The Cards
The following story contains some facts and some stuff that is completely made up. It also may contain consensual acts of poker between various genders and species. The following is of course copyright by me. Read on and enjoy
The Cards
By: CJ Wolf
18/09/06 - 3/10/06
It was an overcast evening when John walked through the automatic door that was the front entrance of the Coolum bowls club. As was typical of a Monday evening the place held a varied array of species, everything from otters to equines, kangaroos to dingoes was represented here tonight. There were even a couple of wolves like himself scattered around the place. Down the western end of the building ten felted poker tables were erected, nine round tables with green felt and arranged in neat rows of three. The tenth table was a large racetrack shaped table with thick black felt and wood veneer trim. Polished alloy cup holders stood out proudly against the wood grain.
John made his way to the bar to sign in on the guest register for the evening, and grab a drink to get the evening started with. After filling out all the details on the sign in book John pulled out his wallet and lifted a twenty dollar note from within "Evening Kerri," He said to the slightly overweight possum behind the bar, "Can I get a stubby of Hahn thanks."
"Sure thing love." Kerri replied before heading over to the big glass fronted fridge. She pulled the heavy, condensation covered, door open and held it there with one paw, while she reached down to the lowest shelf with the other. She lifted a clear glass bottle filled with amber liquid behind a green and silver label. She appraised it for a moment before she removed her paw from the door, letting it swing shut as she stalked back to where John was leaning with one elbow on the bar top. "That's three dollars thanks John." She said popping the top off the bottle and being rewarded with a satisfying hiss as the internal pressure was released.
John held out the twenty in his paw to the possum. Kerri took the offered note and opened the register drawer. With a quick flick of her paw and fingers she slid the bill deftly into the tray to join its mates, before she took out a ten, a five, and finally a two dollar coin. Holding them in one paw she bumped the till drawer closed with her hip. "There you go mate." She said handing the pawful of change back to John. "And good luck in the game tonight." She added.
John smiled and nodded before heading over to find Steve. Steve was a tall and rather slender built ferret, and he was director of the tournament this evening. "How's it going John?" Steve said, looking up from the screen of his laptop.
"Ask me again in a few hours mate, but it's been going alright so far." The wolf replied.
"What's your player number again mate?" Steve asked as his paws hovered over the laptop keyboard.
John gave the ferret his player number just as fast as Steve's nimble fingers could work the keys. Steve pressed the enter key, bringing up all of John's player details and assigning him a table for the start of the tournament. "You're at table six tonight mate." Steve said looking up into John's face.
"Table six." John repeated to the ferret, a habit thrown back from his day job as a pilot. With still another twenty minutes until the nights event was due to be kicked off, John pulled up a seat at one of the tall chairs and high tables that ringed the area being used for the poker. He took the opportunity to check out some of the night's competition for the top spot and the "Tournament Winner" plaque. Many of the faces in the room he recognized as regular opponents. He could see Jenna, an arctic fox from the Ukraine, Ben, a shorter then average and slightly pudgy badger and a local besides, and there was Chris, a large grey wolf from Chicago who was on an exchange program to study teaching at the local university. Then there were all the rest of the furs whose names he didn't know, but whose faces he watched and read regularly.
He watched the scene before him as the sounds from the slot machines carried through the slatted dividing wall to his ears. A light punch on his left shoulder made him turn his head away from the view in front of him. He found himself looking straight at the chest of James, a fellow pilot and a rather large brown bear. "Hey James." John said extending a paw to his mate. James took the offered paw and shook it firmly. "I've got that thing here for you mate." John said before hopping down from his seat and reaching a paw into the back pocket of his jeans. John pulled his paw from his pocket and produced a small package. Inside the wrapping was an inch and half polished brass poker chip. Around the edge of the chip were painted the four suits, in metallic fleck, across the top against a black background was written "The Big Slick" and across the bottom on the same background was "Ace King Suited". The center of the chip had the Ace and King of Diamonds painted against a black background. James opened the packaging and slid the coin out. It was encased in a clear polycarbonate casing to protect it from damage. James turned the thing over in his paws. "Ohh very nice, very nice indeed. Thanks for ordering it for us mate. How much to I owe you?"
