Jack Ury, the oldest 2009 World Series of Poker player to enter, passed away last Tuesday. The aged WSOP player died in his home in Terra Haute, Indiana at 97 years old.

Ury made four appearances at the WSOP and made it to the second day of competition in each.

Ury was seen as an inspiration for others at the tables, especially the younger generation who admired him for his pioneering spirit, endurance and sharpness of mind, despite the fact that towards the end Ury needed help with posting blinds.

At last year’s WSOP Ury made it through to the third day of action but didn’t manage to attend on day three.

Poker prowess seems to run in the family; Ury’s grandson, Seth Harrold, is also a poker player who entered the tournament with his grandfather for the past four years. Harrold has not yet cashed in at the main event but will continue to enter.

Girolamo Cardano was an Italian who lived in the 1500’s who wrote a book called Liber de Lude Aleae (Book on Games of Chance) about the games that were popular among his contemporaries, specifically dice-based games, card games as well as backgammon. Interestingly, Liber de Lude Aleae was published posthumously – about a hundred years after his death – but still managed to be influential in the treatment of probability theory.

Cardano has been described by James McManus, author of Cowboys Full, as the quintessential “Renaissance Man” with expert knowledge of mathematics, music and medicine and some rather strong opinions about the ethics of poker.

Cardano has useful advice for poker players as well as some great observations and anecdotes in Liber de Lude Aleae.

Here are some tips and observations from Cardano, 1500’s style:

1.    Gambling is "One of the incurable diseases"

While Cardano defended gambling as an acceptable pursuit he also did warn that it can lead to destructive and unhealthy outcomes. He cautions players to only play in moderation and never simply to relieve boredom. He says reading or painting are far better ways to pass time as they do not "present a bad example... to one's children and servants." Despite this Cardano did believe gambling had some “useful features”. He saw it as “a means of gaining friendship.” He deemed it one of the “incurable diseases” because so many people felt the urge to play.

2.    Seek fairness: "The most fundamental principle of gambling"

Cardano has some chapters on dice games that feature lots of equations and probabilities that perhaps would go over the heads most readers but do offer some good practical observations on gambling:

"The most fundamental principle of gambling is simply equal conditions"

This is Cardano’s way of saying that collusion should be avoided. He regarded collusion as cheating or starting distracting table talk.

He notes that gambling is not disgraceful if it is fair and all players are equally aware of what they’re getting in to.

3.    Remain vigilant: "Let no one examine the cards in private"

Keep an eye out for cheats. Obviously there was just as much marking cards, stacking the deck, dealing from the bottom and use of mirrors to cheat going on in 16th-century Italy as there is today.

His advice for avoiding cheaters and cheating is to have your own set of cards and to not allow anyone to examine these cards in private.
4.    Choose cards over dice: "It is more fitting for the wise man to play at cards than dice"

There are apparently some very relevant differences between card games and dice games. The fundamental difference according to Cardano being that dice games are open while card games are closed and hidden, therefore relying on ambush strategies.

Card games that required a good memory were considered even better as they required skill.

"In play with dice... everything depends entirely on pure chance, if the die is honest…But in cards, apart from the recognition of cards from the back [i.e., marked cards] there are a thousand other natural and worthy ways of recognizing them which are at the disposal of the prudent man…it is more fitting for the wise man to play at cards than at dice"

5.    The skill of luck: "There is something in this"

Any form of gambling encourages irrational behavior. Carrying lucky charms, stones and amulets to become luckier go against logic. But Cardano did notice that there had been times when he had experienced luck and that “there is something in this, although we do not know the law which connects the parts."

6.    Jerks at the Table: "Certain people are so contentious"

Cardano warns against distracting table talk and activities while at the table. Does the extract below remind you of anyone you’ve ever played against?

"There are some who with many words drive both themselves and others from their proper senses.... Certain people are so contentious that they provoke others to such anger that they forget everything."

Cardano recommends that you avoid such players as well as the players who are too quiet:

"that taciturnity which verges on utter silence is too hard and severe, since it is a greater pleasure to talk without playing than to play without talking."

While Cardano recommends against gambling, he often states that he understands man’s attraction to gambling and that this attraction is part of being human. He certainly seems to have a fascination with it.

So, you’re millions of light years away from home, in fact so far away that the term ‘Earthling’ has become a vague and obscure term which implies a planet no-one has been to recently (except in the holodeck, that is). However, all is still well in the universe. The best of most traditional Earth games based on chance and skill has survived, and when the Borg get really mean, the senior-crew of the USS Enterprise can put their troubles asunder and enjoy a round of poker.
 
All manner of alien species, each sporting a variety of colours, webbed-appendages and pointy or bony protrusions, enjoy this game, where an alert player could increase their chances of winning by watching their opponent’s facial expressions. And if you’re an android you will have to learn to ‘bluff’, but conversely, you will have the most potent of poker faces ever. It helps, especially if the cards you have are not stellar but you have enough confidence in your game plan to pull it off.

