by Ken Kelly
Fran got hold of Bobby and asked him if he wanted to go with her to Vegas.
“Sure I’ll go,” said Bobby, “it sounds great.”
“We can split the cost, alright?”
“Yes.”
“How about you book us for two nights at the Four Queens and I’ll get tickets for the Peep Show. We can settle up later. Oh, Gloria and Rick are in room 824 so if you can get a room close to them, great.”
“Okay. What about the helicopter ride?”
“I can do some research and we can talk about it on the way to Las Vegas. My guess is it will cost more then I’m willing to pay.”
“That could be. What time should I pick you up?”
“Eight o’clock. Here’s my address.”
Bobby wrote it down as Fran recited it. “Got it. I’ll see you at eight.”
“Oh Bobby, one other thing.”
“Yes?”
“We’ll be staying in the same room but maybe we could refrain from any sex until we get to know each a little better.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
“Really?”
“No, but it’s okay, we can wait. I have a question though, are you going to go into the bathroom every time you need to change your clothes?”
“I don’t think so. If you’re a good boy I’ll give you a private Peep Show now and then.”
Bobby snapped his cell phone shut, threw a closed fist into the air, and yelled, “Yes!”
Yesterday he’d been sitting on a bench at the beach not because he wanted to enjoy the sun, the sand and the view but because he really didn’t have anything better to so. Bobby, who self analyzed himself from time to time, thought he’d been mildly depressed. But then this Amazon goddess comes flying down the path and falls, and of all the people that see it only he can help her because only he has a first aid kit!
So he patches her up and they spend the rest of the day together. They have dinner and the next day she calls him and asks if he wants to go to LasVegas with her. So now he’s about to book a room and tomorrow night he’ll be in Vegas with a woman who could pass for Scarlet Johansson’s first cousin. A woman who was not only beautiful, but was fun, smart, and liked him unless she invited guys she didn’t like to Vegas, which didn’t seem likely.
The ‘no sex before we get to know each other rule’ wasn’t cause to celebrate but how long could it take to get to know each other? Bobby thought of ‘Vanilla Sky,’ which he’d picked up at Blockbuster after Frank had quoted the line about money the day he got out of prison. In the film Tom Cruise tells Carmen Diaz that when a man and a woman are attracted to each other, and put off having sex, the anticipation builds to the point that when they finally do, the intensity is overwhelming.
Bobby hadn’t cared for the movie but had to admit, ‘Vanilla Sky’ had some memorable lines.
Rick and Gloria slept for over an hour and then they woke up and got dressed.
Gloria said, “What’s the plan?”
“I thought you were the planner.”
“I can help but it has to be a joint effort so we share the credit or the blame.”
“Okay, sounds reasonable,” said Rick.
“What about we find a place to eat, and since we haven’t booked any shows, let’s play some poker afterwards. It could be your lucky night at Binions. When I won the $385 there was a full blown maniac to my left and a border line maniac across from me. I only played there one time so I don’t know if that’s the norm or not but if it is you’ll make money.”
“Are you going to play there?”
“I want to try the Golden Nugget, a place I’ve haven’t played before,” said Gloria as she opened her HP Mini, brought up Google and typed Binion’s Casino.
“What are you doing?”
“I want to see what Wikipeda has to say about the Binions.” Gloria read a bit and then said, “Looks like Frank Salucci and Benny Binion had something in common: they both did time for income tax evasion It says that in 1951 Benny bought the Eldorado Club and Apache Hotel and reopened them as Binion’s Horseshoe Casino , and that he spent 1953 to 1957 in Leavenworth Penitentiary. You know we can both play at the Golden Nugget if you want.”
“No, I’ll play at Binion’s, see if I can beat your record.”
“Okay. Now, what about dinner?”
“I know you have an idea and I know I’m not even close to one.”
“I think there’s a good restaurant in this hotel called Hugo’s Celler. They encourage you to dress up but, from what I understand, won’t keep you out if you don’t.”
“You want to get dressed up?”
“Sure, it’s fun.”
