Cards on the Table

AI generated image of poker players.

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. It has a purity about it that is missing from many holidays; we come together to share food and company and nothing else. Except when we play poker.

My dad loved to entertain. The bigger the group the better. His first joy, learned from his father-in-law, was to take a group out to a restaurant and spend the evening over dinner, chatting and having a good time. He was no gourmet, so McDonald's could work as well as a fancy steakhouse. It was all about the opportunity to gift someone a meal. I've mentioned before that he would disappear every Christmas morning--he had to go into the office to take care of something that could not wait--only to learn at his funeral that he was delivering a Christmas meal (and presents) to a down-on-their-luck family that just needed a boost.

Thanksgiving was different; it was meant to be enjoyed at home. I do not remember any Thanksgivings as a kid when it was just Mom, Dad and us boys. We always seemed to have somewhere between 12 and 20 folks around the table. Mom took on the real work of the meal, cooking all of the food, but Dad set the tone. And at the heart of the day, usually after dinner, was the poker game. This was no ordinary poker game, but rather a gauntlet of ten or twelve separate games, played for money. Everyone played, as long as you were old enough to recognize the cards. With fifteen to twenty people around the table, the game required three decks or more, so the poker hands were especially difficult because you could not count cards. These were games Dad inherited from his cousins and friends from childhood through his drinking days and included everything from 5 Card Stud to Hi - Lo and Put In and Take out.

Put In and Take Out was Dad's favorite and it captured a bit of his personality. The gist of the game was the dealer turned over a card and anyone who had a similar card in number or face card had to put money into the pot. You started with 1 chip and ended with twelve and then you did the same for taking out. No skill or strategy involved and if you were lucky, you did not feed a single penny into the pot but reaped rewards at the end. it was like winning a lottery (Dad loved to gift lottery tickets to people as well.)

We played for money, all taken from Dad's coin jars. Each coin was a chip, so a penny was the same value as a half dollar, and all the money was returned at the end of the game, but to a kid, sitting in front of a pile of shiny coins when the adult next to you was down to a handful, it felt like riches galore. The games went on for hours, because after you played a cycle the deck moved to a new dealer, and you ran through the cycle again. it was just a wonderful way to spend time together with folks you did not see every day, and there was always pumpkin pie when we finally finished.

I hope everyone gets some time with someone they love this holiday, and please remember those among us who are not as fortunate as you are. You can be a light in someone's life with something as simple as an unexpected dessert. Someone said to me last week "It's not that happy people are grateful, it's that grateful people are happy."

We cannot abide cruelty. Do you part.

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