Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
The flop came, a queen of hearts, jack of diamonds, deuce of hearts. Art bet out, Vienna called. Turn was an eight of diamonds. Art checked, knowing his one pair, even if it was higher than the queen, was very beatable. He needed to control the pot to avoid any disasters. Vienna checked as well. The river was the king of hearts, giving Vienna the winner with two pair, kings and queens. Art bet small, trying to get the showdown for cheap. Vienna raised his bet, but knew she couldn’t raise too much. Art was too smart to pay off a big raise.
The others leaned forward, just as eager as Art. None of them could read her any better than Art could. He turned over his pair of aces.
She turned over the two hidden cards. The queen of spades and king of spades. Art laughed. “That is a pretty sight. Queen of hearts on the flop. The king of hearts on the river. The river seems to be your lucky card, Vienna.”
“I’ll admit, I was sweating it a bit when you looked so confident, Art.”
“There was no sweating that I could detect,” Art said. He didn’t look in the least deterred by the chips stacking up in front of Vienna.
Over the next couple of hours, she had to fold on several hands. The cards just weren’t coming her way. That happened sometimes, and one had to be patient and not try to force something just to play. Park’s cards seemed to be far worse, and he always played past the flop even though he should have gotten out immediately.
The third hour in, there was a fierce battle that started out between all the players with the exception of Vienna, who had been dealt a three and four. She folded to watch the others as each thought they were given potentially winning cards. The bets were enormous. Whoever won this round would add to their chips considerably.
Art was the first to bow out after the flop. Park waited for the turn and then folded. That left Leo, Jameson and Theodore. Leo raised and Jameson folded. The bet went to Theodore. He stayed in for the river. The card did him no good that anyone could see. Still, he stayed. Leo’s bet was considerable. He had the chip advantage. Theodore went all in. Leo called.
Theodore had four of a kind. Four fives. Vienna closed her eyes. This was going to be painful. Who would have ever imagined? Leo turned over his cards. He had a straight flush. Low cards. All diamonds. Five through nine. Theodore sat very still for a minute and then slowly shook his head. Placing both hands on the table, he pushed himself up and extended one hand to Leo.
Leo shook his hand. “Great play,” he murmured.
Theodore shrugged. “That’s the beauty. You never know what lady luck is going to do.” He walked away.
It had been a great hand. Any one of them would have gone broke betting on four of a kind. Although, had Theodore studied the cards in front of him, he might have considered the odds. Cards were mathematical. There was always that percentage.
She sighed. “That one really hurt.”
“Now the compassion is coming out,” Art said, half-teasing. “We have a chance to annihilate her.”
“In your wildest dreams,” she said.
Three hours later, she’d won a few smaller hands, but no one had anything to shout about. Park’s playing seemed erratic to her, as if he were showing off for the crowd of women more than he was keeping his head in the game. They kept calling out to him to take his shirt off. If he stood up to stretch, they would yell for him to dance for them or to sign autographs. To take pictures with them. He didn’t seem to be able to resist the white-hot glare of the spotlight.
The others around the table were amused by his rather vain posing around the spectators. Vienna didn’t point out to them that he had won a couple of large hands. He might stay in longer than he should, but he had stayed in, believing the cards he was holding were enough to win. He thought he was “playing” everyone. Unfortunately, she was fairly certain he was being too clever for his own good.
She finally managed to score two cards in the pocket worth staying in, a king and ace of spades. Rubbing the pad of her thumb over the little heart on her wrist once, she blinked several times to focus on the cards as each of the others made their bets.
Leo was in first with a solid bet of a quarter of a million dollars. She was careful not to blink at the outrageous bet on the cards she knew he had. He was definitely trying to “see” who was willing to stay in. Art folded. Jameson stayed. Park stayed and Vienna did as well.