The Walking Dead: Gambler’s Edition – Rick

The leader of the group and a force to be reckoned with, I give you: Rick Grimes

Spoiler Alert!
Before the apocalypse, Rick was a Sheriff Deputy with a loyal wife (right, Lori?) and a kid, Carl. He worked with his best friend, Shane and everything was fine, until Rick got shot in the line of duty. He fell into a coma and when he woke up, everyone was gone. In these first couple of episodes, we can see him fighting to wrap his head around the horror he has woken to. Once he has gotten a grip on himself, he starts on a journey to find his family.

• Became a leader unwillingly
• Would be antisocial at a live game
• Effective player

With that kind of dedication, he would be a great gambler. Although I get the feeling that he would rather enjoy mobile betting sites than luxury casinos, he would definitely be a winner at whichever table he chose to sit down at. A true leader, once he found his family and a group of people who would later on become his closest friends, he would work on ways to protect everyone. One of his main strengths and weaknesses is his overly active sense of morality; a feature, which is dangerous in a post-apocalyptic setting like this. Sometimes, he puts the others and himself in harm’s way because he wants to do the right thing.

Conflicts between Rick and Shane

In the first couple of seasons, the two friends often clash when it comes to leadership decisions (and the elephant in the room named Lori…) When put in contrast, we can see that Shane is more ruthless than Rick, who has an underlying good soul that sometimes makes it hard for him to protect the group. Unlike Shane, Rick can’t just leave someone for dead or put somebody out of their misery (even if he knows full well that the person will turn.) The most important things in his life are his family and the group. He assumes the role of leader rather unwillingly, but gets better at it as time goes by.

The reason why Rick would rather prefer playing on mobile casinos, rather than at a live game, lies in this reluctance to name himself head of the group. He’s not the guy who likes to be in the spotlight. But, when he realizes that the group only has a shot at surviving with him in the leadership role, he steps up to the task at hand. Throughout the show, we can witness his transformation from a kind of clueless good guy to a more ruthless, sometimes down right antisocial dictator. At one point, he even says, “This is not a democracy anymore.”

A man hardened by endless loss

The group loses many of its members, and for each loss, Rick feels responsible. When Shane gets out of hand and attacks Rick, Carl shoots him, but he isn’t deaddead. Rick has to finish the job. When Lori dies, Rick starts spiraling. Another huge loss. Plus, she was pregnant at the time, so now Rick has a daughter named Judith. He starts to have hallucinations and is acting incredibly scary. For a moment there, he loses himself and the group starts losing faith in him. With every conflict and crisis, he becomes more unstable, because he has the tendency to believe that anything bad that has ever happened to the group is his fault.

If he were put in a US poker room to play, he would have a very hard time hiding his emotions. If he had a bad run, he would definitely freak out and try to find a solution (but as we know, solutions for being dealt a bad hand don’t really exist.) He would keep at the game, trying and trying again to win, and would only quit once he lost all of his money (and some money he borrowed off someone.) He wouldn’t talk too much to the others sitting at the table and would be suspicious of most players. Otherwise, he’d be a good player, because he definitely has the brains.