Yea, I played in the Holiday several times. Do you remember players named Frank (in a wheelchair) and Manny (about 75 at the time). Both players were full scale Rocks.

Looks like the Plaza hotel with be defunct for 18 months; there goes another 400 jobs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaza_Hotel_&_Casino

Actually, DE BJ is still around. It's also popular in Atlantic City, much more so than Vegas.

I think this is also around the same time when they offered 100x on craps. That's about as low an edge as you're going to find in any casino. No one offers that much any more because the casino EV is barely enough to cover the crew.

Good story. Towards the end they also had that other guy in the morning, I know his last name was Kelly . . . John Kelly, maybe? That guy could absolutely crush WNBA lines and he'd give his picks out for free. Basically crushed the lines for 3 years straight and I think he's still out there doing it.

Didn't David Sklansky invent double exposure BJ and crapless craps for the old Vegas World? I wonder if he gets royalties?

That's exactly what they should do. Sahara has zero charm.

I have to believe some people (like myself) consider the history of the place and its low key ambiance charming; and its low prices can be charming too.

It's hard to think of anything in Vegas as "charming". It always amazes me that there's really no old and cool places on the Strip. It's either new and awesome (Aria, City Center, etc), middle-aged (Mirage, TI, V) or old and dumpy. The Sahara is definitely crossing the line into dumpy territory along with the Trop, the Riv . . . IP is not too far behind.

At $35 a night (at the Sahara) some people don't mind an older hotel with a lot of history.

Ride the roller coaster and eat at NASCAR Cafe just like Frank and Sammy did. Sleep in rooms newly remodeled in 1988. Don't mind the thick black film growing on the lounge chairs at the pool.

POTY

Actually I stayed there 2 years ago and I didn't notice any black film growing on the lounge chairs. Must have happened since then.

I miss the Stardust, stayed there there a couple times when I first started making trips to Vegas 05-06, shortly before it closed. It was past its prime and fading fast but it as small and the casino floor was easy to get around, poker room was poor to say the least. It did have that unexplainable charm to it, maybe all the history. Also iirc it had like a couple of big bbjp a 38k one for stud but never once saw a stud game though.

The Stardust was Johnny Chan's hang out in the 80's. I also remember seeing David Sklansky playing there in the 80's too. It was pretty much the place to play (on the strip) for high action back then.

I liked the Monaco because it was walking distance to Desert Inn golf course.

bump for more awesome stories

just south of the stardust was the silver slipper. that place was a dive back then but had a good following. they cheated there and was closed down for a time for having loaded dice . i used to watch the bj dealers deal seconds to the higher players. it got torn down in the 70's some time.

Really late edition to the thread, but I remember reading this story about Stupak. I live in Vegas now, but would love to take a time machine back to the old Vegas.

http://pokerworks.com/poker-news/200...-they-now.html

god bless the stardust

amazing 1973 footage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOD5upYYT1g

don rickles and helen reddey ftw

awesome video. caesars was so ballin compared to the others

That is the first time I've ever heard of a casino being closed down for cheating. Do you know of any others. I doubt if casino cheating is as big now as I've heard it was back then but with the bad economy who knows. I read somewhere that there are some people who cheat not because they need the money but because they simply enjoy the thrill of cheating. (kind of sad when you think about it).

And this Wiki article gives some more info about the Silver Slipper. It says it closed in 1988.

"Legend has it that he {Howard Hughes} purchased the casino because the lights from the rotating slipper bothered him. This was a time when Mr. Hughes feared for his safety, and because the toe of the slipper always stopped and faced the window of his Desert Inn penthouse before rotating again, he feared a camera could be planted in the toe either by the government or someone else. After several attempts at requesting that the slipper be turned off, Hughes purchased the casino, had the slipper filled with concrete and dismantled the rotating mechanism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Slipper

It was more gaudy than baller. The Desert Inn was almost as fancy, at least in the casino. Never stayed in a room at the Desert Inn, although my buddy and I stayed in a suite at Caesars when we went to see Rodney Dangerfield. The main part of the casino looks almost the same now as it did in the 70's. When you walk in the front door and see the sunken oval-shaped part in front of you with the sparkly ceiling - that was the majority of the casino.

Saw the MGM Grand (now Ballys) under construction in that video. On another trip a bunch of us rode the elevator in the Landmark, but we were too poor to eat in the restaurant. We just wandered around until they kicked us out.

Actually in the late 80's Caesars had a classy looking casino, but I was surprised that its main casino restroom was pretty shabby looking with an old tile floor and old plumbing, I'm sure they must have refurbished it by now.

I read somewhere where this guy was up a couple hundred at Caesars and decided to leave by cab. He saw a doorman hailing cabs and that people were tipping the doorman a dollar when they got in the cab. His lowest bill was a 5 and he didn't want to tip that much so he went back to the cashier cage to get some ones. He got the ones but when leaving he was tempted to put one last 20 on a blackjack table. Well he lost that and decided once more, he lost that and that got him trying to get his 40 back. You know the end of the story. He lost his whole bankroll because he tried to save a few bucks on tipping the doorman. I had a good chuckle when I read that story.