House of Cards
Five Full Contact Years as a Las Vegas Nightclub Bouncer
by
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Las Vegas is a land of milk and honey for some. For others it is a city that brings only heartache and despair. Nowhere else does there exist a place where fortunes are so rapidly won and lost. Sometimes there’s more than just money riding on that roll of the dice, the turn of a card, or that last carom of a ball.
People come here in droves and most of them want the same thing--action. They want authenticity, a Las Vegas trip to remember, a radical departure from their normal existence. Some get much more than they bargained for. For the souls who choose to live here? Their stories are as unique as the people themselves. Vegas is and always will be the place people come to get hitched, get drunk, and get fleeced. The industry here is service. The inhabitants of this city are here to serve the people who come here for those very reasons. The entire city and its economy are based around what occurs on a seven-mile-long patch of asphalt, the Las Vegas Strip.
The Strip is where milk meets honey. It is a playground for the rich and famous as well as the not so rich or famous. It is a place where anything can happen. A place where dreams come true and nightmares are realized. It is a place where the only color seen is green. It’s the birthplace of the New American Dream.
The New American Dream lives here because nowhere else can you make the kind of money that is made for doing what would be a menial job anywhere else. Dealers with no skill other than gaming make livings that the failing middle class would envy. In the nightclub industry, obscene amounts of money are made. At the right club, the bartenders and waitresses make a six-figure income working just a three- or four-night week. Their bussers drive BMWs. Even the bouncers can flirt with an executive salary if they’re on top of their game.
The life is glamorous, complete with all the trappings. It provides money, power, and a certain cache that can only be had by working a rope in the world’s adult playground. In a city where cool is king and hot on Monday is lukewarm by Wednesday, the landscape changes constantly, just like the Las Vegas skyline. It is an environment where anything goes, where anything can be had, and the only limit is how far you want to take things. It is both beautiful and toxic. For all the glitter provided by the club life, there is an equal measure of pain it can exact. This is that story.
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About the Book
When it comes to security, the most important thing is to protect the club when everything goes to hell.
Sometimes hell and a Las Vegas nightclub can share the same zip code, of course it can also be nirvana, it just depends on the night. Hank Carver has presided over both time and again during his career as an…ahem…security professional.
In this fast-paced, humorous memoir, Carver reveals an insider’s account of the city’s lunatics, celebrities, hustlers, and painted ladies. Along the way, he delivers keen business insights on what it takes to operate a club, his way.
He also reveals what happens when situations cannot be defused. Sooner or later, you’re going to have to put your hands on someone.
Filled with stories that will make you laugh and cringe at the same time, House of Cards shows that even in a city that sets no limits, you can only go so far.
About the Author
Hank Carver is the pen name of a bouncer who spent five years in the trenches of the most exclusive clubs in Las Vegas. When he’s not writing, Hank indulges in his affinity for saloons, gambling, and the moments before the start of a drunken brawl. He lives in Las Vegas.