Gambling presidents

Via Noam and Andrew, I see Time has published a very intriguing look into the gambling styles of our nominees. As Noam summarizes:

Short version: McCain is a high-stakes craps player who loves the pure, adrenalin-pumping, rush of the game. Obama is an exceedingly low-stakes poker player who sizes up his odds methodically and rarely loses money.

He also questions McCain’s spending habits at the craps table, asking if McCain risks a few grand per session, or a few grand per throw. I’d imagine it’s per session; otherwise McCain would be invoking Charles Barkley-like losses over the years. Over a multi-decade political career, I have a feeling that would have come out in the press at some point.

Anyway, the piece is worth a read, especially if you enjoy a trip to the casino as much as I do. Both games have a certain appeal–if you’re at a good table, craps is as fun as it gets; if you’re a serious gambler trying to win some money, poker is the only game you aren’t destined to lose, since you’re playing against other players and not the house. Judging from the description of Obama’s style of play, Phil Hellmuth would probably classify Obama as a “mouse”:

The mouse is an ultra conservative player who plays very strict starting hand requirements (see Hellmuth’s Top 10). The mouse will bet, but rarely ever raises a bet or reraises. The mouse almost never bluffs. If a mouse actually does raise or re-raise, it probably means they have an almost unbeatable hand. The mouse’s weakness is that he or she is simply too predictable.

There’s nothing wrong with being a mouse–it’s a good way to avoid losing money and pick up the occasional big pot. But mice are incredibly susceptible to bluffs and don’t know how to protect their hands; is that a character trait we really want in a man staring down “jackals” like Kim Jong Il and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?

(One other, more negative note: Judging from the hand described in Time between Obama and Larry Walsh, in which both players showed down a four of a kind (a relatively rare occurrence at a casino, in which multiple tables run 24 hours a day, let alone a house game), it’s safe to assume that Obama and his crew were engaging in games with lots of wilds. Or, as I refer to them: girly games. Adults leave the wild cards to the kiddies and the ladies…if Mr. Obama could keep that in mind for the future, it would probably serve him well.)