Rudy's father......

My friend Rudy had his father pass away earlier this week. They had the funeral yesterday. They let people come up and say something if they wanted to do so. People did exactly that and gave a wide range of memories about his father. One man had lost his son and was befriended by Rudy's dad who helped him through it. Some of his co-workers talked about how hard he worked and how good it was to work with him. Rudy talked for awhile and did his dad proud. I won't try to recount it for fear that I won't do it justice, but he did a great job. I know how hard it was to speak about a family member at their funeral. It's probably twice as tough when it's your father.

I remember a couple of things about his dad that pop out. They have 5 kids, all who turned out well, which is an achievement all its own. After going through the birth of one baby, I have a greater respect for parents who have 5 children and raise them. That's a lot of work.

Their family always had a pizza night once a week. All of the kids would be there and their parents would always buy pizza. The kids could invite friends as well if they wanted. I've never seen anything like it. I went to the pizza night a couple times. There were usually just as many pizzas as there were people in attendance. Yet, by the time it was all said and done, there was rarely much pizza left over. I don't know how Rudy's father managed to feed his family the other 6 days of the week, but he obviously did. Big kudos to him.

Rudy's father had also been coming to the poker games here and there over the past couple of years. I walked up to Rudy's mother at the funeral yesterday and she looked at me smiling.

Rudy's mom: I guess you won't be taking his money at the poker game anymore.

Me: (gave her a hug): He was a really terrible poker player.

Rudy's mom: I know. He'd be the first one to say so.

I liked Rudy's dad for that reason. Most are hesitant to come over and play in the poker game at first. They're afraid to be embarrassed for not playing well. While there are certainly some good players in our monthly game, it's mainly done just for fun. The other exceptional thing about poker is that you can play a hand badly, get lucky, and still win. It's a beautiful thing when it happens and it's even better if you're the one doing it.

Rudy's dad was not afraid to play any hand and wasn't afraid to bluff his way to a win. Better yet, when he did bluff someone out of a hand, he'd calmly rake in the chips and wouldn't do anything to indicate that he didn't have a good hand. A good poker player wins. A better poker player does that while showing respect for his opponent. Rudy's dad always did that.

Also, most players fold their hands at the end if they were bluffing and know they didn't win. Not Rudy's dad. If he was bluffing and someone called his bluff, he'd proudly turn over that he had nothing more than queen high like he expected that to be the winning hand. There was a few times, including once against Rudy, where I saw him flip over ace high and take the pot. The rest of us would laugh as his opponent threw a fit. He'd just smile and take in the chips. Funny stuff.

Moral of this story, which I'm sure Rudy's dad would agree with, is that there's no shame in trying something and then failing. The shame is when people never even try something. It's all part of the learning experience.