Tag Archive: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

They say that gambling is almost as old as time itself. With luck playing such a major role in the turn of a card or spin of the dice, then many authors, poets and singers have used gambling as a metaphor for life. After all, there is risk in many day-to-day activities. And none of us knows when we will shuffle off this mortal coil. So, whilst we wait, we can amuse ourselves with famous gambling quotes to help us feel better about ourselves and our recognition that life itself is but a game.

One of the easiest means to learn any skill is to find a course on YouTube. This is all well and good. But for some other people, they prefer an older approach....that of using books. You'll find that many of the older classic gambling boos are still in print. Many of these deal with the early days of casino games, when new concepts, which are considered normal today, were just being discovered. You can follow the first card counters in blackjack and see exactly how they formulated ideas

No movie catches those early years of the building of las Vegas better than Scorsese's Casino. Set in a fictional Tangiers Casino, it tells the story of the casino's manager, Lefty Rosenthal. Trying to run an upright establishment, ut with the mafia wanting their cut, and a crazy mobster constantly undermining him, Rosenthal has to walk a fine line. When things do go sideways, the movie descends into the dark and grim universe of the mafia's underbelly. Robert De Nero absolutely nails the part.