Chapter 8: A Little More Poker
Author's Note: Well, I've been trying to move the story forwards, in the intervals of doing other things, and this is all I feel confident about so far. It is not a re-run of The One With All The Poker (1,18), as will become clear, but it does refer back to it. The detail on the poker may bore people who are not familiar with the game, or don't like it, but the play needs to be described in some detail to explain what is going on. "Pot limit" means, as will become clear in the account, that you can never bet more than is in the pot at the time, but it allows you to bet up to that at any point in the betting.
Thanks as usual to Cress for valuable input on a first draft.
"Rach, we're, um, planning a poker night Friday," Monica said to Rachel on Wednesday morning the following week, in a slightly uneasy way.
The uneasiness did not go unnoticed by Rachel. "I'm guessing, Ross is gonna be one of the players," she said calmly.
"Yes, and Chloe too," said Monica. "When she heard we used to play, she was wild to have a game. She claims to have been a 'fanatical' player at college."
"Fanatical." Rachel smiled. "I wonder how she'll take to playing with Ross, then. He could be pretty competitive, I seem to remember. Who else is in? You, obviously, the guys ... Pete?"
Monica shook her head. "He never liked the game, he says."
"Phoebe?"
"She said she might take a hand, but she'd like to watch anyway," said Monica.
There was a pause. Rachel looked at Monica searchingly. "And you're bringing this up with me, why? Could it be because you'd like to have it in here?"
Monica nodded, looking guilty. "It's less cramped than the other apartments, and I have the best supplies of munchies and stuff, and, well ... you know." She looked at Rachel in appeal. "With Phoebe ready to put in an appearance, it really feels like things are getting back to something like normal, and, and I want that, you know."
Rachel nodded. "Okay, Mon. But if you're working up to asking me if I would come, forget it." Her voice was light, but with a hint of firmness. "I think it will be best for all concerned if I stay well away, however nice you tell me Chloe is. Suppose, just suppose, I won some big hand against her – or against Ross – you think he wouldn't take it personally?"
"Well, I wouldn't like to bet against it," said Monica. She began to seem a little desperate. "Look, why don't we try to find you a good date? Didn't you say there were nice guys where Chandler works, that you met at that Christmas party?"
Rachel laughed. "Good try, but no, I still don't feel much like dating. How long is this poker party gonna go on, anyway?"
"Oh, not too late into the night, I guess," Monica said. "At least, Ross and Chloe generally seem to ... turn in early." She looked apprehensively at Rachel as she said this.
Rachel laughed again, seeming genuinely amused. "Well, well, Ross can't get enough of her, huh? Okay, I don't wanna seem like a party-pooper. Why don't I find a movie to watch – I could go see Titanic again – and if I come back and the game's still going on, I'll hang out in the guys' apartment."
"Thanks, Rachel," said Monica, sounding definitely relieved. "I promise I'll get that organised, and as a thank you I'll cook your favourite meal, but it can't be tonight, because I'm going out with Pete."
Rachel smiled. "I'll take a rain check – and, of course, I'll want to know all about the poker game."
"Okay," said Monica. She pulled a face. "Maybe I can get a handle on the damn game this time."
Rachel grinned. "Want some pointers? Not that I know all that much; I just got lucky with my hands."
"Maybe we could talk about it, closer to the time," said Monica. "Is there anything you'd like me to whip up for you now, something quick and easy?"
Rachel gave her an affectionate smile. "It's too early to think about what I might like to eat, but thanks for the thought."
"Not straight stud again, Chloe!" Joey moaned, and certain noises from Chandler and Monica suggested that they felt the same way.
"What have you got against straight stud?" said Chloe, looking puzzled.
"It's boring," he said. "There's no wild cards, no change, and you have to sit through all these rounds of betting to know what your full hand is."
"But that's precisely why it's such a great game!" said Chloe with the enthusiasm of the true fan. "It's just you and your cards, pitted against the others and their cards. No flop, like in Texas Hold 'Em, the tournament game. It's pure poker." She grinned again, rather wolfishly.
Not for the first time, Monica felt that Chloe took her poker way too seriously. She was the one who had asked them to play pot limit, so that there was more scope for applying pressure in the betting. She was the one who insisted on following poker etiquette and passing discards and folded hands directly to the dealer, so that no one could get a chance to see cards that someone else had held, claiming that was a way of getting an unfair advantage. She did not object if people showed or told what they had had, but Monica got a strong feeling that she did not approve. All this, along with her rather aggressive style of play, had introduced a much greater element of competitiveness into the game, of a kind that Monica could not seem to adapt to, maybe because it did not involve teams, but everyone competing against everyone else.
