As Luck Would Have It

There’s that old joke about a guy looking upward with outstretched arms bemoaning he’s never won the lottery, at which time a voice is heard coming down from the heavens, “You might start by buying a lottery ticket.”

We will embark on a discussion of the abstract forces of luck and chance, of contingency and probability, where each speculative path opens into a thousand new possibilities. Invisible, otherwise undetectable, luck can be known only by its works. The religious mind might call it Divine Providence while the agnostic would tend to chalk it up to the random meeting human biography, inclined to call it “dumb” or “blind.” Is there more?

Yes, there’s more. Luck can be made or at least seduced by, say, the gambler who can stay on intimate terms with luck while trying to tame and possess it. While chess is a perfect information game in that players know where all the pieces are at every point, poker is imperfect in that players don’t know all of their opponents’ cards. Life is more like poker in that regard.

A few of us had the opportunity to meet with Rafe Furst, a club member, who was crowned the winner of the 2006 World Series of Poker in Pot-Limit Hold’em, topping a field of 1,102 players.

Attendees in our small group were rewarded with a fresh understanding of the way psychology, keen observation, and odds can all intersect to tilt random chance. There was an epiphany, of sorts, to learn how one can win a hand without even looking at one’s own cards. As they say, it ain’t braggin’ if you can do it. Life is poker.

In the long game of life, whether individual events can really be judged as good or bad was the topic of MM 6/10/19 Good/Bad . . . We’ll See, which invoked that well-known Chinese parable about a farmer as he experienced events with his son and horse, not knowing whether any such event was a blow or a blessing i.e. we can only judge them in the fullness of time (if then).

Perhaps we’ll trade our respective life experiences through that lens, including the experience of becoming poker’s top gun.

Can a nation be considered lucky? America certainly seems to have been on such a long streak. There may be great danger, however, when Americans make the mistake of describing their national luck as their “manifest destiny.”

Please note the following RSVP Policy for Member Monday: RSVP sign-up opens up at 11:00am on Fridays via the City Club weekly Newsletter. Seats are first-come, first-served: the first 14 secure a spot at the table, the last 3 on the couch. Cancellations must be made 24 hours in advance or the standard Social Lunch rate applies.