Enough?

This past week those of us who follow golf watched the story of a legend come to an end as Jack Nicklaus played his last tournament in North America. When he plays St. Andrews later this summer it will mark the end of a long and illustrious career. Jack knew to hang it up when he could no longer compete. Do all competitors have that kind of self-knowledge?

Last night I saw something I never thought I'd see. I watched the Legend, the Vault, poker personified, complain that it's impossible to win at Monday's table. I watched him lower his self imposed cash limit mid-evening, then watched him slink off, a shadow of his former self, to play Halo while the rest of us divided the spoils.

What was it that started the descent? Was the first sign watching him shiver under a quilt in a warm room with a blazing fire burning three feet from him? Were the bones simply old and weary? A bad beat perhaps? A straight losing to a hidden boat? One too many draw outs? Was that the first time we heard the faint murmurings of the need to get 'fresh meat' and 'easier money' at the table? Is that what the Lion has been reduced to? Rolling drunks and stealing cookie money from Girl Scouts? Did someone hide his magic visor? His lucky pin? Did Patrick foresake him? Playing confused and bewildered, it looked to the table like he hardly knew where he was, let alone whose deal it was, whose blind it was and who the action was to. Was the Vault really drinking Iced Tea last night? His tequila bottle forgotten on the shelf, growing dusty? I don't have the answers, perhaps no one does.

Come back to us Vault. We know you have some game left. Don't hang it up. If you don't want to do it for yourself, do it for all those poker rookies, picking up their first Sklansky book and dreaming of holding onto their 5c to make a straight flush. Do it for the children.