The 63-year-old star of such films as Father Of The Bride, The Man With Two Brains and the soon to be released Pink Panther 2 revealed his former hobby during a taping of The Late Show With David Letterman last week week.

“For a while I played Internet poker when it was legal,” Martin told host David Letterman.

Martin is also a writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer and stated that he had once had an ‘Ambien experience’ where he had deposited $500 and played for an hour with no memory of doing so.

“I was travelling and doing show business, so I took an Ambien to go to sleep,” said Texas-born Martin.

“I thought ‘well, I’ll play a little Internet poker’. I had $500 in my account and then I quit and I went to bed. I woke up the next morning and said ‘well, I’ll play a little Internet poker’ and I opened it up and I had $1,500 in my account.

“I thought that they had made a mistake. So, I called the guy…and said ‘I think someone made a mistake and put money on my account’. But, he said ‘no, we have you playing from four AM to five AM in the morning’. And I had won $1,000. I was playing better out of my mind than I had without the Ambien. But, I never took an Ambien again.”

Always the funny man!  I have a ‘funny’ feeling he got some sort of bonus “match” so maybe he only made $500 or maybe it was a triple match and he made nothing and just passed out after his deposit?

However, now many online casinos offer either Mac-compatible software or a no-download flash game that works with the machine. Online casino developers realized that alienating a large potential market base was not a good idea.

Casino Tropez, InterCasino, Slotland and Full Tilt Poker are all Mac-compatible now. If you’re a Mac user looking for a game then Casino Tropez offer an amazing $3,000 welcome bonus and Full Tilt Poker is the home to many of the biggest names and games in poker.  Come on down and meet lady luck all you Mac users!

Colorado: maximum bet $5. Reaction: everyone plays tourneys, where you can buy in for more. Those who play the cash game tables quickly go insane due to the fact that the entire table will cap the betting preflop and chase their horrible holdings through to the river. Optimal scenario, undoubtedly, but also intensely frustrating when AA loses to 64 offsuit on an A29 flop.

The first two PartyPoker.com Premier Leagues had a legion of fans glued to their television screens and promoter Matchroom Sport has announced a third series will be filmed in London during late November.

Reigning champion Andy Black is currently the only confirmed participant for the event, but organisers are confident an improved prize pool will tempt 11 of the world’s top players to take him on.

The sponsor has increased its contribution to the prize money and the buy-in for the event has risen to $75,000, giving a total fund of $1.25 million.

Matchroom Sport’s Eddie Hearn claimed: “There isn’t a poker player on the planet that doesn’t want to be part of this event.” Poker shows currently running on British television include the Sky Poker Five-00 and the European Masters.  I am very thankful for my satelite dish.

Lothian and Borders Police said two men, both aged 34, had been arrested and charged with attempted murder.  It is expected that the pair, from Dundee and Broughty Ferry, will appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court next week.

Jamie Robertson, 24, of Paisley, appeared in private at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in connection with an attack on Tony DeMarco, 62, on 18 September.  He made no plea or declaration and was remanded in custody.

On Friday 27 June, Frank McGlone, 38, and James Corbett, 20, both from Paisley, made a brief appearance in private at Edinburgh Sheriff Court also charged with the attempted murder of Mr DeMarco.  I hope these guys rot in jail for 20 years.

The new site is intended for those gamblers who are not interested in losing money through the online casinos but still looking for innovative ways to participate in forms of internet gaming. There is copious information about the process of signing up on the actual site, but basically, gamers are asked to keep their GBP100 refundable deposit in their accounts through the site, and every month, if their deposit is still in place, they are entered into the monthly drawing. The monthly drawing is a virtual “treasure chest” that gains funds all throughout the month according to Shropshire.

The way around the legal issues is the fact that unlike online casinos, the gamers are able to retrieve their GBP100 deposit and can – but at that point they are no longer entered into the monthly drawing. There is a viral element to the marketing of the site where the gamers are encouraged to spread the word to other online gamers and receive more tokens and entries into the drawing.  It is nice to look at some of these more interesting situations and see how they develop.