Poker is not a game that can be played by relying on mathematical strategy alone. Winning at poker means a good understanding of human (and in this case, alien) nature, a measure of skill and a healthy dose of luck. Good to know if you ever have to play with the Borg queen.

Trekkies have latched on to this idea and in solidarity have started a Star Trek-themed evening to honour this illustrious game that is sure to be around for many light years travelled to come. This is the best option, considering the fact that we haven’t ‘officially’ had any contacts of the third kind, yet...

To the dedicated fan boys (and girls) who play dress-up and play intergalactic games, all I’m saying is keep your poker face on.

There are plenty of stories about where Texas Hold ’Em came from but the earliest substantial documentation we could find is in a Life Magazine issue dating back to the 1960’s.

Back then, the game was referred to as ‘Hold Me Darling’ or ‘Tennessee Hold Me’ and the writer prophetically predicted that it was to quickly become the new standard big-money game. As the game grew in popularity the ‘Darling’ and the ‘Tennessee’ in the name was dropped, leaving ‘Hold Me’ which then became Hold ’Em which seemed to stick.

Nobody is certain of who invented the game but the Texas State Legislature has officially recognized Robstown, Texas as the game’s birthplace. After being ‘born’ here, players including Crandell Addington, Roscoe Weiser, Doyle Brunson and Amarillo Slim started playing it.

Life Magazine featured an article written by AD Livingston in the late 1960’s which referred to what would eventually become Texas Hold ’Em.
Livingston said about this new version of poker:

‘I believe the game is a major event in the history of poker and I predict it will replace stud for the rest of the century.’

Take a look at more interesting quotes from the article:

•    ‘The game's fascination lies in the number of players involved -- up to 22 can play.’
•    ‘This was Hold me Darling or Tennessee Hold Me, or just Hold Me for short, the culmination of a new form of poker, widow poker.’
•    ‘At home, I went through my poker library.  None of my books covered Hold me or any game like it.’
•    ‘Hold Me is, in a way, poker upside down.  The really big action, unlike normal poker, can often come at the beginning of a hand, as players try to bully one another out.’
•    ‘A few weeks ago, I called a poker man in Colorado and asked whether Hold Me Darling was being dealt out there.  "Never heard of it", he said, "but a new game has really caught on.  High Hold 'Em.  Each player gets two cards...’

The belle of poker, Annie Duke, is to become the commissioner of a new poker league planned to become the equivalent of the PGA in the poker world. The league goals include becoming a showcase for the best games of the best players as well as to host invitational tournaments for the best of the best. Best, best, best – we get it.

The, as yet unnamed, league will televise four regular-season events and a $1 million championship freeroll in Las Vegas within the year.
Duke told The Associated Press:

“This is incredibly pro-centric…This is the one piece that’s kind of missing from the poker landscape right now, which is something for the best players in the world to compete against the best players in the world.”

The biggest poker event presently is the World Series of Poker which is open to anyone to play if they can afford the hefty entry fees. The main event, the no-limit Texas Hold’em event, costs a whopping $10,000 to enter but still manages to draw in thousands of players every year. Last year’s main event winner, Jonathan Duhamel, wasn’t known before winning and taking home $8.94 million and with the growing number of tournaments and players, ever-entertaining showdowns between the ‘big’ players cannot be guaranteed.

Duke has certainly claimed her place in the world of poker fame. She’s racked up a series of wins and also featured as a contestant on the “Celebrity Apprentice” series. She thinks this league will showcase what it really takes to become and remain a poker pro.

The league will use a mathematical formula to measure who will get to be part of it. The formula will take into account finishes in major events, money earned and recent wins. Cash games and online poker will not factor into these calculations.

Players in the league will have two-, three- or five-year terms and less than 10 lifetime cards will be dished out to living players who have experienced remarkable success at the tables.

“This is something that I really wanted to see happen for a very long time,” Duke said.

Poker got a great boost in popularity in 1998 thanks to the release of the film Rounders, starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton. Although the film was regarded as a box-office flop at the time, it’s received a cult following that has continued to grow over the years. Since 1998, the game of poker has also seen an unprecedented rise in popularity with live poker being broadcast to audiences throughout the world regularly and online casinos being sprawled all over  the internet. 

Perhaps in recognition of this poker trend, Miramax has decided to release a sequel to the 1998 original. It was recently announced that in a partnership between The Weinstein Company, a series of sequels to popular Miramax films from the 90’s will be made and released, including Rounders.  Other films in line to have sequels made are Bad Santa and the Oscar-winning Shakespeare in Love.

While we aren’t sure when production will start on Rounders 2, it has been suggested that film will be released sometime in 2012.