Online Poker / Peter Monk / 22 september 2009 / Kommenter

Den kønne succesrige pokerspiller Victoria Coren har ikke sit spillergen fra fremmede. I hendes biografi 'A love affair with poker', der udkom d. 17. september, beretter hun blandt andet om hvordan hendes bedstefar Sam plejede at narre lommepengene fra Victoria og hendes bror:

'... When we were little, Sam gave us a comprehensive education in blackjack. Here was the lesson: he was always the dealer, and we always lost. Sometimes we lost enough to buy him a Fry's Peppermint Cream. If he was really in form, enough to buy him a packet of Park Lane. But at the first sound of our parents' key in the front door, he'd move like a panther. By the time my mother and father had walked the three steps to the kitchen, the money had vanished and he was sitting there in all innocence, "showing us a card trick".'

Med denne 'opdragelse' kan det vist ikke overraske nogen at Victoria er blevet formet til en hårdfør kvinde ved pokerbordet. Bogen rummer også mere alvorlige emner, som viser hvordan poker kan bruges i svære tider, som ligger på grænsen til det ludomane.

'I am not ready for my father to die. That is what I tell God, over the weeks in France. I have been frightened of this for my entire life and I hoped I would be ready when it happened, but I am not. I cannot bear this to be now. I have never been so scared or so sad.
...I need to play poker. I am aching with desire to get lost in the game. There is no internet connection here. There is no card room. I need to look at cards, to face bets, to think about maths. I need to hide there. I can't cope with full consciousness of what is happening.

For Richer, For Poorer: A Love Affair with Poker er i modsætning til andre pokerbøger skrevet af en pokerspiller, der er uddannet journalist med mange års skriveerfaring. Hun har i øvrigt også skrevet en bog om hendes fantasier omkring at blive en pornostjerne!

Læs hele udraget af Victoria Corens biografi her:

Eller køb bogen for ca. 70 kr. på amazon her:

Det skal ikke kun handle om bøger i denne uge. Jeg vil igen rette læserens blik mod årets nok største pokervæddemål. Internethajen 'Ballcup' har væddet 30.000 dollar på at han kan nå at spille 2 millioner hænder på 5,5 måneder. Læs om væddemålet her:
Han var godt i gang indtil i sidste uge, hvor nogle af de spillere der væddede imod ham, mente at Ballcup havde overtrådt reglerne i væddemålet, ved ikke at opdatere sin blog tilstrækkeligt i 3 dage.. Dommerne i væddemålet besluttede sig dog for ikke at lade Ballcup tabe, så nu har han ca. 1,3 millioner hænder at spille inden nytår!