“Okay, let’s do it but I’m not going to be able to get too dressed up. I didn’t bring a sports coat.”
“It’s too hot for a sports coat. Just do your best, you’ll look great.”
Gloria used the house phone and asked to be connected to Hugo’s Celler. When someone answered the phone she asked for reservations at 7:30 pm. She gave her name, thanked whoever was on the line, and hung up.
“Reservations at 7:30.”
“Great,” said Rick, looking at his watch. “You mind if I check and see if there’s a NBA playoff games on?”
“Go right ahead.”
Rick used the remote to turn on the television, then flipped through the channels until he found a game. After a few minutes the commercials came on.
“When you were flipping through the channels before I saw this cooking show I really like. Is it all right if we watch it while the commercials are on?”
“Sure,” said Rick, handing her the remote.
Gloria found the cooking show and they watched for awhile. When she switched back to the game the ads were over and the game was in progress.
When the commercials came on Gloria switched over to the cooking show and, after a while, back to the game. This happened a number of times before Rick noticed they were watching the basketball game only when the cooking show commercials were on.
“Cooking shows: the enemy of sports,” Rick mumbled under his breath.
Pretty soon they’d be buying up sports bars and changing them into cooking show bars and Las Vegas would be laying odds on who would get “chopped.”
At 7:15 Gloria and Rick stepped out of their room and walked down to the elevator. Gloria wore a white blouse and a dark skirt that stopped just above the knee. She wore black medium high heels and a silver necklace and bracelet. Nick wore a blue long sleeve shirt, dark slacks, and black dress shoes.
“You’re looking very smart Mr. Mills,” said Gloria as they rode down in the elevator.
“As do you Ms. Hesselgrave, as do you.”
The floor of the Four Queens casino was L shaped. From the hotel lobby Rick and Gloria walked straight across the casino floor and turned left at the first opportunity. Hugo’s Cellar was about twenty yards up on the left. A stairway took them down to the restaurant where there was a small bar and a stand where the reservations were held.
Gloria gave their names to a gentleman at the stand and he checked them against his list. When he was satisfied he led them back into the restaurant, got them seated, and disappeared. A minute later a waiter in a dark tuxedo appeared and gave Gloria a single rose. She thanked him and put the rose into a small vase near her place setting. The man, who looked to be about 45 or 50, introduced himself and said he’d be their waiter for the evening. He passed them the drinks menu and asked if they’d eaten at Hugo’s Cellar before. When Rick and Gloria both said no he explained a little about the restaurant, when it started and how they made each salad at the table to the customer’s specifications.
When he was done the waiter asked if they would like to order a cocktail.
Gloria, who’d been looking at the drinks menu, said, “I’d like a vodka martini, dry please.”
The waiter wrote down the order and then looked at Rick who ordered without looking at the menu.
“I’ll have a Rob R
oy, straight up with a twist.”
The waiter nodded, wrote it down, and headed for the bar. Gloria pulled her dinner menu forward but didn’t open it.
“Tell me Rick, what’s in a Rob Roy, straight up with a twist?”
“I have no idea, except it might contain Scotch since Rob Roy was a Scotchmen”
“Why did you order it if you don’t know what it is?”
“I’ve always wanted to, ever since I saw a movie called ‘True Confessions,’
which takes place in L.A. after World War II. Robert DeNiro and Robert Duval are brothers: DeNiro is a smooth talking priest, an up and comer in the Los Angles diocese, and Robert Duval is a homicide detective with the LAPD. Duval is investigating a murder and DiNero may or may not know people who know something about it.
“Anyway, at one point in the movie they go into this first class restaurant for lunch and the waiter asks them if they’d like a drink. DeNiro says, ‘Rob Roy, straight up, with a twist.’ The waiter writes it down then looks at Duval, who says, ‘Schlitz, straight up, no twist.’”
“Well I’m glad I got to be with you when you finally got your chance to order a Rob Roy, straight up, with a twist but you should have told me you were going to do it. That way I could of said, Miller Lite, straight up, no twist.”
“That’s true but then you’d be drinking a Miller Lite instead of a vodka martini.”
