Page 87 of Holiday Home 3
Hehadfilled Anna in on the different variations of betting that were allowed, so she didn’t need any explanation about what that term meant. Players could bet as high as they wanted from the get-go in a no-limit game. It was the most popular televised way to play, and while Avril began to show off her skills by shuffling the deck, he pondered his expectations for his competition.
Based on his minimal experience playing cards with them, Victoria was probably the next-best player at the table. Now that they were playing against one another, here was a chance for everyone to put on their best poker faces. Without needing to change a single thing about her natural expression, Victoria was already well-suited in that regard. Beyond that, Avril, who knew her best, was the dealer tonight, not one of her competitors. Thus, the task of parsing any subtle tells she might possess fell to him, Tess, and Anna tonight.
After Anna slid a black chip into the middle of the table, he followed suit by tossing in a red one. Once that occurred, Avril began sliding facedown cards to each of them, starting with the inscrutable woman on her left. Smooth as butter, each card glided into place in front of its owner. After delivering Tess herfirst card, she began anew with Victoria, going around until each of them had two cards in front of them.
“You’ll make sure she doesn’t pull anything on us, right?” Tess asked him.
“I told you, Ashgrove Casino is a reputable place,” Avril insisted. “Everything’s above board.”
Tess didn’t take her eyes off him. Likewise, Victoria and Anna waited for his response. Smiling, he nodded.
“I’ll make sure it’s a clean game.”
That satisfied his fellow players, who ignored their acerbic dealer’s complaints about a lack of trust. Withholding a chuckle, Liam dropped his eyes to the two facedown cards in front of them. Gathering them up, he concealed them with his left hand while peeking at the corners with his right.
A Jack and Ten of Hearts waved hello at him. Keeping his expression neutral, knowing that he had an incredibly strong hand for the pre-flop betting, he lifted his eyes. Tess and Anna were both still looking at their cards, but he found Victoria already in the same process as him. Scouting her opponents, searching for tells. Their eyes naturally met, and Liam gained nothing from the savagely chilly blue depths he stared into.
Tess blinked and dropped the corners of her cards. Anna dropped hers after she’d already begun looking around at the rest of them. For a few moments, suspicion and deception ran rampant within the room.
Eventually, the room’s attention gathered upon Tess. As the player next in rotation from the big blind, which was him on this turn, she was the first person to bet during the pre-flop. She could check, raise, or fold, and depending on her choice, it could potentially tell him a lot about her skill level.
“Never limp,” his uncle had told him years ago. In fact, it’d been one of the first lessons he’d ever received from a man who knew more about cards than almost anyone in the world.Like most things, there was more nuance to it, but the idea was generally sound.
Checking the big blind, or “limping in,” was one of the premier ways to spot an amateur, or just a bad player. Most of the time, players who limped in the pre-flop had already revealed how marginal their hands were. More often than not, those players also preferred to wait for their “winning hand” to slide in front of them before they raised, which immediately gave away those pocket aces they’d been waiting on for the past ten hands.
Aggressive poker was winning poker. If there was one general rule to know, it was that one.
“I’ll raise,” Tess said, collecting six black chips—three times the big blind—from one of her stacks. They clattered on the table as she tossed them into the pot.
Noted,Liam thought, letting his attention linger on Tess for a few seconds. So, he would have some decent competition tonight, at least.
The room’s focus jumped from one end of the table to the other. Before it had any time to settle, Victoria said, “Fold,” and pushed her two cards away.
Anna wasn’t as quick to make her decision as her predecessor. She glanced between him and Tess, rechecked her cards, and ultimately called Tess’s raise. Six more black chips joined the pot. They’d be the final black chips to enter the pot during this betting round.
“Raise, eighteen hundred,” Liam said, picking up nine red chips as quickly as Victoria had folded. He noticed Anna’s eyes widen as he scattered them into the rest of the messy pile of red chips. Tess did a much better job of withholding her emotions, though a slight frown still wriggled its way onto her face.
“I’ll call,” she eventually said, moving six red chips into the pot.
Anna didn’t need as long this time as she had a few moments ago, quickly folding. That left just him and Tess. Avril embraced her amusement as neighbors-become-lovers squared off in the first round of play, grinning from ear to ear. She burned the top card of the deck, then flipped three cards onto the table.
Hello, hello,he thought, giving more of his attention to the Jack of Spades and the Eight of Clubs than the Three of Diamonds.
He now had a pair—a strong pair—and his opportunity for a straight remained decent. Now that the pre-flop was over, the betting would continue to go to the person in play directly to the left of the dealer button. Since Anna was out, that meant him.
“I’ll raise another six hundred,” he said, staring at Tess. He was prepared to fleece her mercilessly if she stayed in the round.
She met his gaze, scrutinizing him for any signs that he was bluffing. He knew he didn’t allow her any; she’d have to rely on her intuition.
After several seconds, Tess sighed. No more chips reached the center of the table. Instead, she shoved away her cards.
“I fold.”
Liam grinned, which earned him a sour look from the beautiful woman he’d just scared off.
“You’re a very different man when it comes to cards,” she said. It was something he’d heard from multiple of the women at this table in the past. “A very mean man.”
“Isn’t he, though?” Avril said, leaving him to collect his winnings while she collected everyone’s cards.