"It came to forty with postage." John replied.
James pulled his wallet from the hip pocket of his shorts and fished out a pair of twenty dollar notes, before handing them over to John. John took the offered bills and folded them before stuffing them into his back pocket, to be dealt with at some other time. James slipped the card guardian into his shorts pocket, "What table you at?" he asked.
"Six," John replied, "How about you?"
"One."
"Well best of luck this tonight mate, kick some tail." John said offering a paw to his bruin friend.
"You too mate." James said shaking John's offered paw.
On the other side of the room Steve looked down at his laptop clock as the time neared the seven pm start for the game. He lifted the cordless microphone from the table beside his computer. "All right, ladies and gentle furs can we have all our poker players to the tables for me please." His voice carried through the public address speakers. As the players filled and mixed to their positions on one of the nine tables Steve continued his starting announcement. "Alright then furs we have sixty-eight good players here tonight, or sixty good players and a few other people depending on how you look at it. Now for those of you who don't know me my name is Steve and my partner in crime this evening is Mark," at that point the kangaroo wearing a black "Poker Crew" shirt waved a paw briefly, "Now to get things started this evening in front of you should be $1500 in chips with two purple worth $500, three blacks worth $100, and eight green worth $25. We are playing fifteen minute blinds tonight, starting out at twenty-five and fifty, then fifty and a hundred, seventy-five and one fifty. After that we'll have our big break of twenty minutes while we chip you up." Steve took a wander between the tables to see that everyone was seated and the starting dealer for each table had been selected. Satisfied that everything was in order he raised the microphone to his muzzle again "Right then twenty-five and fifty blinds, let's shuffle up and deal." And with that began a furry of card shuffling as the counter started to wind down to the next blind raise.
John had slipped into a chair at position five on his table, and the deal had fallen to an older cougar sitting in the number eight spot. John waited patiently as the cards were dealt to all eight players at the table. Once everybody had their cards John cupped his paws over the top of his cards and lifted the corner to peak at his two hold cards. 10-3 off suit, John sneered inwardly, but his muzzle showed only calm as he waited for the players before him to make their calls on whether to call, raise or fold. When the action got around to him John quickly mucked his cards and rested his arms folded on the edge of the table to watch how the rest of the hand played out. The rest of the players at the table either called or folded their cards. Once the action had worked its way around the table the big blind rapped the table with his paw signaling a check. The dealer nodded and picked up the deck of cards. He slid the top card off the deck and pushed it into the dead pile in the middle of the table. The next three cards he turned face up, with the flop coming Ace of diamonds, five of clubs, and queen of clubs. The next round of betting came and went as John watched the player's reactions to the cards. Once the action had finished the dealer again burned the top card and laid the turn card face up with the flop. A slightly scruffy raccoon was the first to act on the round of betting and he quickly placed two hundred on the table. The rest of the players in the hand figured it wasn't worth the risk and all folded in turn. With a confident smile the raccoon tossed his cards into the middle and pulled the chips towards him.
The cougar slid the dealer button over to the player on his left, a roo with thin wire framed glasses. The roo pulled all the cards from the center of the table towards him and got them all sorted in order to start his shuffle. After three quick combining of the cards he squared them all up and placed the deck face down neck to the red cover card. The dingo that was sitting to his left cut the deck about a quarter of the way from the top, placing the cut cards onto the cover card then the rest of the deck on top of them. With the cards cut the roo lifted the deck and dealt the cards around the table.
