Wrong wrong WRONG

Saw the long-awaited Casino Royale last night, a worthy addition to the Bond legacy on nearly all points:

• Daniel Craig as Bond: Very good.
• Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre: Excellent.
• Story, locations, action, music: First-rate.
• Caterino Murino as Solange: Hello.
• Eva Green as Vesper: Eh.
  (I expected more from the primordial Bond girl.)

My only nagging complaint is the sacrilegious and profane “updating” of the classic high-stakes, winner-take-all game between Bond and Le Chiffre from Baccarat to, ugh, Texas Hold Em. Sorry, but James Bond does not wear sweat pants, does not smoke Kools, does not drink beer, and does not play Texas Hold Em. Nor, I suspect, do megalomaniac archvillains whose achilles heel is high-stakes gambling.

Baccarat is an elegant game of simple luck and poise. It involves no hushed narration from the sidelines, nor rote calculation of odds, nor bells and whistles such as re-buys, all-ins, check-raises, showdowns, or “tells” — and it's played in French.

Just watch the Baccarat scenes in Dr. No, Thunderball, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, For Your Eyes Only, GoldenEye... and then watch The World Series of Poker.

And you tell me.