“Good point.”
The drinks came in a bottle that was in a basket of ice and the waiter poured from the bottle into a martini glass. When he was done pouring there was a lot more left in the bottles.
Gloria raised her glass, and when Rick saw it he raised his as well. Gloria clinked glasses and said, “Here’s to our vacation. It’s really fun. Thanks for bringing me.”
“You’re welcome and thanks for coming. Could you imagine me eating here alone and then going back to my room to sleep by my lonesome after losing at Binions, or winning at Binions with no one to tell? I don’t know which would be worse.”“Losing would be worse.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I’m glad you came with me though.”
“Me to.”
Gloria ordered Chilean Sea Bass and Rick went with Ribeye Steak. The waiter asked if they’d like wine. Gloria and Rick looked at each other and Gloria asked the waiter if they could have a minute to think about it.
“Certainly,” said the waiter who moved toward the kitchen with their orders.
“What do you think?” said Rick.
“Well, it’s either have the wine or play poker. One or the other but not both.”
“So what do you want to do?”
“I’d rather play poker but I’m good either way.”
“Lets play poker, I want to take a crack at Binions.”
When the waiter came back Gloria told him they’d pass on the wine. Then another waiter showed up rolling a small table used to make the table-side salad. The waiter put some romaine lettuce on a large salad plate, looked at Gloria and said, “Tomato wedges?”
“Yes,” said Gloria and the waiter tossed the tomato wedges in with the lettuce.
After that the waiter went rapid fire through the rest of the choices. “Marinated artichoke and hearts of palm? Sliced mushroom? Blue cheese crumbles? Croutons? Chopped egg? Red onion? Bay shrimp?”
Gloria said yes to everything but croutons and given the choice of Caesar, creamy pepper, and honey-walnut vinaigrette dressing, she chose Caesar.
Rick’s asked for vinaigrette dressing, croutons and no bay shrimp. The rest of the salad was the same as Gloria’s.
“That was an exercise in rapid fire decisions,” said Gloria.
“Yes, I’m glad you went first, it gave me time to think.”
The salads were excellent as were the entrees. They didn’t have wine but the drinks lasted throughout the meal. At the end of the dinner the waiter brought white and dark chocolate dipped strawberries, apricots, and figs with a fresh cream dip.
“These are great,” said Rick, as he bit into a chocolate strawberry.
Gloria, who had a mouthful of apricots, looked up and nodded.
They decided to forgo dessert, paid the bill in cash and made their way out to Freemont Street. On the other side of the walking street was Binion’s Casino.
“There it is,” said Gloria, “the formally fabled Binion’s Horseshoe Casino, now known as Binion’s Casino. So you’re going to play there?”
“Yeah, for awhile. All that food made me tired. You want me to walk you over to the Nugget?”
“Sure, thanks.”
The Golden Nugget was just around the corner and the poker room was through the casino, all the way to the far wall. Many casinos, like the Pechanga in Temecula and Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, have actual rooms set aside for nothing but poker. Others, like the Golden Nugget, had poker tables fenced off from the rest of the table games and slot machines, keeping the poker room exclusively for poker players.
The fence, commonly referred to as the rail, was usually about waist high and was sometimes populated by players who had been playing in one of the games inside. Probably the player who was “on the rail” had lost all the money he had with him and was deciding whither to use an ATM machine, or was just watching awhile before he went home or back to his hotel. Or he could be a new player checking the games out before he decided if he was going to play or not. Or maybe someone who’d never played but was curious.
But if you heard someone say, “I was on the rail most of yesterday,” or “he was on the rail an hour after the game started,” that meant those players busted out.
The floor man stood at a little slanted desk just inside a gate in the rail. Gloria asked him if he had any two-five no limit hold ‘em.
The floor man said, “You’ll be first up. Name?”
“Gloria. Which table is it?”
“Table 7, right over there,” said the floor man, pointing toward a table up against a wall.
