Suited for Luck

by Daniel Schinhofen

  “I need to help Daf a few more times over the next week,” Doc told her. “I’m hoping I can use this room for breakfast since it will draw less attention. After all, what I’m doing is a crime.”

  “None of my people will say a word, or they will wish they were dead,” Lia said simply. “Everyone in the kitchen is already saying prayers to Lady Luck, apparently.”

  “That’s good and bad,” Doc said.

  “The only few I am uncertain about are my dealers and bartenders, but the other staff won’t say anything to them.”

  “Thank you. Was that the only thing you needed?”

  “I can field five tables for the tournament, but I think it’s going to run over that with people wanting to join,” Lia said.

  “Staggered entries. As people drop out, let the new ones play if they want in. Just means you need enough chips to be able to make it work.”

  “I have enough chips for eight tables’ worth,” Lia said. “Didn’t expect to use them all.”

  “That’s your cut off,” Doc said.

  “I’ll make it work,” Lia said. “Here’s your gun, by the way.”

  Doc took the small gun from her, then blinked. She didn’t have pockets or a purse with the dress she was wearing. “Umm… where were you…? On second thought, don’t tell me.”

  Lia raised an eyebrow high and snapped her fan open to cover her mouth. “Goodness, that almost sounded indecent.”

  Doc caught the hint of laughter in her tone and shook his head. “I would never ask a lady of your caliber anything indecent.”

  “Is that so? Pity,” Lia said as she walked out of the room.

  Doc watched her go, bemused at the banter they just had. “What the fuck just happened?”

  Stepping out of the hallway and into the main room again, he whistled softly at how much the room was filling up. He was surprised to see Cassia tending the bar when he walked over. “Cassia, when does sign-up start?” he asked once she had come down the bar far enough to hear him.

  “Right at eleven,” Cassia said loudly so that anyone interested could hear her. Moving down to the end where he was, she motioned him in. When Doc leaned toward her, she spoke softly, “Madam has already paid for your entry. Just listen for your table and seat number to be called.”

  Doc chuckled, “I understand. You’re tending because Dillon is dealing?”

  “And to see if I can do the job,” Cassia smiled.

  Doc nodded, “I think you got this.”

  “Drink?”

  “Beer. It’s going to be a long day. I need to pace myself.”

  Cassia grinned as she went and pulled him a pint. “Good luck.”

  “I think I’ve got that in spades,” Doc replied.

  Doc stayed leaning against the bar as he waited for eleven to come around. He gave nods to some others he recognized when they came in. Fiala came downstairs a few minutes before eleven and gave him a smile and wink. She went to one of the poker tables, taking her seat at the dealer’s position, the last of the five dealers to be seated.

  Everyone was getting antsy— a few stragglers went to take seats at tables only to be roundly yelled at by others. A couple of fights started, and the offenders were ejected by other people waiting for the tournament.

  “Gentlemen,” Lia said from behind the bar, appearing without anyone noticing, “we’ll begin accepting entries into the tournament in a moment. I’ll start with the rules so you know what you’re getting into. The entry fee is ten dollars, and eight of that will go to the prize pool. We have five tables, but I will try to have at least one more, if not two, by next week. We only have enough chips for a total of eighty people to enter this week, and that will be corrected as well. What that all means is that fifty will be seated right away while the other thirty will be on standby for a spot to open for them.” There was some grumbling from the players, and Lia held the fan in front of her face. “If you don’t agree to this, do not register. Your entry fee will not be returned to you. Anyone caught cheating will be expelled and banned from all tournaments, so don’t cheat. If one of my dealers is found to be cheating, they will be removed and never allowed back, and a new dealer will be brought to the table. The prize pool will be divided amongst the four finalists, though the exact amount will be decided once we know how many entries we have. Now, if you wish to register, line up in front of me in an orderly fashion.”

  A couple of men had started to rush forward only to slow when two bestials moved in front of them. Doc realized he had seen these men before; they were Grange’s deputies. “We’re security,” one of them growled. “Ass up and not only will you be gone, we’ll be taking you straight to a cell.”

  “Now form an orderly line,” the other chuckled.

  Doc watched everyone scramble to line up behind him. He had been right in front of Lia when she called for the line, and he still didn’t know how she managed that trick. Turning back to face her, she gave him a knowing smile as she placed a stack of chips in front of him. “Thanks,” he said sardonically.

  “Table one, seat one,” Lia said in a normal tone, though Doc caught the silent laughter in her eyes.

  Doc took his stack and moved toward the table. He was sad that Fiala was at table five, but he realized that was probably for the best. She’d be a wreck if he sat there. Instead, he had Dillon as his dealer, and the first seat was directly to the dealer’s left.

  “Morning, Dillon. Excited?”

  “Yup. Getting paid good today.”

  “How much?”

