Aaaaah… now this guy is an inspiration! Yes! Yes! This is the way I want to spend my last years out on this earth! A local Atlantic City newspaper recently published the story of a guy who is already 102 and who visits the casino nearly every single day in order to play poker. First of all, imagine reaching the age of 102! Then imagine being physically and mentally able to do just about anything! And THEN imagine that being 102, being physcially and mentally capable AND being able to sit down at a poker table and play a good game? Now do understand why Andrew Amatrudo is my hero?
Amatrudo was born in 1909 – that’s five years before the start of World War I and still during the time the Theodore Roosevelt was President. The guy spent most of his life working as a hairdresser, got a married, had one daughter (and his baby is now 74 years old!) and has been blessed with grandkids and great-grandkids. Sadly, his wife passed away nearly 2 decades ago.
However, Andy, as he is known to his friends on the casino floor, has a great life on a daily basis. The guy lives literally next door to the Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City and every day, rain or shine, he hops into his motorized scooter and rides off to the front door before heading off the poker tables. That’s where he’ll sit down and start playing the one and only poker variant he enjoys – stud poker.
The poker tables have become Andy’s second home. Here he holds court like a regal king, playing his opponents, ocassionally beating them and socializing until it’s time to go home. He even celebrated his 102nd birthday with cake and candles (though not 102!) at the poker tables very recently, surrounded by fellow poker players. The manager of the poker room at the Taj Mahal said that on the days that Andy doesn’t turn up, he and the gentelman’s friends will call him to make sure that he’s ok.
But there’s nothing stopping Andy, who is in perfect health and takes no medication. “I’m not going to sit home,” he said. “If I sit home, I’ll go beserk. I love to play poker. That’s all I live for anymore.”
Tags: atlantic city, poker
