~~~~
The casino was noisy and abuzz with
activity. A blinding collection of bright lights, flamboyant clothing, and
gaudy furniture colored the entire room. However, it was all a blur to the
gambler as his eyes focused on the slots before him. The first reel came down
as a seven, the second much the same. His heart skipped a beat as payday was
within his grasp. As the gambler’s mind raced with possibilities of how to
spend his soon-to-be acquired fortune, the final reel came to a stop.
“Not again,” he bemoaned as the final reel revealed not a third seven,
but a random fruit. ‘That was supposed to be my moment. My whole night was
leading right up to that point,’ he looked down at his light wallet, filled
with only a few small coins. ‘Shit, another trip to the ATM.’
<^>~-
A Bet on Fallacy -~<^>
“Come on, man, let’s get out of
here,” his friend insisted, “everyone else already blew their $50.” The two
were sat at a roulette table, but the friend wasn’t even playing.
“Just let me finish my beer,” the
gambler held up the half-finished bottle.
“Fine,” the friend shrugged and
wandered off.
“Alright, put it all on black,” the
gambler smiled and slapped down his chips. ‘I’m feeling it, this is the
moment.’ The roulette ball was sent on its merry way and rolled along the
spinning wheel. Within a brief moment, it slowed to a stop and slipped into a
slot.
“21 Red,” the employee announced.
The gambler’s heart sank as all his money slipped away again. “For the love
of,” he swore under his breath and chugged the rest of his beer. “Next time for
sure. Barkeep, another beer,” the gambler hopped over to the bar with his
credit card out.
As the gambler retrieved his latest
drink from the barkeep giving him dirty looks, his eyes scanned the casino
floor for his next “conquest.” He’d blown it at the slots, and he was no more
fortunate at roulette, then he spied an attractive sight. At one of the
blackjack tables was a particularly well-dressed lady. Every inch of her body
screamed rich to the gambler. From her fancy dress, her countless pieces of
jewelry and her relentlessly smug expression. However, she had every reason to
be smug, she was winning and winning big.
‘To have that kind of luck,’ the
gambler thought to himself. It seemed like she won every other hand, and
whatever losses she did take were paltry in comparison to what she had won. The
gambler found himself staring at more than her bets, though, and he quickly
realized he wasn’t the only one. ‘Looking’s free, but that won’t get me my
money back,’ he told himself and set out for another table.
As he turned to scan the room again,
he spotted a craps table in the distance. The gambler smiled to himself,
already imagining his luck turning around. As he made his way across the casino
floor, he spared one last glance at the rich lady, but to his surprise, she was
gone.
~-~
As the gambler nursed his third
beer, he had to admit to himself he was at the end of his rope. After a
half-dozen rounds of craps and blackjack, he was down to his last twenty
dollars. This last game of blackjack could cost him the rest of his money, and
he knew it.
‘Come on, my luck can still turn
around, this is the one,’ he affirmed to himself. He was the only player at the
table currently. The others had left after his fourth consecutive loss. He
noticed a familiar look in the dealer’s eyes as they shook their head at him.
The gambler responded with a glare and slapping down his last few chips.
“Room for one more?” A feminine
voice asked from behind. The gambler turned back to see the lucky, rich lady
sit down at the table. The dealer was quick to accommodate her.
‘I didn’t even hear her approach,’
the gambler thought, but his surprise was visible. However, the rich lady just
smiled at him as she placed her bets. He hid his blush and suppressed several
intimate fantasies that popped into his mind. The dealer shuffled the cards and
set up the next game, and the gambler swallowed hard as the moment of truth
arrived. The hand went by in a blur and was over before he realized it.
“Blackjack,” the gambler mumbled to
himself as he realized he was dealt an ace and a king.
~--~
The gambler went on a hot streak, no
matter what, every hand he played was a winner. The rich lady was winning too,
but the man almost forgot she existed as his fortunes turned for the better. As
he cracked open his fourth beer, feeling the rush of victory, he noticed
someone approach him from behind.
“What’s taking you? Come on, we’ve
got to get back to the hotel,” his friend returned.
“Come on, I’m finally on a winning
streak,” the gambler replied.
“Finally? You mean you’ve been
losing this whole time? How much?” The friend inquired.
“Not sure, but I won a couple
hundred off my last twenty,” the gambler explained as he sipped his beer.
“You’re last twenty?” The friend
exclaimed, “you mean your last twenty period?”
