Say it with Steak this Father’s Day with the luckiest of all gifts. This Sunday, Heliot Steak House inside the infamous Hippodrome Casino are hosting a mammoth treat for all Dad’s who love nothing more than a hearty Steak Supper. Treat Dad to A Giant Steak Supper which includes a free drink and you’ll be rewarded with a £50 Win Chip for Dad to have a little flutter. Select from a number of mouth-watering cuts of their USDA Prime Beef Steaks and not only will you be upgraded to a large Steak for free but you can also choose from a free pint of a glass of wine for Dad too.
So Steak your bets and choose from London’s only Crap’s Table, Poker or a number of fantastic Casino games with your £50 Chip. Needless to say this is only one for the big kids as the Casino operates a strict over 21’s policy.
James Bond, one of Britain’s most highly regarded film franchises returns for his 24th outing in SPECTRE, touring the world, with his out of control budget. Daniel Craig returns for the fourth time as 007 with his stone-sullen demeanor, this time with a rugged charm, wit and dry sense of humour, but that’s British comedy for you.
Also returning to the helm is Bond’s heavyweight director, Sam Mendes, to finish off what he started and to wrap Daniel Craig’s Bond saga, in a neat bow-tie for the next time he needs it for his tux. This includes tying up all the loose ends and even making a tad bit of sense out of Quantum Of Solace, remember that film.
SPECTRE, opens up in Mexico City, the day of the dead, on a truly spectacular sequence, one of the best Bond openings, that could have been saved for a finale, but it prepares you and excites you for the ride ahead. It has all the niches of a Bond sequence, except a cheesy one liner. But one of the best contributes to this opening sequence, is Hoyte Van Hoytema’s cinematography and his one shot opening shot that opens up Spectre, truly steals the scene. I bet you, thought I was going tell you about the vertigo-inducing helicopter fight sequence, but that’s just another highlight of Spectre’s opening
But I will tell you this, once Sam Smith’s Bond ballad plays with it’s dark glitz and glamour, this maybe your cue for the toilet, to prepare yourself for the 148 minutes ahead. As the iconic opening titles alongside ‘Writing On The Wall’ just seem lackluster after it’s opening sequence.
Spectre continues the themes glittered throughout Craig’s saga as Ian Fleming’s James Bond, unearthing his origins and concluding the spectacular Skyfall. In which all the events that Bond has encountered from Royale to Skyfall, have led to the sinister and shadowy organisation known as SPECTRE, which any Bond fan will recognise the name, as well as uncovering the identity of the organisation mysterious leader, Franz Oberhauser.
Franz Oberhauser, played by Christopher Waltz, who given limited his screen time, his cunning and brilliant. He fits the image and persona of your typical bond villain to perfection. But also let’s be reminded that this is Christopher Waltz, after all, anything with him in the cast, is made better by his performance.
Dr Madeline Swann, played by the stunning and underrated, Lea Seydoux performs the best to her acting capabilities, given to that, which her character is written. While Dr Swann, has her moments, but for myself she just felt like a rehash of Vesper Lynn’s character from Casino Royale.
Hinx, played by the menacing Batista, an individual clearly a better actor than he is a wrestler, but for a fun fact, he actually re-enacted the torture scene from Casino Royale for his audition. But unfortunately, for Hinx, despite how much of a physical challenge he poses to Bond, he never gets that shining moment, aside from his vicious intro. As well as his encounter with Bond between train carriages, which brings memoir to From Russia With Love. Although underused, one thing I did love about Hinx, is he doesn’t say nothing, as well that he looks like Oddjob on steroids.
The cunning C played by Andrew Scott is another character introduced in Spectre. A villain that not only threatens Bond but also M, Q and even Moneypenny back in London, with wanting to revolutionise security measures for not only Queen and country, but for the rest of the world… Starting with dismantling the 00 programme. This brings a new story element to Bond, especially how security is handled now and also recently such events as Snowden. Which the dynamics between M and C are entertaining.
M still delivers a tour de force performance, continuing where Judi Dench left off, as the head of M16, in which I’d gladly watch his character in his own spin-off. But personally I wanted more of M, same as for Moneypenny
My biggest pet peeve with this film was the physical under use of Naomi Harris’s Moneypenny. I wanted to see more of Harris’s Moneypenny kicking ass as she did in Skyfall. Which I loved Moneypenny being more physical, while in Spectre, she feels like she taking Moneypenny back to the old version of being an assistant and putting her character behind a desk.
