Busting Vegas by Ben Mezrich

Author:Ben Mezrich [Mezrich, Ben]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Humor & Entertainment, Puzzles & Games, Gambling, Card Games
ISBN: 0060575123
Amazon: B000UOJTR6
Publisher: HarperCollins e-books
Published: 2006-01-02T05:00:00+00:00

If the drive from the airport had been lacking in postcard moments, the short boat ride to the hotel resort more than made up the difference. To Semyon’s surprise, the little motorized ferry had actually picked them up right in the middle of the lobby of the full-service resort. A small canal had been cut right through the center of the hotel’s main building, leading out to the lapping waters of the capital city’s small port. The boat ride to the private island was about ten minutes long, a cute gimmick that made Semyon almost forget about the cacti and Venezuelan wind as he surveyed the resort where they’d be spending the rest of the weekend.

The place was pretty ritzy, located on a private stretch of beach on a private island and completely full-service. Three pools, fifteen restaurants, a movie theater—and two mega-casinos, one right up on the beach, the other opposite the port. But the casino they were interested in was off-island and not part of the resort. Victor had assured them that this casino could handle some pretty heavy action. It was a lavishly decorated glass complex that was bristling with marble, brass, and gold leaf, as well as enough dripping-crystal chandeliers to make Donald Trump jealous.

They had been comped two adjoining suites in the main tower of the resort; although Victor didn’t have a dedicated host at the hotel’s casino, one of his aliases—a commodities trader from Manhattan named Danny Pesto—had a good enough relationship with a sister casino on another island in the Caribbean to get them the VIP treatment. The suites were pretty impressive, with oversize balconies overlooking the ocean, and wide, wraparound picture windows. Both had circular living rooms with pastel carpeting, rattan furnishings, and even hammocks slung from brass stands in alcoves by the windows. They all had their own bedrooms, and four bathrooms to split between the five of them. Still, they didn’t expect to be spending much time at the hotel.

After a quick lunch of room service—fresh seafood served on one of the balconies by a uniformed waiter with a pasted-on, super-white smile and the manners of an English butler—they prepared themselves for their first assault on the nearby casino.

Semyon had already settled on his character for the weekend. He would play a rich, prep-school-bred, trust-fund brat named Parker Buckingham—the kind of kid he’d often seen wandering around the Harvard campus and had once imagined Allie dating—before he’d gotten to know her better. To complete the transformation, he’d parted his hair severely, right down the middle, and tied a white cardigan around his shoulders. He’d also brought a prop with him—a graphite tennis racket that he’d borrowed from one of Jake’s friends at law school. Although he felt a little strange carrying the tennis racket with him into a casino, Victor had assured him that it was exactly the sort of thing a rich kid like Parker Buckingham would do.

Owen was going to take the playacting one step further; instead of

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