not so much

Along with the standard betting on Oscar Odds, come the much more interesting and novel side bets. Here are some of them:

Betting has been placed on the likelihood of a winner of a major award, Best Actress or Best Actor, shedding a tear. Last year there was a 4/1 payout and bettors in favour of the stiff upper lip ended up cleaning up when, despite Kate Winslett’s voice getting a little wobbly for a moment, she managed to keep the tears well contained.

In 2010 the focus seemed to be on the dresses worn by the female contingent. You could bet on the name/manufacturer of the dress worn by the Best Actress. The deceased Alexander McQueen was at the top with 7/4 to be the name worn by the winning leading lady.

The odds were in favour of Sandra Bullock winning Best Actress, but she wore McQueen to the SAG Awards so the question was would she dare to wear the same designer twice? Instyle Magazine predicted that Bullock would be best in Armani Prive. In the end she won the Oscar but wore a Marchesa gown.

More tears were betted on this year in the category of ‘Best Male Actor to cry during his acceptance speech’ at 3/1.

There was an 8/1 payout if anybody dropped their Oscar on stage during handover, and another one for any actor who was unfortunate enough to trip and fall. If any actor or actress said the words "Tiger Woods" in their speech, they were looking at 10/1. There was a 12/1 payout for anyone breaking the record for longest speech (held by Greer Garson at 5 minutes and 30 seconds), at a 12/1 payout.

Lastly, any nominated actress to be photographed in a Janet Jackson-style wardrobe malfunction would be paid off at 14/1 while a streaker appearing on stage during the ceremony (fully nude) would pay a solid 100/1.

It seems the events that go on in the imaginations of the Academy Award viewers and bettors are more exciting than the actual show.

                                          I'll bet my horse

This is definitely becoming an ongoing theme at PokerTime- presidents and people in the public eye (who sometimes shouldn’t be) who enjoy a good game of poker. We’ve already had a few posts about present President Obama’s love, and talent, for the game, as well as a string of other presidents before him.

It was a pleasant surprise to stumble upon yet another US president who, it has been recorded, loved playing poker. Warren G. Harding came into office in 1921 and has been noted as one of the less notable and more forgettable American presidents. He was criticized for his inability to make decisions and his tendency to be easily influenced by his crony cabinet members.

Being a less than average president is not the only thing America’s 29th president was criticized for. Although he was a big fan of poker, his poker skills at the game were apparently lacking. In fact, his skills in this department were so dismal that he once bet the White House china collection and lost it. In one hand.

Harding’s cabinet of crony’s was dubbed as ‘The Poker Cabinet’ because they all played poker with Harding several times a week. These poker sessions were rumoured to have lasted into the wee hours and involved heavy consumption of liquor. Devoting his energies to booze and gambling was frowned upon by the public and press. This was compounded when Harding ran out of chips and instead gambled away the White House China.

So while poker seems to be a presidential and White House tradition that has spanned back several generations, the skills to do well at it, it seems, are not.

Anyone here Reddit? Personally I’m somewhat obsessed with the community, especially the poker one. I constantly check it out everyday to read what is going on in the world of Poker.

Not know Reddit? Here is the Wikipedia description of it.

“reddit is a social news website owned by Conde Nast Digital on which users can post links to content on the Internet. Other users may then vote the posted links up or down, causing them to become more or less prominent on the reddit home page.”

The site is in essence numerous amounts of discussion areas in which users post links and vote up or down towards other users comments and submitted content. It really does make for highly interesting a topical reading and it really does let you know exactly whats new and upcoming in terms of community, the world, and the in my case especially with the poker community.

Now: IMO, the best part of reddit are the’ subreddits’. These mini-reddits are topical sections which deal with different news, there is the pics subreddit (which I’m sure the funny email people in our office get their content from and pass it around) the IAMA; whereas people state what they are (in my case: IAMA Poker Nut, AMA) and there is the Poker reddit. I implore you to go check it out.

Here’s a screenshot of the Poker Subreddit. Now tell me that does not look appealing?

