One characteristic that separates top players from the rest is top players always consider all of their options, even in seemingly simple or hopeless situations.
Joey's call resounded throughout the poker room. As soon as Brian heard it, he let out a guttural roar, "I can't win a damn hand tonight!" He huffed in gasping, ragged breaths.
Then he took his cards and tossed them into the muck...a fold. The dealer pushed the pot to Joey. As Joey stacked his new chips and the dealer collected all the folded cards, Joey said, "Hey, Brian was it? I know how you feel man. I haven't hit a hand all night." Then he flipped over his cards for everyone to see and the room was silent.
Air. Total rags. Garbage. These are all terms that could aptly be used to describe Joey's cards. He couldn't beat anything, not even a bluff. Then they all just realized what happened. Joey never bluffed, all he did was call. Nevertheless, he still won with absolutely nothing because Brian threw his cards away without flipping them over in the showdown.
Brian expected Joey to at least have a decent hand. He never imagined Joey would call with even worse than a bluff, just because he expected Brian to throw his cards away without showing them.
Brian's face turned green as he stared disbelievingly at Joey's cards. Then, quicker than an attacking python, he immediately lurched to where he threw his cards away to try to take them back, but it was too late. The dealer already collected them. They were gone. The hand was over.
The other players and staff watching from the side were still dumbstruck. Brian stared at the empty spot where his cards were before the dealer took them with his mouth gaping open in disbelief. He started muttering incomprehensibly under his breath. Then, several moments later, he just got up and walked out, continuously muttering.
Eventually, the dealer snapped out of it and remembered he had to keep dealing the next hand. At that time, Joey said, "Deal me out." Then he got up, took his chips, and went to cash out. Fortunately, while Joey played, several new players had joined the game so it continued even without him.
"Kid, you're doing great. Why stop now?" Angelo asked.
"Gotta...take...break," Joey barely managed to reply. "You mind if I...take nap...there?" Joey pointed to a couch in the back by the office.
Angelo looked at him strangely. "Yea, go ahead. Here's your cash."
Joey dragged his tired body to the couch and managed to lay down before blacking out.
************
UUUUUHHHHH. Joey yawned, he rubbed his eyes as he gradually adjusted them to the light and opened them. Before seeing anything, he heard something first.
Humhumhumhumhum. He looked over and found Amy humming a giddy tune to herself. The tune wasn't bad, the problem was she appeared to be cleaning a set of screwdrivers, wrenches, and power tools she had found somewhere. They were set over a mobile food tray.
From time to time, she would pause humming, deep in thought about something, before returning to humming and cleaning her tools. Several moments later she apparently finished and rolled the tray over to Joey's couch, slightly surprised that he was awake.
"What are you doing?" Joey asked, shrinking back.
"Early alert system? Not bad. Those evil scientists haven't been completely wasting our precious tax money on evil lair decorations.
"Evil scientists...?"
"The ones that built you..."
"Built me?"
"Yea, aren't you a robot?"
"Why would I be a robot?"
"That was some play you made earlier R2D2. Then your core powered down from battery overload and you went into sleep mode. Besides, everyone knows robots are among us. There have been many documentaries about it...Black Mirror...Bladerunner..."
"I'm...not a robot," Joey stopped her before she unscrewed his head.
"Really?" she responded, visibly disappointed
"I'm human," Joey answered again.
*sigh* "The search continues..." Amy took her tray of tools and wheeled it out of the room, back to humming that tune. Soon after, Angelo came in. "Hey kid, you alright?"
"Yea, I'm fine, how long have I been sleeping?"
"Almost 3 hours. What happened?"
"Nothing. I just get tired too easily sometimes." Joey glossed over the subject.
"...Alright. The others have been covering your shifts, but you're gonna be up to deal again soon. Can you handle it?
"Yea, I'm on it."
"That's good. By the way kid, hell of a play you made earlier. I didn't say nothin' cause that Brian scares off more players than he brings in business, but generally, try not to antagonize the other players huh? You know I don't make no money off you dealin'. We need players actually playin' and payin' rake to make some money around here. can't have you scaring 'em all off."
"I understand. Wait, what's rake?"
"Rake? That's how we who host poker games, aka the house, get paid. You know how Amy instructed you to take a couple chips from every pot and put it in that box to the side when you were dealin'? It's that...which is, you know...to pay our expenses." Angelo grinned.
"Ok, got it."
"Alright kid, see you out there," Angelo said as he left. Joey got up and realized he hasn't eaten anything all night so he walked over to the snacks area to get some food. When he got there, he saw Andrew leaning against the wall, playing on his phone.
"Hey man, how's it going?" Andrew greeted without looking up.
'This guy's peripheral vision is next level...' Joey admired. "Good. Just getting some food. Angelo was just telling me about the rake..."
"The rake? Yea, that's the real bitch."
"What do you mean?"
Andrew looked up from his phone for the first time. "Don't tell Angelo I told you this, but as a player, the real enemy isn't the other players but the rake. The rake is how the house makes money. If you want to make money as a player though, you've gotta beat the rake, which means you have to win more from the other players than the rake takes from you. That's the challenge, but it's not easy. Most players lose or breakeven because they can't beat the rake."
Joey was startled because this was the first time he's heard more than 3 words come out of Andrew's mouth at one time. "You seem pretty knowledgeable about this stuff," Joey said.
"Yea well, these are the things you've gotta know if you want to make it as a player."
"So...you're a player?" Andrew asked.
"Yea. I deal here for some side money while I'm building up my bankroll, but I'm trying to make it as a player."
"Bankroll?"
"Bankroll is the total pool of money a player has to play with. In other words, it's just how much money you have. The bigger your bankroll, the bigger you can play."
"Alright, thanks for the info," Joey said, as he picked up some fruits to eat and thought about the things he just learned. 'So if I want to play, I have to beat the rake. I also have to grow my bankroll.' Joey started to think about what his bankroll was at now. 'With the money I just won from Brian, I should have around 1000.' That figure bewildered him momentarily because it was money he couldn't dream of just a week ago.
Joey's eyes grew firm. 'Whether it's the rake or other players, I only need to focus on a couple of simple things: playing my best, and winning.' His head swiveled to look at the poker game still going. He listened to the sounds of the chips splashing, the players making their plays, and a smile emerged on his face.
'Let's see who can stop me.'
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Author's Note:
This kind of play, where you call on the end with nothing because you know your opponent is going to throw his hand away before showing it, is pretty legendary in reality. Even amongst pro players, most have probably never seen it happen. I've only done it or seen it a total of two or three times over the years.
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