. It is a brilliant film and one of the best movies I've ever seen.
I’ve been twice, both times in the mid 90’s. I haven’t been back but plan on another trip at some point.
Back in 1996 I went with $2000, for a weekend with a girlfriend, it was our last night there and I put her to bed and went down to burn the $600 I had left from my original $2000
I messed around and up a $100 down a $100 for a little bit then it started getting g late so I walked up to a Roulette table and threw my $600 down and said I wanted 6 Black chips ( $100 chips ).
I threw $200 on numbers 34, 35 and 36
BOOM 35 hit!!!!! Instantly I get $7000!!
I sat down and scattered another $1000 between 5 numbers and hit another $7000!
I played all night and walked away with $37000 or so bucks 😎
Holy cow, not a bad night's work, I'm going to have to get out there! 😂😂
Went numerous times in the 1990s. Last time was around 1998 and the amount LV had changed in 5 to 6 years was amazing. I can't image what it looks like now.
i would be interested in seeing vegas, but mainly for the shows. I have no interest at all in gambling. i know many get lots of pleasure from it, but it is lost on me!
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
If the A's relocate they better bring a water truck. Lake Mead and lake Powell are very close to the lowest pumping point.
Double D as every gambler can attest that for every good story there are more bad ones that are not being told.
That was a huge score, I went bankrupt not too long after that from gambling though.
I put 10K of my winnings into a start up company my sister worked at with “Inside” information and the scumbag owner pretty much stole all the money and moved to California. Also at that time I began betting heavy on NFL and lost everything and went bankrupt in 1997
I quit gambling from 1997 to 2005, and got myself back on track with a great job and became responsible. Since then I never gamble with anything more than expendable income and never ever take money out of savings to gamble.
It’s fun but you really have to be careful and set firm limits on how you enjoy it 👍🏼👍🏼
Paul, what a sweet, sweet win. You were incredibly lucky to have pulled that off, especially if you were playing a double zero wheel, 37-1 odds against you each spin!!
I was a heavy visitor in the 90s. My home was The Mirage, where I played enough to get rated as RFB, which is Room, Food and Beverage comped. I played a lot of blackjack. I enjoyed the action and, unlike some players who think the pit crew consists of cretins, I was always polite and at some point got on a first name basis. They treated me well and I enjoyed my times there. Good memories....the scenery at the pool was aaaaawwwwwwwwwwzzzum!!
A few of the entertainers I've seen there over the years. Paul Anka, Celine Dion, The Righteous Brothers, Julio Iglesias, Danny Gans, David Copperfield, Siegfried & Roy, the Everly Brothers, Rita Coolidge, Chicago, Geroge Burns, and some others that are kinda lost to me. I actually wish I'd gotten to see Liberace, having taken piano lessons as a kid, I can really appreciate the incredible talent that he had...the other stuff, not so much.
Well, I headed for Las Vegas
Only made it out to Needles
But I really don't remember
What does it matter?
What does it matter?
I think if I visited Las Vegas, I would never want to leave. All of the architecture is unbelievable, like the Pyramid.
The strip is also beautiful with all the lights.
That casino had to shut off that light because you could see it all the way to Kanab, Utah, 200 miles away and beyond. All the way to the Grand Canyon. It was VERY visible at Toroweep Point........I saw it.....what an eyesore.....just like the town....
Toroweep Point.....
I was last in Vegas in 1993, Flew into town from SF to spend the ight before driving the next morning up I-15 to St. George, Utah to take a deposition in a lawsuit I was handling. Nothing special.
In December, 1985 I went to Las Vegas to watch the Running Rebels play a basketball game against UC Irvine (my then roommate and former college hoops teammate for the 1976-1977 and the 1977-1978 season was the senior assistant coach at UC Irvine at the time). Both teams at that time played in the PCAA (the predecessor to the Big West Conference [which is not so Big today]).
UNLV was coached then by Tark the Shark. UCI was coached then by Bill Mulligan (two old friends who got their start in coaching in So. Cal. in the late 1950s). The 1985-1986 Running Rebels were very good. However the UCI team was also very good. UCI beat UNLV in Vegas and at Irvine that year. The games were fantastic and highly entertaining. During the game in Vegas I got to sit at floor level, right behind the UCI bench. Friends back in So. Cal watched the game on TV and saw me behind the bench.
UNLV games in Vegas when Tark was coaching the team was "the place to see and to be seen". Lots of Vegas glamour on display during these games. The arena (about 20,000 capacity?) was always packed to the gills.
Dozens of times, great airport to get in and out of and connected to everywhere with good priced flights. Great restaurants, and the strip and downtown LV are a hoot (I don't gamble). But what sets LV apart from almost all cities, is the combination of what I just noted plus what surrounds it - great american desert and mountains, virtually infinite outdoor recreation opportunities. Problem is tho', water. LV is in serious trouble with water and that is not likely to change in the next few decades.
All within a couple hours or less drive from LV:
Check it out, Las Vegas from space!
Most city lights are a kind of white light that’s a bit diffuse. Then there’s Las Vegas. It’s this bright spot out in the middle of the desert just staring you in the face." — astronaut Carl Walz
Nice shot of Vegas from above.
