It’s now professional, like basketball,
Ice hockey, golf. The big-time. Players bet
With sponsors’ money, but they’re paid. It’s all
A layered gamble. We’re the saps who get

Cheap thrills by proxy—relishing the rush
Of pure adrenaline, the opiate
That comes with working on a royal flush,
Or drawing, lucky, for an inside straight.

Except that they must win, and thus control
Their feelings, side-lined. Just a stony face
Would not suffice; they need to play their role

Like actors, cold. —Their livelihood is poker,
But Fate, unseen, can put them in their place.
She knows all games; she often is the joker.