22 Poker Night

"Poker is a war. People pretend it is a game." --Doyle Brunson

-------------------

The poker game continued on as Roselle, Eliot, and Antonio walked in. A man spotted them, and gave a greeting.

He shook all their hands. "Hey, how are y'all doing?" he asked. "You guys here for the game?"

"I am, they're not," said Eliot.

The man nodded. "Got it. Here are the rules. This right here is the rookie table. If you win too many games here, you gotta play with the intermediates. If you win too many games with them, then you gotta play with the big dogs."

Roselle raised a brow. "What is this, a tournament?"

He laughed. "We like to give everyone around here an equal chance, little lady. People would get discouraged if they were playing with pros and had no chance of winning anything. Oh yeah, there's also a five dollar buy-in per game."

"What's a buy-in?"

"You give five bucks to the house at the beginning of every game. It's a playing fee."

"Oh no. I don't have a good feeling about this."

"Would you relax?" Eliot popped his collar. "I got this. I need some change, man."

The guy nodded and gave Eliot change for the one hundred. After the game finished, he took a seat with the other players. There were ten people who played in total. There were also people in the room that spectated.

Roselle munched on her hair. "Maybe this was a bad idea."

Antonio scoffed. "Yeah, for them. Just watch."

They played a few rounds, and Eliot folded each one. The buy-in and some rounds of betting cost them forty dollars so far.

"I seriously have no faith in him," she said. "Two games wasted."

"Be patient."

In the third game, Eliot was head-to-head with a girl who was pretty confident, betting without any conservation. Everyone else folded, and it was just these two left. It was the last round. The cards on the table were three aces, a five, and a seven.

The girl had a smile widespread across her face. ��I see your twenty, and I'll raise you forty," she said, putting more money in.

Eliot groaned. "I'd love to match you, but I'm out of cash."

"Got anything else valuable on you?"

He thought about it, and pulled out the rose gold earrings he bought earlier. "How about these?"

The girl stared at them for a bit, and nodded. "That'll do."

"What's he doing?" Roselle asked. "Those earrings were way more than forty bucks."

"He's confident," said Antonio.

The two revealed their hands. The girl was smug because she had a full house, but that expressive pride was shut down as soon as she saw what Eliot had: four of a kind.

Eliot swooped over the table and piled up all the cash. "Thanks, guys." He smirked.

"Woah." Roselle eyed him in shock. "Was it just me, or was Eliot actually . . . kinda cool?"

"Believe me, I was surprised when I first saw him play too." Antonio leered at him. "The guy's got some skill."

* * *

Eliot played poker in that room more. He lost a few games, but for the most part, he won. He came up with about four-hundred dollars and a wristwatch. They were kicked out of the room and told to join the intermediate table next.

"That was so cool!" Roselle exclaimed. "I mean, woah. You're so good at it. How do you do it?"

He pointed at himself. "This face is like a rock. Plus, I always play conservatively." He slicked his hair back. "So, you think I'm cool?" He bit his lip and winked.

"Hey, not THAT cool. Knock it off."

"Aww. Okay, next room."

* * *

The trio went into the next room and Eliot played poker. It was about the same results. This time, Eliot ended up making roughly one thousand five hundred dollars. Again, they were booted out and referred to go to the next room; the room for the big leagues. Not only were the best players in that room, but the most money was being spent there.

"Do you really think we should be going in?" asked Antonio. "Ms. Reyes, you've made enough money, haven't you?"

"Well, yeah. We've already covered my losses, and even more."

"Next room, baby!" Shouted Eliot.

The bodyguard rubbed his temples. "Look, we've had a good night. We really shouldn't push our luck."

He kept jumping up and down. "But I'm feeling it, boy! I've got luck coursing all throughout my body tonight. How about you, Ro? It's your money."

The winning streak was intoxicating, and Roselle felt 'luck throughout her entire body' as well. "Heck yeah, I'm in. Let's go."

"This isn't going to end well," muttered Antonio.

* * *

When the trio entered the room, it had a much more serious feel to it than the other two.

"I see your two hundred, and raise you four hundred," a man with glasses said, putting in all his money.

His opponent in a black chuckled. "Call." He put in a hefty stack of cash in the pot as well.

They went back and forth for a while, but eventually it was time for them to show their cards. They both placed them on the table, and the man and glasses pounded his fist on the table. "A ROYAL FLUSH AGAIN? UNBELIEVABLE!" He took his things and got out.

Not many people were playing at the table. Excluding the guy that had just left, there were four of them there.

The man with the scarf who won earlier racked in the cash pot to his side. "Well, who's next?"

There were spectators in the room, but they shook their heads at his challenging demeanor.

"I'll play," Eliot said with a smirk, taking a place at the table.

The man nodded. "Let's do this."

* * *

Slowly, but surely, Eliot was losing money. He was down to one thousand two hundred, then one thousand, then eight hundred, then seven hundred. No matter what he did, he lost money each and every game.

"No!" shouted Roselle. "Eliot, come back. You keep losing. We're going to lose all the money at this rate."

"One last game," he said, even though he'd been saying that the past few times. "I can win it back. Trust me."

"Let's just go."

Eliot sighed and got up.

The man in the scarf laughed at him. "What? Are you afraid you'll lose again, or are you afraid of your girlfriend over there?"

"I ain't afraid of nothing."

"Coward."

"Ugh! You know what? Another game!"

Roselle facepalmed. "That idiot."

"Something isn't right," said Antonio.

"What do you mean?"

"How does that guy always have the best cards, and Eliot always so happens to have terrible ones? There's no use in bluffing with that guy. It's like . . . he knows or something."

"So, what are you saying?"

Before the bodyguard could answer that question, something happened. Someone busted in the room. Someone who was so important that everyone gasped upon seeing him make his appearance.

And that someone was Armani Parker.

"Don't play another game!" shouted Armani. He glared at the man in the scarf. "Marlie is a cheater."

"I KNEW IT!" screamed Eliot.

The man, Marlie, studied the future president for a moment. "Well, well, well. If it ain't my old pal, Armani. So, Mr. President. You think you're better than me now that you made it big? Are you gonna arrest me, Mr. President? I'm shaking in my boots."

Roselle kept looking back and forth between the two. "You guys know each other?"

"Yeah," Armani said. "Back when I ran away from my foster home, I needed some cash and a place to stay. That's when I met Marlie. He offered me odd jobs here and there, but the thing he did that made us the most money was the art of manipulating card dealing."

"You . . . you actually did that terrible thing?"

Armani took her by the shoulders. "Look, I did a lot of things I wasn't proud of before I got into office, but I'm not that guy anymore. I didn't want to do it, but I was a scared kid that was on the street. Marlie knew that and took advantage of me." He turned to Marlie. "Give them back all the money you stole from them in the previous rounds. Now."

He slapped his hand on the table. "I refuse! You have no proof I cheated these past few rounds. The money is mine."

Some guys that were spectating all around got up and glared at Armani, crossing their arms. They must have been Marlie's backup crew.

"Fine." Armani took a seat at the table. "Then play with me. I'll also deal the cards and win the money back."

Marlie's face reddened. "No, you might cheat too."

"Then what do you suppose we do?"

He looked around frantically, like he was searching for a solution. When he spotted Roselle, he immediately pointed his finger at her. "Her. SHE'LL be the one to shuffle the cards, and I'll play with HER."