Can't keep those lights on as Lake Mead dries up.............
Interesting place for sure. Seemed like way more fun 20 years. It seemed safer and much cheaper. Lots of the food places were reasonable then. Now basically no deals on anything...anywhere. Every adult needs to go there at least once.
I noticed a few people on this thread mentioned Lake Mead, it has been drying up a lot lately and the bodies from mob hits back in the 70s and 80s are starting to surface because of the water levels dropping. They found a body stuffed into a barrel recently, and they believe it is mob hit from the 80s ordered by Tony Spilotro, the movie"Casino" is based on Spilotro's rise and fall in Vegas.
Writing in The Daily Mail Wednesday, Jeff Burbank and Geoff Schumacher of Las Vegas’ Mob Museum, said the grisly discovery bore all the hallmarks of a Mob hit.
Investigators say the body was likely placed in the barrel in the mid-to-late 1970s, based on the victim’s clothing and shoes. The victim was shot in the head, execution-style, possibly on the orders of vicious Mob enforcer Anthony “Tony the Ant” Spilotro, who oversaw casino operations for the Chicago Outfit at the time.
Joe Pesci’s character in the film "Casino" was based on Spilotro, he ruled Las Vegas for over a decade from 1971-1986, a ruthless and feared mobster responsible for dozens of murders during his reign over Las Vegas.
We have quickly turned this from an inquiry about having been to Vegas to a geographical and historical adventure. Yup, water is the biggest issue facing the fate of Vegas, I can't imagine how much water is vaporized each day from all the fountains, swimming pools, etc, etc.
To DD...I would highly recommend you go and visit, take in a couple of shows and walk the strip to admire the architecture, the fountains at Bellagio will mesmerize and are great to watch, have dinner at the top of the Eiffel Tower at Paris, ride the roller coaster at NY NY. Take in the dowtown area called the Fremont Experience, this is where it all began. Walk into the kinda seedy looking casinos there and just look around and drink it all in.
As for gambling, the word has a kinda negative connotation and, IMO, is reserved for the idiots who gamble and have no clue what they're doing. Slot machines built Vegas, and will continue to do so. I play blackjack and have my own self-imposed rules because I'm limited to one casino, a 3hr drive away. When playing you only hit, stand, doubledown or surrender, that's it. I use 18 rules, more commonly known as basic strategy, I apply these rules religiously, no guessing, no "the cards are hot", 18, no more, no less. I am linking a pic for your benefit to indicate the rules I play by. I play on a $25 or $50 minimum table to avoid the undeductaed players on the $5 and $10 tables that I simply cannot play with or endure. I'm not a snob, but these players, known as ploppies, do some pretty dumb stuff and more often than not do not make the correct play in order to advance their opportunity to win. My other built in rule is win or lose $1k, if I win a thousand, I color up (the dealer consolidates my chips), or lose a thousand, I'm gone. I have gone the other way many times over the years, and have found I'm happy up or down $1k, its just what I can live with. Yes, I've seen incredible wins and losses but others.
FAIR WARNING Do not go willy nilly and not be aware of thieves and pickpockets! I always put my wallet in my front pocket, or wear a "neck wallet" that keeps my cash and ID in it. Might seem a bit weird, but imagine reaching for your wallet and its gone!.
Enjoy the link, after a while it makes sense. I can literally see this card in my mind's eye and this is how I play. I generally do well and leave a winner, not always, but most of the time.
Wow, sounds like a magical place, I have to get out there!
If/when you go, do take in a show. Don't bother struggling to get front row, or "down front" seats", its not what its cracked up to be. I forgot we had seen Lance Burton, the magician, we had front row seats, kinda cool to walk down the aisle to your seat, but being eye level to the stage was distracting. Any show you do choose, kinda shoot for middle, about 15-20 rows back, you then get the "full view". When we saw Chicago, we were stage right, and about 5 rows back, unlucky for us, the brass section was on our side, and the dude blowing the trombone damn near caused me to lose my hearing, especially when he kinda bent over and pointed the trombone towards us. The trumpet player was equally as irritating. Kinda damped the thrill of the moment. Balcony seats are bearable, unless you have to squint to see the performer,
We were kinda late to get tix to Frankie Valli, our seats were terrible, but he put on a great show. So, if its a performer you really, really want to enjoy, middle about 15-20 rows back is ideal.
Thank you for the tip, I remember going to see Titanic at the theater when it came out and the only seats available were the very front row, it was a nightmare trying to watch a movie that close up, never again!
DD, are there any big boxing matches to be held in Vegas? Maybe a great time to pop your vegas cherry.
If you do the Eiffel Tower Restaurant, reserve well in advance and request window seating. The prepare to pay $400 for 2 (with wine), but you will get excellent service and great food and drink. The restaurant is about 1/3 up the tower, great view of the Bellagio water shows and the strip below.
Best, SH
Oh yeah, Canelo Alvarez vs Gennady Golovkin III is scheduled to take place in Vegas in September, these two guys hate each others guts!
June of 2021 was my 50th trip to Vegas... and my final Vegas "vacation" for now as I live here. Enjoying it so far! Got VGK full season tickets for next year and I work the Raider games. The A's will be here eventually.
Yes.