Bluffing the Devil Read online

  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.

  Chapter 8

  Just as I stepped from the curb outside of the casino, I heard my name being called behind me and turned to see my friends making their way back toward the casino entrance.

  "What are you lovely ladies up to while I was being verbally assaulted?" I chided them playfully.

  "Someone said something to you? Who do I need to cut?" Rhea questioned grabbing her backpack.

  "Whoa, cool it, killer. You don't need to kill anyone tonight. I won the round and one of the guys I knocked out, was not too happy about it at all. He had a few words and a bit of a tantrum. Typical guy stuff, you know how it goes." My giggles were nearly impossible to contain when I noticed Victoria nodding her head in agreement. Such man-hatred from that girl, she would agree with anything negative I said about any man at any point in time. I could say "all men were born with one brain cell and eat glue!" and she would say "I know, right? Idiots!" It was truly fascinating to see precisely how little she felt about the opposite sex.

  "Okay, so this means that you are in the next round though, right?" Carly asked, grabbing on to the real point of the matter.

  "Yeah, I'm so excited. That last hand was amazing! I wish you guys had seen it! It was my favey, and I rocked it so hard. I was proud of myself!" My excitement was much more obvious than I realized, because they had all started to look really interested and Carly started to do her celebration bounce.

  "No worries, babycakes. I orde
red the DVD, so I will be able to see it all later," Rhea informed me.

  "You can buy a DVD of the games? That's insane!" I laughed.

  "Yeah and at the bar we just left, you can see it live on the television. That hand must have happened just after we left. Dude, I'm starving! Who wants a snack?" Carly, of course, chimed in.

  "I’m not hungry, but I want sweets! Copious amount of sugar and a hot tub are in order, stat!" I thrust my fist in the air and made a victorious stance and watched my friends nearly crumble into a fit of giggles before fist pumping the air in agreement.

  "So, sexy, your hotel room or mine?" Rey's voice clawed its way across my eardrum and made me visible cringe.

  "Dude, you seriously have about eighteen milliseconds before I gut you, and use your entrails to make a hopscotch pattern for us to play on," Victoria took a giant step forward, but lucky for Rey, I happened to still be between them. The flames in her eyes should have been enough to make anyone normal recoil, but it seemed as if he took it as a dare.

  "Oooh, you are feisty, Victoria. I like that. Maybe you and I should go out sometime and see if you are the same brand of insane that I am. I would be happy to take that on, if you wish," he offered with usual his cat-ate-the-canary grin.

  "My brand of insane has been studied and still undefined by experts. Your "charm" doesn't work on me, so do yourself a favor and walk away before you become a news headline, hm?" she offered as politely as one could while threatening someone's life.

  Still behind me, he tilted his head closer before speaking. The scent from earlier must be his cologne. It was an intensely beautiful smell to be honest, but having him so close to me made my skin want to jump off and run screaming into the night. I really don't think I would look good as a walking muscle and bone mannequin.

  With his breath again on my flesh, he muttered, "Your friends are so iffy with me, darling. One moment they are swooning and the next, they are threatening to toss me into the abyss. It's very sexy. I love a challenge, as you know. Take care and have a beautiful evening."

  I turned to give him a piece of my mind yet again, but when I did he was almost a block away already. Apparently disgusting guys move really fast when trying to avoid slaughter from a group of bitches.

  I quickly turned back to my girls, slapped a smile across my face, and announced, "Drinks on me!" and then headed back to the bar they had just left.

  "Nooooo, wait! You want sugar and a hot tub, right? We are here for you, right? Okay, good. We are already buzzed and don't need to go back to the bar. There's a hot tub in our suite, right? Let's head back there and I’ll order some pastries, or go on a candy run!" Carly volunteered sweetly. She put me first all the time, it was always so sweet. I wanted to jump up and squeeze her cheeks, or kiss her, I wasn't sure which one.

  "Oh God, yes! Please!? That sounds like pure heaven!" I agreed as I allowed Carly to begin to drag me in the proper direction of our hotel.

  ~

  While Victoria and I enjoyed the amazing hot tub in the suite we all shared, Rhea busied herself with some project on her laptop, and Carly went on a mission to find the very best sweets in all of Atlantic City. I knew she would come back with something incredible and was looking forward to going into a sugar coma and sleeping until I couldn't possibly sleep any longer. A nice, long restful night would do me some serious good.

  "So, what’s up with the creeper, Lex? He's everywhere, and it's making my trigger finger itchy," Rhea called from across the room.

  I chuckled, "He's that guy I told you about that beat me in Reno last month. Remember? I was second and he knocked me out with some bullshit better kicker hand."

  "Oh see, I was thinking that guy was… what did she call it, Rhea? Sex on a stick?" Victoria harassed me sweetly.

  "At the time, he was yummy. That guy is a Monet though, you know? From far away, you’re thinking it’s incredible and amazing and the closer you get, the hotter of a mess it is until you are wondering what the hell you were going through when you thought him to be so sexy. Was I drunk that night? I swear I don't remember being drunk when I played ever before." If I weren't sitting in a giant vat of 110 degree water, I might have face planted out of embarrassment.