“Well yeah,” he shrugged, “but I’m
winning now; I’ll get it all back soon.”
“Forget it,” the friend shot a dirty
look towards the beer in his hand, “if you’re doing so well, you can take a
limo back to the hotel.” The friend stormed off.
“What’s his problem?” The gambler
shrugged as he went back to the game. He noticed the rich lady suppressing a
laugh out of the corner of his eye but brushed it off. ‘What’s tickled her?
Forget it, time to make bank.’
~--~
“You’re kidding me,” the gambler
lamented, the last of his winnings went right up in smoke. The sweet taste of
victory was upon his lips, and it all slipped from his grasp in an instant. It
had started small, a loss here and there between his win streaks. Then the
losses became more frequent until the situation reversed. Suddenly, it was the
rare win between his new losing streaks until he gambled all his money away.
‘Maybe, I should call my friends to
pick me up,’ his eyes, drained of color, glanced at his last empty beer bottle.
He wasn’t sure if it was his sixth or seventh. ‘Who am I kidding? They’ll tell
me to shove it and go back to sleep.’ The gambler sighed as he picked himself
up from the table and dragged himself away. He noticed that the rich lady had
disappeared again, ‘probably knew when to cut her losses.’
As the gambler continued his walk of
shame, he shut out all other sights and sounds. The sound of slot machines,
cheers of victory, loud music, and the bright lights dissolved into a blur.
Each step became more and more of a struggle as his legs began to feel like
jelly, and a nauseous sensation filled the insides of his stomach.
“Hello? You still there?” A voice
cut through the blur.
“Huh?” He barely registered the
words.
“Attention,” someone snapped their
fingers at him, finally shaking him from his funk.
“What do you?” The gambler turned to
see the rich lady. “Oh, um, hello?” He mumbled out in embarrassment.
“Had a little too much to drink?”
The woman giggled, “you’ve been wandering around the casino floor for ten
minutes now, security was about to throw you out.”
“What? Oh...crap,” he resisted the
urge to swear and finally took a good look around him. This certainly wasn’t
the entrance or any of the exits, it was a random corner of the casino, near a
few bathrooms. He had been wandering aimlessly in a drunken stupor. “I’ll just
leave then,” he replied sheepishly.
“What’s the matter I thought you were
winning?” The rich lady commented.
“I was until,” he bit his lip,
“until I wasn’t.”
“Out of cash?”
“That’s putting it lightly.”
“Such a shame, and you looked like
you were having so much fun,” the lady lamented before shooting him a wry
smile.
“Is there something funny?” The
gambler muttered, “what are you playing at?”
“Well, in this casino, you can
gamble with more than money,” the rich lady explained, “just not out on the
main floor.”
“If not with money, then what
exactly would I be betting?” The gambler inquired, a small part of his clouded
mind sent a jolt of panic through his whole body.
“Anything and everything,” the woman
answered, her grin widening.
“Uh, I’m not sure, I’ve been having
a pretty unlucky night,” he looked away. “Even if I won until morning, I doubt
I’d make up half of what I lost. Besides, if I’m not betting money...”
“Oh no, don’t worry about that,” she
interrupted him. “If you win, you stand to gain more than a few hundred
dollars,” the woman leaned in closer.
“What are we talking about,
thousands?” The gambler asked, trying to hide is renewed interest and
discomfort.
“Even more than that,” the rich lady
whispered gently in his ear.
“I’m interested,” he immediately
replied.
~--~
The trip to the “backroom,” as the
rich lady called it, was quite long. Although, the gambler admitted it might be
all the alcohol in his system screwing with his perception. He didn’t realize
how big the casino was, as every door and hall seemed to lead to another
massive room. Finally, they arrived at a very nondescript, albeit large, door
flanked by two muscular guards in suits and sunglasses. The gambler could sense
their glares through their glasses, focused entirely on him.
“He’s with me,” the rich lady
stated, and the two guards quickly opened the door for them and shepherded the
pair inside. After another long winding hallway, they arrived at the
destination, and the gambler’s jaw dropped. It was a lavish room, filled with
people dressed just as fancily as the rich woman, but also a few dressed in far
less.
“What is this place?” The gambler
almost gagged at the sights in the room. Beneath the veil of wealth and excess
was vice on the level of horror stories. Several people in the massive room,
both men and women, were dressed in rags, or skimpy outfits, as well as chains.
