LAS VEGAS — “Please allow me to introduce myself, I’m a man of wealth and taste.”
My good friend Mick Jagger allowed me to use the words from one of the Rolling Stones’ most iconic songs.
Some of you have sat at the Ecks & Bacon table for a few years, and we have had a blast fattening up the bankroll. After 30-plus years on the sports gambling beat, the casino tables have been a walk-by for me. But now, after mastering the sports world, we’re gonna drop anchor in the casinos and bring you the best of the best, Hall of Famers and experts in their field, that will help you and me win GOBS of cash. Make believe that we’re all starting this journey together, novice to novice, and MAN, we’re gonna have some fun!
Gonna bring you stuff that maybe only the pros or experts have at their fingertips in an effort to get us all up to speed on the table games. Like what, Eck? Like I’ll get you ready for the weekend with some very cool blackjack stuff. When should you sit down at the tables? Day shift, swing shift or graveyard shift? PLZ come back for the answer in my next column.
And then I’ll be your guy on the ground, your man on the streets for EVERYTHING Vegas, because you can’t sit at the tables 24-7. You have questions, I HAVE answers. Been in this town over 35 years, and know the delicious little secrets that no one will divulge. The best clubs/pools to beat the 100-degree heat. There’s pools, and then there are POOLS! You can hit the crowded day clubs at the Encore or Tao Beach, or if you prefer something less crowded and a little more secluded, you’ll try the “toptional” pools. Just split that word, and you see where I’m going. If they tell you it’s a “European” pool, that’s also TOP/OPTIONAL!
You wanna get your gangster on???
Sure you do. They turned the old post office downtown into the MOB MUSEUM, and it is extraordinary! It’ll cost you $29.95 for the day, but if you visit after 5 p.m., it’s 10 bucks off. See, I’m saving you money already. Don’t wanna be morbid, but my favorite exhibit is the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre Wall.
A commercial garage on the north side of Chicago was the setting for the most horrible shooting in mob history. On February 14, 1929, seven members and associates of George “Bugs” Moran’s bootlegging gang were lined up against a wall and shot dead inside the garage at 2122 North Clark Street. Al Capone’s crew was widely suspected of ordering the hit. When the garage was slated for demolition in 1967, entrepreneur George Patey recovered the bricks from the wall. Three hundred of those bricks are on display. And they STILL HAVE THE FREAKIN’ BULLET HOLES!!!
Benjamin Eckstein is a nationally syndicated sportswriter/oddsmaker. His column, America’s Line, with the Ecks & Bacon appetizer, has run in the New York Daily News and over 100 other papers since 1988. You can follow him online at www.americasline.com. He is beloved by most, when he picks winners, and detested by others, when he picks the occasional loser. If you wanna piece of Eck, hit his email... ben@americasline.com.
