"The inspiration for that was the very beginning of when my husband and I were first starting to get to know each other. It was after we finished the album [99.9F] but before we'd actually come together romantically, as a couple, and I knew that if we became involved with each other romantically that it would be very risky, especially for him, and so I was sort of comparing to a poker game. Cause I play poker and I play poker ever since I was a teenager. So that was the initial idea for the song. And some of the words actually got out of a book of rules. A book of games. […] "lamebrain pete" and "spit in the sea" are both a kind of pokering. So I put it together like kind of a puzzle. "
MSNBC's The Site, aired November 20, 1996

"This song is about a romance using the language of poker. I'm sure that you will have no problem with it.} That's like a challenge. You're looking at someone and it's a challenge to them. The metaphor there is poker, and it's sort of calling someone's bluff, and seeing if they're willing to go the full way - knowing that if they do go the full way, that it will cost."
Music Power Network interview by Mr. Bonzai (http://www.vega.net/bonzai.htm)

"That's a song about romance using the language of gambling. And I think it's fairly self-explanatory." Suzanne Discusses Tried and TrueSuzanne Discusses Each Song on Tried and True september, 1998 http://www.suzannevega.com/about/1998/triedandtrue.htm

The object of desire is Mitchell Froom. [Ed.]