  "No, you weren't drinking, that was just the first person that snagged your attention since… You were all girly and giggly, which was enough of a warning flag for me. Then I met him and he's just confusing. It’s like he's really sweet and nice, but at the same time he's creepy and has some hidden agenda. You're right to try to stay away from him. I don't trust him," Victoria announced with finality.

  "Yes, but you never trust anyone, so that doesn't give brownie points for or against his case," I pointed out softly.

  "Okay, you have an incredibly tiny point there, but how often am I wrong in not trusting someone? Let's be honest here. Show of hands? Anyone? Have I ever been wrong on a personal read up until this very moment?" she challenged with an eyebrow quirked.

  Rhea and I shared a long look at each other, then had to nod in united agreement that Victoria had never been wrong before. She could read people, especially men, like a bold-print book with colored pictures and warning signs plastered across the pages. It was almost as if she had some ingrained inner-voice that just went through going "No. Yes. Victim. User. Abuser. Douchebag. Terrorist. Lawyer" you know, all of the important factors in determining if someone was good or evil.

  "Right, thanks, and the funny thing is, I get that creepy vibe from him, but I am also picking up that he has a reason for it, and it's not he who chooses it. Do you have some secret life we don't know about, Lex? Have a bookie, or a husband we don’t know about? Girlfriend? Something? This guy seems like he knows you, and has a reason to want to be close. I don't get it just yet, but it’s a hunch."

  Victoria wasn't asking me the questions for answers, she was being a brat as usual, but she did get my mind stirring. There was nothing in my past that was a secret or anything remotely exciting. I had no skeletons and my parents had made sure to keep it that way for me. I was coddled, protected, and guarded my entire life. Almost too much, I wouldn’t know how to be deceptive, or hide something from my girls anyway.

  A loud crash into the front door made us all jump, except Rhea, who was always armed and calm. She soundlessly went to the front door of the suite and peeked through the peephole.

  She huffed audibly, then snatched the door open, "What the hell, Carly?"

  "Sorry, geez! I had all this stuff and didn't have any hands to open the door. I tried to knock, but it wouldn't work so I bashed the door with my knee. That junk hurt!"

  "Carly? What in the world? How many sweets did you buy?" I asked seeing a shopping bag hanging from each wrist and a giant box between her hands. She looked as if she were going to topple over at any second.

  "Dude, seriously. I got the best yummies in the whole world. Okay, maybe not the entire world, but pretty damned close!" she was almost buzzing with excitement as she breezed past us headed toward the kitchenette. We never cooked when we were staying at a hotel, but we always got a big suite so we could all have separate rooms but share the common area and have a kitchenette and Jacuzzi and such for just in case. Carly liked to use every excuse to make at least one thing in the kitchenette every time, but we usually talked her out of it by enticing her with a fancy restaurant or divine menu somewhere.

  She plopped the bags and box down on the counter and started rummaging through things furiously.

  "Okay, don't we have a kettle? For water? Tea? Yes?" she started to look around for it.

  "Yes, under the cabinet on the right," I shouted toward the kitchenette. I wasn't sure if she could hear my normal speaking voice. "What are we making? They don't have any ready-to-serve sweets in this city? What a joke!" I wanted to cry. I was ready for bed and just wanted some sweets to stuff my face with first. Eating something sweet before bed might not be good for me, but I found it helped me wake up less light-headed and my dad always said it would help me have sweet dreams, and
those dreams are what I had been chasing lately.

  "Stop whining, for goodness sake! I just wanted to make my special hot chocolate to go with the pastries I found at this amazing little mom and pop shop on a side street. It will only take a few minutes and you know you love it, so shut up and go dry off already. By the time you're dressed, it will be ready. Sheesh," Carly complained. She was almost always watching a cooking show, or in the kitchen creating some masterpiece. She didn't go to school for cooking professionally, it was just her favorite hobby and since we all benefitted from the deliciousness she would create, no one ever pushed her to make more of it as a career or anything. She was happy being an accountant and was a genius with numbers. She could work in her office and handle things quickly without batting an eye. Numbers were in her head and she was great at it, but it wasn't her dream job at all.

  She began whipping things together and my mouth immediately started to water for the hot chocolate. I don't know what she does to that stuff, but it's like crack or something. Completely delicious, so soothing, and I have the best dreams ever after I drink it. Truth be told, she could have just made that and not bought any pastries or anything, and I would have been totally happy. But, as always, she was my girl and loved to spoil me rotten.

  Victoria and I reluctantly got out of the hot tub. You really aren't supposed to stay in extreme temperatures for long anyway, but I loved to get a really good soak in before bed also. Loosens the muscles, the heat relaxes me, and who doesn't want to feel weightless from time to time?

  I quickly shuffled to my room and toed the door almost closed as I stripped off my bathing suit and slid on my pajamas. When I was drying my hair, I heard Rhea telling Victoria and Carly that she would be back in a bit and not to wait up for her. I popped out of my room quickly and caught her in the foyer of our suite.

  "What's wrong, babe? You're being really weird. Is something going on? Do you need to talk?" I asked her as I held her hand.