tampered | [Open Log] Not so very far from here...

Entry tags:

boardwalk empire - meyer lansky

[Open Log] Not so very far from here...

When; Around 10 pm on February 13.
Rating; PG-13 I would imagine.
Characters; Meyer Lansky, and anyone who either works at Lucky's or wants to come gamble!
Summary; It's basically just happy fun times at Lucky's. Or unhappy not fun times, if you decide to cheat or break things! Employees, gamblers, random people wanting a drink... all are welcome!
Log; As far as Meyer was concerned, ten at night was the best time to be at Lucky's. Everyone who worked there was there by then, and that meant he could take a break from dealing hands of poker to wander through the small card room and schmooze with the regulars, as well as greet everyone who came through the door.

As he made his rounds, he was solicitous, complimenting one man on how much money he'd won in a lucky game of blackjack, and commiserating with another man on his empty wallet once he'd lost several hands of poker. He was always suggesting people have another drink, stay for a little while longer, see if they couldn't get their luck back. Maybe just one more hand would win them everything.

If you walk through the door, you're likely to see a large crowd, but Meyer will make sure to push his way through it to greet you personally, shake your hand, and suggest that you take a seat. You never know, tonight might be your lucky night...

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She hesitates slightly longer this time, biting down on her bottom lip again while she deliberates, turning the cards over in her hands rearranging them so one is behind the other, then fanning them out again. Now that he's got a better hand of the cards that she can see, she's not so sure that she has a good hand at all. Maybe it would be smarter to fold. But she can't help but want to push this, see how far she can go.

"Two dollars from me." Her voice has a note of confidence to it that isn't really matched internally.

"If you're absolutely sure..."

Half of this game is psychological warfare, after all, and he's going to make damned certain to inspire some kind of lack of confidence in her. His own hand is steady on his cards, barely glancing at them.

"We're getting towards the end," he reminds her, dealing them both another two face up cards. "This is round six, and it ends on round seven."

Again, her gaze flickers between him and the cards. Her chances had improved somewhat since the last two cards were revealed, but having no idea of where he stood was proving to be more frustrating than she thought it would. It didn't matter how well she bluffed herself - and she knew that she probably hadn't got that art down perfectly yet - so long as he remained unreadable.

"I think I'll see it through to the end," she replies. "Besides, you don't know what I've got, either."

"I have a pretty good guess. I'll put in another dollar."

It could be significant that he's not wagering another two dollars, like he had before, but it could also be an attempt to throw her off, to make her think that his hand is worse than it actually is. "And since you said you wanted to see it through to the end, you can toss your dollar on in there, too. Unless, of course, you want to raise."

He's already preparing to deal the final hand, confident that she might match the dollar he put in, but definitely won't increase the wager.

The fact that he's only put in a dollar increases her confidence a little, and despite the fact that her own hand is only okay, not spectacular, she still smiles as she places two dollars into the growing pile in the middle of the table. She just wants to see his reaction more than anything.

He laughs. "I guess you've heard the expression 'go big or go home' before."

He deals them the final card, face down, and adds it to the cards in his hand without a flicker of expression besides that pleasant smile. "This can be the card that makes or breaks you. You got four on the table and three in your hand. You have almost half as much information hidden as you do showing. So, what's it gonna be?"

He tosses another dollar into the pile. She can fold now, but he thinks she'll probably finish up the game by adding another dollar and seeing the outcome.

She clenches her teeth as she picks up the final card, desperate not to give away any signs on hope or disappointment on her face. She just nods, adding another dollar to the pile. "I wouldn't want to walk away right at the last minute."

"Keep in mind, you're making the best five card hand out of your seven cards there."

He doesn't think he really needs to remind her of that, but then again, he's been amazed at how many people seem to think that they need to use all seven cards.

"Okay, time to show what you've got, kid."

She's probably -- definitely -- older than he is, but he's going to call her kid anyway.

"So I can use all four cards on display and one of my hidden ones, or all three of these and only two that you've seen?" That could make for some very diverse hands. She only smiles at him calling her kid - she figures she's older than him, but she hasn't exactly figured by how much - but she really is a rookie here.

She takes two of the cards from her hand and lines them up next two three of the ones on the table. It's not a hand that's a sure-win, but it isn't terrible, either.

He nods, looking at her cards thoughtfully. "You've got a full house there. Not bad. Sevens full of tens."

He lays down his cards, too, using all three from his hand and only two from the table. "I've also got a full house. Eights full of jacks. Mine's higher."

She just beams at him as she pushes the pile of dollars across the table to him. "Why, your hand was only just higher than mine. I thought for sure that you had something that would make mine look pathetic."

"What, you thought I had a royal flush or something?"

He'll take that money and stack it into a neat pile. It's all going back to the same place, anyway.

"You did good, for your first time. Here's what I can tell you, though: don't be afraid to fold. I get the feeling you didn't have much of anything in your hand until round four, maybe round five. You had the cards on the table, yeah, but you were pushing you luck seeing it through till the end. You fold in round four, you lose a lot less money. No shame in knowing when your hand isn't panning out."

