It was during these early days, along with his friends John, Mike, Joe, and Gene Crancer, when Sam learned the skills to become a world class tournament player. When it got too hot in the summer, Sam would park the van up in the mountains. The ‘good old boys’ would try to get Sam a room, or at least let him use their shower. Sam would park the van down by the river where he would sleep for the night. During those trips, Sam would set out for Las Vegas, and stop to overnight in Laughlin. Sam bought the ’82 van in 1986, and put 300,000 miles on it over 17 years driving back and forth to Las Vegas. For many years, while living in Phoenix, Sam would drive his 1982 Ford van down to Las Vegas for tournaments. Luckily, he moved far enough outside of Las Vegas, to a town of 4,000 people, that the city limits have not reached him yet. He moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1995 to get away from the explosion in population of Phoenix. Sam Vaughn retired from the Post Office in 1992 after 25 years of service. The second time around, he won it, much to the delight of the tournament community who knew it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving player. Who better for the first interview there than the man who beat long odds two years running in the Las Vegas Hilton Million Dollar Blackjack Tournament? In both the second and third year of that event (20), Sam Vaughn advanced to the final table of 7 players competing for the first place prize of $1 Million. This interview originally appeared at our sister site.

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