  “Ten dollars.”

  “Nice, but you’re going to earn that since we can’t tip you.”

  “I know the second part. Why do you say ‘earn it?’”

  “Because this is going to take a lot longer than you think.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah, most of the day, I’m betting. The early portion will be fairly quick— two hours and we’ll have the max of eighty. But cutting down to the final ten will take most of the day, and then the real grind begins.”

  Dillon frowned, “You’re just fucking with me.”

  “Not my type. But you’re right, in a way. This tournament won’t be that bad, but the monthly and yearly ones? Be prepared for long sessions, maybe even two- or three-day-long games.”

  “Doc, seems like I get to play with you today,” Raymond said, taking his seat beside him.

  “Raymond, you ready for some fun?”

  “Of course, though most of the players here aren’t serious players. They just think they can walk out with easy money.”

  “There’s a new sucker born every minute,” Doc chuckled.

  Looking back at the rest of the room, he nodded. Lia was sending each new person to the next table in line to break up any potential funny business that anyone might have tried by getting in line together. Wonder if she’ll change that up next time.

  It took a little bit of time for all the tables to be filled and for the thirty who paid to move off to the normal tables to wait. Each of them was holding a token with their number on it. Once the spots were filled, the dozen or so that hadn’t gotten in grumbled. Most left, but a few were trying to buy the token off someone waiting.

  “We have maxed out our players. Our prize pool is three hundred for the winner, two hundred for second place, one hundred for third, and fifty for fourth. Good luck to everyone in the tournament. Drinks and food are available for purchase, and we will be having breaks intermittently for you and the dealers to stretch and use the outhouses. Dealers, the time is now. Shuffle up and deal,” Lia announced.

  Dillon took the new pack of cards and broke the seal on it, deftly pulling the cards from the box. “Gentlemen, this is no limit hold’em. Similar to what you’ve been playing, but with no limit on the bets you can make.” As he spoke, Dillon shuffled the cards. “I will need you to be clear when announcing your bets because of that. Any questions?”

  “Does that mean we can bet everything on the first hand?” one of the players asked.r />
  Doc rolled his eyes at the question and waited for Dillon to answer.

  “Indeed, but if you lose all your chips, you are out and another player will join the table. There are no rebuys in this tournament.

  “The table has a big blind and a small blind,” Dillon said, moving the dealer button to Doc. “Gentlemen, the small blind is a nickel, the big is a dime.” The two required to put money into the pot did so and Dillon finished shuffling. “Good luck, everyone.”

  Doc played passively to start with, letting the aggressive players weed each other out. He made a few good hands and took smaller stacks away from the aggressive players, but mostly stayed back during the first hour.

  The first hour had almost all of the waiting players in— many of the players pushed all-in and either got hit hard or took big chunks out of others. Doc was holding strong but not leading his table when Lia called a break two hours into the tournament.

  “You all have fifteen minutes,” Lia announced. “When we pick up play again, the blinds will be changing to a dime and fifteen cents respectively.”

  Doc stretched in his seat and let the others rush off. “There’s a reason I left the table for a few minutes half an hour ago. Beat that rush and now I can see about ordering a snack.”

  Dillon wasn’t listening as he waited for Lia to come over to the table. “Thank you, Madam.” With that said, he ran out the door.

  Doc snickered as he watched Dillon go. “Maybe see about another dealer just to give them regular breaks and rotate them? It’s a good idea anyway, especially if you think one of them is doing funny things.”

  “I’ll keep it in mind,” Lia replied. “I’m surprised you’re not dominating the table.”

  “No need,” Doc chuckled. “No limit is about endurance play, picking and choosing the right time to go hard.”

  “Oh? Is that something you’re good at?”

  Doc blinked, not sure if she had purposely made the question sound like a double entendre or not. “Think I should go get a snack.”

  “Talk to Cassia,” Lia directed him with a hint of laughter in her voice.

  ~*~*~

  Doc cracked his neck as the third break came to an end. The player count had dropped to twenty-six and the games were getting tighter. Since evening had come, all the girls were out working the room, and those not involved with playing were drinking and watching the shows on the stage.

  Dillon took his seat and gave Doc a dejected look. “You were right.”

  “At least she has the other dealers breaking you more often,” Doc laughed. “You’re welcome, by the way. I suggested that.”

  “That is nice,” Dillon admitted as he began to shuffle the cards. “The blinds are now a quarter and fifty cents,” he informed the rest of the table. “Next break, it’ll be fifty cents and a dollar.”

  “Why do they keep raising them?” one of the players with a small stack of chips complained.

  “To make people with small stacks be aggressive,” Doc said as he began to roll a chip across his knuckles. “Otherwise, you’d just sit on the blinds as long as you could.”

  “Damned right we would,” another man snorted. “It makes sense, but since it’s going to hurt me, I don’t like it.”

