Say what you will about Full Tilt Poker, but you can’t deny that they played a key role in forever changing the nature of poker entertainment. Even post-Black Friday they continue to do so … only instead of bankrolling the creative efforts, now they merely inspire them (whether all lines are deserved or not):
Song: Full Tilt Poker Blues
Artist: The Donks
Genre: Blues
Release: Sep 2011
To keep you entertained in the 15 minutes of interim before what’s going on here in the Penn and Teller Theater makes it into the WSOP cloud … enjoy the Brett Richey rap song about Ben Lamb, with a line inspired by Team Pokerati’s favorite crazy DonkeyBomber spouse, Julie Schneider, in “Stack ‘em to the Top”:
UPDATE: Ben Lamb all-in on first hand! 35bb v 22bb … No suckout …
On This episode of DonkDown Radio we try (and fail) to call Michael Clemente, known scammer – but we tell the story of his scamming a local Orleans dealer for $1k. WORLD PREMIER OF BRETT “GET CRUNK” RICHEY’S BEN LAMB RAP. We talk with Eric Crain, recent 4th place finisher at some tourney in Hammond. Menachum drops us a parlay that pays $1 for every $2 wagered, and we talk about black men eating pussy with the Iceman. Goldfarb, Karina Jett, HORSE wars, Pokerati Dan + MOAR!
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We thought it was a big deal when PokerStars got T-pain for a night, and then a bigger deal when they brought in @SnoopDogg for a party that certainly won’t be one-upped at this year’s WSOP … but what’s the point with Lady Gaga becoming a farmer?
In many ways it’s a disheartening reminder of what Phil Hellmuth can never be … and possibly indicative of poker’s future direction. Say what you will about the struggling American family farm, clearly there’s more money in virtual harvesting than poker, and hence the biggest name in poker (as far as Google is concerned) — and the most powerful celebrity in the world thanks in part to a song talking about poker — has moved beyond Texas Hold’em to sign with Farmville — and the parent company of the biggest online poker site.
Implications are clear … Zynga is planning to take over American agriculture by introducing poker players to the concept that money can indeed grow on trees. It should play great with the kids (who love Lady Gaga).
At a minimum you can see how Zynga’s at least thinking along the similar lines as Caesars:
For all of you who are sick of the average, run-of-the-mill poker hip-hop (I’m looking at you Prahlad and Madsen), you should definitely check out the song below:
It appears to be by a rapper who calls himself Emcee White Noise, who first posted it about a week ago here. The beat sounds like something straight out of GarageBand, but the simple backing tends to complement a pretty serious flow that’s seriously funny. Emcee White Noise drops names like crazy, but the line that got me was “all my skinny girls are astounding with brain, but I date fat chicks just to balance my range.”
Thanks go out to the entities over at WickedChops for the heads-up.
While looking for the video featured last week for the 1968 poker-based western Five Card Stud, I discovered even more music wrapped around said game and gambler’s living … fun, semi-timeless lyrics both:
1970 – Five Card Stud by Lorne Greene (about collusion)
1989 – Five Card Stud by Ace Frehley (about drawing to a one-outer)
Watched Five Card Stud this afternoon (on Showtime Extreme) … a 1968 western starring Dean Martin and Robert Mitchum about a drunken poker game that turns into a lynching when the new guy turns out to be a cheat. But when the lynch mob starts dying off one-by-one, no one knows who’s seeking vengeance, nor which player will be the last man standing.
It takes place in Colorado in 1880 … the gold rush is on and the town of Rincon is fast becoming known for its juicy games and associated vice. And as much as I was intrigued by the role of black people and Christianity post-Civil War (as portrayed in the late ’60s) … what really stood out was how the players shuffled their chips.
Anyhow, the music is kinda country meets the Doors, with gambler’s lyrics sung by an old-school Vegas crooner. And with last month’s news that production of Rounders 2 is underway … well, Five Card Stud, a song about the game that was the great Uncle to contemporary Texas Hold’em, reminded me how much poker stories have changed over the years, and how much they haven’t.
More confirmation of what we suspected all along upon seeing this video … here’s additional video of the OJ Simpson of Poker playing 2/5 at MGM a couple weeks earlier.
And here’s an amusing video of the other Russ Hamilton, which makes you realize how shafted some people’s legacy can be in Google, particularly for a cultural renegade who sang about the desire to “make love” out of wedlock to a teenage girl in 1957:
OK, some really quick poker links, random, some from not-so-typical places, that have caught me by the finger recently:
John K’s blog, interesting, well-analyzed poker-tinted life stuff from an accomplished Vegas grinder still trying to get there: [JK's Blog]
Pauly, on a site not about poker, on a documentary about Mad Men culture, and why it’s better to be a creative person than a suit. [Tao of Pauly]
Wonk out with your Donk out … our friends at CardRunners have set up a site monitoring legal developments in poker. [Poker Law Bulletin]
Corny T-shirts, designed by women poker players for women poker players at family picnics and in ladies events. [PMS Pokerwear]
A rap album all about poker — Portland, Maine, represent! (PokerRapper]
Yo, turns out Jeff Madsen was right about 9/11 all along, obv. [The Onion]
Poker will have to wait to see Isildur1 in more-than-virtual action. Tony G informs us that they mystery Swede has backed out of a staking deal with the G that woulda had him playing on PartyPoker’s televised Big Game IV.
Meanwhile, even without a highest-stakes masked man at the tele-tables, PartyPoker still plans to bring a new component to televised cash games, with each player choosing “walk-on music“.
Click below for the Isildur1-less roster of players who have submitted their personal soundtrack poker theme songs:
We love high culture here at Pokerati, but I gotta say, I never thought I’d spend 12 minutes of 2010 listening to/watching ballet. Though my tastes lean more towards watching heavy metal videos with semi-pokery themes on Youtube, I couldn’t help but click this one when I saw a ballet about the difficulties of playing pocket Jacks.
I’m no dance critic, but I think they capture the inherent conundrums with the hand pretty well:
ALT HED: Jacks Are Gay
OK, my apologies for making you watch that. Here’s a better dance about potentially troublesome pocket Kings:
Perhaps inspired by Wicked Chops’ telling him to please stop, Jeff Madsen apparently has rented 8 Mile and/or got laid this weekend:
ALT HED: Poor Girl
Another in a long line of poker related songs comes from Phil Bellante who’s hoping to parlay his appearing on ESPN.com’s Poker Edge podcast with Phil Gordon and Andrew Feldman into a few sales of his song “All In”. Here’s Phil performing his song live at the Adams Avenue Street Fair in San Diego back in September:
You can get more info on a website dedicated to the song as it appears it’ll be getting exposure on other poker programming in the coming months.
Technically I think Madsen is the MC, and really, it all would work better (for my hedline at least) if he were to rhyme-partner with Scotty Nguyen … but oh well, this still made me LOL:
ALT HED: P.W.A. Straight Outta Bellagio
@GlobalGamingBiz generally speaking, of course. A reliable source? An imaginary source? The gov's maid's husband's poker buddy's dog sitter?
RT @VanessaRousso: My bathroom at The Seven Hotel in Paris has a chess board between two toilets! This place rocks! http://t.co/VRVtqAVQ
RT @PokerScar: Obv big news today in Nevada about GoldenNugget and Chili partnership for internet poker; link direct to PR -> http://t.co/y8ODEduu
@skputts the only difference between Madonna and Keith Richards is that I could interpret the words she was singing.
