Opening Night: Part 3

Posted on Thu 22nd Jun, 2017 @ 10:43pm by

1,198 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Unity Week
Location: Casino Royale, Deck 1553
Timeline: MD-01: 2030 Hours

The opening night was underway. The place was booming, full of people. It had been a better opening than Jonny had expected. It had been two hours and all the tables around the casino were full. A poker tournament was underway of 170 people which was a great turnout. Even the lesser games were full to the brim, it was a complete success so far. No one had caused any trouble either, which was a bigger bonus with the amount of people around the place.

Tomorrow night he knew was going to be even bigger, there was a concert planned in the concert hall. Fully booked, and if the guests were in the casino at the time, the music is background. The same as in the hotel lobby. Still, tonight wasn't the time to be pondering about tomorrow night. He could see how that pans out tomorrow. Besides, he didn't even deal with who was playing in the concert hall. He left that part down to Amanda to sort out.

He continued to observe the buzz of the place and smiled to himself. This was all he ever dreamed of. He found himself drawn to the poker tables and following the poker tournament, besides it was his favourite casino game. It had started with 17 tables, but had already been knocked down to 15 with many people busting early. You could already see a couple of the punters with the bigger stacks. All the players started with chip stacks valued at 5000 and the blinds starting at 25/50, doubling every 20 minutes. It was a fairly turbo tournament, but the way it was laid out meant it would be going for many many hours before an eventual winner scooping the highest amount of prize money. Everyone that got onto the final table for the opening night were also winning a special prize that only Jonny and the tournament runner knew about. It was being announced when there were four tables left to create an even bigger atmosphere towards the end.

Jonny had his eyes fixated on an small human of Asian descent on table 4. His stack had already three folded up with the aggressive poker style he was playing. He was on the same table that Jim was also dealing on. He watched as Jim shuffled and dealt the cards. This table had 9 people on it, all different kinds of species, but that he did not care about. Poker didn't care for that, poker was a game of skill and luck and only certain people had the knack for both. The usual starting round of betting happened and about 5 folds in the process. An elder woman raised the blind by 4 times. It was followed by a call from this time an elder man. It fell onto the Asian man. He didn't move as he was thinking. His eyes and body language not giving anything away. A hand moved out with his chips, "Raise." He muttered. He had raised it another 4 times over the top of the woman. The person sat next to the Asian instantly folded. The woman with the initial raise hesitated before calling, followed by the elder man who also called.

It was a very aggressive play indeed, the flop came out, Ace of Hearts, Jack of Hearts, 10 of Spades. Interesting flop. The aggressive betting continued. The turn card came out as the Jack of Spades. Before anything, the elder woman called "All In." The man followed suit. Before the Asian also chucked his chips in. They turned their cards... the woman had the last two jacks, showing four of a kind. It was pretty much a guaranteed win. The elder man had the Ace of Spades and the Ace of Clubs, he had a full house on the board, but that was not enough right now to beat the four of the kind. The disappointment was etched on his face, he knew the only was he could win was if another Ace came out, but the chances were so slim. The Asian continued to sit there with his cool calmness, flipping his cards to show the King of Hearts and the Queen of Hearts, he had shown a straight, which again wasn't enough to trump the four of a kind. The elder woman started smiling, but what happened next was crippling and showed what poker was all about. The river card was the 10 of Hearts....

The Asian had made a Royal Flush. The chances of this happening to be precise was 1 in 649,739 and here it was, opening night of the casino opening... And Jonny witnessed it. It was only the second time he had ever seen anyone get a Royal Flush. He watched the next lot of events unfold, the elder man walked off nodding his head, but the elder woman had stood up with her mouth open in shock. She had picked up the two cards in front of her and was looking at them. She was there for a couple more seconds before she threw the cards at the Asian and started yelling "Cheat!" At the top of her lungs. "I assure you Ma'am, there was no cheating involved in this hand," Jim piped in.

"YOU! You," She pointed at Jim, then the Asian. "You're both in on it!!" She continued to shout, the people on the poker tables had stopped and turned looking at the commotion. It was only a matter of time before it drew a crowd.

"Unfortunately Ma'am you know that is not the case. You saw me shuffle the deck of cards in three different ways in front of all 9 of you on this table. Between the flop, the turn and the river you saw me burn a card to deter from any cheating," Jim then stood up, the small frame of what he was seemed to tower her with confidence. "And plus, I'm the best dealer in this galaxy and I do not condone any types of cheating. Or people that accuse me of such, so I do suggest you leave this casino by yourself whilst you still have that chance." He never raised his voice.

She was taken aback as the short dealer said this to her, "YOU'RE BOTH CHEATING! CHEATS! CHEATS!" She started chanting, still standing where she originally was. Before she could say anymore, the burly security guard Gordon came with another one and dragged her away. The commotion was over in an instance and everyone got back on with playing their games.

Jim sat back down, "Well she can't say I didn't warn her." He smiled at everyone and punched the top of the table to signify a new hand. The Asian remained calm throughout all of this. Jonny by that time had walked over the table and congratulated him on that hand, and explained that it was only the second one he had ever seen. He told him to find him after the tournament and he would honor him with a special prize. The Asian smiled at Jonny and thanked him. Jonny then went behind Jim and whispered in his ear, "Very well handled young Sir, very well handled." He walked off smiling.

The woman was never seen again...

 

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