2024 NaPM 25 April

[dukealien]

Real Deal


It’s twenty-three-card pickup, kid–
you play the hand you’re dealt blind
by your parents, cut and shuffled.

Sure, you can improve it: upgrade
with training, experience,
even (snicker) education.
A sense of humor is
a good flush to develop.

But there are just two suits
of that X-Y joker, pink and blue
(one to a customer)
that you can’t change no matter
what you discard.

So don’t fold: play ‘em
like you got ‘em up until
the bluffs get real.