I love cards — poker, rummy, even blackjack if the stakes are not too high. When I was a young man I set out to learn the finer points of some of these games because I suspected that successful play isn’t entirely dependent on luck.
I read books and watched shows. I became engaged by the strategies and tactics that can be applied. I also asked people to explain, in person, how a hand is played. I realized that I wasn’t really learning, however, until someone dealt me a hand to play for myself. And when there was a small wager on the line, the learning curve grew more pronounced.