The final two
players in the tournament anted a 2,500 chip each. The “dealer” for this hand
added another 5,000 for the small blind while the other added five red chips
for 10,000.
The game was
Texas Hold’em.
The dealer called
the pot good and tapped the table three times with his right hand.
He dealt a card
to Lt. Julian Bashir on his left and another to Commander William T. Riker on
his right. The cards slid to the table railing with three perfect spins.
The second hole card was dealt to the two players.
Quark had grown
up dealing cards for Tongo and was as experienced as any other in the area. He
hadn’t often used the rectangular cards hu-mons used, but he was a fast
learner and adept at dealing. He dealt the final table for the tournament his bar was hosting. He was also making a handsome profit on the house's cut and drinks.
The tournament
had come down to the final two players from the original 50 who had been
invited from Star Fleet ships that were currently in the area of Deep Space 9.
Each had paid 25 strips of gold pressed latinum as an entry fee.
Captain Jade
Auruila, of the destroyer U.S.S. Audie
Murphy, had gone out in third place a little more than an hour earlier. She
received 63 strips of gold-pressed latinum for her efforts.
Second place
would win 250 strips and the winner would receive 563 strips of latinum, as
well as a custom made clasp to wear on civilian clothing that was reportedly worth
several dozen strips of latinum.
Bashir, known on
the station as a very talented card player, was first to act. With the fingernail on his left hand’s thumb, he lifted the corners of his two cards. The
first was the two of diamonds. He let it drop down to the felt and looked at
the second. It was the two of hearts. He had a pocket pair in a two-handed
game. He let the second card drop.
He looked at
Riker who had not looked at his cards yet.
Riker smiled.
Bashir knew
whatever two cards Riker had they were most probably over cards to his pair.
Quick mental calculation gave Bashir the answer of a “coin-flip.” He probably
had about a 50-50 chance of winning this hand as the cards were right now. He
was meticulous in counting his chips and put 25,000 into the pot.
Commander Riker,
a legend in the quadrant for his poker skills, smiled at the bet, as if telling
Bashir he’d already read him and knew Bashir’s hand was medium to weak.
Covering his
cards, Riker lifted the corner and quickly looked at his two cards. He let them
drop to the felt. He wouldn’t look at them again until the hand was finished.
“Raise,” he said,
never taking his eyes off Bashir’s eyes. The commander was watching for any
movement by the doctor of Deep Space 9. The doctor didn’t move.
“Raise
announced,” Quark said. Riker counted out chips from his stack and placed them
in front of his cards.
“The raise is
50,000,” Quark informed Bashir.
Bashir nodded ever so slightly.
There had been very little talk since the captain of the Audie Murphy had been eliminated when Riker hit runner-runner to fill his straight over Auruila’s flopped three of a kind. It also
brought Riker’s chip stack almost equal to Bashir’s.
The raise told
Bashir Riker had decent cards, but probably not a pair. If he had a high pair,
he would have raised more, if he followed his usual betting strategy. Riker’s
face told him nothing. Riker didn’t get to be a good poker player by giving
away information on his face.
Bashir guessed
Riker was holding two face cards, but not an ace, or a mid-pair. Bashir watched
Riker for any tell to discern the man’s strength. He saw nothing.
“Call,” Bashir
said, not looking at his chips, but counting out ten of the red chips from
where his memory told him he had them stacked. He never took his eyes from Riker’s.
The two had near
equal stacks of chips, with Bashir having one 2,500 chip more than Riker.
After knocking
out the captain, Riker promptly lost nearly half of his chips on a poorly timed
bluff. He tried to get Bashir to believe
he had an ace-high spade flush, when in reality he only had a jack-high. Bashir
held the ace-deuce of spades and smiled when he turned them over. He might have taken Riker out, but there was a pair of sevens on the board and Bashir was a little concerned with Riker having a full house.
Forty-five
minutes of play later, Riker had earned back most of his loss.
Quark double
checked the count and called the pot good. Both players agreed.
The flop was a
Knave and 10 of hearts and the deuce of spades.
Bashir, first to
act, remembered the adage of betting his hand. He had been watching Riker, just
as Riker had been watching him, during the flop.
The station doctor had flopped trips and bet them.
“Bashir bets
75,000,” Quark announced. Bashir hadn’t said anything.
Riker watched
Bashir unmoving. There was a long pause.
“Raise,” Riker
said. He moved 75,000 chips into the center and continued to look at his chips.
“Another 150,000.”
