# Sopranos, if you knew them? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 7, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-if-you-knew-them/577563 "2011-04-07T18:56:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-if-you-knew-them/577563/61 "2011-04-12T03:08:55Z")
> [@Lakai](#): > > Yes, but only cops need to prove things. When you do business with the mafia, you can act on what you know is true. > > Someone playing a high stakes game with the mafia is already taking a lot of chances. Add the possibility that they might get killed if they win and they’re not going to wait around for proof. Tony wouldn’t welsh on a bet with a rival mobster - they would be powerful enough to enforce the bet. That’s the point: criminals don’t pick their victims because of some sense of right or wrong. They pick victims because somebody has something they want and because they think they can get away with taking it. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-if-you-knew-them/577563/62 "2011-04-12T05:18:00Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > I think you guys are misunderstanding the nature of the executive game. Tony was “the house”. He didn’t have any money directly in the game, he just hosted it. The house took a cut, but the money involved was the player’s money. If Davey had won, Tony wouldn’t have owed him anything. > > Now, Tony and crew were trying to make extra money off it by spotting Paulie (Silvio?)into the game, but that was a separate deal. > > As I remember it, Davey owed some of Tony’s crew money. He (Davey) showed up desperate for a chance at the big time and talks Tony into loaning him money for the game. If Davey wins, Tony gets paid back and everything’s kosher (since the money he won would have come from the other players). But he loses. Big. Now he owes Tony AND his crew. When Tony’s crew comes in to bust Davey out of the game (since he shouldn’t be gambling with someone else while he owes them money), Tony declares that, as Boss, his debt is now senior and Davey has to pay him back before anyone else gets paid. But either way, there’s no situation under which Tony ends up in debt to Davey. At worst (for Tony), Davey pays up on the spot and Tony is a little ahead (minus any of Paulie/Silvio/Tony’s money that Davey takes at the table). Pretty much this, plus if I recall correctly Tony tried to warn him off, but Davey was practically begging to be let into the game. It’s not like Tony twisted his arm to play. Davey really was pretty much an idiot with a rich wife. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-if-you-knew-them/577563/63 "2011-04-12T10:48:36Z")
It sounds like **Zakalwe** remembers the episode better than I do and some of that stuff is not as clear from the summary I read online. And no, I don’t know how that kind of poker game works. > [@astro](#): > > Pretty much this, plus if I recall correctly Tony tried to warn him off, but Davey was practically begging to be let into the game. It’s not like Tony twisted his arm to play. Davey really was pretty much an idiot with a rich wife. Yes, he did try to talk him about of it. Of course he wasn’t that sorry when Davey got into the game because he had a pretty good idea how it was going to work out. Davey’s store was an asset Tony could exploit and he could wreck the guy’s life at the same time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-if-you-knew-them/577563.md?page=3)