The burnt card hit the table and was slid neatly into the pile of chips.
Then, three cards were peeled off, flipped over, and slowly spread in the middle of the table.
James leaned forward. It was a seven in the window. The seven of clubs. The card he had wanted in his very first hand but did not get. He was pretty happy to see it now. Anything but a King.
The second card was a deuce. The two of hearts. About as safe of a card as you could get.
The third card was another heart, a lovely lady bracketed by a small black box. Much like James' view of the lovely Ms Chung through the windows. It was the queen of hearts. Although James didn't have a special someone, he guessed Ms Chung could be the queen of his heart.
[ Board: 7c 2h Qh, Pot $973. Probability of winning the hand: 91.62% ]
Don't jinx it! James scolded the system inwardly.
The dealer casually burnt another card and flipped the turn onto the board.
Jack of hearts. There were now three hearts on the board, and a flush was possible. James was safe though, he held the Ace of hearts to Phil's King of hearts, and even if the river was a fourth heart, he would have the higher flush.
Anything but a King. Any red card, as a matter of fact. Any red card would be safe.
[ Board: 7c 2h Qh Jh, Pot $973. Probability of winning the hand: 95.45% ]
I said don't jinx it! James cursed the system even more strongly.
The dealer knocked on the table twice and burnt the final card before dealing the river.
In slow motion, James searched the card frantically for a hint of his fate.
Was it red? No it was black. It was a black card with a picture in the middle. James calculated mentally. A one-in-three chance that it was a black King, the King that would ruin his life.
The card landed on the table, and James could have sworn it bounced up a little before finally settling down. The Jack of Clubs.
[ Board: 7c 2h Qh Jh Jc, Pot $973. Probability of winning the hand: 100% ]
James had done it! He had doubled the $450 he had left, and almost doubled the $499 he started with!
"Two pair. Aces win the pot." A bored voice from the dealer, before flipping the Kings face down and pushing chips towards James. It was just another hand. The dealer had seen these hands a million times before.
"Yes!" James couldn't resist letting out a little cheer. He had won the first big hand of his life.
"Lucky Jamie James. Luckier for me, I have much more money. I'll only have to get lucky once. You'll have to be lucky all the time. Are you scared? Do you feel like quitting?" Phil said sorely.
James had thought about quitting after this big win. Almost a thousand dollars, it would have taken him a long time to save that much money.
Then, James remembered the note he had left behind in the safe room. If he was truly affected by such a small amount of money, then he would never be able to take the step to the top and live his father's dream. He needed to be cold, calm, like ice.
"Nope." James responded coolly. Besides, if his dad was really fine and needed to ransom his mom, this would be the best opportunity he would have to skim money off the rich and help. Furthermore, he reasoned, pretending to think had clearly helped to sway Phil into making a call with a worse hand. Maybe he was a natural born genius at acting. Maybe he was a natural god at poker.
[ System has reviewed the hand. It was unnecessary to pretend to think. This hand basically played itself. Very standard. ]
Thanks system. Very encouraging. It was your idea anyway. James thought to himself sarcastically.
[ You are welcome. ]
---
With more money on the table, and almost five hundred big blinds, James and his system started to open up and play more speculatively.
This led to James losing a couple of small hands for a hundred or so dollars each.
[ Current Stack: $973 ]
The first hand he lost, he had opened on the button with a suited Ten-Jack of clubs to $10, and gotten two callers from the blinds. The flop had come Nine-Queen-Four diamonds. James had made a continuation bet of $20 with both other players check-calling. The turn came a fourth diamond, the Ace. James had then tried to represent a strong suited hand with a second barrel of $75. The first player had check-folded, but the second player had come over the top and raised to $400.
James thought for about a minute before making the mathematically correct play and folding. Even though he could have made a straight if the right card came on the river, he was always turning his hand into a bluff there by pretending to have a made flush. The raise over the top meant that the other player probably had a flush, or already had a stronger made hand even if he was bluffing, something like Ace-Four reading James as a weak flush and turning two-pair into a bluff.
[ Current Stack: $847 ]
The second hand James lost, he had called in the big blind with pocket threes. Seat Five had raised to $20 and there were two folds before Seat Two with the button and Phil called in the small blind. Given his relative stack size, James and his system had thought that he was priced in to try and set-mine against a stronger hand. The flop had come Jack-Six-Four rainbow, all three cards with different suits. All three players had checked to the pre-flop aggressor, and called a pot-sized continuation bet of $80. The turn had come the Ace of the fourth suit, and James had check-folded to a check-raise from Phil.
[ Current Stack: $747 ]
Very quickly, James had bled down from what had felt like an invincible start to just a respectable increase over his starting money.
---
James tightened up and managed to win back his losses and add to his stack after a couple of orbits.
He had been slightly luckier with pocket Queens, Ace-Queen suited, and pocket Jacks managing to reach showdown and winning three medium sized pots.
After those hands, his stack was up to $1200, finally above twice his starting amount. With James only showing down strong, premium hands, his table reputation as a tight player that only played the very top hands was reinforced.
The next orbit, after advice from his system, James had bluff-raised a couple of times and gotten all the other players to fold. James was slowly but surely chipping up, and starting to dominate the game.
Phil's expression had also slowly changed. What was once a cock-sure expression had slowly morphed into begrudging respect, and was now taking on a slightly beleaguered look. Phil had thought he would be able to steamroll over James and humiliate him in front of his friends. Now, it looked like Phil and his friends had been invited to a fundraising event to donate towards James' cause.
---
Two hours came and went, and Phil had called for a break.
James' stack was now at just about $1400.
As the dealer stood up and started to stretch, Seat Six looked over at Phil and asked, "Hey Phil, how long are we going to small league for James? It's pretty boring. Can we go back to our regular stakes now?"
Phil turned to James, "Hey James, you're pretty decent. How about I lend you some money so we can go back to our regular stakes? We usually play twenty-five fifty. I'll spot you twenty grand so you can buy in for our normal amount. Maybe you'll get lucky and win enough to pay me back for the shoes so you can quit on the spot and keep the rest."
James thought about it. With the help of his system, he was sure he was a better player than the others. If he had started at those stakes, instead of $1400, he would now be at over $23,000.
System, are you confident about beating these guys? James asked in his head.
[ System is confident. ]
"I guess. I can quit at any time if I pay you back the twenty-K plus another fifteen-K for the shoes though right?" James hedged a little.
"Sure." Phil nodded.
"OK. Let's give it a shot after the break then." James agreed. To scale great heights, skill was not enough, courage was needed.
---
At this moment, the butler walked in and announced, "Phone call for the Young Master."
Phil excused himself and headed out into the hallway with the butler.
James sat back down and looked out of the window at the pool. Sometime during the last ninety minutes, Ms Chung had come out of the pool and was lying on a wet towel on her chaise sunbathing again.
Maybe one day, if he made it to the very top, he would be able to buy a place like this, and have a girlfriend as smart, hot, and sexy as his Biology teacher.