Escrita por Don Schlitz, foi gravada em 1978, no Jack Clement Recording Studio, em Nashville, Tennessee e lançada em 15 de novembro de 1978 no disco de mesmo nome, o sexto da carreira de Kenny. Saiu no mesmo mês também em compacto, com Momma's waiting como Lado B. Foi produzida por Larry Butler. Schlitz escreveu a canção em 1976, com 23 anos de idade. Foi regravada também por Johnny Cash, no mesmo ano. A versão de Kenny Rogers no entanto foi número 1 no Billboard Hot Country Songs e número 16 no Billboard Hot 100. Número 22 no Reino Unido, número 2 na Argentina e Canadá, núemro 12 na Espanha e número 25 na Austrália e 25 na Nova Zelandia. Kenny ganhou um Grammy Award for best male country vocal performance. Os Jordanaires, que acompanhavam Elvis, foi quem fez os backing vocals. A letra fala de um narrador encontrando um jogador de baralho em uma tarde em um trem. O jogador lê na cara do narrador que ele está passando por uma situação difícil e oferece conselho em troca de uma dose de whisly. E dá seus conselhos usando metáforas de um jogo de poker. Em 2018, entrou pra preservação na National Recording Registry, na Library of Congress.
A letra:
On
a warm summer's evening
On a train bound for nowhere
I met up
with the gambler
We were both too tired to sleep
So we took
turns a-starin'
Out the window at the darkness
The boredom
overtook us
And he began to speak
He said, "Son, I've made a
life
Out of readin' people's faces
Knowin' what the cards
were
By the way they held their eyes
So if you don't mind my
sayin'
I can see you're out of aces
For a taste of your
whiskey
I'll give you some advice"
So I handed him my bottle
And he
drank down my last swallow
Then he bummed a cigarette
And asked
me for a light
And the night got deathly quiet
And his face
lost all expression
Said, "If you're gonna play the game,
boy
You gotta learn to play it right
You've got to know when to hold
'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
And know
when to run
You never count your money
When you're sittin' at
the table
There'll be time enough for countin'
When the
dealin's done
Every gambler knows
That the secret
to survivin'
Is knowin' what to throw away
And knowin' what to
keep
'Cause every hand's a winner
And every hand's a loser
And
the best that you can hope for
Is to die in your sleep"
And when he'd finished speakin'
He
turned back toward the window
Crushed out his cigarette
Faded
off to sleep
And somewhere in the darkness
The gambler he broke
even
But in his final words
I found an ace that I could keep
You've got to know when to hold
'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
And know
when to run
You never count your money
When you're sittin' at
the table
There'll be time enough for countin'
When the
dealin's done
You've got to know when to hold 'em
(when to hold 'em)
Know when to fold 'em (when to fold 'em)
Know
when to walk away
And know when to run
You never count your
money
When you're sittin' at the table
There'll be time enough
for countin'
When the dealin's done
You've got to know when to hold
'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
And know
when to run
You never count your money
When you're sittin' at
the table
There'll be time enough for countin'
When the
dealin's done
A versão de Kenny Rogers:
A versão de Johnny Cash:
A versão de Mark Wills:
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