Hamlet has just accepted a challenge to face Laertes in a heads up no limit match:
Hamlet I do not think so. Since he went into France I have been in continual practice. I shall win at the odds. But thou wouldst not think how ill all’s here about my heart. But it is no matter.
Horatio Nay, good my lord –
Hamlet It is but foolery; but it is such a kind of gaingiving as would perhaps trouble a woman.
Horatio If your mind dislike anything, obey it. I will forestall their repair hither and say you are not fit.
Hamlet Not a whit, we defy augury; there’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, ’tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all. Since no man knows aught of what he leaves, what is’t to leave betimes? Let be.
Horatio doesn’t think much of Hamlet’s chances in the match; he’s the kind of poker player who believes in luck, gut feelings, and all of that crap. Hamlet, on the other hand, understands that over the long run he has +EV against Laertes. All he has to do is be ready when everything–the cards, the relative stack sizes, and the twitch above Laertes left temple–says now is the time to re-raise over the top.
“All in.”
Inspiration from The Cards Speak; text from Project Gutenberg.