Originally Posted by AxelWolf
The Harbors Island off of Harmon's way back in the early 90s was actually a pretty nice place, beautiful pool, hot tubs, workout center, and well-kept grounds.Originally Posted by accountinquestion
Throughout the years, I stayed at the weekly places on and off many times. I can't recall ever having a problem. But yeah, they all became pretty sketchy overall.
First of all, the only reason Axelwolf has any idea where I have stayed is because I have made the occasional self-deprecating comment. That isn't me being too dumb to protect my image; that's me being funny.
I stayed at Harbor Islands for a few seasons. I also stayed at the large Budget Suites directly behind the Stardust for a number of years, which was actually nicer than Harbor Islands -- better apartments, better workout center, nicer pools, tennis courts, and populated by the girls working the clubs on what is now Dean Martin. I also stayed at the Convention Center Lodge, directly across the strip from the Stardust, which was nice and had a clientele that, these days, would be hosting poker games, if you get my drift. I spent some seasons rotating between downtown casinos -- El Cortez, Plaza, what was the Holiday Inn, and yes, the occasional Gold Spike weekend. To my eternal credit, I even stayed (twice) a couple of days at The Western. Builds character. I stopped doing that after the morning I woke to the maids yelling, "Look at all that blood!" outside my door. I walked outside -- yep, lots of blood. I had slept through it. LOL. Oh well.
If you want to look at these places, which were not dives except for The Western (which was worse than a dive), just find some strip-driving videos from the 90's on YouTube. The Convention Center Lodge is directly across the street from the Stardust.
My first year in LV, I shared a two-bedroom apartment in the Harmon area with a guy who worked security at two clubs. He was a Karate Kid kind of guy -- had been training in martial arts since he was four or five (I saw the photos). He was a black ninja and could do things physically that were unbelievable. I remember walking out of our apartment, which was on the second floor, and he nonchalantly vaulted over the second floor railing and landed on the sidewalk below without halfway bending his knees. He just did it like you or I would jump off a step. Then he waited for me to make it down the stairs. Great stuff living with him. After that, I got my own place each year.
Here's what staying in Las Vegas a hundred days a year tells you. I am what I say -- a college football specialist who spent 100 days a year in Las Vegas and left when the college season was done (Thanksgiving). About 85% of my wagering each year was college football. I'm not some gamble-holic addict thinking he has an edge where there is none. I had no interest in blackjack, slots, table games, and "AP" types of survival. I had minimal interest in trying to conquer everything because I'm not some gamble-holic, and I don't presume I can beat sports 99.9% of other people are not beating. My wife was pursuing a double doctorate at Penn State, so I left LV after my hundred-day stint each year.
The only casino games I played were video poker during the Dancer heyday. Sports comps had been dramatically cut, so I played five or six hours of video poker each week to explore what kinds of meals and comps I could get. I made a marginal amount of money while accruing a couple of meals each week and a dozen to two dozen comped nights at Boyd each year.
See, this is how real human beings who are not gamble-holics conduct themselves. They do what they are good at, then go do something else.
I can't believe people would actually criticize me for this. This forum is run by a poker player. Tens of thousands of poker players follow this blueprint every year for the WSOP.
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