But on a plus note Ben Whishaw has finally found his inner Desmond Llewelyn as Q, which is played with wittingly in contrast to the old Bond films. In which he steals every scene that he is involved in and cracks the joke with 007 about his behaviour.
Spectre spares no cost on its action sequences and it has some of the best in the franchise, especially when it plays with your nostalgic towards the franchise, which are made so much better by Hoyte’s cinematography, especially with car chase through Rome, and Bond bringing a plane to a car chase. While Mendes has set the expectations for the future of the Bond franchise and future Bond films, Spectre just doesn’t cut it above Skyfall even with its dual twist, that lacks the emotional punch to the gut as Skyfall did. The two-way twist is as predictable as a cheesy Bond one-liner from one of its villains.
Spectre feels like Mendez attempted to pull off Nolan by returning to the franchise he has molded and recreated the mythos behind Britain’s most beloved and misogynistic secret agent, but this all feels like The Dark Knight Rises of Bond films, while it’s predecessor felt like Batman Begins… Anyone would concur that Craig and Mendes have done for Bond, what Nolan and Bale did for Batman. Although regarding the future of Bond, I wouldn’t mind seeing Christopher Nolan helm a Bond picture, especially when he has already expressed interest. But wherever the future of Bond lies, after Daniel Craig’s Bond saga, any Bond installment and follow-up will be met with high expectations after Skyfall.
Breaking the bank at Monte Carlo is something we all dream of at least once in a while. It represents a wonderfully luxuriant fantasy that draws on the unmistakable glamour of the Principality along with the fairytale simplicity of a life transformed by nothing more than the turn of a card. The Azure allure of the Mediterranean, sweeping palm-lined boulevards, yachts and limousines, movies stars and beauty queens…. no wonder it is such a Hollywood staple; who would not want a champagne lifestyle like that?
Life can be every bit as remarkable as fairytales sometimes, and every once in a while someone does disappear into the night with a fortune. A massive casino win is one of those dreams that occasionally really does come true. The glitz and the romance of Monte Carlo itself may not always be part of the story but, for those who win big, such a picturesque destination quickly becomes a realistic option. (Image: http://farm1.staticflickr.com/79/230800331_09562765c6_z.jpg )
The Man who broke the bank…
The idea of actually breaking the bank at Monte Carlo all started in 1891 when English entrepreneur Charles Wells scooped an enormous roulette win in Monte Carlo’s Grand Casino to the tune of a million francs. Those were the days when a million francs represented a king’s ransom. His win became so renowned that a popular song was written in his honour. Whether it was the song itself or the dream it described, “The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo” remained a music hall favourite from the 1890s well into the 1940s. Hollywood got in on the act as well in the form of a 1935 romantic comedy made to recreate Wells’ phenomenal win. That one in a million opportunity is one of those ideas that, it seems, no one can resist.
Wells is, indirectly at least, the most famous casino big winner, but he is not the only one. In 2000, humble cocktail waitress Cynthia Jay-Brennan enjoyed a return that was every bit as extraordinary. On a night out to celebrate her mother-in-law’s birthday, Jay-Brennan took a turn at the Megabucks slot machine, a state-wide lottery jackpot that had been rolling over for several weeks. On her ninth pull, she dropped the small matter of $34,959,458.56. At that point she was able to give up her waitressing job at – believe it or not – the Monte Carlo Casino in Las Vegas.
More recently, the online world has started producing a steady stream of gaming millionaires. In 2009, Finland’s Patrik Antonius won the (then) biggest ever online poker pot, pocketing a massive $1,356,947 in a single hand. And the world-renowned poker star Phil Ivey – ‘The Tiger Woods of Poker’ – was believed to have won close to $2million playing online – and that is in addition to the many millions the has picked up in person at some of the world’s most exclusive gaming rooms. And the roster of online winners keeps growing with popular weekly tournaments such as the PokerStars Sunday Millions
The Sunday Million has become one of the world’s biggest regular poker events. It is the online equivalent of the Monte Carlo Casino in your own front room. Every week, players from all around the world, including some of the biggest names in the professional game, are able to play together online for a guaranteed million dollar prize pool. It is a forum that allows everyone to turn that dream of a luxury lifestyle into reality. Low stakes qualifying tournaments are run throughout the week in the run up to the big event, with initial stakes as low as just one dollar. There is no bar to anyone with skill, judgement and knowledge of the game going all the way to that first prize. Perhaps not surprisingly, the Sunday Million attracts tens of thousands of players every week. And every week one of those players walks away with a massive first prize.
