It’s more like winning than winning itself, and everyone knows you are not a real player until you secretly prefer losing.
-- Lord Doyle (Chapter 1 paragraph 1)

Importance: While it might seem gamblers would prefer to win, the quote turns that assumption on its end by indicating that real players prefer to lose.

The doors are of that bright gold that the Chinese love, the carpets that deep red that they also love and that is said to be the color of Luck.
-- Lord Doyle (Chapter 1 paragraph 3)

Importance: This quote captures the superstitious nature of the Chinese, as it describes the colors and ornaments used in the casino were believed to bring luck.

Easy pickings, she is thinking, looking at this plump gwai lo in his gloves and bow tie, with his look of a New England literature professor out on the town without permission from his wife.
-- Lord Doyle (Chapter 1 paragraph 6)

Importance: Doyle believed this was what the woman who he later learned was nicknamed...