A Trained Killer

I was living in Phoenix, AZ. when my daughter, Rossana, called me with the information that she had joined the Navy. I was excited for her. I had served in the U.S. Army two years as a draftee. My discharge occurred months before the Vietnam War heated up.

'Daughter, that's wonderful news. Where are you stationed?'

'King's Bay, Georgia.'

She said during basic training, she fired as an expert. Her instructor congratulated her and asked where she had received her firearms training.

'From my dad,' she said.

The Navy considers my blond daughter a trained killer. Yet when I try to talk her into playing poker, she is hesitant.

'Dad, I'm not good enough,' she protests. I tell her she is good enough, that she has a natural talent for playing poker, but she doesn't believe me.

I have observed my daughter playing poker. She is a natural master of the game, but she won't risk her money to play it.

'Not yet,' she says. 'Later maybe.'

I recommend books to her, books like Mike Caro's, 'Poker For Women,' which he wrote with the help of his wife, Phyllys, a winning poker player. She refuses to read it. She rarely enters a casino. The reason, I fear, is that my daughter loves money and she is afraid to lose it.

She played in one tournament with me. She was my partner in a Bonnie and Clyde tournament at Downstream Casino, near Joplin, MO. While we did not finish in the money, she played surprisingly well and more than held her own.

I even tell her I would be willing to back her financially if she wanted to play.

'I'm thinking about it, Dad,' she says, 'but not yet.'

I know Rossana will be an above-average player. She already has more poker smarts than her brother, Dale, who is four years older than her. I remember when Rossana was eight and Dale was 12, they played poker for pennies. Dale tried to run a stone-cold bluff on her with her, while she had a pair of deuces, and called him. He was outraged.

'How could you call me with a lousy pair of deuces,' he asked.

'How could you bet with nothing,' she responded.

Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.

(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter and poker player who lives in Phoenx, AZ. He has published 2,000 articles in 50 magazines and 125 newspapers. If you want to share a gambling story or book idea with him, send an email to glawrenzi@gmail.com ).