Play ‘Em Like You Got ‘Em....I think it’s time for all of us to begin treating our collective economic challenges like my mother did when she played cards. A little explanation is in order.

When I was a teenager and young adult, my parents, grandmother and I frequently spent evenings playing “500,” a trick-taking card game, something like bridge or euchre.

As Wikipedia describes, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/500_(card_game)) the standard “500” deck contains 43 playing cards: a Joker is included, and the 2s, 3s, and two 4s (typically the black ones) are removed. Cards are dealt to each of the four players and three are dealt face down on the table to form the kitty (also known as the widow or blind.) Players play in pairs.

After the deal, players call in turn, electing either to bid or to pass. A bid indicates the combined number of tricks the bidder believes he and his partner will take and the suit that will be trump for that hand, or that there will be no trump suit. For instance, a bid of "seven spades" indicates that the player intends to win seven or more tricks with spades being the trump suit, whereas a bid of "seven no-trumps" indicates that the player intends to win seven or more tricks with no trump suit (in which case the only trump card is the joker).

The goal is for the team who wins the bid to take at least as many tricks as they bid. Points are awarded according to the number of tricks taken and the suit. For example, 6 spade tricks earn 40 points, while 6 hearts is scored as 100. Both diamonds and hearts are more valuable than spades or clubs. The first team to reach 500 is declared the winner.

Now, my mother was a fierce competitor. She and I typically teamed up and she wanted to win! About the second or third hand of the game, she would look over at my dad (who always served as scorekeeper) and say “Honey, how many tricks do I need to win?” Dad would check his sheet and announce something like “8 hearts.” Mom would quickly quip, “I’m bidding 8 hearts.” About this time, my heart would nearly stop because, invariably, all I had in my hand were spades and clubs.

But no matter. She’d say, “Ok… we’re going to play ‘em like we got ‘em.” It didn’t matter what we had in our hands, we were going to win. And by being creative, taking risks and generally just acting like we were on top of our game, we usually were.

While the recession is supposed to be over, I think our collective psyche is still paralyzed by the fear that we’re only holding spades and clubs, when what we need are diamonds and hearts. It’s time to take some risks – time for banks to fund business loans, for companies to make acquisitions or invest in capital projects (and thus create jobs and hire additional employees), for our elected officials to stop bickering and for individuals who have money in their wallets to open them and start spending those green backs.

So, how about it? Let’s play ‘em like we got ‘em. Let’s act like winners!

[Post a comment]