Lucky Charms?

Anyone that knows me, will know I have 3 major loves in my life that I take to incredible extremes – Dundee United, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Poker.

I host a weekly poker game for the Scottish Comedy scene that generally involves playing cards, talking shite and listening to one of my many Tom Petty DVDs. One night after I was singing along to the songs while playing my cards someone asked me if I went out my way to memorise all the lyrics, at which point, fellow comic Mark Nelson said “It’s on in this flat so fucking often that even I know all the fucking words”...as I said – extremes...

Now I’m not the type of person that believes in lucky charms or that walking under a ladder is bad luck – it may be a stupid thing to do as the likeliness of something falling on you is greatly increased, but I wouldn’t deem it unlucky. In saying this, I do have/have had certain things; I suppose people may call them charms that I carry with me for certain situations. For instance, for the past few years I’ve always had the same small charm in my pocket when doing a stand-up gig – not because it’s lucky, rather it reminds me of good times and hopefully helps put me in a positive frame of mind before the show. I also have a poker chip I use as a card guard when playing – again, not for luck, but for practical purposes and sentimental value. Do people that have “lucky” items genuinely believe they work? Would Kennedy have avoided being assassinated if he had had a lucky charm with him? Perhaps only if that lucky charm was a full size suit of armour – anyway, I digress...

I recently received a lovely new card guard for my poker exploits – a commemorative chip from the Hard Rock Cafe, Las Vegas, advertising a Tom Petty gig at their casino. The chip is gorgeous and emblazoned around the outside with the words:

“BABY, EVEN THE LOSERS GET LUCKY SOMETIMES” and on the flip-side, "EVEN THE LOSERS KEEP A LITTLE BIT OF PRIDE”

The first bit is certain fact when it comes to poker – I’ve seen some horrendous plays win some fabulous amounts of money, however the second bit is definitely not always the case – I’ve seen some losers at the card table throw pride to the wind and hurl abuse (or sometimes the occasional punch) in the direction of the player that knocked them out the game – but it’s a brilliant sentiment and a truly excellent song.