Tuesday, May 19, 2020

That's a Lot of Money



At the heart of much speculative fiction (and fiction in general) is a question. What if? On Tuesdays I like to throw one out there and see what you make of it. Do with it as you please. If a for-instance is not specified, feel free to interpret that instance as you wish. And if you find this becomes a novel-length answer, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements. ðŸ˜‰

I'm stealing borrowing today's question from a situation that occurred on a TV show last week (bonus points if you can identify which TV show). 

You've been invited to a poker game. The other players are fairly wealthy. You try to beg off, but your friend offers to stake you. Reluctantly, you agree to play... 

What if you then proceed to win a lot money? We're talking life-changing money. (On the show, the character won over a million dollars.) What do you do?

17 comments:

  1. First of all clueless on the show, lol. I would give all winnings to the friend who fronted me and then the next time this happened I would discuss beforehand who got the winnings or how they were split before I agreed to play. What did they do on the show?

    Betty

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  2. I'd give half the winnings to my friend. Or what was left of that half after taxes got a hold of it.

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  3. I would also give a fair amount to my friend. Then I would take the remaining and put it in a living trust to pay for gr-kids education. Oh, I would also take a it to see places unknown.

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  4. Those must be some pretty bad poker players to get beaten by me. :D

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  5. Repay my friend and then buy a house!

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    1. What if the friend didn't want to be repaid?

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  6. I would be tickled pink, pay off my friend with an extra "bonus" and then sit on it for a bit to figure out what to do aside from paying off my home. I would not want to go through it which could easily happen

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    1. Oh yes, it would be tempting to just blow it all.

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  7. I would feel both great and guilty about the win. I don't know the show in which a scene like this took place. I hope that that character took the money and ran!

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    1. Not quite. She had quite a bit of guilt over it. But, she's probably going to keep it (we might find out this week).

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  8. I know stake like that I couldn't even pay the anti.

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  9. I'd probably try to arrange splitting the pot. But honestly, I wouldn't want the burden of a big cash windfall. 'Friends' come out of the woodwork and few people ever seem to end up any happier in the long run. I'm content with our comfortable middle class life. Heh... Be well!

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    1. Considering how the game went down, it's not likely people are going to find out. But then again, people do find these things out, don't they?

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  10. Well, since I have the world's worst poker face I wouldn't win, and so I wouldn't need to think about what I would do. But seriously, I would owe the friend at least half. Even if she or he never found out.

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    Replies
    1. On the show, she just kept getting good cards. She was actively trying to lose.

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  11. Easy: I will split it three-way - for my friend, to visit some places that are in my bucket list, and to some charity. If the friend refused to accept, that means more for me and the charity!

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I appreciate your comments.

I respond to comments* via email, unless your profile email is not enabled. Then, I'll reply in the comment thread. Eventually. Probably.

*Exception: I do not respond to "what if?" comments, but I do read them all. Those questions are open to your interpretation, and I don't wish to limit your imagination by what I thought the question was supposed to be.