Last night at Bellagio.
This host guy introduced me to a poker player. Nick, I think. He said the guy wins every day.
He was at the 10/25 or 25/50 table. Probably eight hours, up a little over two grand. No big reaction, no yelling. A girl walks by and he doesn’t even look. Just drinking water and playing with a completely flat face.
After, we went to eat steak. The steak was good.
I asked him, “Poker’s still gambling though, isn’t it?”
He kept cutting his steak and said, “Depends on the opponent.”
Then he explained the whole thing — blackjack and roulette the house has the edge, but in poker the house just takes the rake. Your real opponent is the guy next to you. If you have the edge, you just keep collecting their mistakes. Expected value and all that. “I’m not going for the win,” he said. “I’m just picking up their mistakes.”
It was pretty dry talk, honestly. But he’s strong.
I asked, “You enjoy doing that every day?”
He thought for a second and said, “Not really.”
He also said the players he hates most are the ones who win a little and suddenly think they’re geniuses.
He didn’t order dessert, didn’t drink, left half the steak, and said he was going back to the tables.
I told him, “If you’re winning like that you should enjoy it more.”
He said, “Enjoying it costs too much.”
Then he went back to the poker room. I went somewhere else.
He might be right. But I don’t think I could live like that.
That was my night at Bellagio. Steak was decent.