After all the cards were out John cupped his paws over the top of his hold cards. Slowly he split the two cards to reveal the Ace of spades and the queen of hearts. John rested his cards back on the table, placing his card guardian on them in order to stop them sliding away or being folded accidentally. Soon enough the action was on him. "Let's make it one fifty." He said placing a black chip next to a pair of greens resting in front of him on the felt.
The player to his immediate left took another peak at his cards before tossing them in. The rest of the players going back around to the small blind just pushed their cards in, happy to wait for a better starting hand to call such a bet this early in the game. Chris, the wolf, was sitting in the big blind. He looked at his cards before looking into John's face for a moment. "I'll raise it another hundred." Chris said tossing in two blacks next to his big blind.
John looked back at Chris and quickly called the re-raise. The dealer burned the top card and laid out the flop, which came out all low cards of different suits, no help there. Chris was first to act and he made the bet five hundred. John looked at Chris. "Now what's he holding." John thought to himself. He knew that the wolf was, for the most part, a tight but very aggressive player, so he must have something. John made the decision, "I'll go all in." he said and pushed his remaining chips forward.
Chris paused for a moment to consider whether John was bluffing or not. Deciding that he was, "I'll call." He said.
With only the two of them in the pot and their chip stacks dead even, John and Chris turned over there cards, John showing his Ace queen. Chris turned his cards over one on top of the other, then split them to reveal the cowboys, Chris was holding pocket kings. And with no help from the flop John miles behind and feeling very vulnerable. The next two cards would make the difference and one of them would be making an early exit from the game. The dealer paused before burning another card and then flipping the turn. The jack of hearts, "no help from that" thought John. With just the river card left to John was down to one out and that was to pull an Ace. Again the dealer paused, before turning over the river card, the Ace of clubs. John, unaware that he had stopped, started to breath again. Chris sighed and stood from his chair. John reached up with a paw, "Bad luck on that one mate." He said as the other wolf shook his paw and nodded. It took a conscious effort from John to stop his tail from wagging after just more then doubling his chip stack. Now he could just sit back and watch for a good hand to come his way.
As the round continued the blinds worked their way around to John. He posted his big blind and waited for the cards to be dealt around the table before peaking at his. He spied a two of clubs and the three of clubs. Low suited connectors, a hand that in any other position he'd probably just lay down, but being in the big blind and having paid some money in already, he decided to see what the table did. If they raised the bet at all he'd still fold, since those aren't cards to try and defend one's blind with. As it happened the table just called, one or two folded, and John checked with a soft tap of the table. The dealer, a new face at the table since Chris' exit a few hands ago, burned the top card then showed the table the flop. The flop came queen, two, and three. The small blind elected to check and John made the opening move putting in a bet of a hundred. This time, with such a moderate bet all the remaining players called and the dealer burned and turned the turn card, the three of diamonds. That gave John his full house, threes over twos, now all he had to worry about was some fool at the table slow playing a pair of queens that would beat his full house. Wanting to increase his chip stack a bit more John put out a bet of one fifty and got most of the table to call, with only the dealer electing to pull the pin on the hand. The river card came out a jack and when the small blind checked again John was pretty sure that he was home on this one. Betting two hundred the remaining players called and the small blind tossed in his cards. "Right let's see 'em lads." Said the dealer. When the cards came over one player had made his two pair holding queen, jack. Another made his straight. Then John turned up his cards, "Threes full of twos." He said, sporting a wide grin. There was more then one groan from the table as john raked in another couple grand, and despite his efforts to stop it his tail started to wag slightly.
