Would like to hear about YOUR first time...
Started by Happygirl21 on Wednesday, 20th February 2013 4:09 pm
Ok get your head out of the gutter,lol.. I'm talking gambling, etc...
Just wondering if it's hook, line & sinker for most or a gradual love of/for the game.
Here's a synopsis of my first time-
Thanks to my mother I celebrated my 21st birthday at Bally's Park Place, Atlantic City, 21 years ago. I can tell you, looking back I'm surprised I didn't get the crap knocked out of me by some very angry BJ players. I thought it was so ridiculous that there was a card game you actually bet on trying to reach 21 before the dealer did (little did I know that would later become the only casino game I would play & with knowledge on how to play it) I was hitting 19's( 'cuase it's not 21,lol) probably splitting 10's..Basically things that now make me shake my head in disgust and get up and walk away..
Soon after my first pilgrimage to AC I was speaking to an older gentleman I knew, (little did I know he would become my "mentor") telling him about my escapeds in AC, he gave me a video to watch, spent countless hours playing hand after hand with me and Ta-Da..here I am today on the Vegastripping web site, guess I am what you could call hooked :)
Tell me, what's your story...
vespajet responded on Wednesday, 20th February 2013
My first time in a casino was in April 2000. I was working for an airline and took a day trip to New Orleans with a buddy of mine from work and one of his friends. We ended up over at Harrah's and I dropped about $25 playing slots. I wanted to play blackjack but found the $5 minimum a bit too much for what I had left in my wallet. It would be about 4 more years until I set foot in another casino.
JohnD responded on Wednesday, 20th February 2013
The first time I gambled, I was sitting around what was then the Phantom Theatre. I put $10 in a slot machine and it promptly swallowed the entire thing. I haven't gambled since.
hail2skins responded on Wednesday, 20th February 2013
My first memories of Atlantic City were as a teenager and my mom taking me into the Golden Nugget which had this huge birdcage with fake birds that talked.
By the time I was of gambling age, was the late 80s. What I remember is that gambling in AC always seemed expensive, as I would frequently go down with friends who had enough money to play $10 (and higher) tables. My one friend and I (who didn't have or want to risk a lot of cash) gravitated toward the Big Six wheel......which I now know is a ripoff, but it was a dollar minimum, so it worked. One night we hit the 45-1 payoff on it and thought we were kings of the world.
After that I graduated to playing roulette for a while. My mother had a copy of Uston's "Million Dollar Blackjack" which I read to start my blackjack education. Going to Nevada in 1991 (Reno) and then Vegas (1992) was amazing. Remember being thrilled with the lower-limit tables and the games where the dealer would actually pitch the cards at you. In the late 1990s I started to learn craps, and pretty much solely just focus on dice and blackjack now.
Antman73 replied on Sunday, 24th February 2013
I thought I was the only guy who remembered that talking Bird Cage. For a while I thought I was crazy, because whenever I ask if anyone else remembered it they looked at me like I was making it up.
levans responded on Thursday, 21st February 2013
My first time in a casino was in 1976 when I was in high school. We went to California and a relative of a friend piled us into a car so we could drive to Vegas one night. I have been my height since sophomore year so the fact that I was underage was a secret. I played the slots with my mom's encouragement and won. I even had a picture taken at Circus Circus (which wasn't a dump yet) standing at the slot machine. I went back again in 77 then didn't go back to Vegas until 2004 and have been a regular visitor ever since.
dzodda responded on Thursday, 21st February 2013
Navy days: I lived in Newport (RI) for 6 months in 2002. Planned a trip to Foxwoods, bought a gambling book, and practiced basic strategy at the kitchen table for weeks. Promptly lost about $200 at the casino, while my bud won $1500 or so at 3-card. Couldn't understand why basic strategy worked at home but not for real.
Couple of years later I won a couple hundred at Atlantis (Bahamas), before finally making it to Vegas in 2007. The Flamingo poolside tables got me hooked.
But now... baby on the way so I am wondering when my next trip will be. Any advice on convincing my MILF-to-be that Vegas could be an awesome Babymoon?
Happygirl21 replied on Thursday, 21st February 2013
dzodda,
Ok I'm a pretty down to earth, easy going woman BUT a babymoon in LV may be a stretch! But kudos to you if you can pull that one off. Certainly, let us know how that works out for you:) And congratulations to you both!
Oskee2001 responded on Thursday, 21st February 2013
I'm a late bloomer...first time was back in 2008. My girlfriend (now wife) was going there for a work so we decided i'd meet her and tack on a long weekend. We stayed at the Venetian. I flew in at night, so I got the iconic approach with that breathtaking view of the strip. I was still too scared to actually play blackjack at a "real" casino, so we went up to Sahara to practice. Didn't go too badly so we went to Bellagio and I walked away with $600. Beginner's luck! My wife has plenty of PR contacts in town so we got hookups at TAO, Ghostbar, Moon, and Rain (back when it was cool), and we even had dinner at Picasso. On one of the days we even went mountain biking on a world championship trail out by Blue Diamond. Needless to say I was hooked. I've discovered that every trip to Vegas is basically trying to recapture that magic from the first time. Of course I always have fun, but there's just nothing quite like your first trip.
adztheman responded on Thursday, 21st February 2013
My first trip to a casino was in the mid 90s at the Casino Queen in East St Louis IL...once I secured a Players Card and was gettng food and gaming offers, I was there, or across the river at the President's Casino, nearly every weekend..