There are numerous other online tournaments, but none can match the scale of the Sunday Million. And, of course, there are gamblers who prefer alternatives to poker. Ivey is by no means the only high roller out there.
The world’s most famous ‘run’
Between 1992 and 1995, Archie “The Greek” Karas earned celebrity status in the US when he worked a meagre $50 up to a cool $40million. Karas’ feat was not achieved overnight. The one-time ship waiter’s win was the culmination of a series of increasingly extravagant bets that became famous as ‘The Run’. He combined betting on games of pool as well as a variety of more conventional casino games, but over the course of that incredible period he just kept winning bigger and bigger amounts. What was even more remarkable about Karas’ story is that he then went on to lose all of that money. He is, it goes without saying, an intriguing figure.
Karas has some justification when he claims to have played with more money than anyone else alive, but he attributes his success to a paradoxical relationship with his wealth. Famously, he has declared, “Money means nothing to me. I don’t value it… The things I want, money can’t buy: health, freedom, love, happiness. I don’t care about money, so I have no fear.”
Following in the footsteps of Wells, Karas’ story is set to be given the Hollywood treatment. Hollywood just cannot resist the extravagant allure of someone breaking the bank. But as Karas’ example shows, a big win is not an end in itself; it is merely one part of a wider story. Living happily ever after is all well and good in fairy stories and it makes perfect sense for Hollywood scriptwriters, but real life is invariably a little more complicated. What we say we want and what we really want may not be the same thing.
An unromantic observation
F Scott Fitzgerald, author of the Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night – both books that deal with the romantic allure of the rich – famously took the Hollywood view of wealth. Perhaps not entirely coincidentally, the phenomenal success of Gatsby in the 1920s had turned Fitzgerald into an overnight millionaire. He was the jazz age equivalent of a modern star like Benedict Cumberbatch. (Image: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3036/3009099385_4f0cc26241_z.jpg?zz=1 )
During a summer sojourn in the South of France, he once shared a famous exchange with his contemporary and friend Ernest Hemingway. It is a conversation that offers a telling backdrop to that fantasy idea of breaking the bank. “The rich are different from the rest of us” Fitzgerald had whimsically suggested. “No,” was Hemingway’s pithy reply, “They just have more money.”
Hemingway’s characteristically sharp put-down casts the whole Monte Carlo fantasy into a very different light. Hemingway, it is fair to say, would have had some time for the unsentimental and objective way that Karas appears to deal with his changing fortunes. Like Karas, Wells’ Monte Carlo millions did not last long. When Wells returned to England the money he had won stayed with the casino. He had played it all away. It is the sort of story Hemingway would have relished.
The poker lesson
As wise – or as cynical – as Hemingway was in his exchange with the starry-eyed Fitzgerald, he was clearly on the same page as the likes of Phil Ivey. Within the cold-eyed world of professional poker, money is divorced from its day-to-day utility. Instead, it becomes merely a part of the game, a means to play for bigger stakes and even greater wins. Building a bankroll is not about living the Monte Carlo lifestyle, it is simply a matter of demonstrating the quality of a person’s skill at the game.
And that wholly practical logic is the antidote to the ‘happy ever after’ sentimentality that is the stuff of music hall songs and Hollywood happy endings. We may all fantasise about breaking the bank at Monte Carlo but whilst the tangible reality of a mountain of cash is wholly achievable, realising the glamorous fantasy of a life of ease and enduring good health and happiness is something else altogether. Breaking the bank at Monte Carlo or picking up the Sunday Million will not make any of us a different person. It will just mean we have more money.
Something interesting has happened to humanity in the last ten years – we’ve all gone mad
for casino games. Perhaps it’s the promise of a little bit of glamour and escapism, coupled
with the influence of James Bond and the stories of bedroom gamblers who made it big (like
Chris Moneymaker).
No doubt the relatively recent ability to travel to Las Vegas from most major cities has
something to do with it as well. Televised poker certainly played a part a few years ago, but perhaps one of the biggest causes of this explosion in the popularity of casino games has been the spread of apps for smartphones and tablets. Ubiquitous Wi-Fi connections now
allow us to play roulette or poker pretty much anywhere.
New Players
For new players – and clearly there are plenty of them – it’s important to be able to get
reliable information about trusted sites, bonuses and the various strategies and systems that claim to be able to improve your win rate. Roulette is one of the most popular games online, as well as in land-based casinos, partly because it’s easy to understand.
