Presidential Poker - George Washington

With another 4th of July come and gone, thoughts may occasionally stray to the founding fathers of America and what they were like. Considering you are reading this article on a poker website, you can probably guess what particular pastimes, hobbies, and attributes are the focus here: poker. George Washington was the first US President, and the General of the American forces during the American Revolution as well. He is revered as the Father of the country, and as a man who "can not tell a lie" in the fabled story of the cherry tree.  Washington represented much of what Americans hold as ideals, including a courageous, bold and disciplined approach to life. Interestingly, he was also a risk taker and a gambler, to things that one would not immediately link to today's America. Yet examining his life and his habits show that the risks he took were calculated risks, the same kind of risks taken by a tight, aggressive poker player in No-Limit Texas Holdem, for example.  Washington was known as a gentleman, and gentlemen during that era were avid gamblers; the disciplined ones stayed gentlemen, and the undisciplined ones became rakes or bums. Washington was a meticulous, careful gambler, who enjoyed horse racing and cards, and even placed bets on cockfights once in a while. He kept careful track of the money he won and lost, down to the penny. One could only imagine this attention to detail and focus aided him greatly both during the War and during his term as the first US President. With the current craze of poker tournaments today, it is only fitting that the Father of the country used to host games in his tent during the American Revolution.