It’s how the cards fall, Ma’am

Fascinating report today in the news, about UK TV presenter and journalist Victoria Coren Mitchell. She has just made poker history, becoming the first ever two-time winner of the European Poker Tour (EPT) by winning the latest season of the tournament in Sanremo, Italy.

This is no mean feat, as she beat off 556 competitors to win a cash prize of £391,000 (476,100 euros) and a watch worth more than £4,000.

She knocked out fellow competitor Jordan Westmorland and was left at the table with Italian Giacomo Fundaro at the 98th EPT main event.

In London in 2006 Victoria became the first woman to win an EPT event for £500,000 prize money. She is the daughter of the late broadcaster Alan Coren and is married to comedian David Mitchell. Well-deserved win; the word is that she was known for her poker playing long before becoming a presenter. Victoria presents the quirky BBC4 Only Connect quiz programme, which my wife and I enjoy.

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Not in the same league, but you too could be a winner if you purchased this e-book, a great collection of short stories about gambling, entitled Livin’ on Jacks and Queens available from online outlets (see below).

Legendary western writer and noted anthologist Robert J. Randisi offers up a winning hand with fourteen never-before-published tales of the Old West, each revolving around the central theme of gambling.

Robert J Randisi is an American author who writes in the detective and Western genres. He has authored more than 500 published books and has edited more than 30 anthologies of short stories. He co-founded and edited Mystery Scene magazine and co-founded the American Crime Writers League. He founded The Private Eye Writers of America in 1981, where he created the Shamus Award. He managed to do all that and yet he’s three years younger than me; that’s steaming.

Among the stories you can expect to be dealt in the collection are:

Jacks or Better by Johnny Boggs
A Cold Deck by Phil Dunlap
The Reckoning by Randy Lee Eickhoff
It Takes a Gambler by Jerry Guin
Odds on a Lawman by Christine Matthews
Pay the Ferryman by Matthew P. Mayo
White Face, Red Blood by Rod Miller
Hazard by Nik Morton
Acey Deucy by John Nesbitt
The Mark of an Imposter: An Evelyn Page/Calvin Carter Adventure by Scott Parker
Horseshoe and Pistols by Robert J. Randisi
Too Many Aces by Charlie Steel
Missouri Boat Race by Chuck Tyrell
The Legend of ‘Blind Ned’ Baldwin by Lori Van Pelt

Purchase from Amazon.com here

Purchase from Amazon.co.uk here