Craps, Poker and the Candidates

What does each candidates choice when it comes to gambling tell us about them? I would be very interested opinions.

See article. Obama plays Poker, McCain Craps.

The casino craps player is a social animal, a thrill seeker who wants not just to win but to win with a crowd. Unlike cards or a roulette wheel, well-thrown dice reward most everyone on the rail, yielding a collective yawp that drowns out the slots. It is a game for showmen, Hollywood stars and basketball legends with girls on their arms. It is also a favorite pastime of the presumptive Republican nominee for President, John McCain.

The backroom poker player, on the other hand, is more cautious and self-absorbed. Card games may be social, but they are played in solitude. No need for drama. The quiet card counter is king, and only a novice banks on luck. In this game, a good bluff trumps blind faith, and the studied observer beats the showman. So it is fitting that the presumptive Democratic nominee, Barack Obama, raked in so many pots in his late-night games with political friends.

www.time.com...

And this from The New Yorker ....

The moment the car stopped at McCain’s hotel in downtown New Orleans, he set out at his usual fast clip for Harrah’s, across the street. McCain is an avid gambler. Wes Gullett, a close friend who worked for McCain for years, told me that they used to play craps in Las Vegas in fourteen-hour stints, standing at the tables from 10 a.m. to midnight. "Craps is addictive," McCain remarked, and he headed for the fifteen-dollar-minimum-bet tables. At the most obvious level, the game is incredibly simple -- players rotate turns throwing the dice, and you either win or lose depending on what number comes up. But McCain’s betting formula makes it much more complicated. "Uh-oh!" he cried, as a player accidentally threw the dice off the table. "This is a very, very superstitious game," he said. When his turn came to throw the dice, he picked them up and blew on them first. He had placed chips on the number 5, so (envisioning a combination of 2 and 3) he called, "Michael Jordan! Michael Jordan!"

That is 14 hour stints at the Craps table! Does this qualify as a gambling addiction?

reply to post by maybereal11


I didn't know McCain was a gambler. 14 hours sounds a bit obsessive to me. And with craps, there's an "approval" factor. And as Pat Robertson says, craps is a game for risk-takers and poker is a game for thinkers.

Hmmm... I wonder if people really want an obsessive gambler and risk taker with access to the important buttons...

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


I found this interesting...

Only recently have McCain's aides urged him to pull back from the pastime. In the heat of the G.O.P. primary fight last spring, he announced on a visit to the Vegas Strip that he was going to the casino floor. When his aides stopped him, fearing a public relations disaster, McCain suggested that they ask the casino to take a craps table to a private room, a high-roller privilege McCain had indulged in before. His aides, with alarm bells ringing, refused again, according to two accounts of the discussion.

It bothers me that they are gamblers at all.

You say Obama is a poker player. Is he really into it as McCain seems to be or is it just an occasional distraction.

Vas

Originally posted by Vasilis Azoth
You say Obama is a poker player. Is he really into it as McCain seems to be or is it just an occasional distraction.

Source

By his poker buddies' accounts, Obama is careful and focused. He's not easily distracted and doesn't give away his intentions unless it's to his advantage. He's not prone to taking risky chances, preferring to play it safe. But he's also serious and competitive: When he plays, he plays to win.

"It's a fun way for people to relax and share stories and give each other a hard time over friendly competition," Obama said by e-mail. "In Springfield, it was a way to get to know other senators -- including Republicans." ...

Obama studied the odds carefully, friends say. If he had strong cards, he'd play. If he didn't, he would fold rather than bet good money on the chance the right card would show up when he needed it.

It sounds like he plays games like me. I LOVE playing and I am very competitive, but I'm in it for the play. If I don't win, it's no big deal.

As I read this article, I could REALLY see how his poker playing is showing in his campaign. It's a good article.