What Happens in Vegas
Cal's senses were being assaulted from every angle. Flashing gaudy lights. Loud music. Cheering from victorious gamblers followed by shouts and moans seconds later as they lost their new-found riches. And the smell of perfume and alcohol from the scantily dressed women. He seemed to not notice any of this, however, as he sauntered over to his target. Pass the roulette and slot machines, these were fool games, and straight to a poker table. Not just any poker table, the poker table he had been subtly observing from the bar for the last fifteen minutes.
"Mind if I join?" He asked while sitting down without waiting for a response.
The other participants merely gave him the once over; sizing up their new opponent.
"Five thousand for buy-in, right?" He pulled a wad of cash from his jacket and placed it on the table, "Let's play".
The players on this table were by far the less skilled at hiding deception compared to the other two tables he had been studying; to others, it wouldn't be obvious but to Cal, it stood out like snow in a heatwave. There were five of them, a relatively small group compared to other tables which were another reason he had chosen it. The people themselves were all well-groomed and confident individuals which is to be expected at a high stakes table like this one. Cal was particularly interested in a young man who seemed to fold much of the time despite showing little stress. He was at least ten years younger than the other's and most likely a rookie in comparison so perhaps it was a case of low confidence? Then there was the brunette who laughed a lot and acted naïve even though she was particularly skilled. Which left three rather uninteresting others: a middle-aged man trying to hide his baldness with a toupee; a blond woman who was neither remarkable or rubbish at playing and a man Cal would place in his seventies.
The dealer expertly dealt the cards and Cal pretended to study them while watching the others. Unsurprisingly, they were all skilled at hiding their emotions but the toupee wearer sat to his right; the blond woman across from toupee and the young man two to the left of Cal: all betrayed looks of joy while the brunette grimaced for a microsecond and older man stayed relatively neutral; sign of either an average hand or exceptional deception skills.
"I'll raise", He said with a confident smile which didn't reach his eyes. An average hand then Cal noted.
"Raise". Cal said looking down at his cards realising he hadn't actually seen what they were. Ace, four, seven and king of clubs. His last was four of hearts. Not the best hand but certainly not hopeless.
The betting round over and everyone still in, the discarding part began. The discarded four of hearts replaced with ten of clubs.
The second round of betting commenced with Cal watching them all carefully. The older man who Cal had mentally nicknamed Miyagi due to his facial hair and the fact he appeared to almost be meditating between turns, suddenly appeared confident and raised. Cal, Blondie and Rookie followed suit.
The remaining woman emanated confident but only some of it was genuine so he suspected a decent hand but not amazing. Miyagi, on the other hand, had a proverbial poker face but due to a fraction of a smile during drawing, Cal suspected he had a good hand. Rookie was harder to read, perhaps Cal had nicknamed him too hastily.
As he would have guessed, Miyagi won both of the others with a three of the kind. They both had two pairs which Cal realised with surprise made him the winner. He hadn't started "properly" playing yet so that first win was simple luck. He was using the first few rounds to determine what was normal for his opponents and therefore learning to spot abnormalities and hence when they were bluffing. He had got a bit of a read of them from the bar but he could now see them better and notice any tiny manipulators or micro-expressions.
He collected his chips and accepted his new hand to begin the process again. Five rounds later and failing to win another round, he felt confident that he could beat them all.
Toupee was the easiest to read. He smiled slightly at every card he picked up, presumably to throw the others, but when he picked up a good card his smile was delayed. Ironically this was most likely because he was worried about smiling too quickly and giving himself away.
The brunette was also rather easy to read, every time she bluffed she did the tiniest of self-comforting squeezing of her own hand. It was so subtle, Cal didn't doubt she didn't even realise she was doing and the others most definitely didn't.
Miyagi and Blondie were tougher but he felt confident that as long as he remained attentive he would catch them out.
Rookie, however, remained the enigma. He showed very little emotion as if he wasn't actually emotionally invested in the game Cal mused. Perhaps he wasn't. Maybe he was a rich man's rebellious son, set on throwing away daddy's cash. Or maybe Botox. . . He seemed too young to need it but it wasn't unheard of.
"Hey, I know your dad!" He suddenly declared pulling everyone from "the zone". "Yeah, I kept looking at you thinking you reminded me of someone. Famous millionaire, right?"
"No." Rookie replied shortly. His brows furrowed together for a split second but then returned to their original neutral face. He wasn't lying but there was anger there.
"No, I'm sure of it. Saw him in a picture . . . with you actually I think", he persisted, curiosity getting the better out of him.
"You have the wrong guy".
"Come on you don't have to be shy. All rolling in money here no need to hide your wealth", he looked around the others beaming as if expecting them to agree. He faked a quick look of horror before continuing, "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't think. Are you ashamed you're using his money rather than being rich yourself." He stopped and looked thoughtful, ignoring the daggers being shot at him from the other impatient players and dealer, and the look of awkwardness now clear on Rookie. "But I thought it was old money good. New money bad?"
"Can we get back to the game?" The dealer asked but in a tone that clearly said he expected to be obeyed.
"As you can guess, I'm new money. So, I get confused by all this".
"My dad is dead, has been for years and wasn't rich."
"Guess it could have been your mum...Not a bit butch, is she? A bit of a moustache?"
The other players gasped at his rudeness, excepting Blondie who suppressed a giggle and Rookie.
