'Breaking Vegas' airs on History Channel

Episodes of The History Channel series "Breaking Vegas" taped at the Carson Valley Inn in Minden will begin airing Tuesday.

The series about historical gambling heists with many scenes shot at the Carson Valley Inn, has been on the air since March 1.

"Breaking Vegas" will continue running at 9 p.m. Tuesdays, with the first episode taped at the Carson Valley Inn airing March 22.

About half of the episodes - four of nine - were taped at the Carson Valley Inn. The shows that aired on March 1, 8 and 15 were not shot at the Inn.

"The first night rated very well," said Coordinating Producer David Mettler, from Atlas Media in New York. "We haven't gotten the ratings back on the second yet."

For those who miss a show, the History Channel reshows programs at odd times in the following weeks.

Producers of Breaking Vegas made many residents of Carson Valley and Carson Valley Inn folks actors for a few days in January. Playing everything from dealers to pit bosses to security guards proved to be a kick for them.

"It was a lot of fun," said Rich Bennecke, 56, of Gardnerville.

Bennecke, a retired junior high school math teacher who moved here from Illinois last August, saw the ad in the newspaper that they were looking for extras.

"I was a pit boss and a security guy," said Bennecke. "For me it was more than just walking by in the background. I had a couple of lines to say.

"I had to go up to the guy who was doing the card counting thing at the table and in a real serious voice say, 'Excuse me sir.' Then I offered him a room.

"In the other one I was chasing a guy with a wiring system around his mid-section when the thing malfunctioned he had to go into the bathroom to unwire himself. I had to follow him into the bathroom."

Al McDade and his girlfriend Julee Haines, both of Gardnerville, played dealers in the series. It wasn't much of a stretch since Haines is a dealer at the Carson Valley Inn and McDade has worked at area casinos as well.

"It was pretty interesting being in it," said McDade of the two days he spent at the taping. He played a Black Jack dealer and spun the roulette wheel.

"They were all very nice and polite. It was great," he said.

McDade said they enjoyed watching the episodes and was looking forward to seeing the ones taped at the Inn.



-- Jo Rafferty can be reached at jrafferty@recordcourier.com or 782-5121, ext. 213.



Upcoming episodes:

(Breaking Vegas will not be shown on March 29, April 12 and May 3 to allow for specials.)

-- On March 22, "Card Count King," taped at the Inn, will be shown on the History Channel at 9 p.m. This show divulges details about how Tommy Hyland became a leader of the largest blackjack team in history.

-- On April 5, "Slot Scoundrel," shot at the Inn, is scheduled to air. In this episode a slot machine cheat, Tommy Glenn Carmichael, uses and sells tools that could crack slot machines and nearly destroys the gaming industry in the process.

-- On April 19, "Counterfeit King," shot at the Carson City Nugget, will be shown. In this episode Louie Colavecchio, a Rhode Island tool and die maker, set about to make perfect slot tokens that not only fooled the casinos, but the Secret Service as well.

-- On April 26, "Beat the Wheel," taped at Carson Valley Inn, will air. The show is about two physics geeks, the Eudaemons, who in 1975 built a computer system to predict the outcome of a roulette wheel.

-- On May 10, "Black Jack Man," also taped at the Inn, will air. In this episode Ken Uston, a graduate of Harvard and Yale and senior vice president of the Pacific Stock Exchange, gives up his position to become a gambling legend.

There will be four more episodes in the series, all of which were filmed at a location in Las Vegas, said Mettler.