Craps analogy in Play It As It Lays?

Question

I just finished Joan Didion's book, "Play it as it Lays," which has lots of analogies based on card games. I know nothing about card games, so I'm missing the point of the some of the analogies.

1) What does it mean to "play it as it lays"?

2) In one section, she writes, "It goes as it lays, don't do it the hard way. My father advised me that life itself was a crap game."

I've often heard life is a game of craps, meaning it's random and you'll never know what you'll get. But I'm not sure what it means to go as it lays, or what other alternative there would be.

Answer 1

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I read the book so many years ago that my memory is fuzzy now. I do recall that it had inspired one of my short stories, which sadly, is now needing the entire first half revised, as I'm no longer happy with it. I would say that

1) is directed more at her husband Lang and her marriage more than card games, and

2) Trying to control something that can't be controlled or changed, is folly unto itself.

Answer 2

The correct phrase is "play where they lay". In casinos this means that if a customer places a bet and it's not quiet right i.e. you put a bet on a split (17:1) on a roulette table but you place the bet and it touches the corner (8:1) it will be payed where it lays.
Not sure if this will help though.

Source(s):

Me Casino Manager.