The April issue of
The Atlantic ran a great article about gambling. The title was The Gambler Who Broke Atlantic City. It is a fun article to read and it
really explains in an easy to read way about how to win in a casino. Don
Johnson is the man who won millions in Atlantic City.
The only factual problem was when the author was describing a double down hand;
a dealer always turns up their hole card before they hit their hand. But as a
casino professional we know that they always get it wrong. It is a rare movie
or television show set in a casino that doesn't make some mistake. That is why we took so much care when we were writing Cruise Quarters - A Novel
About Casinos And Cruise Ships to get it right.
Don't even
start me on 'The Cooler' there is no 'Cooler' it was just something made up to
sell a movie. Casinos don't cheat, they may lure you in with bells and neon but
the donations you make are purely voluntary.
After we both read the article my husband Ray and started
talking about the few movies that have gotten it right. I enjoyed Casino and Bugsy Malone but they were a little before our time. I felt like Owning Mahowny was the best movie about
the modern casino business that I have ever seen. This is a movie about an
assistant manager at a Toronto
branch of a leading Canadian bank. On the weekends he flies to Atlantic
City where he gambles hundreds of thousands of
dollars. The gambler is played by Oscar winner Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and his
love interest is Minnie Driver. It is the most realistic portrait of a
compulsive gambler I have ever seen, maybe because it is based on a true story.
Set in the 80's before gambling had expanded into all corners of the country. It
shows an Atlantic City at the top
of its game.
Ray loved Croupier,
which I also loved because who doesn't like to look at Clive Owen? Clive Owen
plays Jack Manfred an aspiring writer who becomes a croupier to make ends meet
and falls under the spell of casino life. Ray said it really replicated his
experiences in casinos in London,
he learned to deal there and we talk about his training days in our novel Cruise Quarters - A Novel About Casinos and
Cruise Ships. The dealers all used to frequent a Greek Restaurant, The Grecian Grill, after the
casino closed at night just like in the movie. What male doesn't like to relive
his carefree bachelor partying days? There is a heist in the movie with the
usual amount of holes in the story but don't let that get in the way because it
is the mood and settings that make this movie so great.
Both movies are a few years old so you will probably have to
download them or catch them on a movie channel. But if you like to gamble and
are interested in what goes on behind the scenes in a casino they are worth a
watch. Or you can read all about it in our novel Cruise Quarters - A Novel
About Casinos And Cruise Ships.
My highly rated thriller Casino Queen has been featured at The Big Thrill, Charlotte Reader Podcast and dozens of other publications. Spend some time at the Night Hawk and find out what it is really like to work behind the felt.
Caroline Popov, alone, heartbroken, and deeply in debt ends up in glamorous Palm Springs, California where Native casinos have just opened. She lands a job at the Palm Oasis Casino and is mentored by the charismatic tribal chairman, John Tovar.
Embraced by casino culture, Caroline works her way up to casino manager of the Night Hawk, in the High Desert town of Joshua Tree. There, she is responsible for managing multicultural team members, satisfying the demands of challenging guests, growing revenue while rooting out corruption.
Her list of enemies grows as she uncovers the underbelly of corruption running through the casino. With her life on the line can she pull out a win?
Click the link below to order at Amazon
Casino Queen at Amazon.com
Click the link below to order at Barnes and Noble
Casino Queen at Barnes & Noble
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| Our first date became our book cover! |
You can read Cruise Quarters free at Kindle Unlimited. It is about my years working on a cruise ship and meeting my husband there. Only the names have been changed to protect the guilty. Click the link below to check it out.
Cruise Quarters Kindle Edition Amazon.com
Casino movies always very adventurous.
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