Fast Company by Bradshaw

Jon Bradshaw's FAST COMPANY is a classic look at six 'master' gamblers and hot they defy the odds.
Puggy Pearon is one of the gamblers profiled. Bradshaw quotes him at length, including this bit that every gambler should read:

"It's a funny thing -- gamblin'. It's like running a grocery store. You buy and you sell. You pay the going rate for cards and you try and sell 'em for more than you paid. A gambler's ace is his ability to think clearly under stress. That's very important, because, you see, fear is the basis of all mankind. In cards, you psych 'em out, you shark 'em, you put the fear of God in 'em. That's life. Everything's mental in life. The butt was made to lug the mind around. The most important thing in gamblin' is knowing the sixty-forty end of the proposition and knowing the human element. Some folks may know one of 'em, but ain't many know 'em both. I believe in logics. Cut and dried. Two plus two ain't nothin' in this world but four. But them suckers always think it's something different. Makes you think, don't it? I play percentages in everything. Now, knowing the percentages perfectly, the kind of numbers you read in them books, is all right, but the hidden percentages are more important. The real thing to know is that folks will stand to lose more than they will to win. That's the most important percentage there is. I mean, if they lose, they're willing to lose everything. If they win, they're usually satisfied to win enough to pay for dinner and a show. The best gamblers know that."

Couldn't have said it better myself, Puggy. You want to play against folks who try to protect their win when they are ahead, even leaving a juicy game to book a win, and who chase their losses on the bad nights, returning time and time again to the ATM.

From FAST COMPANY by Jon Bradshaw, copyright Jon Bradshaw, 1975. Published by High Stakes [London]: 2003, reprinted 2005. Available wherever books are sold.