The two increases in blinds seemed to come around far quicker then the fifteen minutes that the timer on the hundred and six centimeter plasma screen TV indicated had passed. John folded most of the hands that he was dealt, finding few that were of good quality for a starting hand. More then once he would fold an Ace and some low card only to see them paired on the flop or the turn. Once after folding and Ace four off suit the flop turned up Ace, Ace, four. It was all that he could do to suppress an annoyed growl. Finally the break came and John stretched his arms as best he could with out whacking the player on either side of him. The he lifted his card guardian and what was left of his beer and headed for a seat to watch a bit of sport. John pulled up a chair at one of the high tables that surrounded to the area where the poker was being played. He downed the last of his beer and placed the empty bottle behind him on the table for one of the serving staff to come at collect at some point. He paid a most attention to the widescreen that was showing the league game at the moment since the Bronco's were trouncing one of the other teams. While he was watching James plopped into the seat across the slender, bar like table, "So you still in, mate?" he asked, taking a sip from his own schooner glass of amber refreshment.
"Yeah, I'm still in," John replied taking his eyes off the plasma to face his friend, "how you going?"
"Just hanging in there, about even." James replied taking another pull at his glass. "I was up to about five thousand and flopped the top straight. So I went in light to build the pot a bit. The guy across the table was short stacked and decided to move all in after the turn, so I called him. He turned over a set of low suited connectors, and then on the river he hits the flush, and almost tripled up."
"Ouch." Was all John could think of to say. "But hey at least you're still in the game."
"True." James replied. "I'm gonna go out for a smoke. You coming?"
"Nah," John said, "I'm gonna wander over to Macca's and grab a sundae and just chill for a bit."
"Right-o, catch ya after the break then."
James headed off the short distance to the smoking area on the back deck as John headed back to the front door. It's wasn't far to go to get to Mc Donald's either, just across the bowls club parking lot and across the drive thru lane. Seeing as it was just before eight o'clock in the evening the store was fairly quiet, with just a couple of drive thru customers and about five furs in the store. A tall Bottle Nose Dolphin was behind the counter serving, when John walked in. "What can I get for you?" the phin said with a rather pointy toothed smile.
"Can I get a large chocolate sundae please." John replied as he fished around in his wallet for one of the two dollar coins that he knew it contained. It only took a moment for him to find the shiny gold coin and hand it over to the dolphin. With that out of the way the phin went about filling the order. It only took him about half a minute to finish John's order and pass him the clear plastic cup filled with creamy soft serve sandwiched between two layers of thick hot fudge. "Thanks for that." John said, taking the cup and padding off to find a seat. Finally he settled on a seat at the bar facing out to the main street of Coolum, and though he couldn't see it for the darkness, the deep blue of the South Pacific. He quietly munched his way through the Sundae, trying his level best to keep from getting any of the sticky fudge from getting into the fur around his muzzle. John let his tail flop back and forth idly against the cool tiled floor as he contemplated his strategy for his game following the return from the break.
John finished his sundae and gave his arms and back a quick stretch before standing up and tossing his empty cup into the bin as he made his way back to the door and back to the club for the second round of this evening's game.
Back in the poker area of the club Steve and Mark were in the final stages of colouring up the remaining seven tables. Steve finished sorting out all the whole hundreds in green chips and replacing them with blacks, while Mark was tossing the last of the coloured up greens into the big plastic bucket for sorting later. Steve pulled the microphone from his back pants pocket. "Right, if I can have all of our remaining players this evening back to the tables please, we'll race off the last of those green chips and get back into things."
About fifty furs made their way to their respective tables and settled back into their seats. Each counted their stacks to ensure that they all had the correct amount. Discounting any greens that, depending on the turn of the cards, would see them make or loose a small part of their stack.
John settled back into his seat, pulled his card guardian from his shirt pocket and laid it on the table over his position number. Mark walked up to the table between the number one and two spots with a pawful of black chips. "Right, how much do we have here?" he said, as much to himself as anyone on the table. He made a quick count of the loose green chips on the table. "So three twenty-five, and we'll make that three hundred." He said taking three black chips from his stack he was carrying and plunked them down on the felt. He stuffed the remaining chips in his paw back into a pant's pocket and lifted the deck from the table. He gave the deck a quick shuffle and neatened it up a bit before starting the chip race. Mark started at the number one position on the table, he dealt each player one card for each of the green chips they had in front of them. As the cards fell face up around the table, John began to wonder if his one card would be good enough to net him a quick extra hundred. It was a simple thing, but it always managed to get John's heart rate up a notch. When the cards came around to him Mark flopped down the king of hearts in front of him. Around the table there was an ace, a jack, and John's king as the three top cards. Mark passed out the black chips before collecting up all the greens from the table and stuffing them into his other front pants pocket.