"Dead too. Car accident. Let's get back to game".
"Dad driving drunk by any chance?" A bit of a long shot he knew but it would explain the anger if he blamed his dad for both of their deaths.
"Get back to the bloody game or I'm calling security over! We came for poker, not gossip and ignorance!" Toupee raised his voice angrily before Rookie could think of a response. But that was okay because even without opening his mouth Rookie had told Cal he was right.
He looked around at the others and the dealer pretending to be embarrassed, "You're right, I apologise. Too nosy me. Forgive me, go ahead".
So, it was presumably his own money which didn't explain the lack of emotion. Botox then?
The commotion had served another purpose beyond attempting to figure out Rookie: the other players, shocked by his breaking of unspoken social contracts of niceties, were easier than ever to read.
The next few rounds, Cal played the table perfectly. He had mastered the skill of reading people so the others may as well have had their cards lying face up for him to see. He knew who was bluffing, who had a good hand, when to fold and when to push on and as a result soon had a tidy pile of chips. Before long his counters were much more abundant than anyone else's even Miyagi's who had been playing for half an hour longer and had been winning the majority of games before Cal joined; seemingly a very lucky man. Cal didn't believe in luck So Cal wondered if he too had some deception training.
The current round finished with Cal once again seeing through toupees bluff and earning himself hefty winnings.
"He's up to something." Toupee muttered bitterly, "Have you seen how much he has won since joining?"
The brunette female nodded in agreement, "he has won a lot." She looked at the dealer with uncertainty, "he couldn't be cheating, could he?"
Before the dealer could respond Cal replied,
"Oh, come on, I'm not cheating. You lot are practically telling me what your cards are!" He pointed at the spot between toupee's eyebrows triumphantly, "SEE! That little furrowing of eyebrows you did just then, that's the exact look you do every time you pick up a bad card."
"I didn't move my eyebrows." Toupee frowned at him.
"No, you just think you didn't. You aren't aware of it."
"I didn't see it". Blondie spoke up.
"Me neither". Rookie agreed.
"Well, of course, you didn't. The majority of people are useless when it comes to reading people. They miss everything! I mean yeah you can see the basics but you miss all the micro-expressions. The expressions that last less than a second. Only rare people and trained professionals notice those." Cal explained exasperatedly.
Toupee raised his eyebrows, "How convenient for you".
Miyagi who had silently been watching the scene unfold joined the conversation, "Isn't that cheating?"
"No. It's science. If you're trying to find where you put your lost shoe and turn on the light is that cheating? No, it's using what's available".
Rookie frowned unsure, "I don't know. It seems like an unfair advantage to me. Like card counting. That's a skill but it's not allowed in poker."
The others loudly started adding their two cents worth until the other tables around them began to stare at the commotion.
The dealer, a rather inexperienced worker as far as Cal had seen, had been hesitant to interject into the debate so far. Presumably, Cal thought, because he was unclear whether a rule had actually been broken. But now galvanised by Rookie's thoughts and the other's agreement decided to intervene, "I think it would be best if you left the table, Sir."
"Not without my winnings." Cal firmly stated.
"Winnings? You cheated!" Rookie shouted, slamming his fist onto the table causing towers of chips to topple.
"I'll leave but unless there is something in the rule book about using deception training in poker being against the rules, I will take my winnings." He looked at the dealer, "Is there?"
The dealer hesitated, "I-I-I…"
"I didn't think so." Cal said.
"I w-will need to ask my manager." He stammered.
A few minutes later and with a disgruntled manager unable to reject, Cal turned to leave with his money. He faltered before leaving and turned back around to face the table,
"There is a cheat at the table by the way. Two actually."
He looked at each player intently to see if they would give themselves away,
"Can we really believe this man after all the trouble he has caused? I believe he has a flair for the eccentrics and an overwhelming need for all attention to be on him." Miyagi calmly stated.
"It's up to the manager and newbie here if they want to believe me." Cal said digging around in his pocket and pulling out id to show them both. "See, I am who I said I am. So, you can trust I know for definite someone is cheating."
"Who?" The manager asked sceptically.
"Rookie here." Cal said pointing at the young man.
Rookie reddened with anger and jumped up from his seat, "No I'm not!"
"I was watching him playing," Cal continued undeterred, "He showed little to no emotion when playing which is extremely unusual when gambling money. I thought perhaps he had had Botox but well…" He indicated to rookie's face twisted with anger, "Which leads me to believe: He is not emotionally invested because it doesn't in fact matter if he wins or loses."
"Why wouldn't he care if he won?" The manager asked, "Are you just wasting our time".
"Because he is invested in a scam with someone winning much bigger amounts of cash. Doubtless, he is the distraction for dodgy card swapping or other sneaky behaviour."
The manager pointed to Rookie and ignoring his indignant shouts two burly guards who had apparently been watching the incident, walked over and grabbed his wrists firmly.
Miyagi stood up, "This is ridiculous. Why are we listening to some crackpot and his unheard of "science"? This is a waste of my time and money. I'm going to go to a different casino".
"Don't forget to take your partner or you might not be so lucky". Cal said lightly and began walking away seemingly oblivious to the scuffle breaking out behind him as security grabbed Miyagi narrowly saving Cal from attack.
Cal smiled broadly, he might have been kicked out of three casinos already tonight but the night was young and Vegas was huge, "Next Casino!"