Heat players and poker: Do you really want to play with friends?
So, the Heat and other NBA players play big-money poker games on flights, in yet another enterprise story by our Ira Winderman, by now among the NBA's top beat writers. (An aside: I couldn't imagine many writers getting this story, on the record.)
The gambling thing doesn't make me nervous. But here's what does: These guys are teammates; they rely on each other -- basketball is a game of total trust -- for 82 games.
Then, in the air, they play a game in which deception is not only rewarded, but necessary. A mental contest of getting the other guy to blink.
There's gotta be hard feelings. Think about your own home game; how many times do you leave with a little friendly ribbing cutting a little too close to the bone when the stakes got high? (Send me an e-mail if you have a comment on this, please.)
Now, add another zero or two to the stakes; you gotta see players getting off the plane with hard feelings.
NICK SORTAL began playing 3-card "gut" and "Indian poker" on high school band trips, moved on to "night baseball" and "pass the trash" during a Dr. Pepper-infused midnight game in the 1980s at the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, and now play in a regular neighborhood Hold 'Em game in Plantation. I have been given the assignment of writing about the gambling life in South Florida casinos for the Sun-Sentinel...which means sitting around watching poker on TV now counts as research.