The fur on the dealer button, a young, female Asian Small Clawed Otter, collected up all the cards and got them all back to facing the same way. She took her time washing the deck out on the table, as Steve and Mark finished off the last of the chip races. When Steve started heading back to the little desk that held the laptop which was controlling the blinds counter, the otter picked up the deck and got all the cards quickly sorted. Her nimble fingers made short work of a couple of shuffles before she set the cards on the table to be cut.
"Ok, we've finished all those chip races now, so we can get the timer rolling again. The blinds are one hundred and two hundred, so go ahead and shuffle up and deal." Steve said as he taped the spacebar to get the timer started.
The otter quickly got right to the task at hand and sent cards off to the players at the table. John looked at his pair of hold cards once all the cards had been dealt. Finding the ace and ten of spades he rested his cards back on the felt and slid his card guardian onto their backs. John was sitting two spots behind the dealer this hand, so it took a little time for the action to work around to him. When it finally did get to him he took another quick look at his cards before reaching for his chips. "Raise to six hundred." He said lifting a purple and a black chip from his stack and setting them one atop the other in front of him. A rather pudgy Wombat sitting to his left peeked at his hold cards and fussed about with his chips for a minute before finally holding his hand. The dealer on the other paw smoothly called John's bet. The small blind didn't even bother to look at his cards a second time. He just slid his cards under his blind and pushed both into the middle. The big blind, who was the old cougar from John's original table, looked into John's face for a moment then checked his cards before sliding four more black chips from his stack to join the two that made up his big blind.
With all the player's bets squared away, everyone pushed their chips into the middle. The dealer picked up the deck and slid the top card off, leaving it face down on the table. The flop came over one card at a time, falling ace, ten, two in a rainbow. The cougar, being first to act, looked down at his chips. He was short stacked on the table at this point, but he'd just made his top pair with the flop. "All in." he said, placing his remaining chips on the table before him.
Now the action was on John. "How much you got there?" John asked, without bothering to check his cards.
The old cougar sorted out his chips as he counted them. "Two thousand, five hundred." He said coolly.
John paused for a moment and considered his options and what he knew about his opponent. He knew that to make a bet like that he had to have something decent, but was is aces, tens, or maybe even a mirror of his own hand. John considered the odds of his hand getting beat compared to the amount of money he stood to win from this hand. Finally he decided it was worth a shot and he called, placing two and a half thousand on the table.
The otter on the button, took considerably less time to decide that what she had wasn't going to stand up and tossed her cards into the middle. With the last bet for this hand on the table the dealer picked up the deck, "Lets see them." She said.
John turned his cards face up, one atop the other before separating them to show his two pair. The old cougar flipped his already split to reveal ace king unsuited. Now with the turn and river cards to come in this first hand back from the break, John had to hope a king didn't show. The dealer again burned the top card from the deck and flipped the turn, the jack of clubs. After a moments pause she burned the last card and brought out the river. The five of hearts was laid face up on the felt.
The cougar pushed his chair back and stood up. John reached a paw across the table, "Bad luck on that one mate." He said. The cougar nodded and shook the offered paw before heading over to the bar for a drink.
John pulled all the chips from the center of the table to the space in front of him before beginning to get them organized. While he was busy doing that the dealer button was passed and the deck shuffled. The new dealer finished his shuffle and waited for the blinds to be posted before he set the deck down beside the cover card. The next player along the line cut the deck deep and restacked it for the dealer.