Gloria looked over and tried to get a quick read on each of the players. There was a woman who looked about 45 give or take, dressed nice although not fashionable. She had a few hundred in chips, probably winning. Gloria figured her for a conservative player, someone who could be bluffed but could also bluff you off a winning hand if you couldn’t read her. She’s not here to have fun, this is how she makes her money, or some of it at least.
“What are you doing?” asked Rick.
“I’m trying to size up the players I’ll be facing soon.”
“By looking at them from over here? You can’t see their cards or even the board can you?”
“No, but I can players and maybe get a take on them.”
“Does it work?”
“A lot of the time it does and once I start playing and find out I was off I adjust my thinking and go on from there. So it’s no big deal if I get it wrong and if I get it right it can be a help. See that guy sitting next to the women? Looks about 35, wearing a sports coat over a grey T shirt?”
“Yeah, I see him.”
“I’ve played with him before at the Pechanga. He’s a tough player, he plays loose but strong.”
“As opposed to what?”
“As opposed to a tight strong player for instance. A tight, strong player is usually a tough player as well but they almost always have a strong hand in a big pot. So if your hand isn’t a monster you probably can’t beat him and should fold. A loose, strong player, like that guy next to the lady, might have a big hand in a big pot, or he might have a marginal hand, or he might be on a bluff. It’s hard to know what he’s got, so it’s difficult to make a decision.”
“So what do you do?”
“If I’ve got any kind of a hand at all I’ll usually call because I can beat a bluff, I most likely can beat a marginal hand, and will lose to a big hand. So I have favorable odds and should win two thirds of the time. Of course my opponent might have five powerhouses in a row, in which case I’ll lose a bundle. But he might hav
e a string of weak hands and bluffs and I’ll win a lot of chips.”
“You give this a lot of thought don’t you.”
“You have to if you want to win.”
“How long do you want to play?”
“Two or three hours, but if this game is too tough and I can’t get a better one, I’ll be out of here in less than an hour. How about you?”
“Couple of hours. If I cash out first I’ll come here and if you do I’ll be at Binions.”
“Deal.”
“Gloria H?” the floor man said.
Gloria held up her hand.
“Your seat is available on table 5.”
Gloria turned to Rick. “Okay, I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”
“I got a feeling you’re going to get ‘em. Good luck.”
“You to babe.”
Rick watched Gloria walk over to the table and take a seat. He decided to watch her play a hand or two, no more then that. He had a feeling Gloria wouldn’t want him to hang around for long. The dealer dealt and the man under the gun came in for a raise. There were two calls by the time it got to Gloria, who also called. The player behind Gloria folded and the small and big blinds called. The dealer burned one card and dealt three cards down in front of himself and spread them across the center of the table: 9, 8, 2, rainbow.
The big and small blinds checked and the opener bet two thirds the size of the pot. The next player called, the next folded, Gloria called and the two blinds folded.
It was then that Gloria looked up, saw Rick, and frowned. Rick immediately nodded and touched two fingers to the side of his forehead in a mock salute. Then he turned and left. His intention was to walk out the door of the Golden Nugget and over to Binion’s but his curiosity wouldn’t let him, he had to see how the hand turned out.
Before he reached the exit he turned right and twenty yard later he made another right back towards the table. When he got as close to the table as he needed to be he was to Gloria’s right and back a good distance. She wouldn’t see him unless turned around. Rick couldn’t see the board from where he was but he could follow the action by watching the players and the dealer, who was about to deal the last card.
When the last card hit the table the first of the three players left in the hand checked. The next player put in a sizeable bet and then Gloria, after thinking for a moment, raised. The player who’d check folded, and the better pondered for a long time. He separated the chips he’d need to call, which was most of his stack, he stared at Gloria, he mumbled to himself and scratched his head. In Rick’s experience people who took a long time contemplating a call folded 90% of the time. His theory was that most of the players who put on this show know they’re going to fold as soon as their opponent’s bet but think folding quickly shows weakness and might encourage other player’s to bluff them in the future. Rick thought ‘the long fold’ was a waist of time: make your decision, make your move, live with the results and move on to the next hand.
