The Trespassers. Morris Panych

play what’s in your hand.

      ROXY

      Let him do what he wants.

      HARDY

      If I teach him nothing else before I die, I’m going to teach him how to bluff. Bluffing is humankind at his finest. It involves two completely contradictory aspects of thought:

      knowing and not knowing. Between the two, Lowell, lies the sublime.

      ROXY

      He’ll say anything to win a hand of poker.

      HARDY

      Did anybody ask you?

      LOWELL

      What if my cards aren’t very good?

      HARDY

      Don’t tell me that. He tells me his hand isn’t very good. Don’t tell me that.

      LOWELL

      Okay.

      HARDY

      Like I said, Lowell, it’s got absolutely nothing to do with what’s in your hand. It’s what’s in your mind that counts. That you can control. What’s in your hand is what’s in your hand. Make me think you’re holding three aces.

      LOWELL

      How?

      HARDY

      When you look at your cards, let your head go back just slightly and widen your eyes a little; keep scanning the cards, as if you can’t quite believe your good luck. Bet tentatively at first, then lean back. Try to act unexcited. That’s good. I see you and raise you.

      LOWELL

      Can you beat three aces?

      HARDY

      No, but I know you’re trying to bluff me, now.

      LOWELL

      Then I fold.

      HARDY

      Don’t fold. Make me doubt my own wisdom. Great men make little men doubt. That’s how Lenin came to power, and Stalin after him. Bet, and bet high. Churchill, now there was a bluffer.

      LOWELL

      I’ll lose all my money.

      HARDY

      Losing or winning isn’t the point.

      ROXY

      No?

      HARDY

      You want to be a victim of your own fate?

      LOWELL

      No.