DARING TO BEAT LAS VEGAS ©

By Roger Paul

Synopsis

Daring to beat Las Vegas covers the first year of the chosen lifestyle of Tony Dansk. Prior to the five thousand mile journey from England to Vegas, Tony enjoyed an average but comfortable life...overnight this changed. Written in a form of a novel, this true account follows the actions and adventures of Tony Dansk and several other professional gamblers that he met in Las Vegas.

Tony Dansk’s ambition had but one single focus... Win One Million Dollars. This aspiration incorporated realism, not daydreams or maybes. The arduous journey would require endless patience – achieve the Million Dollars in one year that was the goal!

The story, divided into three parts, opens in the concluding days of that first year. A crushing financial loss of $228,000 kicks of the story. Tony Dansk battles with self-control to stem the losses. Contacting Casey Jackson, his girlfriend in New York, they formulate a plan... the Million Dollars becomes possible again, before the years end.

Part one (Chapters 1-6) continues with the profiles of the main gambling characters that surround Tony in his roller coaster ride.  Nikolai Stravinsky a fine arts dealer from St Petersburg, Russia, with millions of dollars set aside for playing the card game, Baccarat. Casey Jackson, Tony’s closest friend from New York and fellow gambler. Joseph Fellnini based in Los Angeles, visits Vegas every few weeks, playing for high stakes at Baccarat. Ashley Carlton, beautiful and wealthy travels from her home in Nassau, Bahamas to Las Vegas to fix her hidden pain by exercising her passion to beat the house at Blackjack.

Opening with Tony’s first night in Vegas, a flash back of the year unfolds in Part two (Chapters 7-14) Action, adventure, romance and gambling intertwine, captivating the thrilling events that had taken place.  

All sides of Vegas, exposed, expressed through the eyes of our professional gambler. High-end players, playing and gambling their million dollar stakes...The eccentric pickpocket who thrived on the misery of others; leaving his victims with a calling card to fortify their pain. The sly cunning of a female, to lure a rich husband...Players who steep to the lowest level to get a free drink...The high flying gambler, who lost love and blew over half of a million dollars. The woman who demanded a continues flow of presents from her overworked husband...The ghosts of Christmas past; seeking souls in strange places and Tony Dansk in the mist of others, slowly advancing forward.

The gambling sessions burnish the pages, like a cinema in Technicolor.   Gamblers from far and wide sweep into the story as the year progresses.   Tens of thousands of dollars are lost by one, who then seeks support from an ex wife. Another plays when an astrologer gives the green light… Yes, they are out there, and Tony Dansk found them and they found there way into his story.

The concluding chapter in part two describes a ferocious mugging of Tony and a young woman on a grubby street in downtown Vegas. The effect of the mugging destabilizes Tony’s normal calm and calculated approach to gambling – resulting in an enormous loss at the tables.