Mike Johnson History Buff

When I read that the new James Bond movie "Casino Royale" would have a climatic poker scene, I have to admit that I winced. I love poker. I love to play it, I love to read about it, I love to watch it on TV, and I even love it in the movies. Well for the most part I love it in the movies and on TV.

I think that when you have poker in a movie or on TV it can't be forced. The poker action has to either support the story or it has to be the story. It has to flow. Poker in media can't look like something that was added just to draw in a certain audience and boost ratings. An episode of "The Shield" showing the strike team playing a game of poker as they joke around and remember good memories would be a good use of poker. You wouldn't see any of the cards and the main focus would be on the characters camaraderie. An episode of Fear factor where the final stunt included winning a Sit N Go Hold'em tournament would be an example where poker is forced into the story.

From what I've read about the upcoming 007 movie it sounds more like the poker action is going to flow naturally with the story line, much as it does in Rounders or the Cincinnati Kid. (I believe that lady fingers was a mechanic and was in cahoots with "The Man" and stacked the deck on that last hand.) To decide for yourself you can watch the trailer at the link below.

http://www.filmwad.com/out.phtml?u=http%3A%2F%2Fmovies.aol.com%2Fcasino-royale-james-bond%2Fexclusive-video-features

This link also has interviews with the actors and director who talk about the filming of the poker scenes. I'm also going to go out on a limb and say that the new James Bond is the most bad ass looking Bond so far. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I'm afraid that the new guy won't pull off the debonair aspect of Bond as well as his predecessors.

Even if the movie sucks at least there's always Bond girls.

I spend a lot of time surfing the net looking for unique or odd new stories that I can write about on one of my goofball websites. During these searches I often find what could be concidered real news, and am forced to pass over it because it doesn't fit in with the theme of my website. Today I stumbled upon an article that is somewhat newsworthy, especially to those who have ties to online gambling. Granted, Online Gambling is a very general term that might or might not apply to poker depending on your point of view.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-online8sep08,1,2052648.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

Above is the link to the full article but here are a couple of exerpts that are the most noteworthy in my opinon.

"In an action that roiled the fast-growing world of online gambling, a top executive of a British Internet company was arrested on American soil late Wednesday night on charges connected with taking wagers from gamblers in the United States... It was the second arrest in two months of a foreign Internet gaming executive in the U.S."

"Although it is not illegal under U.S. law for Americans to make online bets, federal prosecutors maintain that it is illegal for online operators to solicit or accept them, even when their operations are not in the U.S... Experts in gambling law said the arrests underscored an intensified government attack on Internet gambling at a time when the customer base was expanding rapidly worldwide and the technology to mask the source and destination of wagers was improving."

"Experts — and judges — are divided on how existing laws apply to offshore websites such as those operated by BetOnSports and Sportingbet. The 1961 federal Wire Act specifically outlawed bets made using the national communications network — principally via telephone — on sporting events. Although at least one federal appeals court has ruled that the prohibition applies to Internet sports betting, some lawyers say that the law may someday be found to be inapplicable to Internet technologies that circumvent telephone networks...Many experts question whether the prohibitions extend beyond sports betting to poker and casino games. "The Department of Justice will say that all Internet gambling is illegal," said Sebastian Sinclair, president of Christiansen Capital Advisors, a gambling industry consulting firm. "Prosecutors can show that sports betting is, but for casino games and poker it's not so clear."

Here are some additional links if you are interested.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060908/bs_nm/leisure_sportingbet_dc_4
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/08/technology/08gamble.html