The next run of hands it seemed like all John picked up were cards not worth playing from any position with the cost of poker being what it was at the moment. So he just posted his blinds when they came around and checked when the flop didn't help him any. It seemed that most of the time however it failed to help out his opponents either and so he managed to see a few turn cards for free. On one occasion the flop actually gave him top pair, but when he put a bet out the rest of table just folded. He sighed to himself, "well at least I got my last couple blinds back." He thought to himself.
The blinds went up to two and four hundred, then three and six hundred before John managed to pull a very playable hand. His guardian cards stared up at him from the felt. He was in mid position and so he decided to raise the bar, "Raise to eighteen hundred." He said, sliding a pawful of chips to the front. Two players decided to stay in the hand and pushed their chips out. When the flop came down ace, ace, king, he really had to work to keep his tail from giving away the strength of his hand. John made the bet twelve hundred and one of the two remaining players folded straight away. The other fussed about for a bit before finally calling. The turn card came over as a three, and John made it twelve hundred again. The fennec across the table looked down at his chip stack then peeked at his cards. If he called here with one bet still to come and got done, it would seriously damage his position. And even with his ace, jack there where just too many cards that could have him beat already or get him on the river, so he laid down his hand. John would have liked to take a bit more money in on those cards, but he really couldn't disagree with his opponent's lay down.
John scooped up his winnings and got them all neatly stacked as the next hand was dealt. And then it was back to absolute rubbish with seven, two off suit falling into his hold cards. Then just when the big blind fell on him the blinds jumped to five hundred and a thousand. That call John heard loud and clear as he slid two purple chips onto the felt before the cards were let loose. After the cards were all dealt John checked his hold cards. He found ace and eight, both of diamonds. Not a premium hand to be in this position with, but so long as no one put in a hefty raise, they were worth playing, at least until the flop anyway. As it was no one decided to raise the bar and John quite happily checked the chance to raise. The flop was laid over on the table. Coming two, five, and seven, both the small blind and he checked the bet. The otter a few positions down pushed all in and since she was the short stack at the table she got two callers. John was perfectly content to muck his cards and see how this hand turned out.
After the chips were in the middle the turn card came up a seven and the next player in line to act, a slim but toned tiger, pushed the rest of his chips into play. The last player in the hand, a rather tall equine, called the bet with a few chips left to spare. With that all three players turned their cards up. The young otter was holding six, eight suited and had a shot at the straight. The tiger held pocket jacks and had just made his two pair. And the horse tossed over ace, seven. So now it came down to the river card to see whether one or both of the all ins would be leaving the game. The river card hit the felt, coming up the nine of spades. So the otter filled out her straight and took down the side pot. But it was of no help to the tiger, who's two pair couldn't stand up to the equine's trip sevens. The tiger stood from his seat and shook paws with the rest of players at the table before making his way off into the rest of the club, but not before Steve grabbed him to get his details for allocation of the points. Somewhere amongst the action at the table John had missed Steve saying that they were now down to the top sixteen players.
Some of the players at the table however didn't miss that announcement and the tempo of the game changed dramatically over the next few hands, as players tightened up in hopes of not being knocked out before the final table. John took and folded most of the hands that he got until the big blind worked its way back around. In the mean time he watched how the furs at his table played their hands, as well as listening to the noises coming from the table opposite, trying to gauge the players there from what he could overhear. John posted his big blind and waited for the cards to be dealt. Once the dealing was done John looked at his hold cards. Queen and eight of clubs. "Well at least I'm getting descent cards for my blinds." He thought to himself as he rested his crossed paws on the edge of the table, waiting for the action to get back around to him. Most of the table folded, leaving just the dealer, the small blind and him in the hand. John checked his option and the button burned a card and laid down the flop. The flops came down a queen and two small clubs. The small blind, a young dingo with a tan hoodie, checked the bet to John and John slid two purples off his stack. "One thousand." John said.