  “Human nature,” Doc chuckled. “If I was in your place, I’d be grumpy, too. For you, it’s ‘double-up or go home’ time.”

  “Yeah,” the second guy sighed. “If I could just get a decent hand.”

  Doc nodded. “That’s the problem, isn’t it? If you wait for the right hand, you’ll go out on a blind. If you go too early, you will be hoping a bigger stack doesn’t call and have a better hand. Sucks when you’re behind this late into the tournament. On the other hand, we’ve outlasted the fifty-odd others who are already out, which means you’ve been learning. Next tournament, you’ll have a better chance.”

  “Huh... Maybe.”

  “Blinds, ante up,” Dillon said, waiting to deal.

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Doc woke to the knock on his door the next morning. Fiala stirred beside him but since she was near the wall, he got out of bed. Taking the top blanket, he wrapped it around himself and answered the door.

  “Morning, sir,” Posy said, quickly looking away when she saw it was him. “Here is your water. It’s well into the morning.”

  “Tournaments run late,” Doc chuckled. “Thank you for the late wake-up.”

  “Madam thought you might want to sleep some,” Posy said before glancing up at him. “You’re still helping Momma, right?”

  “At breakfast or lunch, whichever time it is. I’ll be down to the private dining room shortly. Can you make sure there’s a pot of coffee waiting, please?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Thank you,” Doc said, taking the hot water and closing the door.

  “You really do like her, don’t you?” Fiala said from the bed.

  “Yeah. She’s a good kid. You getting up or going back to sleep?”

  “I’ll get up, but you go ahead and clean up first,” Fiala replied. “I think I’ll get the show this morning.”

  Snorting laughter, Doc rinsed off and left the rag in the basin of hot water. “Okay, you, I’ll see you downstairs. Don’t take too long.”

  “I’ll be down shortly,” Fiala murmured as she watched him dress.

  ~*~*~

  Doc waved to Dillon. “Glad you weren’t the dealer who stayed to the end?”

  Dillon rubbed at his dark eyes. “Yeah, it was hard enough to get here on time as it was. Are all the tournaments going to be like that?”

  “Probably,” Doc shrugged. “The last table always takes the longest, since people are trying to finish with some money. It’s also why the blinds keep increasing to force play.”

  “Was surprised to hear you only made it to third.”

  “Bad beat,” Doc shrugged. “He had the higher card for the straight flush. It was a possibility since we both used four from the board. Raymond was so happy to knock me out. Did he win the whole thing?”

  “Yeah. Gave Madam Lia the entry fee for the monthly tournament with his winnings. Lia announced that only the winners of the weekly tournaments could reserve a spot for the monthly tournaments after another five people tried to do the same thing.”

  “Good,” Doc chuckled. “We don’t want people getting ahead of themselves.”

  “You want some coffee?”

  “Got it and breakfast waiting for me,” Doc told him. “See you later.”

  “Yeah, sure,” Dillon said, frowning after him.

  Entering the private dining room, Doc gave Daf and Lia nods. “Didn’t expect you to be here, Madam.”

  “I wanted to see your healing in action,” Lia said as she pushed her empty plate away. “The tournament was a success. I do need to thank you for that.”

  “Glad to help, but it’s a means to an end right now. Oh, while I’m thinking about it...” Pulling out a gold ten-dollar coin, he flicked it to her. “For my room up to the solstice.”

  Lia snagged it out of the air, examined it, and nodded. “Very well.”

  The door opened behind him and Fiala walked inside. “Morning, Daf, Madam.”

  “Morning, Fiala. You did well yesterday. Would you care to operate the penny table during the morning shift?”

  “Yes, Madam. Thank you,” Fiala beamed.

  “We’ll be using you for the tournaments, too,” Lia added. “I’d like you to work with Lotus and Jasmine for a few hours before the tables open each day and teach them how to deal.”

  “Yes, Madam.”

  “Very good. Now, Doc, before you get started on breakfast, if you’d heal Daffodil?”

  Daf winced at her full name but kept quiet. Doc went over to the cook and took the seat beside her. “Your hands please, Daf?” Once she placed her hands in his, Doc sighed and closed his eyes. “Lady, if you’d bestow your blessed healing upon Daf,” Doc said softly as he triggered healing hands.

  Lia watched intently. When th
e glow from his hands vanished, she nodded. “I see... it drains your energy, does it?”

  Doc nodded, feeling tired. He had used all his energy and started draining his vitality before he stopped. “Yeah.”

  “I see,” Lia said. “Thank you, Doc. Daffodil, how do you feel?”

  “Better than I have, Madam,” Daf replied. “I feel better than I did this morning.”

  “Your problem is going to be continuous for a bit,” Doc explained. “Another couple of days, at least.”