I love this story, which I first heard about through the Catholic News Service.

It’s about a very cool, poker-playing Catholic priest, who just beat one of the world’s top poker players in a national poker contest aired on a Fox TV show, winning $100,000 that he says he’ll donate to his church’s new building fund.

The Rev. Andrew Trapp, assistant pastor of St. Michael Catholic Church, gathered Sunday at a viewing party with 300 boosters in a Garden City Beach, South Carolina, gymnasium to watch a previously recorded episode from a poker tournament that began online with 10,000 contestants.

The Sun News of Myrtle Beach says the crowd cheered when Trapp beat poker professional Daniel Negreanu (nuh-GRAH’-noo) with a final hand. Supporters wore T-shirts reading: “We’re cheering for the poker playing priest.”

I thought this was an amusing photo my wife sent me from the site “I Can Has Cheez Burger“.  I think cats would make much better poker players than dogs.  They are much more conniving and fearless.

I’m always curious about the origins of odd little bits of popular culture, especially when they relate specifically to things I like. So when I was thinking about pop culture references to poker, this was one of the first things I thought of. Everybody has seen these pictures but few know where they came from.

They date back to 19 03 from the artist C.M. Coolidge and were originally commissioned for cigar ads. Along with poker, I also love cigars. These maybe these kitschy things aren’t so bad after all. Sixteen were produced in the series though not all of them featured poker. Waterloo and A Friend in Need are probably the most recognizable. The above pictured His Station and Four Aces less so I’m sure. Though most people probably couldn’t immediately picture one of these; they just know the concept because it is so ubiquitous in the culture.

Its amusing to note that the company which comissioned them – Brown & Bigelow – also produced Noraman Rockwell’s work. Some become good old Americana while others are destined for tacky infamy.

Historical info courtesy of Wikipedia. Heres a site with some more of the pics in case anyone wants to indulge in these timeless classics. http://www.dogsplayingpoker.org/gallery/browse.html

They may seem silly or inane, but bumbling criminal stories are funny.

Two men in Greenwood Mississippi were caught running illegal video poker machines out of a trailer. Link to the article here

It’s no major felony, just a misdemeanor. What’s funny though is that someone called the police to inform them what was going on, then they apparently staked out the trailer for some time before making their move. The fact that they called it a raid is probably a little much. Were they afraid they might need a SWAT team to go into some hick’s broke ass trailer and slap him with a fine for running running video poker machines? Imagine a couple deputies walking tward the front door. As they approached the sound of bleeps and buzzers mixed with the occasional groan from the hapless players was certainly audible. Then they gave the old cop style knock on the door. When the proprietors (doubtlessly toothless and wife beater clad) of that classy establishment answered, they kicked everybody out and carted off the machines to personally enjoy back at the squad room. Remember officers, don’t chase and gut shot straights.

So just to recap. It is the early nineties and my mom is at the Taj in Atlantic City playing poker. William Shatner and a small cadre arrive consisting of his wife, Vince Van Patten, and one or two bodyguards. They sit down at a table where she proceeds to join them. As bored celebrities without work are known to do, he is looking for hobbies to fill his considerable amount of free time. There is a sizable tournament that weekend and he is trying to get into poker as a serious hobby.

Now it is important to note that at this time I doubt my mom knows anything or cares in the least about star trek. All she knows is that she is sitting directly across from Captain Kirk and that she is not going to leave until she has an autograph for her Trekkie son (me!). she learns very quickly however that this will be no easy task.

Being friendly and uninhibited by nature, she itroduces herself to everyone at the table. Patten and Mrs. Shatner are very nice. Bill is not. In fact he is drunk on top of being unfriendly. He only proceeds to become moreso as the night goes on. He is a sloppy fat faced drunk who is rude to everyone; from his friends, to the other players, to even the waitresses. To make matters worse, he is terrible at poker. My mom, through the course of the night does two things; she strips several hundred dollars from the enebriated starship captain and becomes quite chummy with his very pleasent wife. After a while she asks her if there’s any chance for an autograph. She quickly shoots down any possibility. She says that there would be no point in asking if he were in a good mood let alone his current belligerent state. She leaves the table with one hand filled with shatners money, but the other devoid of his John Hancock.

This story is a lot longer than I thought it would be. I promise to deliver the grand finale  next week.

Live Long and Prosper.