Bluffing the Devil

chapter 7



The game started off much more quickly than any game I had been in before. This was the big leagues and this is where people earned their spot into the main event.

Lady Luck was on my side for the game and I had only been dealt three hands that were not worthy of playing, the others had all raked in huge pots each time. I was starting to get hatred from the other players, which was always a good sign. Emotion meant screwing up, which led to people losing their mind or playing like idiots. Then they tended to give away all their stack. Hopefully that stack was going to come to my side of the table.

During intermission, I checked to see if my friends were there and, as history dictated, they all were there indeed. All smiling and waving to me like the crazies they are.

I went over to ask if they wanted to get a drink and a snack. I was starving! Apparently playing poker like a boss really took it out of me.

Rhea, who had caught up to Carly and Victoria just fifteen minutes into the game, ran up to me and hugged me tightly, and then cupped my face for an inspection.

"How are you? How's the game going? I mean, I see you are kicking ass as usual, but do you feel okay?"

Her excitement was cute, as usual. "Well, I'm so glad you graced us with your presence, your Highness!"

Eye roll. Of course, she and Victoria were the eye rolling queens on the world. If there was a championship for it, they would have to find some sort of medieval tie-breaker because neither of them would ever admit defeat.

"I was just handling a little bit of business. Nothing unusual, and nothing for you to worry your pretty little head over, okay, miss? Are you going to avoid my questions any longer or do I need to put you over my knee?" She waggled her eyebrow at me, and then suddenly whipped around and dragged me by my hand toward the door. "Let's get you a snack, come on!"

"Where are we going in such a hurry!?" I said nearly losing my breath in her haste. "I am sure that spanking me in public would make for some interesting convo around the tables later, but I only have thirty minutes. You cannot kidnap me from the game. I crave sustenance!"

"Since when have I ever let you down? Especially, when there is a chance to feed you, chickadee?" She shot me a look over her shoulder and I knew to trust her. I always knew to trust my girls.

She snaked me between the innocent bystanders, and out the door before I realized what was even going on. Victoria and Carly were hot on our trail and I was pretty sure I saw Victoria body-check someone purposefully on the way out. I tried not to laugh. Rhea was dragging me so quickly, I got nervous that pausing mentally long enough to laugh might make me trip, injure myself, and cause a scene.

On the other side of the door, a taxi sat at the curb waiting and Rhea made a beeline for it.

"Rhea, I don't have long. I can't just leave I don't want to be late coming back."

She huffed, "I know you cannot leave, so I brought the yummies to you!" She opened the taxi door and pulled out a huge pizza box along with a bag. She handed the driver some money and thanked him for waiting. He grinned and let her know that he was available for her any time she needed him in the future, and handed her his business card. Yep, that's Rhea. She was always the charmer.

"Come on! Let's sit on the beach for a few minutes while we devour the goodies!" Rhea's eyes shimmered as she knew that would be my very favorite idea.

"You people and your beach food," Carly complained lightly. "Can we ever have food in a restaurant with forks and linen napkins, sexy waiters, champagne, sparkles, and food that makes us forget sex long enough to just wanta roll our bodies in it?"

Everyone stopped almost in the middle of the busy intersection. "Really, Carly? Food is super exciting to you. I never noticed your food-slut mannerisms before now," Rhea chuckled.

"I've heard her talk about food like that forever, but I never knew she wanted to roll around in it and name her babies after ingredients," I joked back.

As we finished crossing the street, Victoria added, "Maybe we should get her a chef boyfriend? Then she might be able to keep some meat on her bones."

"Yeah right, like she ever holds on to an ounce of anything ever. I think Carly has the perfect body," I said admiring her. I had to work-out like a maniac to keep my figure. Everyone in my family had health problems of some sort, and I was always a stickler for eating the best way I could so I would avoid adding to the genetics problems. I figured if I did the best for my body, maybe it would work in my favor at some point. A girl can dream, right?

"Well, it wouldn't hurt her to fill out a little more. She looks like if we ever sparred with her, she might break in half," Rhea said as we came to an uninhabited spot on the beach. She crossed her legs and sat down Indian style on the sand. "Come on guys, let's dig in!" She popped the top to the box and I immediately drooled. The perfect pizza was hard to come by, but this one looked pretty amazing. She opened the bag and handed us all a napkin and bottle of water or soda. Then grabbed herself a slice of pizza as I was choosing one also.

We all sat around and munched our pizza silently. It was the only time we were quiet as a group, when food was involved. Usually food didn't even stop us. We would talk with our mouths full, laugh, choke, laugh some more, but apparently tonight was our night to be quiet and ladylike while in public. Someone should take note. That didn't happen often.

Once, we had a baking sleepover, which was just an excuse for us to make an unrealistic amount of sweets all night and pig out on them. We claimed it to be an experiment and said that we were trying out recipes so we could all agree on what we would make for the next few bake sales and things we participated in for various organizations. We all knew it was just because we are carbaholics and needed a fix. What better way to carb out than with your girlfriends? Movies, gossip, and carbs was the perfect evening for us.

