Chapter 19

November 2^nd, 2020

The decision was made that whoever was dealing would sit out for those five hands and simply focus on the dealing. They also drew cards for seating order, lowest card dealing first, highest card starting with the big blind and the second highest being the small blind. Andy drew low card, which didn’t bother him at all. It would be a chance to watch the others without having to divide his attention between his cards and his opponents.

“So, I can’t help but notice that you said even the last place person takes home a woman,” Andy said as he took his seat in the dealer’s chair, “but your count doesn’t have someone for sixth place. So, which is it?”

While he started to deal cards out to the players, Covington sighed, nodding. “I know, Andrew, I know. There is, in fact, a thirteenth girl in the pool, but I don’t think anyone would want to take her over the other lovely women we have presented.” He grabbed his phone from his pocket, tapping it to load up a picture. “She arrived on my doorstep last week, but when I told her what was expected of being part of my house, she refused. I locked her up and she’s been stewing, but even in her sexual frenzy she’s still refusing me, so I will give her as a prize to the person who comes in last.”

“Any woman in the pool should be in the pool, if you ask me,” Andy said, dealing the last card.

The man passed his phone over to Andy, a photograph of her on the screen. “If you insist, Andrew, then I suppose that will be fine. She is an athlete of some kind and was supposed to be going to the Olympic Games. So, she is quite fit, but she is extremely willful and stubborn. She may be more trouble than she’s worth.”

Once the cards were out, Andrew picked up the man’s phone and looked down at the picture, recognizing her immediately. “Yeah, that’s Piper Brown,” Andy said. “She’s a member of the woman’s volleyball team. Hell, I think she won a gold medal in the last Olympics.” He passed the phone over to Watkins, who looked and then passed the phone down the line so everyone could get a look at her. A muscular, toned brunette with a stern look in the photograph, it was a marked change of how she often came across during interviews where she seemed warm and inviting. She looked like she wanted to beat the shit out of whoever was taking the picture, and the room she was in seemed spartan at best, barely more than a closet. “She definitely goes into the pool if you don’t want her.”

“Agreed,” Watkins said. “I’d likely take her over several of the other women on offer.”

“Even with her being a pain in the ass?” Covington asked.

“Not all of us have such draconian house rules as you, Artie.”

Covington shrugged, then glanced at his hole cards. “Then into the pool she goes, I suppose. Check.”

The thing about televised poker is that many viewers don’t realize that the show is almost always a collection of highlights over a longer event, and that about sixty percent of poker hands have little-to-no action other than the two players who have blinds in the pool debating which of them has the less crappy hand.

Over the first five hands only a few thousand in chips changed hands, and Andy’s first read felt like it was going to stand. Covington and Watkins were good card players, Vikovic played loose, Jacobson played tight and Haunton was an “any two’ll do” kind of player who was going to throw big money into the pot on pretty much any hand, even with his tells written large across his face.

After the fifth hand, Andy moved from the dealer’s seat to his own chair and Covington moved to sit down at the dealer’s seat. His first hand out Andy drew Jack Ten suited in hearts so he decided to stick around in the hand since he was already the big blind. “Raise, one thousand.”

It was a bet designed to scare off anyone who didn’t have a decent hand but to Andy’s amusement, all four other players decided they wanted to see a flop, so everyone called him. He was a little surprised to see Jacobson staying in, but he suspected the table might just be collectively testing the new guy.

With the pot right, Covington dealt out the three cards of the flop, nine of spades, seven of hearts and the queen of hearts. That gave Andy both an open-ended straight draw and a flush draw, although he didn’t have either the king or ace of hearts, so that made him a little nervous. He decided he wanted to take the measure of his opponents, so he pushed another two thousand into the pot. Haunton and Jacobson both stayed in, but Watkins and Vikovic folded, leaving three people in the game.