However, it didn’t stop there, even the rich were missing ears, fingers, and
eyes, or displayed horrific scars and wounds.
What topped it all off was the main
focus of the room, more gambling. While the games played were the same as
outside, slots, blackjack, craps, and even a few poker tables, it was the bets
that were different. People were chopping off fingers and slamming down clear
containers filled with organs. A few were outright throwing other people onto
the tables as though they were poker chips. Losers were being carried off in
chains. Some of them collapsed in their chairs and were carried away by more
men in suits.
“Dear lord,” the gambler sweated as
he witnessed a large man in a posh suit slam down a massive bet. It included
giant stacks of cash, several of the chained up men and women, and a few other
things the gambler couldn’t recognize. However, in an instant, the large man
lost his bet and saw all his possessions carried away. The man was in complete
shock as the suits dragged him away screaming. They shoved him through a door
that a lot of people seemed to enter but never come back out of.
“This is where the real gambling
is,” the rich lady chuckled. “And,” she gestured towards another game, “where
all the real money is made.” At the other table, a young woman won a major bet
at a roulette table. The lady walked away with a steel briefcase overflowing
with money and jewels. “Someone just became a millionaire,” the rich lady
commented, “so are you interested?”
“Of...of,” the gambler hesitated,
his pours overflowing with sweat. “Of course,” he nodded.
“Excellent, I know the best place to
start,” the rich lady slipped back into her wry smile.
~--~
The gambler and the woman sat down at a
poker table in a private room, their only witness being another pair of
muscular guards in suits. The rich lady slipped right into her seat, while the
man sat down nervously. The rich lady pulled out a deck of cards while one of
the guards set down a massive stack of poker chips for both players.
“What exactly am
I supposed to bet?” The gambler asked, “I don’t exactly have jars of organs at
the ready.”
“That’s what the chips are for,” the
rich lady explained, “bet whatever you want and use any amount of chips you
think is fair. You don’t lose when you run out of chips or money, but when you
run out of things to bet.”
“And I can bet anything?” The man
inquired.
“Anything,” the woman assured, “your
money, your bank accounts, your job, your home, your dog. You make a bet, and
if you lose, proper arrangements will be made to repossess whatever you’ve
lost.”
“Won’t you need my signature or...?”
The gambler tried to ask.
“Nope, money makes the world go
round,” she hushed him. “Now get ready to make your first bet. We’ll be playing
a special variant of Texas hold’em, our friend here will be the dealer, and
we’ll have equal blinds.”
“What’s the catch?” The gambler
sensed something off.
“No catch,” the rich lady shook her
head, “think of it as a friendly game of poker, with extremely high stakes.
We’ll take turns placing the first bet. Oh, and the blinds are one finger,
let’s start small.”
“Ok,” the gambler gulped as the first
hand of cards was dealt. His two cards were a pair of jacks, which boosted his
confidence a little. ‘This might end up better than I expected,’ he nodded to
himself as he placed a few chips down to represent a finger.
“Feeling confident, aren’t we?” The
rich lady giggled as the flop was dealt. The three cards were a jack, a seven
and a three.
“I’ll bet,” he placed down a couple
of chips, “what’s two more fingers?”
“I’ll call,” the woman matched his
bet. The next card hit the table, and it was another seven.
‘I’ve got this,’ he suppressed a
smile, “check.”
“Where the bravado go?” The rich
lady looked at him with a hint of disappointment, “I’ll raise, how about I
offer this ring?” The woman slipped the ring off her finger and placed it with
her chips.
‘Trying to call my bluff?’ He
grinned as he called her bet. The last card was dealt, it was a ten. ‘I’ve got
this in the bag,’ the gambler cheered internally, “Check.”
“I’ll do the same,” the rich lady
replied. Both players revealed their cards, and as the gambler’s eyes flashed
over her cards, his heart sank. Revealed on her side of the table was a seven
and a three. He had three of a kind, but she trumped him with a full house.
“Ouch, tough luck,” the woman laughed as she dragged his chips away. “I’ll
collect those fingers later though, you’ll need them if you want to keep
playing. As for the rest, well, I’m sure your home and everything in it will
cover the cost.”
“How much was that ring worth?” The
gambler exclaimed.
“More than you’ll make in your
life.” The woman’s wry smile returned, alongside an almost malevolent stare.
“You’re free to back out, not that you’ll have anywhere to go.”