New players will inevitably come across the Martingale roulette system at some point, but
beware; there’s a serious downside to it, explained in an article at Fortune Palace. The fact that, in modern casinos, every table now has a limit means that even with a huge bankroll,
the Martingale system can leave you very broke, very quickly!
Set A Limit
If you’re new to casino games, whether online or otherwise, remember Rule Number One:
set a limit on what you’re prepared to lose, assume you will lose it, and walk away when
you’ve done so. The point, after all, is that it’s supposed to be fun! Remember that, in the
long term, the house always, always wins.
Certain games – like blackjack for example – can offer better odds (in the long term) to players than others. Texas Hold ‘Em has enjoyed perhaps the biggest surge in popularity of all casino games, and one of the reasons is that, while it takes a few minutes to grasp the basics, experienced players will tell you that you never stop learning.
Celebrity Players
Hold ‘Em has drawn in a raft of celebrity players, some more successful than others. Tobey
“Spider-Man” Maguire is said to have won millions of dollars in Hollywood home games, while Jennifer Tilly (currently the voice of Bonnie in “Family Guy”) does pretty well as a semi-
pro player.
Ben Affleck is another noted Hollywood poker player, though after a big win ten years ago his success at the game seems to have diminished somewhat. It’s not just Hollywood types that play though – Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps is reported to be an enthusiastic participant and keen to improve. Ex-footballer Teddy Sheringham and Teutonic tennis ace Boris Becker are also regularly to be found poring over their hands.
So if you’re tempted by casino games, remember that the chances of winning big are small,
keep it fun, and get good advice – there’s plenty of it out there…
(Images courtesy of hardboiledpoker.com, pokerfanatics.com, zimbio.com)
If you’re anything like me, then you’ll be pretty addicted to the Internet – from constantly checking your social media accounts, catching up on the latest current affairs, finding the latest deals on the latest fashions, and even, playing online games to help and cure your boredom on a rainy day.
But, I often find that it’s enjoying the latter that often leaves me in a little bit of a predicament – I never know where to find the best games. Whether I’m on my lunch break, or looking for a little bit of entertainment in the evenings or at weekends, I always have trouble finding a great game that leaves me captivated and enthralled. The Internet has so many capabilities these days that anyone can create games at the touch of a button, often meaning that gaming fanatics such as you and I are left to try and trawl through all of the spam just to find a fun new game.
Well, to help you on your quest to find great games online, here are a few tried and tested ways to help you wade through the spam sites, helping you to find – and play – those great games straight away.
1. Read Forums
If you’re looking for an amazing new game to try out and are open to new suggestions on what games to try, then gaming forums are a great place to start. Gaming forums are quite often filled with a plethora of gaming fanatics just like you, all eager to trying out the latest new games, express their thoughts to them, as well as give other users hints and tips to help them get the most out of a particular game – so you can see exactly what other people think about new games that are released, and from them you can determine whether or not the game is worth giving a go.
2. Check Out Reviews
Now, I bet if you own a smartphone and you happen to love games then there’s also a high chance that the app store on your mobile phone has become one of your best technological friends. Why? Because aside from letting you download games at your fingertips, it’s one of the best platforms for being able to quickly see what games have newly been released. And what’s more, with many app stores featuring their very own top charts, they also allow you to see what games are good, and which ones aren’t – thanks to their user review and rating system. Now, although I’m talking about using your mobile phone to find great games here, it’s a great way to make sure you’re not running into those pesky gaming spam websites – because other users will have done all that work for you. Simply download the top rated games from your app store’s charts and you’re guaranteed to have endless hours of fun! If your mobile phone’s display is just a little too small for you to fully enjoy your chosen game, then many apps nowadays allow you to connect online and download the app on your tablet, and even, on your laptop.
3. Subscribe To A Popular Gaming Blog
I love to find out all of the latest news when it comes to technology and gaming, and one of the best ways that helps me to do this is through gaming blogs. As well as regularly checking them online, many blogs allow you to physically subscribe to them. By simply entering your email address into the blogs system, the site will proceed to email you with any new blog posts, articles or news updates, so you can stay updated whenever you are. So, if a new blog post comes in about an amazing new game that’s been released, you’ll get notified straight away so you can download it as soon as you get home!
And, what’s more, subscribing to a popular online gaming blog will mean that the blog will also physically do all of the sifting of the spam sites from the good sites, for you too. For example, many gaming blogs will feature only the highest quality casinos, games and apps, so their readers can be rest assured that they’ll only ever receive updates of the highest quality entertainment and sites.
This article was contributed by Stuart Harrison, an experienced gaming and casino writer. You can find more about Stuart, here.
