Chapter 14: Texas Holdem

Brad sat down at a table with a placard saying that there was a two hundred dollar buy-in. It was the cheapest table in the casino. He’d watched for several minutes first and saw that the betting rarely went over a hundred dollars and so he thought that worse case, he would lose a couple hundred and leave.

A cocktail waitress in a revealing top and mini-skirt asked if he’d like a drink and he ordered a rum and coke and then began playing. Several hands in and three drinks later and even though playing very conservatively, he was doing very well and was up a little over two thousand dollars.

“Well hello Bradley,” he heard over his shoulder and looked up and saw Alex standing behind him.

“Alexandria, hello,” he responded. “Are you going to join us?”

“No, no; I’m just here to watch. How’re you doing?”

“Great. I’m actually winning.”

“Well, I’m not surprised. You’re a numbers guy after all,” she said, casually pressing her hip against the back of his shoulder.

Brad felt the warmth of her body right away and with the alcohol in his system he didn’t see any reason to shift away from the beautiful redhead.

“Are you in sir?” asked the dealer, bringing Brad back to the game. He barely noticed when an elegantly dressed gentleman sat down in an unoccupied chair. Several more hands were played, and Brad noticed the newcomer tended to make risky bets that usually lost. He sipped confidently at the new drink the waitress brought without him asking for another.

Brad was dealt two aces and he opened with a fifty-dollar bet, not wanting to scare off the other players at the table. Everyone called until it got to the newcomer who raised fifty. Again, everyone called.

The dealer dealt out three cards, a pair of two’s and a ten. Brad was now holding two pair and feeling pretty confident. Another drink arrived and he sipped it thoughtfully before betting a hundred. The newcomer raised a hundred and other players started dropping out as Brad called.

The next card was another ace and Brad had a full house. He bet five hundred, making a serious dent in his pile. The newcomer raised a thousand and Brad had no choice but to call. The next card was a six and Brad’s stack of chips was much smaller, so he bet two hundred leaving his only a couple of hundred left.

The newcomer looked at Brad’s chip pile. He then put out two hundred and added two hundred to match Brad’s remaining chips. But instead of stopping he added three more five-thousand-dollar chips.

Brad looked up, perplexed. Although Brad was sure of a winning hand, the newcomer was buying the pot and he would have to fold. To make matters worse he would walk away with only two hundred of his original two thousand.

Just then he felt Alex’s breasts on his shoulder as she leaned over and whispered into his ear. “We’ll loan it to you if you think you’ve got a winning hand.”