(Part I is in the book “Dice Control for Casino Craps")

*******************************************************************
In This Chapter
Ø Gambling as a source of happiness
Ø     Gambler as an artist
Ø Gambler as a hero
Ø     Gambler’s Existencia
Ø Gambling Disciples of God

*******************************************************************

Our dear friend from the previous chapter – Francis Bacon – whose wisdom was certainly bigger than England, once thought about happiness. He wisely concluded that people are happy if their occupations are in harmony with their nature and abilities. In other words, if you are lucky to do what you’re really good at and even to be paid for it, consider yourself happy. “Really good” means good results achieved easy and often. Those results become a source of a constant joy and mental and psychological satisfaction, which give the life a meaning and quality. Gambling is what we all love and enjoy. It’s not very easy to become really good at. It’s not very hard either. Thus, gambling can become a source of happiness for anybody willing to give it a chance. All it wants in return is an open and inquisitive mind, regular practice in your free time, patience and common sense. Discipline is a must. Greed, of course, is out of the question, - as chevalier Redmond Barry, a first class player circa 1776, used to say: “…..but above all, be not eager at winning, as mean souls are”.

If you aren’t happy with what you do in your life, Gambling is an alternative worth considering. It can instill, at least, some happiness into your life.

Gambler is a true artist. There is no difference of principle between a gambling pro and, for ex, a professional painter. The only difference is in the medium and tools. If a painter paints on a canvas covered with gesso or on a wooden panel, a gambler paints on a wooden gambling table covered by a green felt. A painter uses an oil paint or watercolor, a gambler – the cards and dice. Painter’s tool is a brush and gambler’s instrument is his playing strategy. All gamblers, like all painters, use their tools with a different degree of skill. The Art of Painting creates beautiful paintings; the Art of Gambling has great gambling sessions for its masterpieces. Both arts can be fully appreciated only by the people who understand them. If a person looks at Picasso’s “Girl on the Ball”, which shows a fragile little girl on the ball in front of a guerilla-like man sitting firmly on the cube, and mumbles something about “colors”, he knows very little about the Art of Painting. On the other hand, if he starts talking about the meaning of the painting and says, for ex, that all beautiful and good in this world is as fragile as the girl’s equilibrium on the ball and is in a constant danger from everything bad, primitive and aggressive, which is as deeply rooted as the big man on the cube and, as such, it should be cherished and protected, then he can really appreciate that painting (and, probably, can come to a conclusion that it’s the only Picasso’s work worth looking at). The Art of Gambling, to be appreciated, requires an equal depth of knowledge and understanding. If I’ll look for a minute at your game, I’ll, probably, tell you what kind of painting you’re trying to create and how good or bad it will be. Other observer will probably see less…or more.

Both true painting and gambling professionals enjoy their art first and check second. Their artistic performance is a constant source of a deep psychological satisfaction and overall well-being.

Every artwork – on the canvas or on the felt – is different from the previous or the next one. Creative process never stops and it has no end – for a gambler and for a painter. The next time somebody will ask you: “Are you an artist?” don’t let Yuri down, don’t be shy and say proudly: “Yes, I am”. Don’t forget to add: “My art is the Art of Gambling”. If you’ll be able to follow up with: “And I’m good at it”, I’ll be happy to know that the army just grew by one - the army of modern gamblers. They are the torchbearers of the time-honored Art of Gambling, which goes back all the way to Antiquity and, probably, even earlier into the caves decorated by the primitive paintings of our ancestors.

Gambling is an amazing, heroic and beautiful world. That world is not only a vast arena for a creative work but it’s also a battlefield of almost mythical proportions.

There are two kinds of men in this world - those who gamble and those who’re gamblers. Those who gamble are.................................................