My first trip to Vegas was in 2002 after seeing the ''Ocean's 11'' Remake..and have been going back every year since..
Happygirl21 responded on Thursday, 21st February 2013
Funny, like several of you I am a late Vegas bloomer. My first trip there was May 2010 and I just took my 5th trip last month.
No matter how many times I go to AC, it is no Vegas! I just love it there :)
It has been interesting reading about other people's first time, hope they keep posting!
Hope everyone has a lucky day!
kayday responded on Thursday, 21st February 2013
About 15 years ago I wanted to spend Christmas in the most un-Christmassy place I could think of, so I met a friend from Seattle in Las Vegas. I remember we stayed at New York New York, saw Louie Anderson perform at Monte Carlo, and had Christmas brunch at the Flamingo buffet.
My first try at gambling was blackjack at Bellagio. I slapped my $20 on a $5 table and proceded to lose it in four speedy hands. I still remember the dealer saying, "Hon, if the dealer says you shouldn't hit, you probably shouldn't hit." I left the table red-faced and stuck to machines the rest of the trip. It took about 10 years for me to go back, and I made darn sure I knew my basic blackjack strategy!
Happygirl21 replied on Thursday, 21st February 2013
Lol, yeah I probably would have to agree listening to the dealer is probably a good idea, at least when first starting out.! I like to think most of us have come a long way since beginning, no matter what our game choice(s) may be.
Sometimes I just watch other players and think either they are brand spanking new or just clueless. If I'm at a $5-15 table it's one thing but when I'm betting $25. & up I guess I just take things a little more serious.
jammoral responded on Thursday, 21st February 2013
My first time was in 2002 ( Yes I was a late bloomer at age 42). I played slots for the first 3 days. My first day I lost my half whole days budget in 4 hours ( yes I was stupid ) I did find a slot machine that some one had 5 dollars I used that and started to win enough play for a while. I was hooked. on my last day there i got daring and played my last 150.00 on Roulette. I hit a single number twice with $5, needless to say i was going crazy. But now I have wised up and play Blackjack.
HillBilly responded on Friday, 22nd February 2013
When I moved to Chicago in 1996, Riverboat gambling was only a few years old here. At that time, You would board the boat and it would cruise up the river for a 2 hours at a time. This was fantastic since I only had $100 to play with at the time and on nights when that evaporated into the roulette wheel, I would go up to the top deck and enjoy the boat ride through Joliet.
It also was just one more thing that demonstrates the idiocy with gambling laws in the midwest. The politicians are so conflicted with trying to please everybody while stealing as much money as possible, we ended up with a system that would trap people on a boat, with an ATM and cash advance booth, for at least 2 hours at a time.
TheVegasKing responded on Saturday, 23rd February 2013
In 2005 I turned 21 and headed to a local Indian casino with my old man. I don't remember much of anything about the craps session, but sure enough I walked by the roulette table and placed a single bet on 36 and beginners luck took care of the rest.
Ah, if it only remained that easy.
Okie21 responded on Saturday, 23rd February 2013
My first time was for my 21st birthday a few years ago. I remember walking from Mandalay Bay to TI one day, and Hooters and Trop to Wynn the next day. The third day we hit all of the Fremont casinos and the Cal and MSS. I suppose we did all of that walking since there were 5 first timers on the trip. Some have said there's none like your first time, but I get that excitement every time I am in town. There is always something new to explore, but I also seem to hit my old favorites every trip too. Maybe that's what I like so much about Vegas.
As far as gambling, I remember I couldn't lose. I ended up about $800 playing maximum $5 at a time on tables. No pressing. I even split 10's against a dealer 6, 4 times on the same hand, and had 18,19,20,20. Of course the dealer draws to 17 and the whole table groans, except me! If only I could be that lucky on my trips now...
Antman73 responded on Sunday, 24th February 2013
I'v lived in New Jersey my whole life, and never farther then 45 minutes away from Atlantic City, so my memories of it go back to when I was about 8 years old.I remember seeing Steve Wynn's Golden Nugget when it was new, and then seeing each Casino go up after that. I was always fascinated with the whole idea of the city. When I was 16 I saved up all my money and got a room at Tropicana for a night. I brought a friend with me and we just dressed up and walked around looking at everything. I would drive down to AC almost every weekend, sometimes alone, just to explore all of the hotels. I wanted to know every square inch of them. At the time, all that I really knew of Las Vegas is what I would see on TV. I knew Evil Knevil jumped over those fountains, but that's was about it. But on one of my trips up and down the AC expressway in 1989 I saw a billboard that read " Over the rainbow and just past Utah; The Mirage Las Vegas" and from that moment I was so intrigued, I had to find out more. This was before the internet, so I was going through travel books trying to find out as much as I could. In August 1996 my girlfriend and I ( now my wife )flew out and stayed at The Luxor. We had never felt weather like that before, coming from NJ. She almost passed out from the heat, I got a nose bleed from the dry air, but I fell in love ( oh yeah, with her too )