Then with a mental click I realized that Tyson was silently and unobtrusively studying me. He was taking in absolutely everything about me, trying to build himself the perfect cheat sheet while he was playing against me. And the fact that I had caught him doing it simply didn’t faze him; he just kept right on collecting his precious data. And right then not only did I feel incredibly exposed but I also knew that Tyson was going to be at the final table. And I truly began to worry about making it there myself.
I had been so focused on Tyson’s silent study of me that I almost missed Allison’s words. “Well I can’t justify paying for the flop.” She was disappointed, at least I thought she was, not that I was a good judge right then, as she pushed her pair of cards back to the dealer. With a scoff she looked at everyone and said, “I don’t think anything would have come up that would have let me beat Tiffany.” Whether she meant for it to happen or not, everyone save Tyson laughed, even the stoic dealer cracked a smile.
Unable to keep from piling on the defenseless Tiffany, Jonathan calmly added his own thoughts. “That may be but I’m sure you would have been able to convince her otherwise.” I was certain that his quip was simply an attempt to deflect from his own dissatisfaction with his cards, because he quickly followed Allison’s lead as he tossed his hand to the dealer as well.
“True enough, Jonathan, but then where would the challenge have been?” Allison replied but before anyone could respond she stood up and continued on. “I think I’ll follow your lead Marcus but I think my stretch will take me over to the bar, I need a drink. Enjoy the round everyone.” With that she abruptly turned around and made her way to the bar.
Without unnecessary words, which for Tyson meant that he was still his stoic and mute self, the man casually called the big blind. Despite my earlier thought, I felt like folding my hand, no matter that I had paid to see the flop. Tyson’s stare was just that unnerving. It was obvious that he was just trying to bully the rest of us with his ever increasing stack. Just like every other time Kelly had had the small blind, she instantly paid the difference so she could see the flop as well. Finally William checked away his opportunity to raise the buy in.
The stern faced dealer quickly burned the top card and produced the flop. Intently, I studied the cards for a moment and mentally danced for joy. Now all I needed was to hook one of the players, it didn’t matter who. In the center of the table there were the deuce and jack of spades split by the seven of hearts. So far this night I had managed to catch three flush draws just like this, I was going to run with my past luck and wipe that expressionless look off of Tyson’s face, well that was my hope anyway.
Kelly was willing to see how the round developed so she simply checked the opening bet to William who instantly reached for a stack of chips. But instead of collecting a bet he sat there playing with the stacks. Eventually he decided that five-thousand dollars would be sufficient. Looking at his face he did a decent job of hiding his emotions from view, but fortunately for me, I hadn’t stopped my exam with his face. I studied his entire body. His hands told me the entire story that his face was schooled enough not to.
After a moment of consideration I made a comment on his bet. “You must have something special to make a starting bet like that.” Which was not entirely true, I mean his bet wasn’t all that lavish, at least not for the moment. But free information was always a good thing. Not that I was necessarily pressed to collect any more on him.
“No, no, no, no, no Marcus.” William rushed with just a little bit too much force behind it. He must have realized that as well because he quickly made a decent recovery. “If you want to see what I have here,” he busied himself tapping the backs of the cards before him just the little bit of emphasis. “Then you’ll have to pay to see them just like anyone else.”
His busy hands had told me that while he didn’t have anything solid as of yet, he was chasing down a better than decent draw. Like me, could he be hoping for a flush? It was possible, but that slight hesitation before his bet made me think the chances of that were unlikely. Even if he was after a flush, it made little difference at the moment. There were still two cards left to shape the game and I liked my draw better, after all with a flush draw I was holding the ace. And that meant that I would beat any other flush so I might as well see just how far I could push the pot. “Let’s make it eight thousand to see what’s next.”
Of course the living statue tossed in the required eight thousand. But Kelly took a long look at what was out on the table and then thought about what she was holding before looking back at the rest of us saying, “Looks like it’s time for me to get off this ride.” Then she slid her cards towards the dealer before mumbling a curse under her breath. She needed to learn a little more control.
Once I raised his bet, William’s hands had been busy with a small stack of chips, and as soon as Kelly folded he asked the dealer, “That leaves three to me, correct?”
“Yes sir.” The dealer answered.
“Three it is then.” William replied as he added the required chips into the pile.
I kept my eyes on William’s hands so I was barely aware of the dealer’s motions. But as I needed to watch William’s hands, and I knew the new card helped him, but I also knew he still needed more. And with a glance at the community cards I saw that the four of spades had been added to the collection. Well that ruled out a flush for William. So what was the man fishing for with what was available? Could he have been betting on a straight draw? A straight draw would be a good hand to bet on but not with the flush draw right there staring up at us.