Dead Man's Hand

by Steven Meehan

  “Are you honestly telling me that we’re the first new players to come to this table?”

  With a nod I answered her, “Yup.” With that reminder of the other new players, I realized that I hadn’t even tried to study them. I was drawn into conversation with Bella way to easily. I searched the faces and noticed that Patrick wasn’t among them. While I hadn’t played against Patrick, I had the feeling that he and Tyson were the two best players here. Between the two, it was a coin toss. Still searching the other players I asked Bella, “Where’s Patrick? I thought I saw him join your starting table.”

  She sat there frozen, and unmoving. I gently pushed her shoulder and repeated the question. This time she heard me and after clearing her throat she responded, “Patrick was at my starting table but fortunately enough the rest were chumps. So we kind of fell into an unspoken alliance, we wouldn’t go after each other while we had such easy pickings. After about an hour or so when we dropped to four players, our table was scrapped and we were plugged into other tables as seats became available.

  “So once you two separated, you didn’t meet back up?” I kept looking into her eyes and saw that she was still distracted by our table. “That’s good.” I folded my arms across my chest and whispered in her ear. “What about our solitary existence bothers you, Bella?”

  “Everything.” She stated without a trace of emotions.

  Only when I thought she fell back into herself did I prompt her with a question. “This is only your second time here, do you really think that it is that unusual?” I tried to keep my tone conversational, attempting not to spook her further down a rabbit hole she plainly didn’t want to go down.

  Shrugging her shoulders she looked over at me and I could tell a million thoughts were running through her mind. “Even though this is only my second tournament, I’ve never heard of a table going without new blood for… How long have we been playing?”

  I instinctively glanced down at my watch. “Oh, we’ve been playing for a little more than five hours, and we were here at least an hour or two before that.”

  With a shake of her head she replied, “I’m surprised that your table went five hours without getting people to replenish your empty seats.”

  I simply sat there for a moment and began to chew the inside of my lip. I raked my left hand through my hair as I slowly let out my pent-up breath. “Well it would seem that we have a little mystery, for another time.” I needed to change topics, the last thing I needed to be thinking about was how Dempsey might be trying to isolate either my table as a whole or someone at it. The worst thought was that he might be trying to isolate me. I looked around the room, again taking in its extravagance before blurting out another question. “Is the room just as grand as it was last year?”

  “It’s a different room,” she began indifferently, “but it’s definitely just as nice.”

  “Different room? Did he reorganize the space or something?”

  Turing back around Bella gave me her full attention. “I keep forgetting just how little you know. You remember how I told you that my uncle lets whoever take whatever after the game?” I nodded and she continued. “Even though my uncle owns just about everyone everywhere, he’s just as careful.

  “So after the authorities have raided the, by then old warehouse, my uncle scratches them off of his list. He would rather find another place than reuse one. He figures that some overenthusiastic rookie or cop might try something by staking out the old locations, waiting for him to press his luck. No, as far as my uncle believes every year deserves its own home, wherever or whatever,” Bella spread her arms to encompass the warehouse they were in at the moment, “it is.”

  “Your uncle is a very meticulous man.”

  “You have no idea.”

  Looking at the dealer’s idle hands I asked Bella, “Did we miss something?

  “I think we were talking all the way through the new seat draw. And it looks like we’re set to be the first blind bets.” She lifted her required small blind and carefully moved it forward just a little, a move that did require the dealer to collect her blind.

  I restrained myself from pointing out that the dealer should have attempted to get our attention, I simply extracted the required big blind from my stacks and tossed it into the center of the table. Once both blinds were given the dealer proceeded to deal out the round. Leaving me time to think about what Bella had just told me. She had confirmed that her uncle used a different building every year, and the reasons “why” that she gave made perfect sense.

  With my first card firmly under my right hand I turned my attention up to the stadium seating and saw Allison having what appeared to be a civilized conversation with another of the former players. The pair quickly called over one of the waiters, no not a waiter they called over a bookie. In addition to everything else Dempsey was doing in this tournament he was even able to generate some side income through extracurricular gambling. I had to admit that this was quite the elaborate scheme concocted by Dempsey, and it was one that had to have made him a ridiculous amount of money.

  Chapter 10

  Tyson won again, that was certainly original. Did the man ever lose? Was he even capable of losing? I shook the questions out of my head, they were pointless and I was only depressing myself. Turning around in my seat just so as to look away from those lifeless eyes, I caught sight of Dempsey walking into the center of the room. Once there, he stood and waited until he had the silent attention of the room. Then he spoke. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our final ten players. We will now take a short break while we get things ready for the last table. While we do so, please feel free to help yourselves to refreshments.” With that he turned around and started to walk towards the nearest stairwell that lead to the seating above. After taking only a couple of steps he stopped, turned back around, and added a few more words. “For the duration of the break the bar will be open. Please enjoy yourselves.”

  “That’s actually generous of him.” I said to Bella as I leaned down to whisper into her ear. “Would you like to join me for a martini?”

