A new study has confirmed that the vast majority of poker games end with an irate player upturning the table, followed by a violent argument that descends quickly into a gunfight.
In 78% of poker games that end in the gunfight, one of the players will dash out from cover and try and scoop up as many chips as possible as bullets fly around him.
“Yeah, that seems ‘bout right,” said Stewart ‘Aces’ James, one of the world’s most renowned poker players.
“I was playin’ down in the World Series in Vegas just the other month. Fella got dealt a bad hand, table went over, bullets flying.
“TV cameras cut out the gunfight. Seems strange to me. Would have thought that a gunfight would be popular with them folks watching.”
So prevalent have the upturned table and gunfight been throughout history that, in the fifties, the process was written into the official poker rulebook, and the person who scooped up the most chips during the gunfight could actually be named the winner of the game.
However, that rule has since been removed and convention now dictates that the upturned table and gunfight is simply seen as the signal to end to the game.
Despite the dangers inherent in an upturned poker table and gunfight, Mr James is reluctant to see the tradition end.
“No, upturning the table and havin’ a gunfight? That’s just poker players’ way. I like it,” he confirmed.
“B’sides, poker don’t always end that way. Sometimes, a bunch of aces fall down from the sleeve of someone, then we all take him outside and shoot him.
“That’s just poker.”
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Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again to feature surprising number of Joy Division songs
The sequel to the huge 2008 hit Mamma Mia is due out this year and, in a surprising move, will feature a number of songs from Manchester post-punk band – Joy Division.
A clip from the film has appeared on social media showing a pregnant Sophie, played by Amanda Seyfried, striding purposefully along a beach and breaking into Atrocity Exhibition from the second Joy Division album Closer.
Starting as a simple solo piece, with Sophie singing defiantly into the night sky, she is joined by other members of the cast and ultimately by a full brass band until, audaciously it is transformed into an epic disco bossa nova version of the song that famously addressed Joy Division singer Ian Curtis’ increasing struggle with his epilepsy.
“We wanted to broaden the musical palate with the second movie,” said director Ol Parker
“We tried a number of things but the songs of Joy Division really seemed to fit the frothy musical comedy milieu.”
The film will also feature a hilarious and sexy scene of night-time mistaken identity set to a jazzy version of New Dawn Fades.
She’s Lost Control will appear as a Pierce Brosnan rap and Colin Firth will perform a hilarious eighties funk version of Dead Souls.
Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again will be released later this year and producers are not holding out a huge amount of hope for soundtrack sales.
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