Talkin’ ’Bout Luck, Talkin’ To PKRGSSP

Just a quick note today to point to a couple of other items to satisfy your reading and/or listening pleasure.

First, I wrote something for the Epic Poker blog that was posted yesterday regarding the new HBO series Luck starring Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte. Those of you who have seen any or all of the first four episodes have noticed there are quite a few poker scenes, all involving one character, Jerry (Jason Gedrick).

I wrote about the way poker seems to have been presented thus far on the show -- as a kind of “leak” that is obviously detrimental to Jerry and potentially to his friends with whom he has business relationships. The post is titled “The Pull of Poker in HBO’s Luck.”

Incidentally, when I wrote the piece I was mindful of the fact that a lot of people watch TV differently these days, saving episodes on the DVR or planning later to watch them consecutively on DVDs or in other ways rather than watching week-to-week. I do get into some specifics regarding scenes in which Jerry plays poker, but give a warning in the article regarding which paragraphs to skip if you wish to avoid “spoilers.”

The show is fairly gripping, perhaps more so for those interested in horse racing and/or gambling. There are a lot of threads going with little having been resolved during the first four shows -- kind of a “slow build” that perhaps takes into account how viewers now often don’t watch one show per week, but many at a time.

I’m guessing some will find Luck less immediately engaging than The Sopranos or other, similar “high end” dramas after which this series has clearly been patterned. But like I say, if you’re interested in poker and/or gambling, the show might be worth checking out.

The other item I wanted to let you know about was my appearing on The PKRGSSP Show last night on QuadJacks Radio. I was one of three guests, coming on in between my buddy Rich Ryan of PokerNews and the great tourney director Matt Savage. Had a lot of fun chatting with Jeff (a.k.a. our friend, Mr. Can-I-Buy-a-Vowel PKRGSSP) about blogging, my “Poker in American Film and Culture” class, and other topics of the day.

They uploaded the show onto YouTube overnight, and so if you’re interested you can listen. I come on around the 23-minute mark.



By the way, the QJ guys photoshopped that picture of me that pops up when I’m on, and in fact did an uncanny job of estimating my teaching disguise. Although I do like to unbutton that top button and loosen my tie just a little.