The dealer looked at his cards for a second then down at his chips before tossing his cards in. The dingo smoothly called the bet without bothering to check his cards. The dealer pushed both sets of chips into the middle and flipped up the turn card, the king of clubs.
John grinned to himself, now it was just the ace of clubs that could beat his flush, and when the dingo in the small blind checked to him, he was sure that he had it over him. Now John had to be a bit careful, if he bet the turn too hard, he'd most likely force the guy to fold, but play it too soft and he wouldn't get good value for his hand. "Two thousand." He said at length, putting four chips on the felt.
The dingo looked at his cards then at John, trying to gain some insight as to the cards he held. "Well I think you've got it mate, but I'm going to pay to see it." He said before sliding his call into the middle.
Again the dealer swept the chips into the pot and turned up the ace of hearts for the river. Again the dingo checked to John. John sized up the dingo's chips and pondered his options. The guy only had about three thousand left, and it was three grand that John wanted. "Three thousand." John said and set the required chips on the felt before him.
The dingo checked his chips, he knew that it was enough to put him all in, and again he studied John's face to gauge what the wolf could be holding. "Call." He said, pushing the last of his chips into the middle and turning up his cards. "Trip aces."
John nodded and turned up his cards, "King high flush."
The dingo smiled and rose from his seat. "Good hand man." He said, extending a paw to John.
John shook the offered paw before getting his winnings in order. The dingo fished around in his wallet for a minute to find his card to give to Steve. Steve was in the middle of taking down the dingo's details when two more furs stood from the other table, and came over to see him. He finished with the dingo before tending to the other two unfortunate players.
"Ok we're down to ten good players this evening so we'll start playing hand for hand now." Steve said into the microphone.
John posted his small blind as the equine to his right gathered together all the cards in order to deal again. Once he had all the cards shuffled and ready he set the deck down between himself and John for John to cut. John cut the deck fairly high and restacked it for the dealer. The horse waited for the ok from Steve to deal the next hand.
Once Steve gave him the go ahead the equine passed the cards around the table, setting the deck aside to look at his cards while the action was working its way to him. John also waited patiently for his turn only to throw in his cards. He lent back in his chair as he watched the hand unfold around the table. It soon became obvious that three out of the remaining six players had hands that they didn't want to give up on. So by the time the river card was set to come out two were all in and the third was down to a very slim margin. The river card came and again it was cruel to those that had gone all in, two players gone and one happy otter who very nearly tripled her chip stack with that hand.
During the course of the hand the blinds had gone up to one and two thousand, and now with the final eight decided the timing for a break and a chip race couldn't have been any better. Steve stopped the blind counter as he lifted his clipboard that contained all the information for the top sixteen this evening. He got the details of the last two out before the final table as the remaining players moved their chips to the big black felted table at the head of the poker area. This time Steve didn't bother with the microphone, "Right we'll have a five minute break while Mark and I chip you guys up. Then we'll get back into it. Oh and can I have a volunteer to deal the final table for me?"
One of the regular players who had stuck around to see how things turned out raised a paw and Steve nodded. With that sorted Steve and Mark went about counting, sorting, and exchanging all the black and purple chips for yellow thousand chips. It took them about three minutes to get all the main counts sorted and to determine exactly how much was needed for the chip race. John had managed to end up with an even number of thousands and so missed out this time around. Steve shuffled up the deck that had been splayed out on the final table before turning up cards to all those that had extra one and five hundred dollar chips. With the chip race finished Steve called all the players back to the final table to start the play-off for the card protector and the venue prize.
John sat down at the table with about a middle of the range stack in front of him, and he sat directly opposite the dealer as the dealer gave the cards a quick shuffle and got them cut before flipping for the position of the button to start things off.
The highest card fell a few positions to the left of John, so he was happy, he'd get to see a few hands for free before the blinds managed to find their way around to him.
What would the cards hold for John at the final table this Monday night?
Fin...