Jamison had come home during the sleepover and just stared at all of us laying across all of the furniture with cookie, pie, and cake crumbs all over our faces, mouths full of sweets, laughing uncontrollably. He kissed my forehead and said that he would vacuum in the morning and for us to have an awesome time. Then he went to our room, shut the door, and didn't come back out for the rest of the night. Smart guy!

I polished off my third slice of pizza and leaned back, digging my elbows into the sand. "Oh my goodness, Rhea! That pizza was incredible. Thank you so much!" I said right before downing the rest of my water.

"It's really helpful that we all like the same kind of pizza, isn't it? I don’t know any other chicks that like the carnivore special," Rhea joked.

"What? We need our meat, too! Bacon is not just for men, you know?" Carly announced happily.

We chorused a loud round of laughter. Of course, Carly would be the one to mention bacon!

"I sometimes eat it with lots of veggies, but that's only if I’m just eating pizza. Usually we have our carnivore special and a giant salad so it balances out," I chuckled. "Oh well, it was delicious and it can try to go straight to my ass, but I had a nice workout earlier and I will have one again tomorrow, and it's not like it’s every day that I am in a big-deal poker tournament in Atlantic City, so screw it!" I stood and started to bump the small remnants of sand off of my clothes, which were behaving much more than I anticipated.

"Heading back to the game, ladies? Need an escort?" Rey's sudden interruption to our little meeting shouldn't have shocked me. I was becoming more and more used to his random intrusions into my happy bubble.

"No, we do not. We are perfectly capable. Thanks anyway," I shot, waiting for him to argue against my swift rebuff, but he simply nodded his head.

"Very well, be safe. You never know what sort of danger is lurking. See you at the tables!" He sent a little wink, nodded to Victoria, and strolled away.

Carly huffed much more loudly than necessary. "What the hell does that mean? Danger is lurking? Sure, try to scare us, jackass! This place is well lit, policed often, and we are in a group of four. Who the hell does he think he is? It’s not like we’re some scared band of nitwits!?" Her rage boiled quickly.

"Umm, babe, you okay? He's gone…" I edged.

"He's been all in your face ever since you got here, and even when he was playing, he was eyeballing you the whole time. You, of course, were all focused and didn't give a crap what he was doing, but I noticed. It's just frustrating, I guess. You don't need a man to do things for you. I know we bug you to get a boyfriend and have sex and stuff all the time, but we do that out of love and to mess with you. You’ll get a man when you're good and damned ready. This guy needs to f*ck off!"

A collective eye-bulge happened as we all stared at Carly in amazement.

"I definitely don't need a man, and I'm sure he doesn't think he's my man anyway. He is just harassing me because I’m his opponent. He must think I'm a good one for him to always be in my face, you know?"

"He looked at you and Victoria both like you’re a piece of steak, and he was starving!" I giggled inside that she made yet another food reference, but kept it to myself.

"Oh babe, you worry too much. We’re okay, I promise."

"Please don't promise things like that, you remember…" Rhea said quietly.

"Okay, I'm sorry," of course, Rhea being one of the sisters I never had would hold me to my "never promise anything" vow. Jamison's last words to me were "I will see you in twenty minutes or less, I promise." and since then, I had vowed to never use those words. You cannot promise something that is not yours to control, and I wouldn't leave people that I love hanging.

"This is bullshit. Let's get back so you can kick that guy's ass and go home," Victoria interjected.

"I agree! Let's do this thang! I'm gonna put on my gameface!" I said giggling at my thuggish sounding excitement.

"Sweet! That's the spirit!" Rhea linked arms with me and Victoria and I linked my free arm with Carly, as we made our way back across the semi-busy street and headed back into the casino for the second part of the game.

~

The second part of the game was ridiculous at best. After hours of folding nearly every hand that came to me, I was just about to mentally give up when I finally got a great hand. I had a good stack going still and even though things hadn't been going my way for a few hours. I had been playing tight and being very careful with my choices, most were folds unless I was in the blind, then I would test the waters and just see where it went.

This new hand brought me back to life. I never wavered on my emotions during a game. I felt confident in my skills, and knew that patience and knowledge could beat anyone much more effectively than speed and cockiness.

I saw that I had my favorite hand, which was 9, 10 suited in Spades. To everyone else, the hand can look weak and small, but they are suited connectors and can lead to great things. I had a prime chance to get two pair, a straight, a flush, or all sorts of other hands. 9, 10 suited were also my lucky cards, and every other time I’d ever been dealt those cards, I won. Every player has that one hand that they look for and this was mine.

I slyly checked my stack and saw that I had a little over $15,000 and was in first place on the table even after the rough spot after the intermission. Prior to the intermission, I had knocked two others out and only four of us remained. Now was my time to make a move. Player 1 only had $2,000 remaining and the big blind was $1,200. Two hands calling the big blind and he would be out anyway, so the time to push him was now. Player 2 instantly folded. Player 3 called the $1,200 big blind and I re-raised to $2,000 to put Player 1 all-in. Player 3 eyeballed me curiously but knew what I was up to, so he also called the $2,000.

