Breeders' Cup from Clockers' Corner

Nice look behind the scenes at last weekend's Breeders' Cup. Sooo glad to see (2.55 in) that grotesque female tattoos aren't just a British disease..

Even Casanova needed a hobby

Turns out the great lover was one of us when he found time for, er,  resting...

"Gambling was a common recreation in the social and political circles in which Casanova moved. In his memoirs, Casanova discusses many forms of 18th century gambling—including lotteries, faro, basset, piquet, biribi, primero, quinze, and whist—and the passion for it among the nobility and the high clergy. Cheaters (known as “correctors of fortune”) were somewhat more tolerated then than today in public casinos and in private games for invited players, and seldom caused affront. Most gamblers were on guard against cheaters and their tricks. Scams of all sorts were common, and Casanova was amused by them.
Casanova gambled throughout his adult life, winning and losing large sums. He was tutored by professionals, and he was “instructed in those wise maxims without which games of chance ruin those who participate in them”. He was not above occasionally cheating and at times even teamed with professional gamblers for his own profit. Casanova claims that he was “relaxed and smiling when I lost, and I won without covetousness”. However, when outrageously duped himself, he could act violently, sometimes calling for a duel. Casanova admits that he was not disciplined enough to be a professional gambler: “I had neither prudence enough to leave off when fortune was adverse, nor sufficient control over myself when I had won.” Nor did he like being considered as a professional gambler: “Nothing could ever be adduced by professional gamblers that I was of their infernal clique.” Although Casanova at times used gambling tactically and shrewdly—for making quick money, for flirting, making connections, acting gallantly, or proving himself a gentleman among his social superiors—his practice also could be compulsive and reckless, especially during the euphoria of a new sexual affair. "Why did I gamble when I felt the losses so keenly? What made me gamble was avarice. I loved to spend, and my heart bled when I could not do it with money won at cards."

You know you've made it, indeed when you get your own page at Jackpot.co.uk. Read about his wagering exploits in his own words here.

School secondary to poker? We have just the thing...

Better get in for one of these quick, for the wagering teenager in your life, before reality overtakes irony and leaves it gasping in its wake.

Unless decent schools are still the norm in your country, that is...

"23 x 35 inch color poster shows great and is a superb addition to any room. Unframed and heavy glossy stock poster. The required classes for any college student (Remedial Math, Advance Finance, Sex Education) are all listed with corresponding poker hands (Pair of deuces, quad aces, Pair of Queens & Pair of Kings). Includes a Guide showing Winning Poker Hands, keeping you on your toes"

Available from Royal Flush Poker & Gaming Supplies Inc. Click on picture to enlarge.

It can get lonely out on Newmarket Heath...

Two jockeys probably not overly thrilled with today's choice of lead photo for William Hill's website...

Good news and bad for the brotherhood of wagering

On the one hand...

If The Huffington Post is to be believed, anyone wanting to know how next year's General Election in the UK will go, needs to be following Betfair, rather than the talking heads of punditland:

"Michael Robb, political expert for the British bookmaking site Betfair.com, lets the record speak for itself: Halfway through Election Day in 2004, when a CNN poll showed Kerry taking the lead, Betfair had Bush with a 91% chance to win...

...Betfair also had all 50 states right in 2004....

...Koleman Strumpf, a University of Kansas economics professor who tracks betting trends, believes wagering is an incomparable barometer of an election. Among the reasons he gave me:

Relative to the polls, the betting markets have to think hard about what they're saying since they are putting their money at stake. Also polls tend to reflect what people are thinking at a given moment, versus a forecast of what will happen on election day -- post-convention bounces, for instance"

On the other hand...

Spin This - Another in the series highlighting those fabulous PR coups that make you rejoice to be a gambler...

Gambler killed parents for money, officials say

"Dudek wrote that Scherer 'did not appear to show much emotion' at the deaths. He seemed more interested in getting a look at the will, hoping that it would give him as much as $1.5 million, Dudek said"

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Pic of the Day - a glimpse of the future for those Full Tilt avatars...