“No, I’ll keep playing,” he steeled
himself. The game continued, and he started off making more aggressive bets,
but the plan didn’t pay off. The second round ended with his two pair against
her three of a kind. The loss cost him the rest of his fingers and a kidney.
“Still want to keep at it?” The rich
lady chirped.
“I’m not done,” the gambler replied.
‘There’s no going back at this point anyway.’ He played safe the next round,
but it mattered not he ended up with a single pair while she had two pair. The
failed hand cost him one of his own.
“I’m increasing the blinds,” the
rich lady stated, “let’s move from fingers to limbs.” The gambler nodded at her
statement and pressed on, hungry for victory. Yet, the next hand proved no more
successful.
‘Come on, I can get out of this,’ he
told himself, ‘my luck has to turn around sooner or later.’ He sweat bullets
coming into the next round and sweat far more when he lost it as well. Cards
after card, hand after hand, bet after bet, he lost more and more. All his
limbs, his organs, his eyes, and even his bones were gambled away. Each loss
drove him further into a panic, as the room and casino felt more and more
distant. His breaths became labored as if there were a hole in his chest.
“What to quit yet?” The lady’s voice
seemed almost muffled to him in his frenzy, “I’m sure you don’t. The boys in
the other room will carve you up like a turkey if you do.”
“Not done yet,” he placed his bet for the next
round, all the blood in his body, “ready to fold?”
“I was about to ask you the same
question,” the rich woman countered as the cards were dealt. She beat him with
a four of a kind.
“No,” the gambler’s blood ran cold
as the reality of the situation set in, “I’ve got nothing left to bet.”
“Of course you do silly,” the woman
revealed. In the gambler’s stupor, it felt like she was meters away at the end
of a long table. “I told you, anything and everything can be bet here, all
that’s left is to bet your life. However, short it may be now.”
“Then it’s all in or nothing?” The
gambler asked, despite already knowing the answer.
“Like I’d let you bet any less?” The
rich lady’s laugh morphed into a cackle, “throw down whatever you have left,
I’ll take it like everything else.” The last cards were dealt, and the gambler
checked them with fear. Much to his surprise, they were two jacks again,
swallowing his fear he went all in.
“This is it,” he mumbled aloud as
the flop was dealt, it contained two jacks, one a club the other a spade and a
king of spades. ‘Luck is on my side after all,’ he unconsciously grinned. As
the next card was dealt, an ace of spades, his grin grew wider as his sweat
finally stopped. His body was a wreck, he was exhausted and felt the first
waves of a hangover ready to envelop him all at once. The gambler didn’t care;
he was finally going to win.
“Ready to lose it all?” The woman
mocked him.
“Are you?” The gambler laughed back
at her as the final card was dealt, a 9 of spades. “Four of a kind, I’ll take
my winnings now,” the gambler slammed his two jacks on the table.
“Look again,” the rich lady tapped
her finger on her own cards. The gambler, having been completely ignorant of
her two cards until now, finally glanced down. At her finger was a queen and
ten of spades, meaning she had a royal flush.
“What?” He slumped into his chair,
falling back into the same slump from before. Everything grew even more
distant, except for the feeling of nausea that crawled up his throat.
“You know you’re my favorite kind of
person,” the rich lady’s voice echoed across the edge of his perception. “You
can’t tell when you’re in over your head until you start to drown. You’d bet
everything without even knowing the odds, all for a taste of fortune.”
The gambler made no reply; he was
frozen in shock and so lost in his own head, he couldn’t even feel his own
heartbeat. His whole world had caved in on itself, and now he had nothing, not
even his life or the clothes on his back.
“Pleasure doing business with you,”
the rich lady scooped up all the chips and sauntered out of the room. The gambler
merely crumpled to the ground, a husk of his former self. As the woman closed
the door behind her, the lights and sounds of the casino outside were cut off.
Left to wallow, the gambler’s mind came to an abrupt halt, not even bothering
to think as the suits dragged him away.
~~~~
Never make an important bet without knowing the odds, no matter what you stand to gain, you often stand to lose far more.
With a heavy heart I have to say posts will be slowing down for the next several months. I'm back in school and both of my classes require a lot of time investment outside of class. As such I'm going to pull back to one update a week, on Tuesdays, until the semester is over. After that I'll hopefully be able to shift back to two stories a week until the next semester.
Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy
~~~~
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