Break is over let’s see where this goes.

Oh, oh, I have been moved to another table so I lost my favourte ‘calling station’…..

Well I flopped 4 suit and then had a gut shot straight draw and a flush draw for the river and came up with a brick….tried to bluff but they guy had high pocket pair so he called…..things are looking down, guess I gotta just sit on my chips.

Next hand I scored pocket jacks and lost to pair of queens….down to 98th place but only 720 remaining so I still have a shot if I can put together a couple of nice paying hands.

A, 10 off just won me a little pot but I am still losing ground, only 625 players left though, so that is good.

Mmmm, A, J suited UTG, meduim sized raise got me two callers, board matched a pair of queens but it was checked around.  Board matched a pair of sixes so I made a small bet on the river and all hands folded.  Not a big win but all I need is these kinds of little ones to keep me in the hunt.

Ok, made the money so got my entry fee back plus a little bit.  Flopped a straight with J, 9 suited but on the river villian made a straight to the Ace, I don’t mind going down that way, I guess.

Petty thieves aside, patrons of Harrah’s Chester Casino & Racetrack and Philadelphia Park Casino & Racetrack have found creative ways to get arrested this year - from the Glen Mills teenager who sidled up to the bar claiming to be 45 years old, to the Philly guy accused of grabbing an elderly woman’s butt.

State-police reports from the slots parlors in Delaware County and Bucks County consist mostly of everyday transgressions - thefts, forgeries and the passing of counterfeit bills - but are interspersed with brusque tales of bizarre behavior, much of which is caught on camera:

* Frank Scarcella, 43, of Bristol, was arrested May 30 at Philadelphia Park after he allegedly called another gambler “an evil bitch and said she should die.” Scarcella’s mother, Rita, says her son is profoundly deaf and was wrongly accused by a neighbor with a long-running gripe. “How could he? He doesn’t talk,” she said of the allegation. “The tape showed nothing.” Court records indicate that Scarcella was found guilty of harassment.

* The following month, Gary Hinderhofer, of Wilmington, Del., decided to treat the late-night Harrah’s crowd to a strip show starring his “bare buttocks,” according to police. State Trooper Steven Stigliano wrote in his report that Hinderhofer, 42, faces charges of harassment and resisting arrest for the June 15 incident in which he allegedly mooned casino patrons, knocked over a security officer and cursed out the cops.

* Heather Strain, 19, of Glen Mills, may have thought that she was wise beyond her years when she ordered a drink Feb. 24 at Harrah’s Stir bar - using the ID of a 45-year-old woman. Strain was convicted of carrying false identification.

* Robert Long, 42, of Philadelphia, appears to have a commanding lead in the contest for most unusual crime at Philadelphia Park. He’s accused of grabbing 72-year-old Pham Gerhardt’s rear end earlier this month. “I scared. He grabbed my butt and he run,” Gerhardt, a Vietnamese immigrant who speaks limited English, said from her home in Northeast Philadelphia. “I don’t want people attack me. They caught him.” Long was charged with harassment in the Aug. 8 incident.

* The biggest theft to come out of Harrah’s since its slot machines opened last year was committed by one of its own employees. Qiana Wright, 25, of Philadelphia, pleaded guilty last month to stealing more than $30,000 from the casino by creating false machine vouchers and cashing them. Wright, who worked as a slots hostess, was sentenced to six to 23 months in jail.

* Perhaps the record for the most heartless crime to date goes to Downingtown’s James Fazzini. He allegedly stole $233 on May 18 from a man who collapsed in front of a Harrah’s cash machine from what appeared to be a heart attack. Instead of helping the unconscious 60-year-old man, Fazzini helped himself to his cash then bolted, according to Trooper Gary Onick.

The incident was caught on tape and Fazzini, 55, surrendered to police when his picture was distributed to the news media. Charged with theft and receiving stolen property, his preliminary hearing is scheduled for next month in Chester district court.

