Hats & Eyeglasses: Drowning At Poker

THREE pieces of poker advice. Want to know what they are?

“If you don’t have anything, get out.”

“If you’re second best, get out.”

“But if you’ve got the goods, make them pay.”

These words of wisdom – one hastens to call them common sense – were spoken to Martha Frankel by her father. Martha was aged 4.

As with all great sportspersons, it is never too soon to start playing. The Williams sisters have tennis. Jimmy White played snooker. David Beckham was taken to football matches. Martha Frankel had poker.

“I didn’t have a clue what this meant,” says Frankel in her book “Hats & Eyeglasses: A Family Love Affair With Gambling.”

Yes, dear reader this is a book review. Apologies. But it can be good to read. Sometimes.

New Yorker Frankel tells of women playing mah-jong in the kitchen, while the men play poker in the lounge. Frankel is her dad’s lucky charm. “I’ve got hats and eyeglasses,” he says.

“It’s what happens when a ship goes down, and everything sinks,” says a friend. “What floats to the surface is hats and eyeglasses. It means I have crapola, that I don’t have a prayer.”

Drowning. Dead in the water. Sunk. To remember in our prayers.

Frankel is not aged four . She is no child prodigy with her own book. She is in her middle years.

She recalls a conversation with a cousin. He tells her: Sometimes you have a good hand, maybe even a great hand,’ but you’re pretty sure someone at the table has you beat. Fold. Don’t get attached to your hand. You have good instincts, so trust them.”

Frankel plays. Her mother warns her not to be a “whatsittome” - “the idiot who never knows how much the bet is when it’s their turn. Don’t screw up the flow of the game.”

But she doesn’t win. Not always. This is in part a cautionary tale about knowing when to stop playing.

But those early tips remain sound.

What’s the best advise you were ever given at poker?

News Added: 19 February, 2008

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