Obama is NO poker player.

[AnarchoFreeThinker]

In my opinion, my guy is making a serious mistake.

Rule number one: when your hand is stronger than your opponent's hand, you lean hard on your opponent to get her out of the game. Why? Because you never know what she might draw. No, it's not likely she'll fill that inside straight, but Obama should go all-in and make her play the cards she holds now instead of trying to play the odds on what she'll get.

How does he go all in?

He calls her bluff. She doesn't give a crap about disenfranchisement. She only wants her illegal delegates. He should advocate hard for revotes in FL and MI, no matter the expense or logistical nightmare or short-term damage. She has no donor cash with which to campaign, and no desire for actual fair voting in either state. If she agrees to it, it'll mean millions more of her own cash at risk, as well as settling the only issue that keeps the race from its official end, and it will of course remove any chance she can win. She knows this. She'll have to fold--or reverse her "position" on disenfranchisement.

Otherwise....she could still possibly pull an outlandishly lucky card from the deck.

[Occam Bandage]

1. Yeah, the guy only managed to win the Democratic presidential nomination, starting with

two years of Senate service, no name recognition, no money, no infrastructure, and a thirty-point polling deficit. What does he know? Probably nothing.

[AnarchoFreeThinker]

4. that, to be sure, is incredibly impressive. I'm just saying he's giving her a window here....

...that he shouldn't. Peace.

[WeDidIt]

2. It is legally too late to do a re-vote

Laws requiring notification of the elections added to the primary claendar rule of the DNC dicatates that the window of opportunity for scheduling a re-vote was closed more than a month ago.

[ShortnFiery]

3. No, Obama plays Chess. And even HRC's wit and connections are not "all powerful."

[izzybeans]

5. He actually drew her in so long that she is indebted to the house.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

6. Charles Barkley on steroids.

[yellowcanine]

7. Poker schmoker. This is a campaign, not a game. He needs to play it straight. No games. No deals.

If he wants to agree to help her raise some money to retire her debt, ok - but he should not offer her the VP slot (unless he thinks she would make the best VP) or anything else as a consolation prize.

[juno jones]

8. I compare the whole thing to eucre

For those who are eucre-impaired: a card game where players see all their cards and the object is to claim as many hands as possible with those cards. The main strategy is to draw out out other's potential 'trumps' whilst holding higher 'trumps' of your own to lay when they are most needed.

Poker, bah. that's just gambling.

[Straight Shooter]

9. Obama is not in charge. David Axelrod is in charge.

And, FWIW, I think anyone who rises to the position of a candidate for POTUS is a good poker player. That includes george whacko bush. All you need to do is fool enough of the people enough of the time.

Or maybe it's not so much poker playing as plain and ordinary acting.

[MADem]

13. That's it, precisely. nt

[marions ghost]

10. I thought

they already decided not to hold revotes in FL and MI because of the cost.

[Bucky]

11. I would totally kick your ass in poker, if that's how you play.

There are "outlandishly lucky cards" in Monopoly and "war". In poker you can't lose what you don't put on the table.

[Ichingcarpenter]

12. How Obama plays poker could be telling-Sept. 24, 2007

How Obama plays poker could be telling

September 24, 2007
BY CHRISTOPHER WILLS Associated Press

Barack Obama's triumph in the 2004 U.S. Senate race earned him a memorable send-off from his friends in the Illinois legislature they emptied his wallet in a take-no-prisoners night of poker.

"We brought him down to earth real quick," said state Sen. Terry Link, chuckling at the memory.

Obama was a regular at the low-stakes games sometimes stud poker, sometimes draw designed to break up the tedium of long legislative sessions. Poker, beer and cigars were staples; Democrats and Republicans, lawmakers and even the lobbyists who Obama sometimes rails against dealt the cards and placed their bets.

The traits Obama displayed around the card table those many nights are ones he brings to his presidential bid and are certain to be evident and analyzed if he wins the White House.

By his poker buddies' accounts, Obama is careful and focused. He's not easily distracted and doesn't give away his intentions unless it's to his advantage. He's not prone to taking risky chances, preferring to play it safe. But he's also serious and competitive: When he plays, he plays to win.

Obama, then a state senator, was a founding member of the group. He became known as a cautious player with a good poker face, someone who paid more attention to the game than to the chatter and laughter that accompanied it.

Obama studied the odds carefully, friends say. If he had strong cards, he'd play. If he didn't, he would fold rather than bet good money on the chance the right card would show up when he needed it.

That reputation meant that he often succeeded when he decided to bluff.

"When Barack stayed in, you pretty much figured he's got a good hand," said Larry Walsh, a former senator.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/729330,obamapoker092407.stng

[NatBurner]

14. heh

who knew?