Baccarat Bond

I just watched the Casino Royale remake again, and I have to say, that the revamp is arguably cooler than the groovy original. However, there is an element of the old one that is unassailably cool, in the same way that '50s modern/Googie houses are way cooler than hulking, suburban-eclectic frankenhouses and soulless office parks that are filling every available field between your city's downtown and the nearest freeway.

In other words, Baccarat is long-gone optimisim, and poker is post-modern realpolitik.

I'll sell this thesis to a grad student for $1000. Any takers?

The Birthplace of America's Favorite Poker Variant.

Ever wonder where Texas hold 'em came from? Yeah, well a lot of people have. Apparently, the state legislature says it was born in a place called Robstown, Texas, a town of a little over 12,000 near Corpus Christi.

I played Texas hold 'em for about two hours the other night, losing a total of $43. I'm sort of getting the hierarchy of hands down; now my confusion centers around the river and all that other stuff. Oh well. At least I didn't have to shuffle.

Amblin' Gamblin'

My brother tried to teach me Texas Hold 'em last night. I was... well unteachable is a strong word for it, but I guess my attention span is such that learning this crap is going to be slow going. And also, I did some research on jockey's. I'll say this much: jockeys must really like riding horses. Jockeys are tiny little dudes who make less than I do for probably twice as much work. And they wear funny hats. And they sound like elves. Horse racing continues to confound me.

Gambling Rambling

Every time my band goes down to Corpus Christi, I always take note that we pass a dog track on the way. Now I know less about dog racing than I do about poker, but I do know that Santa's Little Helper came from one, and there's one in Ocean's Eleven. Why do they seem shady? Is it because it's a low-rent version of horse racing? I've never been to that either, but I hear it's exciting. A friend of mine won like $210 at Lonestar Park, which is mildly exciting. If I won that kind of money, I'd be totally elated.

Anyway, I don't know why I thought I'd be able to hit up a casino this weekend, as I have too much going on. Perhaps I should get involved in online poker; apparently, this dude I graduated high school with won a million bucks from placing fourth in the World Series of Poker 2006, and that's how he started. Of course, as I recall, he was good at math. And at some point, he was on crutches. I might grab a Texas Hold 'em game from Xbox Live tonight, see where that takes me. At least I'll only be dropping pretend money.

Bitten by the gambling bug

Getting the gambling bug again. Poker still eludes me (and I sprayed cards all over the living room while practicing my shuffling), but that's why there's cheapass blackjack. Thinking about going either to Winstar next Friday or the Horseshoe in Bossier City.

Wish me luck!