I enjoy playing cards. I got the bug from my parents. Mom played pinocle with a group of friends for several years. They rotated the host site from lady to lady. They played for a few hours and ate fancy snacks and desserts. When they played at our house, my sisters and I got the leftovers.
Dad played poker. The only time I saw him in action was when he played with my uncles and their friends, but I know he traveled to his work friends’ homes for more action. That’s how I got the poker bug. When I was old enough to handle the pressure, they dealt me in.
Mom gave me my first card lesson when I was about eleven. My parents rented a cottage on Commerce Lake for a couple of summers. Dad drove to work from the cottage, and my sisters and I stayed with Mom to play in the lake. The cottage was a large room with a very small bathroom. There were a couple of wires run across the room with sheets on hooks. The sheets designated the bedrooms and were the only privacy in the cottage.
Dad didn’t get home some nights until well after the girls were in bed, and with no TV, Mom and I played 500 rummy and pinocle on the cottage porch. We didn’t disturb the girls that way. She taught me the rules, and I was hooked. I’ve played cards ever since.
I have the same guidelines my dad did. I just want to know the rules before we shuffle up and deal. I’ve played all sorts of games. Some involve wagers, some just bragging rights.
Playing games involves a bit of strategy. In addition to knowing the rules, you have to determine the best way to play the cards you’re dealt. If you play with the same people, you learn a bit about their tendencies. That comes in handy in determining your next play. Good players have options. They have a plan B should plan A fail.
I’ve often thought the greatest challenge in any card game is the back of the cards. You know what you have, but you’re never really sure about your opponents. You can hazard a guess, and even try to count the cards, but being wrong leads to failure.
Many of the lessons learned at the card table can be transferred to life. You can lay out a plan based upon what you know to be true (The front of the cards.) But life doesn’t always go the way you plan when what you thought might be true, turns out to be incorrect. (The back of the cards.)
Some people avoid certain games because they don’t win often enough. If they took the same stance with everything in their life, they’d never have any fun. You can’t always know what’s going to happen next, but you can carry forward with the things you know to be true. We’ve got to be ready to change our course when things don’t go as planned. That’s what makes life interesting.