Poker Hieu T. Le

Poker is Life. Life is Poker. So the saying goes. Now, my life does not revolve around poker, but I do learn a few things from it: luck, logic, forbearance, and risk. Life is full of uncertainty, and so is poker. Some people bet on luck, just like the guy sitting to my right yesterday. He went all-in before the flop, scaring half the table into folding. I hate to make big blind bet, but I would rather accept my hand and try my best, so I called.

Sometimes risk can be quantified, and I love taking a calculated risk. In that same game yesterday, the flop was five of spades, eight of spades, and five of diamonds. As I was sitting on a pocket of a six and seven of spades, I had a 2/47 chance of getting a straight flush and winning for certain. Considering that the call was just 2-thousand against a pot of 50-thousand Vietnam Dongs, any logical mind would have called. You see, with a leap of faith and a bit of logic, uncertainty can turn into opportunity. "Raised!" Shouted the guy to my left. The rest of the table folded, except me and a bespectacled guy. Was the guy who had raised just bluffing? Was he not? It is not easy to see through a person’s poker face, even when you have played with him for a long time.

In a repeated game,...