Bashir watched
the commander’s hand as he counted and stacked the 150,000 worth of chips. The
commander had earned a reputation and was now showing why. The first officer of
the Enterprise might
have a pair of hearts, maybe an ace high, and if he did, he was on a draw. He
might also have been playing ace-jack, in which he’d have top pair with the top
kicker.
After a long
minute, Bashir called and slid 150,000 worth of chips into the pot.
Quark called the
pot good and both players agreed. Neither looked at the Ferengi bartender who
was dealing, but were studying each other in an effort to pick up any tell.
Quark burned a card
and flopped another Knave, this time it was the jack of spades, putting two
jacks on the board with the 10 of hearts and deuce of spades.
Bashir was
pleased but did not show it. If the commander had been playing the ace-jack, he’d just hit three of
a kind against Bashir’s full house. Again, neither player had looked at Quark
or the card that had been turned up on the board.
A full minute
passed before Bashir bet 200,000 in chips. Riker called immediately.
Bashir assumed it
was because Riker had hit his three of a kind. Riker wasn’t the type of player
to call so quickly and might be trying to get Bashir to believe he had four of
a kind. If he had hit quads, Bashir presumed Riker would have made a small
raise, probably equal to Bashir’s bet.
No, Bashir
convinced himself, Riker had ace-jack or king-jack, maybe even queen jack, but
most likely ace-jack. His second thought the commander was holding the ace-king of hearts, in which Riker would be hoping for the two percent chance of hitting the queen of heart for the Royal Flush.
Quark burned one
and flipped over the final card after making sure both players were good with
the pot. The card was the nine of hearts.
Bashir was glad
to see the card. There were now three hearts on the board and if Riker had been
looking to fill his flush, he’d made it. If he’d been playing ace-jack, the
nine of hearts was a non-issue. Bashir had played the hand passively because he
turned the full-house. He doubted Riker had him on a flush, and if he thought Bashir had been betting a flush-draw, Riker would fold at a medium-sized bet, unless Riker had the ace-king or ace-queen of hearts, in which Riker would raise. That's when Bashir would pounce.
Bashir was sure
he had the nuts, and the pot was big enough, he was going to force Riker to
either lose a lot more chips or else fold. He counted out ten stacks of
ten 5,000 chips.
“The bet is
500,000,” Quark told Riker.
The commander
smiled and nodded without taking his eyes off Bashir.
“Raise,” Riker
said almost immediately and looked down to count out first the 500,000, then
added another one-million worth of chips, nearly three-quarters of his total
chips.
Bashir watched
the commander. He pushed the chips into the middle with confidence, but
something about the way he did it, Bashir picked up as odd. It was like Riker
was saving out his last few hundred thousand in case Bashir went all in, he’d
still have some chips to play with.
“All in,” Bashir
said and grinned wickedly when Riker said “call” without hesitation. He knew
his boat would beat Riker’s flush, even if it was an ace-high flush.
“I have a
full-house, commander,” Bashir said, tossing his cards onto the felt in front of
him, “twos over jacks.”
Riker smiled.
Bashir knew he’d
screwed up.
“Straight flush,”
the commander said turning over his king-queen of hearts.
Bashir rolled his
eyes. He couldn’t believe the luck of the Enterprise’s first officer. Commander Riker had played him. The first officer of Star Fleet's flag ship probably knew the station's doctor had hit the full house.
The crowd that
had been watching cheered for Riker and looked on in shock at the doctor’s
losing boat.
Bashir had enough
to ante the next hand, but he lost that too to make Riker the official winner
of the tournament. They shook hands and Bashir went to the bar for a few
minutes of commiseration and “nice-try” from those Star Fleet members who were
attached to the station, a pat on the back from Captain Sisko and a kiss on the
cheek from Jadzia. He collected his winnings electronically from Quark and
retired to his quarters.
He just finished
washing his face when the door buzzer announced a visitor.
“Come,’ he said
and the door slid open. It was Riker.
“Commander?”
Bashir asked, “is there something I can do for you?”
“I didn’t want to
say this where anyone else could over hear doctor,” Riker said, “but I wanted
to let you know I have never played against anyone with your skill at poker. If
you ever want to join in a game with me and some friends aboard the Enterprise, I’d be
pleased to have you join us.”
Bashir stood
opened mouth. Riker was being more gracious than the doctor had expected. He
didn’t have to come to Bashir’s quarters to invite him to one of Riker’s home
games, but he had.
“Uh, thank you
commander, that’s very kind of you to say,” Bashir said honestly.
“Call me ‘Will,’”
he said, sticking out his hand to exchange handshakes. “We’ll keep a seat reserved for you.”