The dealer showed us the flop. The flop is the 7 of spades, J of spades, and an 8 of hearts. Those two spades meant that I was sitting pretty waiting for a flush, and now I have a straight at the very least. It also means that I was holding a gut-shot straight flush draw and my insides were on full-out spaz-mode.

I shellacked my face with a look of utter boredom and the guy in the big blind, Player 1, checked. He was already all-in and had no other option at this point. Player 3's instantly smug grin when he saw the flop showed that he saw his potential opportunity to double up, and that he had at least a little something in his hand. His face should have made me nervous, but I felt confident in the cards and myself. I paused for a few moments and then checked the hand, making it look as if I were playing reluctantly. Player 3, who happened to also be the second in chip lead, was eyeballing me harshly.

Even though I rarely do it, I locked eyes with him for a moment and then looked down at the table. I tapped my cards to make it look like I was thinking. I picked the corner of my cards up, pretending to once again check what I had, let my shoulders slump a little more than they had before and he quickly took the bait and raised "pot".

Player 1 had all of his $2,000 in the pot, which I called, then Player 3 called, making the pot $6,000 at that point. After my check, he re-raised to the $6,000 that was in the pot. If I weren’t a gambling girl, it would be a dangerous call for me to make. Calling that would leave me with just $7,000 if I were to lose the hand, but something told me to go for it and so I did. I had a good hand and potential for an even better hand with two more cards coming on the board.

The dealer flips over the next card and it's a heart. Did nothing for me, but it was a 6. Player 3 then checks, trying to bait me into thinking he had no hand at this point. Deciding to play his game until the very end, I simply check as well.

Tap on the table. The dealer flips over the 8 of spades to seal my straight flush. On the outside, I dropped my head the slightest bit and looked frustrated. On the inside, I was doing backflips and a very embarrassing dance that no one should have to witness in real life. Sure, with a pair on the board, he could have something really good in his hand, like a full house and his simple check probably meant that was what he had, but the only thing that beats a straight flush is a Royal flush and I was certain he didn't have that.

I slowly checked, making it look like I was nervous to bet in order to try to steal the pot. The other player's eyes shot up to mine as if he were trying to read me. He only had $1,000 left at this point, but he took my check as a sign of weakness, which is how I meant it.

He waited for what felt like an eternity and did what I wanted him to do most in the entire world. He shoved all in.

The dealer asked if I wanted to call or fold. I looked up slowly and locked eyes with Player 3 and said, "Well, call of course," as I tossed in my other $1,000 in chips and flipped over my straight flush. Player 1 knew ahead of time that he was losing. He played exactly the way he should have played in that situation though. He waited until he had a great hand and shoved all in and hoped for the best. Sometimes, being dealt an Ace and a King is just not as good as it might sound.

He stood and said, "Great game. You're a worthy opponent for sure. Hope to see you again." He bowed his head in a true sign of respect and turned to walk away.

Player 3 flipped over 7, 8 off-suit. Ouch! Sorry, buddy. I know it had to hurt to lose with a full boat to a straight flush. I nodded my head to him and began to speak when he got up, threw his chair into the audience and went on a small cursing tirade about how women should never be allowed to play poker because they are wicked, tricky, vile creatures. I lost track after he called me an evil-doer and chuckled to myself. Some people get really upset about losing. Thank you for all of your chips, have a nice day.

Security had to come over and, though his insults to me were pretty colorful and interesting, they finally made him stop. They eventually drug him away from the playing floor. I simply smiled and told him, "Good game" as I truly felt he played well up until that point. He had no idea that I had such a great hand, and it was just raw luck that we had to lock horns like that.

After that hand, I had $27,000 and the other player had $3,000 remaining. He leaned across the table and said, "Thank God they’re taking the top two on the table and I knew better than to go against you. Well played, miss."

"Thank you as well. Very nice game," I said as I stood and shook his hand.

"You did all the work there at the end, I was sure I was a goner. Those guys were crazy to go up against you, especially at the same time. But it definitely worked out well for me, so I'm not complaining."

I chuckled at his honesty.

In this tournament, the top two from each table advance to the next round, the following night, so my poker for the night was finished, and not a moment too soon. I really needed to get out and stretch my legs, and do anything except be trapped inside.

I looked up to the next table to see Rey bow his head sweetly in my direction. From the look of his stack, he, too, was having a good night on the tables and had only one other opponent remaining before his table had their top two advancers as well. Apparently I would be facing him the next night, which is all the more reason to leave now, and get plenty of rest.

I scanned the audience area for my friends and didn't see them. Shrugging my shoulders, I simply made my way to the side exit of the building to head back to the hotel. Maybe they went out for drinks or something. I would have wanted the same thing, except all I could think about now was Devin and sleep.