The best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep.

Got into a debate at work today over whether the gambler in Kenny Rogers's song dies at the end. Of course he does; otherwise, the song has no poignancy. The gambler imparts his life wisdom and then merely goes to sleep? No. Dies in his sleep, leaving him time enough to count his money now that the metaphorical dealin' is done? I believe so.

The lyrics speak for themselves:

And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep.

So when he'd finished speakin', he turned back towards the window,
Crushed out his cigarette and 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 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.

Kenny: back me up. I love your chicken.