"'I
should love that,' she said, 'but will you give me one of
your lucky numbers to play on?' 'I have no lucky numbers,'
said Bond unsmilingly."
James Bond
is an expert card player and gambler and the books Casino
Royale and Moonraker
both feature gripping card scenes. Casino
Royale features Bond playing high stakes against
a SMERSH operative at the Baccarat tables in a plot to bankrupt
him.
When it came to the 2006 film, baccarat was substituted
with Texas
Hold'em poker thanks to the increasing popularity of
the game. Bond plays a thrilling high stakes game against
Le Chiffre with some big hands in the final show-down.
In Moonraker
Bond has been asked by M to investigate, in a private capacity,
a prominent member of M's club who is suspected of cheating
at bridge. Before meeting M at the club, Bond picks up his
copy of Scarne On Cards, a guide to cheating, and
practices The Mechanic's Grip, Palming and Nullifying the
Cut.
In addition to Baccarat and Bridge, James
Bond plays Roulette. In Casino
Royale he played complicated progression systems
on the even chances while getting his hand in at the tables
and in Thrilling Cities, Fleming gives the reader
what he believed to be "the only way of gambling with
a capital of ten pounds with a reasonable prospect of making
the price of a good dinner". Bear in mind that this
was first published in 1963, so inflation has taken hold
since being written. The method that Fleming describes is
known as the Labouchère system and is as follows:
Change your money into chips of the value
of the minimum stake - you need a hundred or so chips. Sit
down next to the table opposite the red or black even chance
and take out a card on which you write the numbers 1 to
5 down the page. Your first bet, placed on the big red diamond,
is the sum of the top and bottom figures on your card -
5 plus 1 equals six chips. If you win, cross out the 5 and
the 1 on the card and then bet the sum of the next two top
and bottom numbers - 4 plus 2.
However, each time you lose, write the amount
of your loss at the bottom of your column. Your next bet
is the sum of the top and bottom numbers not scratched out
on your card. When all the numbers are scratched out your
win will amount to the sum of all the numbers in your original
five figure column, or worth fifteen chips.
At this point you should walk out of the casino.
