The Talk About Las Vegas Podcast | a podcast by Ira Sternberg

How do you beat Las Vegas casinos at their own game—and get away with it more than 500 times? On this episode of “Talk About Las Vegas With Ira,” I talk with Dustin Marks, author of "How I Did It and Got Away With It—Principles and Stories from Cheating at the Blackjack Table" and cohost of the podcast “Cheating at Blackjack.” Dustin reveals how he used sleight of hand, sophisticated computer technology and a carefully constructed strategy to cheat at blackjack as both a player and a dealer during the 1980s. He eventually walked away after four years, ending his gambling career in 1990. Today, he shares his unusual expertise as a casino consultant, public speaker and podcast host. He also performs magic, having b een introduced to that world at age seven, We discuss why cheating is harder today, how lessons from the casino floor can apply to the corporate world, his philosophy of “go for longevity,” and his unexpected partnership with a diamond thief. It's a fascinating look at casino deception, risk, and the fine line be-tween getting away with it and getting caught. (Also Watch Full Podcast Video)

On this episode of “Talk About Las Vegas With Ira,” I talk with Greg Carmichael about the remarkable journey of Acoustic Alchemy, the band’s distinctive blend of steel-string and nylon-string guitars, and why he always wanted to be part of a band rather than perform as a solo artist.

On this episode of “Talk About Las Vegas With Ira,” I sit down with photographer Clinton Wright, whose photographs documented Black life in Las Vegas’ Historic Westside and preserved a side of the city that many people never saw.

What happens when three guys who grew up together in Las Vegas decide they’re ready to get rich — and their plans go spectacularly wrong? That’s the world created by Torthell Robinson, a Las Vegas-area screenwriter, U.S. Air Force veteran and author of "Men Will Be Boys," a fast, funny and dangerous crime-comedy series set against the backdrop of Las Vegas. Torthell’s journey to becoming a writer is anything but conventional. After serving in the Air Force, he took a regular job before deciding he wanted to do something completely different. He enrolled in a Los Angeles film school, where a professor read his pilot script and recommended him for literary representation. After entering screenplay competitions, Torthell began thinking beyond the pilot and decided to build out the world and its charac-ters. Then he moved to Las Vegas — and discovered that the city itself seemed to fit perfectly with the stories he wanted to tell. Torthell explains why he chose to turn his original pilot concept into a three-book series, rather than adapt the books from novels into screenplays. We meet his three central char-acters: an Ivy League-educated man, a blue-collar local and a degenerate — three very dif-ferent personalities connected by a shared history and a common ambition to make it big. We also talk about Torthell’s childhood and the lessons he learned about respect and accountability, his writing process, why the first draft is so important, and the challenge of creating believable characters who can carry an entire series. And then there’s Las Vegas itself. For Torthell, Vegas isn't simply where the story takes place. The city becomes a character in its own right. Could "Men Will Be Boys" eventually make the jump from books to television? Torthell would certainly like to see it happen. It’s a conversation about writing, reinvention, friendship, ambition, trouble — and why Las Vegas can be the perfect setting when you want a story where almost anything can happen. (Also Watch Full Podcast Video)

This week on “Talk About Las Vegas With Ira,” I’m talking with MacKenzie “Pineapple” Rollison, Director of Local Activations and Partnerships for Las Vegas at the Museum of Ice Cream, located at AREA15.