The next card, the turn, did absolutely nothing to the board, a 2 of clubs. Technically, Andy was holding nothing, but he felt like his odds were decent to make something out of it at the river and he wanted to come out guns blazing. So, he decided to trap, and checked. Jacobson also checked, but Haunton thought he smelled weakness, so he added another thousand to the pot; a string bet designed to just pull a little more money out of what he thought was opponents in a weak position. Andy suspected the man was holding top pair, or maybe three queens if he was lucky, but he thought that Haunton would’ve thrown a lot more into the pot if he’d flopped trips, so Andy called. Jacobson decided to fold, leaving just the two of them in the pot.

The final card, the river, flopped and Andy felt the smile he was stifling behind his eyes. The King of Diamonds. He’d made his straight, and there wasn’t a flush on the board. The worst he could do was split the pot. And Andy knew exactly what Haunton was going to do, so Andy simply checked.

Haunton figured he had Andy on the ropes, so he pushed five thousand into the pot, and Andy smirked a little bit and raised another five thousand in return. Haunton flinched visibly, but at this point decided he was pot committed and clearly wanted to know whether or not Andy was bluffing, so after a minute or so of deliberation he called.

“Straight, king high,” Andy said, flipping over the cards.

Haunton flipped over his cards as well, even though he didn’t have to, revealing that he’d stayed in with two pair, queens and kings. Andy’s read had been solid. “Damn. You got me, new fish.”

The stack of chips was pushed over in Andy’s direction, and Andy nodded. He’d just taken nearly twenty percent of Haunton’s stack on the first significant pot. It might have been too strong an opening, but sometimes you just had to play the cards as they laid.

For the next hour or so players took turns slowly redistributing the chips, although towards the end of the hour Haunton made a very bad odds call and went all-in on two pair against Covington, who had limped into the pot and flopped trip deuces. Haunton had figured his two pair was rock solid and groaned when Covington turned up his cards and took him out of the game.

Without so much as a missed beat, Haunton immediately said “Rebuy.”

A note was made, and another stack of chips was brought forth and put in front of him. “Last place tonight’s like not even playing at all, so might as well give it another go. Besides, I want to at least finish third one of these nights.” He was next in line for small blind, so counted out the amount needed.

“I wouldn’t bank on that, the way you’re playing,” Andy said to him. “You need to learn how to evaluate your hand better and stop making such loose wagers.”

“Shh,” Covington said to him. “Nobody likes being told how to play better, Andrew.”

“Speak for yourself, Artie,” Watkins said. “The minute you stop moving forward, you might as well be dead. Any tips for me, Andy?” he asked with a glimmer in his eye.

“Yeah,” Andy said, counting out his big blind. “Quit playing with your food so much. It’s unbecoming. You had the mayor dead to rights two hands ago and everyone at the table knew it, and you still spent at least a minute’s worth of all our time making a show out of it before you called him.”

Watkins, who was taking a turn at dealer, chuckled. “I see your point, although I do need to take my fun here and there when I can.”

“Fun has no place is business or poker,” Vikovic said, glancing at his hole cards before matching the big blind. “I’m in.”

Covington and Jacobson stayed in and Haunton, sensing an opportunity, raised the value of the pot against the small blind, a move Andy didn’t think the mayor was capable of. All the players seemed to think they were sitting on decent hands, but Andy was sure at least half of them were hoping to go fishing, wanting to see a flop for a chance to pick up a decent sized pot. Now that the pot had grown, however, it was time to see who was going to stick around when the price went up.

Andy glanced at his hole cards for the first time. When he was the big blind, he never bothered looking at his cards until the action came to him, mostly so that there was no possible way to give anything away to his opponents. He peeked at the two cards and found pocket cowboys waiting for him, two kings. So, Andy matched the bet and said, “Call.”

Vikovic matched the bet, to no one’s surprise, as did Covington, but Jacobson folded, clearly having a questionable hand that only got more questionable with this much money in the pot. Andy put him on a low set of suited connectors, maybe a 7-8 or so. Watkins, as the dealer, was out of the hand. One of the other reasons Andy had suggested that they each take turns as dealer was that it would cut into bad streaks, giving players who were on tilt a moment to deescalate their frustrations and get their head back in the game.