only the other evening, i remarked to mrs washingmachinepost, that i was surpised at the increased number of tv adverts promoting online gambling, whether the so-called virtual casino, or one of the many varieties of online bingo. aside from the particular ineptness of the adverts themselves, i can only assume that there is a large percentage of the british population glued to their laptops, tablets and phones joining in this new set of hobbies. peak-time television advertising is hardly what you and i would refer to as cheap, let alone the costs of making an advert in the first place.
it is relatively common knowledge that ultimately, the banker always wins. though i may have missed the press release, i cannot recall any news of a bookmakers or casino having gone into administration. it seems there is an endless queue of those willing to burn through their earnings or savings in the often fruitless quest to improve the bank balance.
however, no matter my personal opinion of gambling, i can't quite see how online poker works. though i have no idea whatsoever how to play the game (i struggle with 'snap'), i was always led to believe that much of the skill involved was centred round the archetypal poker face. the ability to bet on your own hand of cards was augmented by that of intuiting how others were faring by examining their faces. like many of a certain generation, my introduction to the existence of the game was garnered via western movies. saloons in the west were populated by tables round which cowboys would play endless games of poker. many scenes dwelt on the inscrutability of those playing.
so, when it comes to christmas time and dinner with family, the mere mention of card games has me listing several excuses that might obviate the dining extravaganza altogether. except this year i was able to undermine any distress by taking along my own set of very different cards. conceived by condor cycles' claire beaumont and illustrated by rupert smissen, these trump cards bring a means of enjoyment for the cognoscenti while offering the opportunity to educate the masses in the path of the sporting velocipedinist.
basically speaking, each card features an illustration of a specific cyclist, accompanied by a numerical rating of their abilities in particular categories. for example, roger de vlaeminck is surmised as follows: panache-45, notoriety-47, wins-77, climbing-57, sprinting-68, toughness-79. once all cards are dealt and player one decided, you can either opt for playing the top card's principal character's attribute, or try to be more strategic and opt for one you think might fare better in the long term.
three games on christmas day had me win one, but provide salutory lessons to my family on how to pronounce not only vlaeminck, but louison bobet, joep zoetemelk and fiorenzi magni, the latter with a toughness rating of 89. christmas may well be done and dusted for another year, but there are still those long transfers between stages. what better way to get to know your team-mates than a set of cycling stars trump cards?
the cycling stars trump cards are published by laurence king publishing and available as of january 2015.
saturday 3 january 2015
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