Poker Night

You got the beer, fresh decks of cards, sandwiches stacked like casino odds . . . what more could you possibly need? Music, friends, music. It's the safest bet you'll ever make, and we've got the perfect soundtrack for your next poker night, right here. If ever a song lyric offered a hard-won slice of useful advice, it's "you gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em," from Kenny Rogers' monument to the ultimate five-card stud, "The Gambler." Who better to personify the high-stakes high hopes of a glitzy Vegas gambler than the Chairman of the Board, Frank Sinatra, in "Luck Be a Lady"? And just to remind us that for every winner there's at least one loser, the Animals' Eric Burdon belts out a bluesy tale of bad men and bad luck in "House of the Rising Sun."

In Next Steps, we'll hear from a lady who feels lucky, a bluesman with a hard card to play, and more.

In our Next Steps, we're living by the river — from the Mississippi to the Pecos —and sweetening the pot with a little country and some blues. Jersey-born Nashville transplant Mary Chapin Carpenter bets against her horoscope and scores — not only the amorous attention of Dwight Yoakam and Lyle Lovett, but her second GRAMMY® — in the swivel-hipped swagger of "I Feel Lucky." Country Music Hall of Famer George Strait, his voice smooth as sippin' whisky, draws to his "Ace in the Hole," two-and-a-half chart-topping minutes of two-steppin', Bob Wills-style swingin' goodness. And while every deck has four jacks, there's only one John Lee Hooker, who conjures up the hard-dealin' soul of the Delta blues in his recording of "Jack o' Diamonds," first made popular back in the '20s by Blind Lemon Jefferson.

In Deep Cuts, we're gonna deal a hip-hop hand, wail with some harp, and bring on the swing, Texas-style.

Time to deal out the third hand of our Poker Night Essentials playlist, but this round, we've slipped a few wild cards into the deck, just to keep it interesting. While most of the great gambling tunes seem to spring from the Mississippi Delta or Lost Wages, Nevada, Linkin Park cofounder Mike Shinoda's alter ego, Fort Minor, spins an urban tale of hip-hop hazard in "Slip Out the Back." The late Texas harmonica king, Gary Primich, wails and moans his way through a briefcase full of electric blues in the hard-luck homily of "Bad Poker Hand." And while we're rolling through the Lone Star State, how could we pass up the motor-mouthed Western Swing of Tex Williams' "Downtown Poker Club," his Jack-Webb-on-speed delivery as matter-of-fact flat as the West Texas badlands.

Like cigars, convertibles, and Democrats, poker's raged back from near obscurity to pop culture paradise as the new millennium's first decade hurtles toward a close. The World Series of Poker draws nearly as many fans as a NASCAR race, and you can hardly turn on late-night TV without bumping into some felt-covered table surrounded by sunglassed sharks, hoping the river will flow their way for just one more hand. And when you crack open that fresh pair of Bicycle decks for your next poker night, you'll want to have some music to go along with the beer and chips. While we can't promise that luck will be your lady, we can at least ease the sting of a busted flush with a full house of tunes from the likes of Kenny Rogers and Frank Sinatra to the Clash, Mötley Crüe, and a whole lot more.