Comfortable and Furious

Lights, Casino, Action!

Whilst many enhance their gambling experience by playing live casino online, there are other ways to keep your evening casino themed. A lot of popular films and television programs from current day, to the back-catalogue of yesteryear, include delicious little slices of your favourite gambling games. In most fantasy casino scenes, the stakes are higher than you’d normally see in real life and the lucky winner is deduced within a couple seconds of joining the table. If only! But say what you will, the addition of a casino in any thriller film does give it that extra edge, no matter how unrealistic it may be.

1995’s aptly named Casino sees Robert De Niro play the role of Ace Rothstein, a mob associate that runs a large portion of Las Vegas casinos for the Chicago Outfit back in the 70’s. De Niro’s character liberally exercises the casino’s no-nonsense approach to unsightly visitors when he finds a bootless cowboy resting his weary feet on top of a casino table. Nowadays, you’re less likely to be thrown head-first out of a venue for such a blunder- although you’d definitely be asked to leave – but who doesn’t love a little bit of drama?

Rain Man was one of the first major films to be allowed to shoot at the iconic Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.Their Emperors Suite, in the Forum Tower, is where the Babbitt brothers went on to spend the night, after winning big at the Blackjack tables. To this day, the Emperors Suite is still referred to as the “Rain Man Suite”, in honour of their win. Rain Man gives its viewers a glimpse into the prohibited world of card-counting. Although not officially illegal, the act of counting cards is extremely frowned upon, and if someone is believed to be doing so then they will most likely be forced to leave the establishment, possibly even blacklisted.

Card counting technically isn’t even cheating, unless an external device or “helpers” are used. Charlie “rain man” Babbit didn’t need any kind of aid, as we’re sure you’ll remember, due to his superhuman and multi-functioning brain. However, when his brother goes bust – pulling a Queen after already having a hand of 18 – Charlie finds that he can use this information to deduce that there are a lot of queens left, to his advantage. Personally, we’d say just leave it to good old Tom Cruise!

No whistle stop tour of Casino themed films would be complete without a visit to the respected addition to the James Bond family – Casino Royale. The scene in question is one in which Mr. Bond sits down at the Poker table beside three weary opponents, each convinced that they hold the winning combination of cards in their hot, sweaty hands. With an unbelievably high $120 million in the pot, the players begin to show their hands. One player reveals a Flush – holding the king and queen of spades – which is the fifth strongest hand in Poker. The second player then comes forward with a Full House, a pair of eights, fourth strongest available in the game. Then the camera pans to the villain of the movie, infamous criminal banker Le Chiffre. His hand consists of another Full House, but higher than the previous player’s. Le Chiffre smiles smugly at his cards, confident in his victory as he already holds one of the aces, ruling out a Four of a Kind anywhere else on the table. This means that the only hand that could beat his bid for the win is a Straight Flush. Now, I wonder what one Mister James Bond must be holding in his hand?


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