I recently got back from spending a month in Vegas playing in a few WSOP events and a few other, less prestigious events as well. I cashed in 25% of the games I played, but still flew home an overall loser. After all the big money, high pressure tournaments, I found myself thinking back to my younger and more carefree days and my first Las Vegas poker game.My first trip to Vegas was in the summer of 1977. I was only fifteen years old at the time so, even though I had already gotten quite good at taking small change from my Grandparents at the kitchen table poker game, there was no casino gambling involved. I was passing through town for only one day on a teen tour across the country. While everyone else on the tour did their thing, I got a pass for the day to spend some time with my Step-Aunt and her family who I had never met before. All I knew was that my Uncle had died the previous year so it was just my thirty seven year old Step-Aunt and her eighteen year old daughter and that they were in the hospitality industry in Vegas.
Over the two weeks I had already been on the tour I had managed to hook up with this poofy-haired Long Island princess. She was incredibly uptight and, although it was nice to have a girl on my arm to sneak a few kisses with on the long bus rides, she made it clear that was as far as we were going to go. I thought that maybe if I got her away from the group for a night she might loosen up, so I asked the tour leader if she could go with me and my Aunt. But there were rules that only allowed direct relatives out on visits so I found myself in the Circus Circus lobby kissing “Suzy Hairdo” goodbye when a gorgeous blond walked up to me with a big smile and my high-school picture in her hand.
“You must be my cousin David,” she said as she hugged me tight, squishing me against her more than ample figure. “I’m Chari. I never met any of my cousins before.” I completely forgot about Suzy as Chari took me by the arm and lead me through the casino to the parking lot. “This is sooo cool. You’re a real cutie too! Was that your girlfriend?”
As we climbed into her white Thunderbird convertible, I told Chari about my teen tour and how I had met up with Suzy. “But I have a girlfriend back home,” I said, not wanting to seem like a total loser.
“Just one?” asked Chari with a wink as we stopped at a red light by the Dunes. The Dunes was located where the Bellagio is now and it had the biggest neon sign on the strip. Right across the street, where Bally’s stands now was the old MGM Grand. Chari pointed at the MGM, “Mom is a showgirl there and she has to do a few shows today, but she insisted I bring you by to meet her there.”
We parked in an underground back lot that you would have never known was there and entered through a back door guarded by what looked like the Hulk on steroids. As Chari and I moved through a mostly deserted corridor I was amazed at how fast I went from feeling like a geeky tourist to some kind of big shot. But no feeling of superiority could have prepared me for what lie waiting for me as Chari stopped by one of the doors. “Just smile and act natural,” she said opening the door.
Well, the smiling part was easy, but there was no way this was natural for me. Inside was a fairly large room filled with fifty or sixty showgirls in various stages of undress. Even though I had just spent two weeks going from Denver to Seattle to San Francisco to Los Angeles and we had stopped to look at all kinds of natural and man-made wonders, nothing compared to this. Some of it was natural and some was man-made, but all of those showgirls definitely were wonders.
I met my “Aunt Minna” and did my best to keep my attention on her eyes as we spoke but I was too distracted to remember any of our conversation. I do remember her making a big fuss over me and introducing me to a few of the younger girls. Then I remember leaving with Chari and three of the showgirls who were just getting off. We squeezed three of us into the backseat of the convertible and cruised past the old Sands, the brand new Maxim, and the huge neon cowboy called “Vegas Vic” in front of the Pioneer.
After our tour we stopped for a burger and a shake and the girls made me feel like a king. I had rarely been the center of attention of anything and I was eating it up. They all asked me a lot of questions and I did my best to be interesting and entertaining. This continued through our lunch and all the drive back to Chari’s house. “It’s your day,” said Chari. “What would you like to do next?”
I looked from Chari to those gorgeous showgirls and screwed up my courage, “I really like to play poker. Maybe we could all play some strip poker?”
I have no recollection whether I won or lost that day, not that it mattered. What I can say for certain is that, unless I win a bracelet one day that may be the most fun I will ever have at my favorite game.
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