Mr. Leeman and Greg both paled and leaned back in their seats.
“I don’t want any trouble,” Mr. Leeman said.
“Neither do I or Carl,” the old man who was the game-runner said. “So just play the game as I’ve outlined. If you forget the rules Jerry here will remind you,” the small man said as he patted the dealer on the shoulder. “Won’t you, Jerry?”
“Sure thing, Boss.”
“We do get refreshments and breaks, right?” Sam asked with a smile.
“Of course, you do,” Jerry smiled at her. Sam was startled when the woman who had taken her coat came up behind the man in the first position and asked him what he’d like to drink. Sam asked for soda water, and she went around the table. She winced when Phil asked for bourbon. This was not starting out well.
9
The dealer dealt the first hand. Sam got the queen and jack of spades. Great, suited connectors, she had a shot at either a straight or a flush. In addition they were high cards, which was never a bad thing. The man beside her just called the big blind which to begin this game was one hundred in chips. After the next player called, the following player, the one who’d seemed pretty darn comfortable with the rule changes, raised to four-hundred chips.
Phil folded and then it was her turn to act. She liked her hand, and whenever possible, Sam liked to see the flop. Getting to see the first three cards the dealer revealed was worth the minimal amount to call most bets, so she called the four-hundred. That left the remaining three to call the four-hundred before the dealer would show the flop.
Sam watched under her eyelashes as the flop was revealed. A jack of diamonds, a nine of clubs, and a king of spades. This gave her a pair, and a possibility of a straight.
Not bad.
The man who had bet the four-hundred was playing with his chips. He was antsy to bet more, so she really didn’t have to bet; Samantha guessed he would.
The dealer began the action with Samantha by asking her what she planned to do. She checked. The next four players also checked before Mr. Antsy threw out seven-hundred in chips. The action was back to Sam and she called the bet. The next two men folded and the other two made the call. The dealer put out the turn and it was a seven of hearts.
Well, I still have a shot at a straight.
Sam acted first and again checked. The next two players also checked. That’s when Mr. Antsy bet one-thousand. Sam paused, she was in for eleven-hundred already, she had a pair of jacks, the odds weren’t good that a ten would show up, but it was possible, so she called the thousand. The next two men also called. Now it was her, Mr. Antsy, and two other men. Now she was anxious to see the last card; it was always stressful to wait for the river card, but she smiled like it didn’t bother her. The dealer placed the river down. It was a ten of clubs. Five cards in a row.
I have a straight!
Sam checked one more time, crossing her fingers that Mr. Antsy would make another bet. She would have, but she was positive everybody would have folded because it was the first time she would have bet during this hand. The next two guys also checked and so did Mr. Antsy.
Darn. Darn. Darn. You played that one wrong, Samantha.
If she would have raised the bet, it would have been possible that more people would have called her bet and she could have won more money.
Oh well.
They all showed their cards. Mr. Antsy put down his two kings, add the king on the board, and he had three of a kind; no wonder he’d been raising. He gave Samantha a tight smile as the dealer pushed forward the cards to show that Samantha had a straight. The other two players scrambled their cards indicating they could not beat her straight. Sam gave the man behind the dealer a surreptitious glance, his eyes narrowed. For just a moment he did not look happy. Yep, that nailed it, Sam was now sure that Mr. Antsy was the guy they had planted to win the game.
Jerry awarded Samantha the pot and moved the button to the one seat. After he shuffled the cards, he gave them a quick cut before sending two her way. A four of clubs and an eight of diamonds. Garbage. Definitely folding material.
For the next hour and a half, she won a few but never lost a big pot to anyone. She’d watched as two of the men had lost everything and were now forced, thanks to Carl and the game-runner, to stand behind their seats like bad little boys in time out. But Samantha was building her stack, she was up to fifty-four thousand chips. The game-runner tapped Jerry on the shoulder who then announced it was time for a break in the tournament.
Samantha smiled and prayed that with all the bourbons that Phil had downed he would need one too, so she could talk to him.
“Carl will escort you to the bathrooms,” Jerry said.
Sam had to elbow her way past the men at the craps table in order to get to the far wall. She gritted her teeth when she felt someone stroke her butt. This was not a place where she wanted to cause a scene. She wondered how many other people in this private club had been strong-armed
