Music is a big part of the whole poker scene. Somebody would be hard pressed to look around the room at any Texas holdem poker tournament and not see a bunch of poker players sitting around the poker table with ear buds hanging from their heads. With this in mind, we are starting a 10 part series of the best poker related music of all time. While most these songs will obviously tie in to the sport, there is a lot of music out there that has nothing to do with Texas Holdem, poker players, Omaha poker, or any other form of the game. Some of it is just good to listen to while playing. Personally, I gravitate to Manowar, and have found the Slipknot CD “All Hope is Gone” is especially poignant when things are going my way at the poker table. With luck, the title of that CD applies to my opponents, not my own bankroll. But I digress. We will start the countdown with a recent song, one most Texas Holdem fans, poker tournament competitors, and poker players are all familiar with. Number 10 is “Poker Face” by Lady Gaga.
Personally, I am counting the seconds until Ms. Gaga’s fifteen minutes of fame expire. She dresses in a manner that would get a thumbs up from Ace Freely of KISS, and while having the sort of body that could make the most repressed middle aged man experience puberty all over again, the persona she has created is rather annoying. With that said, her song, “Poker Face” has been a huge international hit and one that is in the iPods of most folks sitting around a poker table. Its copious references to Texas Holdem have not only brought attention to the sport but have made the song a favorite with poker players across the globe. Of course every line about the game is the sort of double entendres that make the classic “Duran Duran” hit “Hungry Like the Wolf” seem like a nursery rhyme by comparison. The kind of poker she is describing is obviously not played at a poker table or during a poker tournament but rather a bedroom…probably one with a mirrored ceiling and a trapeze in it.
Like most overplayed songs, poker players and the general public will tire of the good Lady’s antics and start humming other ditties around the poker table and at Texas holdem poker tournaments. Of course that is conventional wisdom speaking. The last time we heard from somebody as outrageous as her it was the 80’s. Another young lady with odd fashion sense and really good instincts for the camera was also being prematurely labeled a “one hit wonder”. 26 years after her first hit, Madonna is still around, so we may not be done with Lady Gaga so soon. We may have to put up with players humming her songs at live games and poker tournaments for years to come.
