London’s iconic Hippodrome Casino has created a pro poker team, and the first two faces to wear a patch are Kelly Saxby and Chris Gordon.

It’s the eve of the 2015 World Series of Poker (WSOP).

I am in the Rio waiting to register for the Casino Employee event. Anyone would think we were waiting for tickets to watch a Beatles reunion. The queue is long. It isn’t moving. I am getting angrier and angrier.

There are two young women in front of me. One of them sits down at one of the roulette wheels that’s herding us down towards the solitary cashier. She puts a few bills on a unique number – I can’t remember which – it comes in. Whoops of delight. She lets it ride. It comes in again. More whoops of delight.