  I waited almost a minute for her to answer before looking away from her uncle and down at her face. Instead of the calm serenity that had been gracing her face earlier I saw confusion. It was not a flattering look for her. I had never seen her like this before and the change startled me, so I quickly asked, “Bella, what’s wrong?” As she sat there, motionless, I grasped her shoulder and gently rocked her back and forth until she broke out of whatever trance she had fallen into. She looked up at me quizzically so I simply repeated my question with a little more urgency than before.

  As she looked up into my eyes I saw that she noted my apparent concern, good, at least she was being responsive now. I knew that something was off so I sat and waited for her to explain what was wrong. By this time the other players at our table had gotten up so it was just the two of us sitting there in silence. It took her a few more moments to gather herself, but she eventually answered the question.

  “As far as I know my uncle has never had a break during one of his ‘oh so precious tournaments.’” Once she finally started speaking her words came out quickly. She fixed her eyes on mine and nearly shouted her next word. “Never!”

  I was uncertain how to respond to this but I tried to offer a reason as to why he might have deviated from such a longstanding tradition. “Maybe this year’s tournament is just running longer.” But even to my ears the excuse sounded feeble.

  Her eyes were beginning to take on a hue of fear which I didn’t understand. Well she had common sense, you always had to be cautious with the unknown, and perhaps she was just being cautious. I could tell that for Bella, not knowing what was going on was extremely frustrating. I had only known her for a few hours but I could tell that she had a controlling side to her, a similarity that she definitely shared with her uncle. She waved a dismissive hand at my suggestion as her words poured forth. “No, Marcus you don’t understand. After the tournament last year I a
ctually asked him about that. Don’t get me wrong I can handle a long time at the table, but even I was exhausted.” She turned around and tightly gripped my arms. “He told me that he never took breaks because it’s better for business. He wouldn’t just change what he considered a good business decision, not without a very compelling reason.”

  Keeping my eyes on hers, I tried to keep my face as calm as possible. “Slow down a second, what exactly do you think is going on if this is so unordinary?”

  Taking her cue from me, she stopped a moment to settle her rising emotions. When she had herself under control she replied in a still shaky voice, “I’m not sure Marcus.” She took another breath to steady herself and continued: “And to be honest that’s what scares me the most.”

  “Bella, isn’t it possible that you’re overreacting just a little?” I asked as I placed my thumb and index finger just a hairsbreadth apart. “Let’s focus for a moment on the positive side of things. For insistence I’m fairly certain your uncle no longer has any of his men intermingled with the last ten players, so his payout is already as small as it can be.”

  Then I remembered the betting that was going on above our heads and that made me think of something else. “Well minus the gambling going on above us. But, best of all is the re-opening of the bar even, if it was mostly an afterthought. And to tell you the truth since he forces everyone to stay here he should have left it open for the whole time.”

  “That may be a valid explanation for his opening the bar,” Bella shrugged as she elaborated on her thoughts. “But the bar is a nice shiny toy to distract from the real surprise, which is the break. Why did he call for a break? That’s what scares…”

  I was afraid she was going to allow herself to get worked up, but I needed her to stay calm. “I’m not saying I fully believe what I said, Bella. After all I know who your uncle is and more importantly I know his reputation.” I placed a bit of emphasis on the last words. “But I also know there is no use worrying about something we have no control over. That’s about as useful as trying to argue with a hungry grizzly bear. And all that’ll do is keep us from playing our best game, which is something we can’t afford right now. I understand what your fears are, but there is nothing we can do about it right now.”

  I saw her force down the panic that had started to rise, but she again managed to pull herself under control. Looking past me she stared right at her uncle as she spoke to me. “You’re right, Marcus. This is not the time to let my uncle’s actions dictate what I do.”

  I scratched my temple as I thought about what she was saying. I could tell she was concerned about all of the oddities that she had observed so far during this tournament. Though it would have been more accurate to say the differences frightened her. And things like that were always useful to know, you just needed to know when you had to use the knowledge. “Believe me Bella, information is always useful.”

  She opened her mouth to say something but before she could utter a sound I gently placed a finger upon her lips and quickly completed my thought, “Yes information is useful. But information overload is potentially fatal. I’m not going to let it rule my thoughts during this break or at the final table.” I kept my attention focused upon her beautiful grey eyes, and I just held them with my own for a few moments before adding, “Divergence from the norm is always useful to know about. You just have to figure out why the differences are there.”

  With a shy smile she looked up into my eyes, “You really are an interesting mystery, Marcus.”

  Looking back at her I offered a reassuring smile as I rephrased my original question. “Well would you like to accompany your man of mystery to the bar for another martini?” As I spoke I stood and extended my arm to her.

  She gracefully accepted my proffered arm, using it to assist herself to rise. Once she was on her feet she enveloped my arm within her own and smiled her assent as she whispered “I’d be delighted to join you for another martini.” Arm in arm we made our way to Simon to place our order.

