Like the man said, if you enter a poker game and you don’t see a sucker, get up and leave – you’re it. Well, isn’t it about time that somebody speaks up for the guy who ends up footing the bill? And, if after all this time, you are having trouble figuring out who that is, take a fast look around at your subway, your bus line, your electric utility, your railroad, ad infinitum. In July of 1979 an editorial in the periodical “Financial World” discussed government spending and used the poker analogy to label taxpayers suckers : Here are some additional selected citations in chronological order. The words were credited to an individual with the alias “Whispering Saul” :Ī stockbroker introduces his financial advisers, such sages as Billy the Shooter and Father Abraham and the wise Whispering Saul, who reminds us, “If you sit in on a poker game and don’t see a sucker, get up. In June of 1979 in the Atlantic Monthly a story about investing titled “Smart People, Smart Money” included a version of the saying in the summary paragraph that prefaced the article. If after ten minutes at the poker table you do not know who the patsy is-you are the patsy. In 1979 the book “The Aggressive Conservative Investor” used a statement of the advice as an epigraph for chapter ten where it was identified as a “Poker Proverb” : QI has located four instances of the saying in 1979 and these appear to be the earliest currently known though earlier examples are likely to exist. However, Buffett did not claim that he originated the saying instead, he suggested it was an aphorism used by poker players.

As they say in poker, “If you’ve been in the game 30 minutes and you don’t know who the patsy is, you’re the patsy.” Indeed, if you aren’t certain that you understand and can value your business far better than Mr. Market” and indicated that a skilled investor should have knowledge that is superior to that of “Mr. Buffett discussed a metaphorical figure called “Mr. The letter was dated February 29, 1988, and it summarized business activity in 1987. Quote Investigator: Warren Buffett did use a version of this quotation in a letter he sent to the shareholders of his conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Inc. These words are sometimes labeled an “old saying” and sometimes attributed to the legendary super-investor Warren Buffett.

If you have been in a poker game for a while, and you still don’t know who the patsy is, you’re the patsy. Warren Buffett? Michael Wolff? Amarillo Slim? Poker Proverb? Whispering Saul?ĭear Quote Investigator: There is a quotation I have seen in several books and periodicals aimed at investors.

Meaning of rounders in poker