Sunday, July 31, 2005

Trophy Wives

Gus Hansen and I work in the same office; actually, he plays in a glassed-in area called "Bobby's Room" with other poker stars like Chip Reese, and I play out on the regular poker floor with the other regular folk. (I do get to be about 20 seconds closer to the bathrooms, though, which makes a big difference in my opinion). Considering how incredibly different our lives outside the poker room must be, it's that funny to think that for eight hours or so every day, he and I are doing essentially the same thing, only with different colored poker chips.

I was thinking about this the other day when Gus walked into the poker room with a stunning blonde on his arm. While I appreciated the scenery, which included one of the few sets of real breasts I've seen since I arrived in Las Vegas, I felt somehow disappointed in Gus. I'm not sure why exactly; most of the rich people in Las Vegas, poker players included, seem to have trophy wives. So I guess it should have come as no surprise that a young, self-made, intelligent, reasonably good-looking rich guy like Gus Hansen would have one as well (I'm not sure if she's actually his wife). For some reason, though, I had viewed Gus as a more down-to-earth type. I guess it was about time I was disabused of that illusion. Now, even in the poker room, I could not pretend he and I were alike.