Great footage. I have only been to Vegas twice despite 20 years in the Los Angeles area. I only played poker and LA had all the games one could want. Anyway, in May 1994 I grabbed one extra shirt and a pair of undies and on a late Saturday afternoon decided to drive from Redondo Beach, California to Las Vegas. I got to stateline later in the evening, and played stupid blackjack all night long. After sun rise I finished the drive into Vegas. I still remember coming over that hill and seeing the city ahead and the recently completed Luxor pyramid. I recognized the Stardust from movies or whatever so I stopped in there. I played all day, got tired and the dealer said there is a cheap hotel across the street. It was a piece of crap but I got some sleep. The next day I went back to the Stardust and finally understood what getting rated meant. I thought they were ranking me for ability. So I earned points, the shift floor got me a room for the next two nights, and food pass. I played 3 more days. Just the lowest blackjack tables they had. That was all I knew a little about. Learned that back then, if you play $10 blackjack for 4 hours a day, each day they will give you a room and food. I played into the late nights and talked with the floor managers. I was impressed by how they have schools and training classes. Being ex military I appreciated how they take people from all over the USA or world and train them to work there. At the end of the week I ended up losing $600 bucks which to me was huge at the time. I had no real interest in those card games. Being an engineer I quickly could extrapolate that it was not a winning proposition and since I did not get a lot of enjoyment out of it, it was not for me. I did like chatting with some of the people at the tables because back then it was a more sociable environment.
Great footage. I have only been to Vegas twice despite 20 years in the Los Angeles area. I only played poker and LA had all the games one could want. Anyway, in May 1994 I grabbed one extra shirt and a pair of undies and on a late Saturday afternoon decided to drive from Redondo Beach, California to Las Vegas. I got to stateline later in the evening, and played stupid blackjack all night long. After sun rise I finished the drive into Vegas. I still remember coming over that hill and seeing the city ahead and the recently completed Luxor pyramid. I recognized the Stardust from movies or whatever so I stopped in there. I played all day, got tired and the dealer said there is a cheap hotel across the street. It was a piece of crap but I got some sleep. The next day I went back to the Stardust and finally understood what getting rated meant. I thought they were ranking me for ability. So I earned points, the shift floor got me a room for the next two nights, and food pass. I played 3 more days. Just the lowest blackjack tables they had. That was all I knew a little about. Learned that back then, if you play $10 blackjack for 4 hours a day, each day they will give you a room and food. I played into the late nights and talked with the floor managers. I was impressed by how they have schools and training classes. Being ex military I appreciated how they take people from all over the USA or world and train them to work there. At the end of the week I ended up losing $600 bucks which to me was huge at the time. I had no real interest in those card games. Being an engineer I quickly could extrapolate that it was not a winning proposition and since I did not get a lot of enjoyment out of it, it was not for me. I did like chatting with some of the people at the tables because back then it was a more sociable environment.
Wow, I’m a Riviera fan myself but dare I say that the Stardust actually had more spectacular neon? 😬😂
Stupid spot for a pool