"But you start with so little to go on, to size up your chances," she now complained.
"Yeah, it's tough, all right," said Chloe. "A real woman's game." She snickered. "What, can't stand the heat, you guys? C'mon, I don't complain about the variations you choose. Tell you what, I promise I'll deal something else next time. How's that?"
"Okay, I guess," said Chandler, and Joey and Monica grunted in assent.
"Right, here they come," said Chloe. She dealt round one card face down, then another face up. She showed a queen, Ross a king, the others various middling cards.
"King bets," she said.
Ross put in fifty cents, and Chloe called, also Chandler with a ten showing, while Monica and Joey folded.
The next cards came round, and now Ross got a jack, Chandler a nine, and Chloe a king, which gave her first bet. She checked, Chandler folded, and Ross pushed in a dollar chip.
"See it, and up two," Chloe said briskly, putting down three chips.
Ross grinned at her challengingly. So far that night, although they had been in several hands together, it had not come down to a real contest between them. Ross clearly admired Chloe's style of play, but Monica wondered if he was hoping to show himself the better player.
"You trying to pretend you've got a king in the hole?" he said jocularly. "Okay, I'm willing to pay to find out." He threw in two dollar chips.
"We'll see who's pretending," said Chloe with a sly grin as she dealt out the next cards.
The fourth cards were a seven and a six, no obvious use to either of them. Chloe checked again, but Ross was not going to fall for the check-raise a second time and checked also. Their fifth cards, again, were of no obvious use, not pairing anything that either had on the table. Monica thought that Ross's face showed a hint of disappointment.
Chloe still had the bet, with a king-queen showing against Ross's king-jack. She didn't check this time.
"Ten dollars," she said in a voice of doom, banging down a tall stack that equalled the pot so far.
Ross blinked, while others gasped and Phoebe made an excited noise. She had been the one who seemed to relish Chloe's style of play and the competition that it could produce. Monica recognised the tactic of applying pressure by a sudden increase in the bet, but it had not involved anything like as much money before.
After a pause, Ross said decisively, "Your ten and up ten," pushing in two stacks.
"Your ten, and up twenty," said Chloe immediately, shoving in almost all of what she had left on the table.
"Wow!" said Phoebe admiringly.
"The Cincinnati Kid rides again!" Chandler muttered.
Ross looked definitely taken aback. He gazed at the cards, and at Chloe's face. She flashed him a fierce grin, then took a pretence cigarette from her lips and pretended to tap ashes into an imaginary ash tray in a very cool and deliberate manner. "Only gonna cost you twenty more to find out," she said calmly, "unless of course you wanna raise again, in which case – pass me my purse, would you, Monica?"
The tension seemed to increase at this casually delivered request. Phoebe started a snicker, then quickly covered her mouth.
Ross looked at Chloe in a rather hostile fashion, then counted his chips. He barely had twenty left. He grunted, pulled a face, shifted in his chair, and then glared at Chloe. "I don't think you'd come on so strong, if you hadn't got it," he growled. "Fold."
"Ha ha!" cried Chloe triumphantly, and proceeded to rake in the chips.
"Yeah, you got him, Chloe!" said Phoebe in an approving tone. "You the man!"
Joey and Chandler made rather more muted congratulatory noises, but Monica kept quiet. She did not think Ross liked being backed down in front of all of them.
"So, did you have it – a king in the hole, or maybe queens back to back?" Ross enquired casually, as he flipped his cards across to Chandler, the next dealer.
"Not telling you!" carolled Chloe tunefully.
"Aw, come on," he said more earnestly. "I'll tell you: I had a pair of jacks."
"Well, thank you for that information," she said merrily, "but I feel no obligation to tell you anything back."
Ross frowned, and suddenly reached a hand forward to her cards, which she had left on the table for Chandler to pick up while she sorted her winnings. Instantly Chloe slapped her hand down on Ross's, trapping it with his fingers actually touching the cards. He gave a little "Ouch!" and looked at her in evident shock.
"Don't you dare," she said, clearly angry. "You have no right to know what my hole card was. Really, Ross, I'm surprised at you! Now, pull that hand back at once." She raised her fingers a little.
Looking very disgruntled, Ross removed his hand and shook it.
"Hey, take it easy, Chloe," said Joey, sounding a bit irritated. "He's just curious, that's all."
"Yeah, it's no big deal," said Chandler.
