The Warmup
Joe was minding his own business, playing No Limit Hold' Em in at his favorite casino in Las Vegas at a moderate stake. It was a week before the start of the World Series of Poker and he wanted to get some practice. There was a clatter of chips and a light din of conversation, but that was all smoothly pierced when someone called out "Grandmaster".
Ever since his Atlantic City days, Joe never liked being outed as a chess player while playing poker. It made the opposition much more circumspect. Not being in the current hand, Joe slowly turned around to identify the culprit, but nobody was claiming responsibility. And yet, players at his table were already latching on to it. "So that's why you are playing so tight," one guy said. "Is it cause you ain't got no money?"
His buddy elbowed him. "Nah," he concluded. "These chess players come in here like they are all that." Turning to Joe, he chided, "What, you think anyone's gonna call you after you been waiting for Aces for 2 hours?"
The rest of the table found this highly amusing. Without saying a word, Joe waved to the dealer indicating that he was no to be dealt in, and he stood up and meticulously started counting his chips. The rest of the table began to count along with him. "You don't want to leave a loser, do you," said the first guy. Joe just kept on counting. We will dance again, he thought. And finally, Joe extricated himself from the table, to the great merriment of everyone there. And all Joe could think of, was that it was good to be back in Vegas.
