Thu, 08/18/2011 – 05:41 – PokerPages Staff

Why talk of how great poker is, when you can sing about it? Find out the top five songs dedicated to the game.

Three Card Trick
This song features the idea of a crooked poker player is used as a metaphor for a Britain in decline. In it, the player is “seized and forced to his knees and shot.” The song is from the album Cut the Crap.

Poker
This punk song was written by Electric Light Orchestra in the 1980s. As the title suggests, the band sings about the game of poker. However, it paints the darker side of the game with lyrics like, “The game, where gamblers rule the night and get your blood they might.”

Luck be a Lady
Frank Sinatra is renowned for his love of poker and gambling in general. He wrote this as a tribute to Las Vegas, where he had many disputes with casino bosses. He sums up the region in style: gambling, drinking and womanizing.

Ace of Spades
Similar in theme to Sinatra, this Motorhead song is also based on gambling, drinking and sex. The title of the song refers to the dead man’s hand or the hand Wild Bill Hicock (an American sheriff) had when he was shot dead while playing a game of poker. The song is from their fourth album, of the same name.

Viva Las Vegas
Written by Mort Shuman and Doc Pomus, this song was created as the title piece to George Sidney’s film of the same name. Originally sung by Elvis Presley, it didn’t really become a hit until it was re-released by the punk band, The Dead Kennedys, in the 1980s. Since then, it has had numerous other covers and been used in other films.

Sat, 04/09/2011 – 00:19 – PokerPages Staff

Sweden’s Supreme Court has ruled that the cash poker is predominantly a game of chance and not skill.

Lawmakers in the Scandinavian country have been attempting to clarify the situation since six poker players were arrested for organizing a Texas Hold’em tournament four years ago.

Two of the men involved received jail time in 2008 as laws in the country state that playing a game which is predominantly based on luck is against the law.

However, The Court of Appeal overturned that ruling in May 2009, stating that tournament play is skill based.

Judge Goran Lamberth outlined the details of the decision which upheld that ruling.

“We have found that the main tournament and its side tournaments were not random chance games, but that skill does come into it.”

Therefore, the tournament held in Grebbestad did not breach gambling laws in Sweden though those involved did receive fines for participating in luck based side games.

Lamberth went onto reveal that cash games were deemed to have a higher degree of luck because players can leave whenever they choose.

“The cash games constitute games that primarily depend on luck as in the meaning of chapter 16, article 14 of the Criminal Code, while the main tournament and side tournament (sit and go) do not constitute games of luck.”