The Gambler

He said, "Son, I've made a life

Out of readin' people's faces

Knowin' what the cards were

By the way they held their eyes

So if you don't mind me sayin'

I can see you're out of aces

For a taste of your whiskey

I'll give you some advice"

Advice in this Gambler's case and within this article wasn't asked for. But I am taking a punt (pardon the pun) that if you have read this far you are probably open to some great advice. Don Schlitz wrote this song in August, 1976 when he was just 23 years old but was famously covered by Johnny Cash and the late great Kenny Rogers who passed away this week, so I felt it appropriate to raise interest in one of my favourite set of lyrics that in my opinion isn't about gambling as much as it is around risk evaluation. See, when you are in any sort of scenario where there is table stakes at hand, there are games where skills are involved; games where no skill but luck is involved and finally where there is a little bit of both. What is involved in all three scenarios is evaluation of risk.

Those that know me through coaching in sales will often hear me talk about The Gambler when it comes to sales. A common flaw of most sales people is to hold on to the hope of a deal coming through and spending time and energy on this when you should be moving on. With experience and time spent losing you can slowly learn to get better at evaluating the risks and making smarter decisions on where you spend your time.

Where it becomes interesting for me beyond this is how can I apply this risk evaluation to my daily life. To my sports; to my family life, to general decision making. I am still learning.

The Gambler is a song about decision making and to me a simple song about life. A powerful song about the calculation of risk. It is a prolific piece of songwriting from a 23 year old.

You've got to know when to hold 'em

Know when to fold 'em

Know when to walk away

And know when to run

You never count your money

When you're sittin' at the table

There'll be time enough for countin'

When the dealin's done

Every gambler knows

That the secret to survivin'

Is knowin' what to throw away

And knowin' what to keep

'Cause every hand's a winner

And every hand's a loser

And the best that you can hope for is to die

in your sleep.