While playing blackjack at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut a few years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Arthur. If I were to guess, he was in his late seventies. For his age, any age for that matter, he was a mountain of a man. Calm, self assured and thankfully for me, kind enough to let me join his private high stakes table which clearly had “No mid-shoe entry.”
It didn’t take much time before Arthur and I hit it off and were soon talking about our children, wives, pets and sports. An hour passed in a blink! I was thrilled to see that I was up $1000. Part of me credited Arthur’s positive Mojo! Arthur was playing a lot more than me each hand and was up close to $5,000. With my win goal achieved, I thanked him for a great conversation and wished him continued luck.
Two hours later I returned to the Blackjack pit to see Arthur signing a $2,500 marker. For those of you who don’t know…that is a short term loan that a player of good standing can borrow from the casino. I waited for the next shuffle and approached Arthur. I asked him how he was doing, pretending not to have seen him signing for the marker. I anticipated him being very upset and distraught about his loss. Rather he said:
“Well,” he said “things kinda have gone a bit south since you left. But it’s all good.”
Then he said something I’d never forget:
“That’s why we play with money and not emotions…losing money hurts a lot less.”
I found out a few weeks later when I had the pleasure of meeting Arthur again, that he was a retired businessman with millions of dollars. His wife and granddaughters were with him enjoying the pool and spa at the casino hotel that day. Arthur had stacks of $100 chips in front of him. Things certainly hadn’t gone south for him on this day. He got up to leave, shook my hand and told me he wanted to catch up with his ladies at the pool. After gathering most of his chips, Arthur left a $500 tip on the table for the dealer!
Play with money, not emotions. Thanks Arthur!
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