So, are casinos a magnet for petty crime any more than, say, a sporting event or anywhere else that serves booze to large crowds? Not necessarily, says Arthur Reber, a former psychology professor at Brooklyn College and author of “The New Gambler’s Bible.”  But sometimes it sure seems that way!

The most common crimes at Harrah’s Chester are thefts, which are down slightly so far this year compared to the same period in 2007, and forgeries and counterfeiting, which are on the rise. Many of the victims are elderly, but casino patrons are generally older to begin with, said Sgt. Frank Cini, who heads the state police gaming-enforcement unit in Chester.

Cini said that police have also recorded 15 assaults and a dozen cases of disorderly conduct or public drunkenness at the riverfront casino, which serves alcohol from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m.

One 66-year-old Philadelphia man was permanently evicted from Harrah’s in June after, police say, he grabbed a 36-year-old slots hostess and insisted that she sit on his lap. He then chased her around the casino floor yelling, “Give me a big kiss! I want a damn kiss, baby!”

A Drexel Hill man was banned from the premises last month when he ordered a beer while playing blackjack “knowing he did not have any money to pay for it,” state police reported. When the server returned, he laughed in her face “and continued to laugh at her as she walked away with the drink.”

While Cini urges patrons to watch their belongings and stay with slot machines with credits on them, many petty thieves are caught stealing anyway - and oftentimes forced to pay restitution to their victims - because of the approximately 1,000 surveillance cameras that monitor the property.

Officials in Chester and Bensalem say they have seen no uptick in crime in their communities that can be attributed to Harrah’s Chester and Philadelphia Park, whose slots parlors opened in January 2007 and December 2006, respectively.

But David Mustard, a University of Georgia economics professor who co-authored a 2006 study that found that casinos lead to increases in most major crimes except murder, said that gambling addiction and other factors that contribute to crime can take years to override the positive impacts of casinos, such as the jobs they provide.

“It’s not like I gamble today, lose $50, and go out and commit a crime,” Mustard said, explaining that gambling addicts typically deplete their own resources or borrow money before they resort to more extreme measures.

Once they reach that threshold, however, the addiction can take over. Just ask Carol Ackley, the former Ridley School District payroll coordinator who devised a crafty scheme to embezzle nearly $600,000 from the Delaware County district. She blew it all at Harrah’s Chester - located less than four miles from her home - and casinos in Atlantic City and Las Vegas.

Her husband, Herb Ackley, who worked as a painter for Ridley schools, initially said he was “shocked” when Carol was arrested in December. But he was later convicted of receiving stolen property, perjury and tax evasion after authorities determined that both he and his wife used the money to play slot machines.

Randolph Simens, 55, said that he took the drug, Mirapex, from 2002 to 2007 after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and suffering hand tremors. A spokesperson for Pfizer said the company had not marketed Mirapex since 2005, when medical studies first linked the drug to compulsive behaviors, including gambling.

Pfizer said that it had “acted reasonably and appropriately during the entire time period it was involved with Mirapex.”

Mirapex is still sold in the U.S. market and is also prescribed for restless leg syndrome. The defendants “had a duty to provide adequate warnings and instruction for Mirapex, to use reasonable care to design a product that is not reasonably dangerous to users, and to adequately test their product,” the lawsuit said.

A successful banker, Simens said that he had been a recreational gambler before being prescribed the drug. But he said he quickly became reckless, spending entire nights gambling over the Internet and traveling to casinos. “It’s stupidity. I just couldn’t stop,” he said.

After reading an article that suggested a link between Mirapex and compulsive behaviors, including gambling, Simens said he felt a wave of relief.  Simens, a father of two, joined a gambler’s support group and, within five weeks of getting off Mirapex, he had stopped gambling, he said. I have a feeling he will win this lawsuit but I wonder if the judgement or settlement will be enough to cover his gambling losses?

I have to admit I am not always in the mood for slots, I prefer to play online poker or online blackjack.  But sometimes when I just feel like shutting out the world and having some good, quick paced fun I will spin a few bucks in the slots.  The biggest payout I have hit to-date is $350 from a $5 spin, it was very cool.