Youth Can Age You

The hours of the young Las Vegas regulars might be unusual—8 p.m. to four in the morning, say—and they're not averse to playing for two or three days straight when they've found a good game; that is, a game with at least one high-rolling weaker player anxious to be separated from his bankroll. But in general they put in a 40-hour week like anybody else. After their working day, they leave the gambling scene totally behind them and immerse themselves in their families and their homes, which could be those of middle-class doctors in Topeka or middle-class lawyers in Toledo.

Gamblers of the old school, who might throw their entire fortune into one pot in a no-limit game, tend to sneer at what they consider the undue caution of younger players. Singer calls them stockbrokers in contrast to colorful, go-for-broke gamblers like Strauss and Brunson, both of whom, incidentally, happen to have college degrees, as does Addington. To the younger players, gambling is a profession, not an adventure. They don't think just of tonight's game, but of tomorrow's and next week's and next year's. Most of them stay away from no-limit games (Baldwin, Hufnagle and Huber are notable exceptions), in which one unlucky loss can be disastrous, and stick to the game they know best at the highest limits they can find. Many also funnel a part of their winnings into longer-term enterprises.

"Most older players are just fluctuating up and down," Pardey said one Sunday. "They've been gambling for 30 or 40 years, and all they've got is maybe $50,000, which they can lose tomorrow. Then they borrow and start over. They're not going anywhere. But I'm playing poker as a profession, and I try to build my money up and invest it. Once it's invested and away from the gambling action, it's hard for them to get it out of me."

Sandy Pardey brought dinner to the dining-room table and called the older children. Rod carried the baby into the dining room, and Sandy placed him in his high chair. Sunlight was filtering through the white dining-room curtains; There was unquestionably a lot of action downtown and on the Strip, but here in the Pardey home it was very quiet, very peaceful. Rod Pardey would be heading down there later, but for now it was a long, long way from the good-old-boy reunion down at Binion's Horseshoe Casino.