"No big deal?" said Chloe incredulously. "You mean, when you guys played together, you'd let him look at what you had hidden, or what you won with if there was no showdown?"
Chandler looked at Joey. "Well, no, we just told him, if he asked," he said.
Chloe shook her head from side to side. "But don't you see, you're giving Ross information he can file away in that big brain of his on how you play, whether you're the kind who runs a bluff, and if so on what kind of hand, if you'll bet on nothing for the hell of it, all that. You're giving him an advantage."
Chandler shifted uneasily. "Hell, Chloe, it's just a friendly game."
Chloe cocked her head. "When you're playing for money, I don't think there is such a thing as a 'friendly game'," she said. "And even if you aren't playing for money, poker is all about competing. That's why you hate losing, eh Monica?"
The atmosphere in the room suddenly became chilly. From their expressions, Chandler and Joey evidently felt that they had the right to tease Monica about her competitiveness, but they weren't happy with Chloe doing it. Even Ross looked rather irritated.
"Lay off Monica," Joey growled, after a moment.
Chloe looked at him. "What's the beef? You all tease her, and anyway I don't hear Ross complaining – or Monica. You didn't take offence, did you, Monica?"
Put on the spot, Monica could only mutter, "No, of course not."
"Ross?" said Chloe lightly.
After a moment Ross said, "I think we all need to calm down and stop taking things so seriously." He looked at Chloe. "Including you."
Chloe froze. "Oh," she said. "Yes. I see. I get it. There's the inner circle, who get to do what they want and decide how things should go, and the outer circle, who should be lucky if any notice is taken of what they want at all." She got to her feet abruptly and pushed her chips towards Chandler, who was acting as the banker. "Cash me in."
"You're taking all the money out of the game!" Joey objected angrily.
"My privilege," said Chloe curtly. "Any player can back out at any time. Sorry if this breaks up the game, but if I'm gonna be made to feel like I'm not an equal at this table, then I see no point in playing."
Amid a now distinctly uncomfortable silence she took her money, looked over at Ross and said, "Call me," then collected her coat and headed for the door. "Thanks for the support, Phoebe," she said as she opened the door.
Phoebe did not reply, and Chloe left.
"You should have kept your mouth shut, Joey," said Phoebe when she had gone. "Okay, she's a bit too serious about her poker, I can see that, but that, her against you, Ross, that was so exciting!"
Ross did not respond. He was looking distinctly gloomy.
"Why did you try to look at her hole card, Ross?" said Monica gently. "Surely you remember that Rachel didn't like it, when you tried to see her cards."
"You weren't really trying to get some kind of advantage, were you?" said Joey.
Ross shook his head. "No, it's ... hard to explain, but it's like ... wanting to have all the data about someone. Chloe's quite different when she plays poker and that's ... fascinating. But she was never caught out in a bluff, and I just wondered, would she do that? I think, that was why I wanted to see what Rachel had. It would show such a different side of her, if she could actually try to bluff."
There was a silence as they digested this. Then Chandler said, "Well, will you call her?"
Ross's face got gloomier. "I don't know."
"You should explain to her, like you did to us," said Phoebe. "If she loves you, she should accept it."
Ross did not look convinced. "You think you know someone," he said, and shook his head.
"Well, are we going on?" said Chandler, who was still holding the pack, tapping it on the table. "We could buy more chips."
After a moment's pause, Joey said gruffly, "I don't feel like it any more."
"Yeah," said Monica, "let's play something else. If Rach has come back from her movie, we could get her in," she added, momentarily forgetting how awkward that would be, with Ross still there.
Ross got to his feet. "I should go talk to Chloe," he said heavily, "or try to, anyway. Thanks for the game, guys. 'Night, Mon."
They responded with muted farewells, and Monica followed him to the door. "I hope this isn't serious," she said, looking at him in a worried way. "It would be dumb to break up, just over a game of poker."
Ross shook his head. "Chloe clearly takes her poker so seriously that she might not think it dumb." He sighed. "And, you know, she did show kind of a worrying side to her character tonight. All that aggression! It ... well, it did make me think."
Monica sighed too, as she went back inside the apartment. Was what she had come to think of as a rather promising relationship now in jeopardy?
End Note: Okay, this is very short, but it would weaken the impact, I think, to tack more stuff on afterwards. As it is, you have something of a cliffhanger: will this incident seriously affect Ross and Chloe's relationship? And to those who might question whether Chloe would behave like this, I reply, how do you know? We are given very little indication of her character, and anyway, people can behave differently in different circumstances.