"Yeah, something like that. I didn't know what to think really, you're really good at throwing people off their guard. All part of the game, I guess."

She relaxes into a more casual position again, leaning with one elbow on the edge of the table and one leg crossed over the other. She seems completely unfazed by losing. She didn't expect to win her first time anyway, and she's never really thought that being sore loser was graceful or ladylike. There was nothing she could do to go back and change the outcome, so why worry about it?

"But my hand got better right after that point, so I'm rather glad I didn't fold, even if it would have saved me a little more money. It made things far more interesting. I definitely see your point, though."

"You have a fair point."

He lights a cigarette, then offers her one. "There are two kinds of poker players. There're guys like me who play the odds. We look at statistics. We see what's possible, what's probable, what mathematics says we should and shouldn't do. When we take risks, they're calculated risks. When we win, it's because the odds were in our favor and we played it cool. When we lose, it's almost always because we fold."

He takes a thoughtful drag on his cigarette. "Then there's players like I think you'll turn out to be. Sure, you understand the likelihood of things turning out the way you want them, more or less, and you know when luck's against you. But you like things to be interesting, you like danger, and you know that sometimes people get lucky. When you win, it's because you bluff well and push people past their comfort zone. When you lose, it's usually because you overextend yourself in the hopes that things will turn around."

A shrug. It's not a psychological analysis, exactly, but it's about as close as he'll ever get.

She takes a cigarette, fishing her holder and a lighter from her purse and pausing to light his before her own, listening intently as he speaks. "That about sounds right. And I guess the first type of players end up with the advantage more often than not then, not only because they'll fold when they need to, but because they spend far more time analyzing the cards and the other players. The second kind - like me - well, we worry far too much about how we're coming across ourselves, if our own gambits are paying off."

He shrugs. "Sure, sometimes we do have the advantage, but sometimes your type of player has the advantage, too. What you have that we don't is the power of distraction; a flashy player -- and I don't say this because you're a beautiful woman, so don't get the wrong idea -- can easily distract an analytical player like me. I've got a friend back home who isn't technically as good as I am and still beats me a fair amount, just because he never stops talking. Boldness pays off, sometimes."

Sometimes. He is, of course, biased towards his own style, but he thinks she'd take better to the other style, and one should really work with their natural talents.

"I don't know, it sort of feels like cheating in a way, taking advantage of my looks to distract people like that." She takes a long drag on her cigarette. "But if that's the sort of tactic that people use..." She trails off, shrugs. "I'd like to think that I can learn to be good at playing the game, but maybe that's just as much a part of the game as the cards are, really."

"We use what we have. You're good looking, and you're charming. You distract people with that. People usually underestimate me, which is a great distraction, too. It's the same idea, and it isn't cheating. You can get good at the game, but you'll never get great at it if you don't learn to work to your advantages."

A pause as he smokes contentedly for a moment, and then seems to remember something. "Oh, and figuring out what your tells are will go a long way towards helping you bluff better."

A satisfied smile settles onto her face. She didn't particularly care if he hit on her or not - Ruby had always thought it was an even worse idea to sleep with her boss than with a customer - but she still appreciates the acknowledgement of her better qualities. "I don't think that learning to charm my way into winning will be too difficult."

"My tells? When other people would know that I'm bluffing?"

"Right. Some people might be the type to smile when they have bad cards, out of a nervous habit. Some people might touch their face a lot, or maybe stop making eye contact. Other people might bite their lip, or light up a cigarette. The little stuff, you know. Even once you get good at bluffing, just about everyone has a tell."

"I guess that's something that's easier to pick up playing with the same people over and over, so you can learn their tells. And obviously figuring out what mine are so that I'm not as obvious."

"You'll always have a tell, probably. The best you can do is realize it and minimize it."

Yes, even he has one, although he's not about to confess as to what it is. He lights another cigarette with the remains of his first cigarette -- ah, chain-smoking, such a healthy habit at his age -- and nods at her with a smile.

"The next couple times you play, play with a small group. One, maybe two other people. That'll give you a better chance to watch their faces and cards."

"Oh, definitely. I'd be far too daunted to play in a larger group than that so soon anyway." She stubs out the remains of her cigarette, twirling the holder between her fingers out of habit for needing something to do with her hands when she isn't smoking. "And I do hope that we can play again, when I've improved. I might even beat you next time."

"Maybe you will."

And he's not just saying that to be nice. There's every chance that if she practices, she can beat him. Despite his focus on statistics, there is still some degree of chance. He glances at the clock, then back at her with a shrug.

"Looks like break time is over for me. Good game."

"All right. Well, thanks for teaching me, it's definitely a useful thing to know. I very much enjoyed it too, even though I lost." That genial smile is back.

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recognize_an_opportunity - 2013-02-17 08:30 (UTC) - Expand

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