Barkley's Poker Face Falters

\ May 11, 2006

2 min read

For Charles Barkley, talent on the court doesn’t translate to luck at the table.

I like gamblers. Really good ones are artists, masters at reading people, sensitive to a wager, believers in fortune, bullheaded optimists thrown only when the mysterious Lady Luck turns away.

Bad ones are just fodder for the good ones.

I’m a bad one. I sit down for a game of poker and end up with an empty bank account and hand cramps from writing out IOUs. And that’s before the good ones have really gotten warmed up.

According to an Associated Press report, basketball royalty Charles Barkley has lost more than $10 million in gambling. $10 million. That’s a cure for some world ill, I’m sure. Furthermore, he says it’s not a problem. Frankly, I think Barkley is the definition of a bad one. It’s just that he has sooo much money, he hasn’t bet the farm away yet. Like most of the sports hero rockstar meatheads, he doesn’t see it as a problem. It’s a game, a bad habit, but for me? No problem, he says.

When you’re royalty paying out, who’s going to stop you?

I like a gambler. And as a bad one, I sympathize with Las Vegas’ latest human ATM. But from me to Sir Barkley: It doesn’t matter who you are, sometimes you just gotta call it a night.