The guy Gloria raised was not that guy. In this hand, at least, he was a 10%er. After his long contemplation he pushed his chips into the center and called. Rick couldn’t see what he or Gloria had but he knew Gloria won when the dealer pushed her the chips. The guy she beat was nodding. “Good hand,” he said as he called for more chips.
Rick walked out the door and down the street happy that Gloria was off to a profitable start. He entered Binion’s and walked toward where he guessed the poker room would be. The feel of the casino was different from any he’d ever been in. It was old, you could tell that, but it was clean and well kept. Nice carpets, polished wood, low ceilings. It made him feel like he’d traveled back in time to the early fifties, when Robert Duval and Robert DeNiro might drive up from L A and ask a cocktail waitress for a Schlitz and Rob Roy, straight up with a twist. By the time Rick found the poker room he’d decided Binions was a cool and interesting place.
There were four games going in the poker room and Rick could see there were seats open in two of them. But first he wanted to check out the large framed photos that lined the walls. Rick considered himself a slightly above average poker player. He knew he’d never play for a living but enjoyed watching the lions and legends of the game in the big money tournaments on TV. So walking around Binions viewing the photos of famous gamblers at various World Series of Poker tournaments was a treat. One picture showed prize money on the table, bundles of hundred dollar bills, with Doyle Brunson, Stu Unger, Jack Binion and others grinning for the camera. Stu Unger, who was born in 1953, would have been 27 or 28 when the picture was taken but he looked no older than 16. Rick guessed that not a bar in the universe would sell Unger a beer without checking his ID.
Before Barnes and Noble removed most of the chairs that people used to sit around and read in, Rick had picked up a copy of Stu Unger’s biography, sat in a comfy chair, and read half a dozen chapters. He learned that Stu Unger was estimated to have won $100,000,000 in his lifetime but, when he died his friends had to take a collection to cover the funeral expenses. He summed up his poker philosophy with the words, “I want to destroy people at the poker table.” On another occasion he said, “I never want to be known as a good loser. Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser.”
On one wall hung pictures of the winners of the World Series all the way back to 1970 when it first started. Stu Unger was there with wins in ’80, ’81 and ’97. Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan won twice in two consecutive years. Johnny Moss won the first two series and won again in 1974, making him and Unger the only two men to win three times.
It’s usually pointed out that Moss’s first win was when the series was in a different format. The play was timed and cut off at a predetermined point, unlike the next year, and from then on, when the player’s played until every gambler but one was eliminated. In 1970 Moss was voted the best player by his fellow gamblers and thus considered the winner of the first World Series.
Rick could see that an argument could be made that Moss’s first win wasn’t really a win in the true sense of the word. But penalizing Moss for that would be like penalizing Oscar Robertson for not hitting any three pointers in the days before three pointers existed.
Also being voted the best, by arguably the greatest players in the world, is no small potatoes. And lastly it takes a lot of skill to be the last gambler standing at the final table – a lot of skill and no small measure of luck. In the last hand of the 1980 series Stu Unger, holding a 4, 5 of spades, bet $40,000 on a draw to an inside straight. He made it and consequently busted Doyle Brunson who had Aces up. If Unger hadn’t hit the straight Doyle would have almost assuredly won his third World Series Championship bracelet.
But who knows, thought Rick, and what does it matter? They were both great players, both Hall of Famers, and they both left their mark on the world of poker.
Rick found a floor man and asked if he had a one, two no limit hold ‘em games available, preferably with a few loose players. The floor man looked back and forth between two tables and finally pointed at one.
“That’s your best bet,” he said. “Seat number three.”
“Thanks,” said Rick and walked to the table. As he sat down he looked around at the chip stakes. Four or five people had stacks between $80 and $120 and one had under $50. The remaining players had stacks over $200 with the chip leader at about $360.
Then the chip lady was at his shoulder. “How many chips would you like?”
“Two hundred,” said Rick as he took out his wallet and laid a hundred dollar bill and five twenties on the table.
The woman took the money and gave Rick $160 in five dollar chips and $40 in ones. “Good luck,” she said as she walked away.
