Poker and Sci-Fi

Citizen of the Galaxy, IIRC? If it's not that then it's from Starship Troopers.

Not really, Shrinky. I used to edit a small sf/fantasy/horror magazine, many, many years back, long before teh Interweb age. Heinlein wouldn't be in my top 10 among those genres, but I have read maybe 15 of his books.

What I also used to do was design and write (and do lots of other stuff) concerning the production of trading-card sets, particularly non-sports stuff in the early '90s, though I did several sports set as well. Marilyn Monroe, Popeye, Ertl (toy tractors and such), Coors Beer, Miller Beer, some comics sets, maybe half a dozen more entertainment properties. Lots of input and set-configuration stuff on things I didn't write, and I used to travel quite a bit to odd locations to research and consult on these matters. Should I tell you about the time I wrote the "bible" for one cheesy, short-lived comic book? Or the time I jacked up Joe Montana's lawyer? How about the time I answered the phone and caught an unwarranted earful from Muhammed Ali's agent, and busted my butt for two days to keep my boss's ass from being sued? How about the time one of our sleaziest clients fired his lead sales guy, while the guy was lying in a hospital bed getting treatment for Hodgkin's disease?

I've seen weird, wacky things during my eclectic existence. One time, doing research at Coors, I walked over to a dusty bookshelf stocked full of things slowly decaying away, opening up what looks like an antique brewery manual, and discovered I'm holding one of the original, hand-signed books that Adolph Coors lugged over from Germany himself. Just sitting there. Rotting away.

Maybe it's why the poker world doesn't awe me. Seen it. Done it.