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.

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.

Brad Pitt is set to investigate a high stakes poker heist. The star is in the process of agreeing a deal to play Boston enforcer Jackie Cogan in new film Cogan’s Trade, where Cogan is called in after a crime takes place during a mafia-protected poker game. The movie is a crime comedy which Pitt is set to produce as well as feature in.

The film is based on a novel by George V Higgins called the Balzac of the Boston Underworld and would reunite Pitt with director Andrew Dominik, who he worked with on The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford. Pitt’s potential co-star in Cogan’s Trade, Casey Affleck, also featured in the Jesse James film.

Pitt, who is known to play poker in real life, was most recently seen on the big screen in the Quentin Tarantino-directed Inglourious Basterds alongside Mélanie Laurent, and Christoph Waltz.

Jenji Kohan, the creator and executive producer of Weeds, and Matthew Salsberg, the other executive producer of Weeds, have a new comedy project and this time about something even more addictive than weed: it’s about poker and Vegas baby! The show will be called Whales and it will be a half-hour show that revolves around a group of young, super-smart and talented people, some of whom are Harvard and MIT graduates, who decide to pursue glory and move to Vegas where they’ll live in a Vegas-style lavish apartment and play for the World Series of Poker’s $10 million prize.

MTV’s The Real World was one of the first reality TV shows to start the reality TV show craze and is now about to celebrate its 25th season in the beginning of 2011 and where better to do this from but Sin City.

That’s right; the new series will be filmed in the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. While the cast has not yet been revealed, we know that they are going to be filmed in a high roller loft apartment that is being specially renovated to encourage lots of debauchery and heated scenarios.

This is not the first time the show has gone to Vegas; season twelve of the show saw the cast in The Palms in Vegas. While in its heyday the contestants went on to become household names, the ratings diminished in the last few seasons until they moved it to New Orleans, another party city, for the most recent season.

While the Real World will benefit from basing their show there, Las Vegas can also use the Real World to showcase their hot spots after having a slump during and after the recession.