Two Plus Two Newer Archives - Poker and Free Time

One of the most dramatic differences I noticed between professional gamblers and the businessmen players was their attitude toward time. That is a major theme of my novel, Texas Poker Wisdom, just published. People with schedules, budgets, and bosses are in a hurry all the time. Gamblers are not in that big a hurry. Having an urgent feeling about time is bad for the heart and also puts you on tilt. I look around the table and guess how much of a hurry each player is in. In West Texas, if someone is playing fast, too many hands, we say, "He tied his horse in a red ant bed."

I loved the way the gamblers moved slowly getting their tasks done in the mornings where they would be ready to gamble in the afternoon. The average number of hours I worked a day in thirty years of work was about three. Many people spend more time going back and forth to work than I ever spent working. I am lazy. I am just not going to work very hard at anything. I am most proud of that. If you are lazy, poker may be for you. But you can't be lazy about learning all you can about the game. I might play poker today. I might not.