  After receiving our drinks we returned to our table to enjoy them, mine once again scrubbed clean of any intoxicants. We sat there watching Dempsey’s men work to clear the room. They did it with amazing quickness and efficiency, removing the remaining tables and all but ten of the chairs, including the two we were currently using. As we sipped at our drinks I kept noticing that Bella was surprised by the furniture’s removal. Was this another piece of the puzzle? “Is there anything wrong with the tables being removed?”

  “No,” she began with a shake of her head. “My uncle is a very organized man. He is a poster child for the saying, ‘a place for everything and everything in its place.’ But as much as he tries to vary himself he is a person of habit. So I was just trying to reason out why he had all of the tables removed when he has never done so in the past.”

  “Maybe he has something special in mind for the final table.” I offered in an attempt to relax her already jumpy mind.

  Even as she started to nod her head in assent, I could tell that while she wasn’t satisfied with the explanation, she was willing to accept it all the same. She glanced over at me and replied, “That’s got to be it.”

  I didn’t want to admit that personally, I was very unsatisfied with my explanation. She, however, was eager to forget her worries and content to let herself believe in the rationale of my suggestions, which was probably for the best as she was already rather on edge. I wish I had been able to follow her lead but I was unable to keep a million different thoughts from running through my mind. The more I had been able to calm her nerves, the more uneasy I had become. I couldn’t say why I was so determined to figure out what was prompting all the drastic changes in Dempsey’s typical routine. But with all the odd behavior mounting up, I was having a hard time convincing myself that nothing abnormal was going on. And I had a sinking suspicion that I was at the center of it all.

  As the break wore on my body started losing its fight with exhaustion. Why was Dempsey normally so opposed to a break? He had to know how a break would affect the players. If it hadn’t been so haphazard I would have congratulated Dempsey on his tactics, rather than question them. As the adrenaline in my system began to wane my exhaustion grew by leaps and bounds. I quickly made another dose of adrenaline and took it as quickly and discretely as I could. I had to keep myself going; the end was almost within my grasp. Fortunately, just as I hit my biological snooze button I noticed some of Dempsey’s goons carrying in the final table.

  Looking carefully at the table both Bella and I were unable to notice anything that distinguished it from the ones that had been removed. Nothing looked different. This new table could very well have been any one of the three that had already been taken out, almost an hour ago, when the break first began. However, I had a bad feeling that this unscheduled break was the result of Dempsey’s desire to have this specific table house the ten final players.

  Once the table and our chips were positioned Dempsey again strolled into the center of the arena. This time he didn’t need to silence anyone. “Ladies and gentlemen we have our battleground, please allow me to introduce the combatants.”

  With a flourish of his hand he listed off the ten who had made it through the night. One by one we collected our chips from the men standing to one side of the table and took our seats. Fortunately, I wasn’t introduced last so I was able to claim the empty chair next to Bella. At least I knew I would have some pleasant conversation between hands. When I sat down I took a moment to study the table for anything unusual. I was convinced that there had to be something special about it. Why else would Dempsey break such a fine tradition of his? Despite my quick and casual search I couldn’t find anything that screamed ‘I’m different. Look at me.’ But before I could try to take a deeper look, Patrick sat down, thereby completing the table. I decided to shelve the questions for the moment and follow the same advice I had given Bella. It was time to ignore the differences and focus on how I was going to win this tournament.


  Chapter 11

  If weeding out the ten best players here had been a marathon, then the battle among the last ten was a sprint, and one I blame on the break. Three of our number had been forced into the crowd within the first five or six hands. Granted those three had had the least amount of money left, but all the same it was remarkable just how fast it had occurred. As I looked down at my cards I knew that if I were to bet on what I held, then I was going to quickly follow suit; so I did the smart thing and folded. That left everyone but Patrick, Tyson, and myself still vying for the hand.

  Now there are some flops that scream to good players “watch out I’m a trap.” When you see the king of hearts and the aces of spades and diamonds you should proceed with caution. It certainly wouldn’t have helped the hand I had folded, a thought which made me smile. But, I could tell that it helped Bella, thought I doubted anyone left in the hand caught onto it. She calmly began the round with a check to Constantine, who was aggressively pushing forward with two hundred thousand dollars. David made a show of deciding whether or not he should call, but I could tell that he was eager thanks to the flop. While Christopher, Mike, and Zachary folded their hands, Thomas raised the stakes to three hundred thousand, and without even cracking a smile, Bella took the stakes up to half a million. With a great deal of complaining Constantine, David, and Thomas eventually called the bet and we all waited for the next card.

  It was the jack of hearts. I could see the barest hint of a glimmer in Bella’s eyes, though it was quickly gone. This time she was the one who hemmed and hawed about what she was going to do before eventually pulling a cool million out of her stack and waiting for any takers. I wondered what she held. Though more subdued this time around, the other three each ponied up their million to see the last card. The last card revealed the nine of hearts, a fact that seemed to make Bella’s night. However, this time she just checked to Constantine. He must have loved the card as well because he decided to really up the ante by going all in. This meant that everyone, with the exception of Bella, would have to go all in as well. Each of them pulled that trigger.