The Poker Subreddit.jpg (101.85 kb)

Todd Phillips, director and part time poker player, has just won a Golden Globe for the Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical award for “The Hangover” at the 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday. It also won at the 5th annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards held at the Hollywood Palladium on January 15, 2010 in Hollywood, California.
 
The Hangover is set in Las Vegas and follows the premise of ‘what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas’ as 3 friends wake up after an epic Las Vegas bender with absolutely no memory of the previous evening’s events and have to hesitantly retrace their steps in order to find their lost friend.
 
Who knew such a crazy night could lead to such great rewards

So we all constantly  see in the news about poker playing celebrities and with poker growing faster than ever I though I'd put together a bit of a list of my favourite poker playing Hollwood actors and actresses who play poker.

Shannon Elizabeth

Shannon Elizabeth has been a favorite of men everywhere since she went topless in American Pie & since a considerable share of the poker earth is comprised of male group it's no surprise she was embraced as a poker card game player with outstretched arms.

She's been at the World Series of Poker on countless occasions & so far-removed she's cashed in four times.

Toby Maguire

Tobey is one of the celebrity gamblers who have decided to be taught the game. He has seen accomplishments quite a few times in the money in several event s and has been tutored by poker professional Daniel Negreanu

“He’s more of my victim. I love to take as much money off of him as possible,” the actor told us at a SoHo Rep gala. Norton, who learned how to be a card shark for “Rounders,” is slated to play in a charity tournament in Cannes this month, and he’s hoping another card-playing actor, Tobey Maguire, won’t be there. “I hear Tobey is so good — almost pro-level — so that’s a little intimidating,” Norton said.

Ben Affleck

Ben converted to the world of poker game, maybe due to the fact that his friend Matt Damon gambled in of the main roles in the film “Rounders”. His game was progressing so he determined to rent a. His first tutor was Amir Vahedy who got to travel out on a private plane to give Ben his first lesson. After some time Ben was determined to have a shot at a poker game contest and was knocked out with pocket Aces.

So he decided to find someone else to instruct him and chose Annie Duke. Under her tuition he bettered his skills & won $356,400 at 2004 California State Poker Championship, apropos the first luminary to walk off with a major open competition.

In a short speech he announced that he was not a “complete donkey.”

Hank Azaria

Best well known for his effort on Simpsons, Hank Azaria has been gambling poker card games for many years. He was rumored to have run a home game for celebrities in New York and he's been on more than a few celebrity poker hold em radio shows.

So far his contest record is blank but he if plays at the WSOP hold em and if he keeps his nose to the grindstone he's certain to be in the money

Matt Damon

Matt Damon who was trained trained by 11 time World Series Of Poker star Phil Hellmuth for his role in the 1998 movie Rounders, where he played a law school student who loses his tuition money in a high stakes poker game, only to be dragged back into the circuit to pay debts incurred to a Russian mobster.

The lessons must have took, because Damon has since then played in major Poker tournament who won the Commerce Casino's California State Poker Championship

I leave you with this clip from Oceans 11. It involves Brad Pitt teaching some actors to play

Gambling is illegal in Texas. The state from which Texas Hold’em Poker originated does not legally allow its people to gamble. During the running for Texas Governor earlier this year several of the candidates highlighted the legalization of gambling as the primary focus of their campaigns.

In Texas law, gambling is defined as “an agreement to win or lose something of value solely or partially by chance”,” betting on any game played with cards, dice, balls, or any other  gambling device” is considered illegal. The only time that these games are allowed is when there is no entry fee and no other way of losing money. The ‘chance’ factor is where the trouble starts. Advocates of poker are arguing that poker is in fact a game of skill, not chance.

Noted humorist author and musician, Kinky Friedman, who was running for Texas governor, argued that by legalizing casino gaming many of the state’s financial problems could be solved. With the money received from the taxing of casinos teachers could get raises, tolls could be removed to make roads free and the infrastructure could be improved. Added to this is his argument that Texans are still gambling anyway- they just drive to others states to do so.

Despite all the pro-gambling lobbying, the game still remains illegal in Texas. Arguments for and against gambling are strong but it seems the bottom line is that people will gamble whether it’s illegal or not and if this aspect was capitalized upon Texas could stand to benefit greatly from it.