Poker and Blackjack

I'm looking forward to next week, when I should have something actually interesting to say. The most interesting thing to happen yesterday was me placing 25th out of 744 players in an online poker tournament (you're forgiven for the yawn), and then watching the movie 21, about the students from MIT who learned to count cards and took Vegas for millions of dollars.

The really interesting parts weren't in the actual movie, though. Firstly, MGM Grand, one of the casinos who got taken by the students, actually bought the production rights to the movie. They figured it would actually make them their money back, between movies sales and encouraging more people to come and try to count cards. The theory is simple, but not everyone's mind actually works like that. They probably did pretty well.

Secondly, as a special feature on the DVD, there was a tutorial on card-counting! I guess MGM wanted people to get as cocky as possible before taking a swipe at them. I can't imagine all the casinos were happy about that, but there's nothing they can do...it's out there now. And while the theory of card-counting makes sense to me now, and I might even be good at it (programmer's mind), I have no interest in blackjack. I'm really a poker nut. I'd rather win a million in a WPT tourney than steal it from a casino and then get the shit beat out of me by security. After all, what's the point of winning money if you have to turn right around and spend it on medical bills?

Oh, and a note I forgot to put in that last random entry: NaNoFiMo was a total fail. I expected it would be, so I'm not bothered about it. I'll finish the novel when I feel like it. I know, I can hear the voices..."Yeah, that's what they all say, you'll never finish it." I have only this protest: I did finish my last one, three months after the end of NaNoWriMo.