Seven & Two Unsuited
11 Apr 2021JB Threepwood
I walked through to the back room of Eve's Attic, the black market fence and pawnshop in The Warrens of Citi Gateway.In the dark, smoke-filled backroom was two other members from my organisation back home; Cookie and Dutch. They were playing Hold 'Em whilst smoking cigars, with several bottles of open spirits on the table. One of the good things about these agricultural stations was cheap cigars and good booze.
It had been a while since I'd seen either of them but we had only shared a quick round of salutations whilst I poured myself a large glass of Tequila. I bought myself in with a couple of hundred worth of chips and sat down at the table.
Cookie passed me a cigar and leant over to light it as Dutch shuffled the pack.
We all sneaked a quick look at our cards.
*****
It was several years back that I was sat at a similar table. It was after I'd tried to cross my old gang and planned to run off with a chunk of their money. I'd been blown apart and left for dead so I needed to start up from scratch.
I had briefly borrowed the identity of Kieran Goodwin. During the hit where my old gang levelled a diner that I was in, in the hit that was supposed to kill me, he was an unlucky casualty that the hospital mixed me up with. His insurance paid for a lot of my health care and, once I was well enough, I took his sidewinder and got the hell out of there.
That left me at some shitty station in the backend of nowhere trying to start afresh.
I knew I needed an eagle to start pulling in bounties but I didn't have the time to get there slowly... this was due to needing money for the meds that would keep my body from rejecting my new cybernetic replacements.
An old swindler named Rocco had taught me how to play poker. The left-handed bastard had taught me how to grift and we'd play poker to pass the time.
Long story short, there I was, sat at a table with the local big-mouth. He'd pulled ahead with chips and was now betting hard every time to try and bully people off the pot.
It was forcing the rest of us to carry on folding, collapsing the game whilst he took the "blinds".
Occasionally someone would either bluff or have a decent hand, in which case he'd fold and carry on again with the next hand.
Eventually I managed to squeeze the other two players out of the game leaving me with Big Mouth.
I picked up the deck and dealt the pocket cards. I knew he had an Ace and King, both spades. Mine were 7/2 off suited. Shit cards but that didn't matter.
He went in slightly more conservatively than usual. He was hoping to reel me in. I bit and matched his bet.
"The Flop"
4 of Diamonds, 10 of Spades and 5 of Spades.
Big Mouth peeled up his pocket cards to obviously check the suits of his cards.
He held his tells in, giving nothing away but I knew he was now working out that one more spade would give him an Ace High Flush.
He bet conservatively again, not wanting to scare me out of the hand.
"The Turn"
6 of Spades.
This time Big Mouth didn't check his cards. He knew any spade would do. He looked at me, trying to work out the best way to wring money out of me.
He bet a little bigger this time, his Ace High Flush was secured. I matched the bet.
"The River"
Four of Hearts.
Big Mouth still kept his tells hidden but I knew what he was thinking. He was working out what I might have.
There was a 4, 5 and 6 on the table. The fact that I was betting big with him would mean I either had a straight off those numbers or had a Spade Flush myself, with him having the King and Ace meant that the highest flush I could have would be Queen High.
Whichever way, his cards would beat either of those.
Big Mouth smelt blood in the water and went All-In.
I looked up briefly then pushed my chips in...
"I'll call that," I replied then took a credit stick from my pocket and threw it onto the pile. It was everything I had. I'd sold the sidewinder and used the money to grift some more capital. "I raise you that"
Big Mouth looked at the glowing number on the small device.
"I ain't got that much on me," he scoffed.
I leant over to take the stick back... but I knew he could see this was easy money and didn't want me to take that sort of money off the table.
"Wait, wait," he said, putting his hand on mine to stop me removing the stick. "My Eagle's docked nearby, how about I call with that?"
I pretended to think about it... but that Eagle was the only reason I was here.
I nodded.
Big Mouth leant back in his chair with a wide smile.
I had a PEEB when I was younger, a Pre Expansion Entertainment Box, an educational device full of old 20th Century TV and Movies. They were meant for education but poor families used them for entertainment. They'd show a great poker player as someone who would win the game by producing a Royal Flush... but, in reality, a great player wins by bluffing when they have nothing. A shit hand like an off-suited 7/2.
It's not enough to just have a great hand, anything too obvious and they'll fold before you have a chance to get anything out of them. Like any grift, they have to believe they're in control.
Big Mouth took great delight in flipping his cards over.
Ace High Flush.
He grinned and looked at my cards... to see my Straight or Low Flush.
I flipped my cards.
The 4 and 10 of Clubs. With the 4s of Hearts and Diamonds... and the 10 of Spades... I had a Full House, beating Big Mouth's Flush.
I'd cheated, obviously. Not just with my cards, his cards too. The order they came out. I knew he'd be hooked by pocket Ace/King... especially Spades. It's a weird thing that people seem to think black cards are better than red of the same value.
I wanted him to have a Spade Flush. Ace High removes the possibility of being trumped.
It was important that he'd disregard my cards. Low cards, the first "4" being red, wouldn't register with him. He was focused on the Spade Flush.
I wanted him to see running numbers so he'd think I'd have the beatable Straight.
The second Red 4 was enough to relax him that I couldn't make a Straight Flush.
Finally, the 4/10 pocket cards meant I would've had Two Pairs from The Flop onwards. He'd kick himself for not scaring me off the pot to begin with rather than suspect me of cheating.
I took the money, cashed the chips and Big Mouth transferred ownership of the Eagle over to me.
Now I was prepared to go out and make some serious money from bounty hunting.
*****
Back in Eve's Attic I bust out to Cookie's 3 Of A Kind.
He leant over and pulled the last of my chips over to his pile.
I don't cheat the guys and girls from my organisation. Money isn't as much of an issue these days so I don't really have to rely on Rocco's old scams anymore.
I doubted my cigar and congratulated the lads on a good game.
I filled my hipflask with some of the tequila and walked back out to the front of the shop.