Poker Moth

Hmm. I’m still not playing enough poker, sadly. Not sure what’s behind it, but I currently seem to be rather apathetic about the game; this isn’t a new sensation (my enthusiasm for poker waxes and wanes constantly), but I can’t really afford to be resting on my laurels at the moment.

Still, I stumbled on an excellent article just now, and it’s rather inspiring -

The Colour Of Money From Around The World (from the excellent Colour Lovers site).

Look at all that beautiful money! Mmm.  Money.

You surely can’t have missed the furore over Hillary Clinton’s tales of derring-do at Tusla airport?

It’s your standard silly political kerfuffle; Hillary exaggerating foreign policy experience (and since when was experience of being shot at such an important asset for a world leader?) in order to highlight her opponent’s relative inexperience in this area* (the area of spending time in wartorn airports, specifically).

Aren’t we all missing a trick here? Any fool can land at an airport, but history has shown us that the key factor in any President’s foreign policy knowledge is their poker savvy; witness Harry Truman, who famously liked to play Stud with the press when chewing over foreign policy decisions, such as whether to nuke Japan. Nixon was also a keen poker player, and allegedly funded his early Congress campaigns through his winnings.

What’s more, Barack Obama apparently knows a thing or two about gambooool; he used to run a poker game, and his opponents reckon he was a steely competitor. Which leads me to think that, given the shabby condition of the Clinton campaign, her best bet of securing the Democratic nomination lies not with the superdelegates, but with the cards. Here’s what you do, Hillary – get Obama into a heads up Hold’em match, and make sure both parties bring their entire campaign bankroll to the table. If you can get your chips in with the best of it, you’ll have every chance of crippling the Obama campaign, and winning enough money to blow McCain out of the water come November. Let’s face it – it’s your only chance at this stage…

…of course, if Obama won’t play, then maybe you could stake your roll against another famous bullet dodger…

*For more on the SCANDAL, see this.

I don’t have much time to post right now, but here’s something interesting to be going along with -
Double Or Nothing: How Two Friends Risked It All To Buy One Of Las Vegas’ Legendary Casinos

That casino being the Golden Nugget. I haven’t had time to read beyond the first chapter, but it appears to be a fascinating tale; two dotcom boomers bought the Nugget, and offered the best odds around to try and draw whales away from the Strip and back to Fremont Street. This certainly succeeded, as they attracted the bankroll of someone known as Mr. Royalty, who made his fortune in the videogame industry; apparently “if you’re a man between eighteen and forty, you know his games. You’ve probably played them. One of his games grew so popular, rumor is he sold it outright for $40 million”. And by the end of chapter one, Mr. Royalty has taken the Nugget’s craps table for a very substantial amount indeed.

There aren’t many games designers who could stand to play those sort of stakes, but sadly Google isn’t being particularly informative. I reckon it’s John Carmack. Idle speculation aside, the book will be up and free to read on the Harper Collins site until April 14th.

Obligatory Youtube link to the Karate Kid montage

That’s right, folks; the Moth is back, back, BACK. The last few weeks have seen me tilting so hard I began to warp the fabric of time and space; eventually a crack team of scientists came round and gave me a good slapping, which seemed to set me back on course. Since then, I’ve been training in the local Kobra Kai Pokerdojo, working hard on my crane kicking and similar. I’m the best! Around! Nothing’s gonna ever keep me down!

*continues in same vein for some time*

I wouldn’t say that I’m back to my best yet, but I’m playing regularly again, and feeling much better about life as a result. A poker table isn’t usually the best place to exorcise your demons, but I can think of worse ways to catharsisise*; I’ve tried a few of them recently, come to think of it.

Tomorrow, I will probably post something about actual poker, although it’s shaping up to be a busy easter weekend, so we’ll see. Anyway. I’m BACK. (You’ve done this already – Ed.)

*At the time of writing, Google returns no links for this excellent word. I am shocked.