The dealer dealt the cards around the table, Rick squeezed his two, saw trash and tossed them into the muck. Five hands later Rick was convinced that the chip leader didn’t believe in trash hands. He now had over $400 stacked in front of him, and had been in every hand
since Rick had sat down. Rick was pretty sure that he and his chips would soon be parted. In the five hands the guy had played he’d raised twice before the flop. He won one of those hands on the spot when no one called his raise. His second raise was re-raised and he folded. He’d won a medium sized pot with a bet, maybe a bluff, that a rock, who looked older than dirt, didn’t call. He saw the flop and folded the other two hands.
An hour later the fast and loose chip leader had $460 and Rick was up $120. He’d stolen some blinds and won a small pot from the fast and loose chip leader. Rick’s big hand came when he held a Jack, 10 and the flop came Queen, 9, 8, giving Rick a nicely concealed nut straight. Fast and loose checked and the next player bet twenty. A tourist, who’d said he was in college at Boise State, called as did Rick who didn’t want to lose anyone yet. Fast and loose folded.
The turn card was a six of spades which Rick figured didn’t help anyone but when the action got to the college boy he bet $80. Rick studied the board and realized that the guy could have 10, 7 which would give him a ten high straight. If he had the straight Rick could call or raise. He decided to call, hoping the kid would see it as a week play. If he did he’d probably bet his straight on the river. If he checked Rick would bet.
On the river the college boy went all in for $97 and Rick called. The kid from Boise State, sure he had a winner, turned over his 10, 7. When Rick laid down the jack, 10 it took the guy a minute to realize he’d been beat by a higher straight. When it finally sunk in he shook his head, grimaced, and bought another $100.
About a half an hour later the fast and loose chip leader, called an unraised pot before the flop. The flop came Q, Q, 2 in three different suits. The big blind, who seemed like a solid player bet $18 and the chip leader raised $40. A guy from New York thought a moment and called, as did the big blind. The turn was a 7 of spades, probably no help to anyone.
This time the big blind checked and the chip leader bet $90. The New Yorker called and the big blind folded. The dealer flipped over the river card, a jack of hearts, probably another non- factor, Rick guessed. The chip leader bet $200.
“I call,” said the New Yorker with a smile as he pushed in the rest of his chips. He was sure that he had the best hand and was about to take down what looked to be biggest pot of the night.
“Let’s see ‘em,” said the dealer.
The New Yorker tossed over an ace, queen giving him a set of queens with the highest kicker. The chip man laid down a queen and a two, he’d flopped a full house. He smiled as he raked in the pot of $700 and change, wisely avoiding the gaze of the New Yorker, who was mightily pissed off but under control. Rick began to wonder about the fast and loose chip leader. He’d seen a lot of wild players, players that sometimes got way ahead, but almost always busted out and went home broke.
But in the hour and a half that Rick had been in the game the chip leader’s stack had steadily grown. It seemed he’d been in at least half the hands, which meant he’d play any two cards, like the Q, 2 that just won him the night’s largest pot. Rick decided to pay close attention to the chip leader and see if he could learn something. The man looked to be in his early thirties. I t was hard to judge his height from a sitting position but Rick put him at about 5’10.” He had a muscular upper body but it didn’t look like he got it weightlifting, maybe from swimming or calisthenics. His hair was brown and medium length and he had a mustache. He hadn’t shaved for 3 or 4 days, which in the past would have been considered unkempt but now, in the new millennium, was a “look.”
He wore a short sleeved sport shirt with an opened collar and no T-shirt, at least not one you could see at his throat. He looked like an intelligent guy but Rick couldn’t see how he was winning playing so many hands. Rick would watch him and try to see how he won, or how he went broke in the next half hour, like many a wild man before him.
Rick played for another hour and got his stack to $358. His last few wins were small pots that didn’t go beyond the flop but increased his chips a little at a time. The chip leader slowed down some, playing in only 25% of the hands. Rick wondered if he was changing his game because he knew he was being studied and didn’t want Rick to steel his mojo. Crazy? Probably, but who knew?
* * *
Chapter 10
