A short story.
Flynn stumbled toward the restroom entrance, just as Ollie was exiting, both swerved to miss each other and narrowly missed the two men in the switchback alcove having a quiet conversation. Ollie stopped suddenly and spun towards them. The older man was wearing a casino uniform. The other one was dressed like a prowler, with a hoodie, scraggly hair, a backpack, and headphones.
“Hey Flynn, hang on. I think these two might be able to help us.”
Flynn bobbled and righted himself. “Can it wait? I gotta get rid of these yard-long margaritas.”
“I got this. You go ahead,” Ollie slurred. “Hey, you guys, do you play Texas Hold-em? I heard you mention something about jacks-off and flushes, and tournament. My friend and I have never played in a casino, we want to give it a whirl. “
The employee, with a name-tag sporting ‘Darryl” and “Salem, OR”, replied: “We have a poker room right here in the casino. There are cash games going now, where you can play for as little as a $100 buy in. Or we have a $240 tournament which starts in two hours.” He side-glanced at the hoodie and raised his eyebrows.
Ollie, being of the social, talkative sort, especially when tipsy “Cool. We have a bachelor party at Spearmint Rhino later tonight. We can do the tournament beforehand. Is it like what we see on ESPN? How much can we win? Where is the poker room? Are you playing?” This last was directed at the man in the hoodie.
Hoodie looked up from his phone. “Yes, I plan on playing. I like this particular tournament, it’s a good structure and gets lots of entries.”
Ollie looked back and forth between the two, then settled on Hoodie. “Not sure what that means, but I have always wanted to try it. We have a home game at Flynn’s house sometimes, but it’s just an excuse to smoke cigars and drink beer. We play hold-em and baseball and stud with one-eyed jacks wild. It’s fun to watch it on TV too. Looks easy. By the way, I am Ollie and that was my buddy, Flynn.”
“Phil. Maybe I will see you there. At the final table, of course.“ Phil-in-the-hoodie replied.
Ollie could have sworn he saw a smirk flash across Phil’s face. At that moment, Flynn returned. “Last time we played at Flynn’s house, I took six-hundred bucks off him.”
Flynn rolled his eyes and burped. “Yeah, well, the time before that you lost eight-hundred to Angry Bob, so there is that. “
Ollie looked back at Phil and Darryl. “Thanks for the info. Hope we make it. Hope we win! Sounds like fun. Oh yeah, which direction is the poker room?”
“Follow this wall, turn left at the buffet, turn right at the nightclub, and head for the sign that says ‘Sports Book’. It will be on your left .“ replied Darryl. “There is late entry through the first break. No re-buys, but there is unlimited re-entry. “
“What he said”, said Ollie “I hope you remembered all that. I don’t even know what it means.”
“No clue” replied Flynn, as he got out a $20 bill and headed for the Wheel of Fortune. “We will figure it out in an hour. “They nodded to their two new friends and took off to the gaming floor, with just the slightest of weaving along the way.
Three hours later, Flynn and Ollie could be found in the poker room, imbibing in free shots while playing the $240 buy-in tournament. Darryl the Dealer was in the box, which was especially amusing to Ollie as Darryl hadn’t told that he was a poker dealer. Both Ollie and Flynn had managed to make it through the first break without penalties, although they occasionally had to be reminded to act when it was their turn, and their bet sizing made the regulars cringe. Flynn had a decent stack thanks to some dumb luck hero(!) calls on the river. Ollie’s mini stack did not deter him one bit, as he was still chattin’ up anyone who would listen, especially Dealer Darryl, since they were now buddies. In typical Ollie fashion, he kept up a running commentary about what he would have had if only he had stayed in, asked his neighbors what they would have done, and marveled in the difference between the home game and having a professional dealer. Oh yeah, and cocktail service.
Phil and one other player were moved to Flynn and Ollie’s table. They were getting closer and moving up! Tables were breaking, and “seat open” could be heard more frequently,
Ten minutes into the who-knows-what level, Ollie accidentally mucked his cards on the floor, landing under the table (face down as luck would have it) while folding out of turn to a pre-flop rather large bet by Flynn. Ollie muttered about how 4’s look like aces, and immediately apologized as Darryl scolded him and called for the Floor to retrieve the cards. Phil, also at the table with his headphones on staring at his cellphone, made the call. Everyone else folded. The flop was J-spade 10-diamond 3-heart.
While the Floor was on his knees retrieving Ollie’s dropped hand. Flynn checked, Phil checked. Turn was a 2-clubs. Phil-the-hoodie shoved all-in and was called by Flynn, which was his M.O for the entire tournament.
They both table their hands. Flynn grinned as he shows A A, while Phil tabled a dominating hand with two red Jacks for the set. Flynn stopped grinning. The last card dropped: the two-outer Ace.
The table erupted into “Yowzas!”. The Dealer Darryl hesitated for a full two seconds, his eyes darted along the board before he rapidly pushed the pot to Flynn. He pulled the cards in to the muck & deck. The Floor was standing by, just hanging out, waiting for the hand to be over before returning the dropped cards to the deck. Phil’s stack was decimated, to under one big blind. He did not utter a word. His eyes flick to the dealer, who studiously ignored him. The dealer’s eyes jumped to Ollie, and if looks could kill, Ollie would have been someone’s mittens.
The Floor gently put one hand on the Dealer’s shoulder, and slowly turned over Ollie’s dropped cards: the 4 of spades and Jack of Diamonds. Another dealer came over to replace the dealer as the floor walks him to the back. Phil slowly looks over at Flynn, who is stacking his newly acquired chips. Phil opens his mouth to say something, but thinks better of it as security taps him on the shoulder.
“It’s always a big mistake to pre-judge your opponents” said Ollie.
“And it’s only a small mistake to fold” replied Flynn.
5 minutes later they both stood up from the table, and walked out, leaving their chips on the felt. The room manager gave them a thumbs up. “Nice doin’ business with you. ‘Til next time”.
The End