Chapter 11: Gutshot

"I had to go with this one." Gregory turned over an ace and a ten, both hearts. "How far behind am I?" He craned his neck up, looking to his right, watching Takeru turn over the ace of diamonds and king of spades. "Alright, gotta get lucky."

"Good luck." Takeru stood up, walking over to the railing at his cheering section. "If this holds up, we're down to four tables. How's Ken?"

"I just checked," Daisy said. "He's into six figures now, one twenty something."

The hologram went up above the table, detailing the hole cards of the two participants, Takeru with a '73%' beneath his hand.

"Ward went all-in preflop with ace ten?" Yuma said, looking up at the projection.

"He only had eleven thousand left, less than six bigs," Takeru explained, pointing up at the hologram. "Had to go with it."

"Right, right." Three cards came up on the graphic, four of hearts, four of clubs, three of diamonds.

"Pretty good flop for me," Takeru said under his breath, watching Gregory Ward stand up and begin to gather his belongings from underneath his chair. "Say, where's Hido, anyone seen him?"

"Yeah. He got eliminated early today, he's up in his room," Yuma replied, pointing up at the ceiling.

"What, he's that upset about it?" Takeru raised an eyebrow. "Can't even show up to cheer on his friends as they march closer and closer to the final table?"

A fourth card came up on the projection. Queen of diamonds.

"He says he sends his regards and is hoping both of you make it to the end, but he's not hanging around with her." He pointed at Hikari, who snapped her head around to look at Yuma as he pointed at her.

"Oh." Takeru shrugged. "Well, choosing between him and her, pretty easy pick. Especially right now."

The river was shot up on the hologram, the useless eight of clubs, giving Takeru the victory with ace high and a superior kicker.

"Alright," Ward said. "Not a horrible way to start the world series." He waved at the table, slowly retreating from it. "Good luck, everyone."

"Nice playing with you," Takeru said as Gregory passed him by, extending his hand out towards him. He took it and shook it.

"Just shy of six grand is actually a pretty big deal to me, I got no regrets," Greg replied. "Now go make sure that I get to tell all my friends back home I got eliminated by the guy who won the whole thing, makes a better story."

OOO

"Twenty-five players left in the field, the payouts are now up to nearly seventy-five hundred dollars. Table number two, Takeru Ishida still king of the world, four-hundred and fifty thousand chips in front of him, nearly a quarter of the chips in play."

"Well, he's had the chip lead most of the tournament and hasn't shown any signs of slowing down, so I imagine he'll be using those chips to keep up the pressure. Everyone's folded to him in the small blind, so he can almost just throw out a raise here without even looking at his cards."

Takeru bent his head down, looking at the king of hearts and the eight of hearts.

"Takeru's got a decent hand, there's only one other player in the hand, he should absolutely be raising here. Joseph Leonard in the big blind has fifty-four thousand left, Takeru could force him into a decision for his tournament life."

"Fifty-four thousand?" Takeru said, craning his neck up to look at the stack of the player to his immediate left. "Fifty-four thousand behind?"

Joseph nodded.

"Okay. Fifty-four thousand is the bet." Takeru began to get chips together, putting a stack of gold and silver chips out in front of him.

"And Takeru says, to heck with waiting, let's just get it all in here! Either Leonard has a hand here that he likes enough to risk his tournament on, or he doesn't. And he's gonna have to make that decision right now, this is called playing big stack bully!"

Joseph, with a small nod to Takeru's bet, finally pried up the corners of his two cards.

"Nine of clubs and nine of spades for Joseph, and he's gotta call this."

"Well, Leonard does have about eighteen big blinds left, so he could lay this down. But the average stack size right now is eighty grand, so he is starting to get short relative to the rest of the field, may as well get it in and hope for the best."

"Alright, let's go. I call." Joseph stood up, showing his two nines.

"You're a favorite," Takeru informed him, turning over his two hearts. "Two-to-one."

"Joseph in good position to double up here, which would be HUGE for his chances to make the final table. Takeru will be looking for a king, or hearts."

"Hearts are my favorite though," Takeru said with a smile. "Just so you're warned."

"Takeru's chip count is so massive, he doesn't really have to sweat this one. He can lose without it hurting that much, and he'll gladly accept being a two-to-one underdog since it's an opportunity to knock another player out."

The dealer put down three cards. Ace of hearts, five of hearts, six of clubs.

"Two hearts on the flop for Takeru, he goes from thirty-three percent equity to forty-seven!"

"I'm thinking of a really fun turn card here," Takeru said, grinning up at the dealer. "Nine of hearts. Make it interesting, put down the nine of hearts."

"The nine of hearts would give Takeru a flush, but would give Joseph a set of nines, meaning he could hit a full house on the river. Takeru being sporting."

The turn card surfaced from the deck. Four of hearts.

"And you just knew he was gonna get it somehow. That card gives Takeru the flush, Joseph drawing dead."

"Can't even get a river sweat," Joseph lamented, standing up from his seat. "Well, can't complain about picking up a couple months of mortgage payments."

Takeru put his hand out to the eliminated player, shaking his hand. "Good playing with you."

OOO

~Hikari~

"You can thank Ken for getting us down to eighteen!" Miyako called out from the rail at Takeru's back. "He decided he wanted to set most of his chips on fire and went all-in on a straight draw, and he got there on the river. Eliminated the nineteenth place finisher."

"I heard that!" Ken's voice came from the table one over from Takeru's. "Shoving on a straight draw is a perfectly valid strategy to capture fold equity while still giving yourself outs!"

"How did he hear me?" Miyako's forehead wrinkled. "Freaking...super-hearing powers."

"Knowing him, he built an earpiece tuned to the specific frequency of your voice," Akira said dryly. "Sounds like something he'd do."

"I raise, push it to fifty-thousand." Takeru tossed out five gold and silver chips, taking his blind and ante chips back.

"Oh boy, he's got a hand again," Sammy said, going back up to the rail. "We just started two table action, he wakes up with a hand. There are starving kids in Norkan who never get hands, and Takeru's getting all of them."

Hikari leaned in closer to the railing, watching as players folded in rapid succession.

"Oh, McDonald was the original raiser," Daryl said quietly, craning his head up to look at the situation on the table. "Yeah, McDonald raised, he's only got...like one eleven behind, he's gotta go in."

Sure enough, when the action swung back around to Matthew McDonald, he needed only a few seconds before waving his hand forward. "I'm all-in."

Takeru took a quick look at his mountain of chips. "I call."

"I kinda want him to turn over three eight offsuit or something," Daisy said. "Show the whole table he has so many chips he doesn't even care."

The graphic bloomed up in the air above the table, revealing the situation both players were in. Takeru held the ace of clubs and jack of clubs. McDonald was armed with the ace of diamonds and the ten of spades.

"Alright!" Hikari bursted out, clapping a few times at the sight.

"There you go!" Daisy said, sidling up next to Hikari. "Now you're getting into it, there you go!" She gave her a small wink. "I did cheerleading when I was at academy, I could teach you some routines. Really get into your support of TK."

Hikari blinked a few times. "Cheerleading?"

Daisy gave a few laughs. "I'll explain later."

The flop flashed up above the table. Three of clubs, queen of clubs, two of diamonds.

"That's a nice flop," Sammy said. "Someone get out another body bag."

The turn was quick to follow, the king of hearts.

"They both need each other's kicker to make a straight," Miyako mused. "Fun little turn card."

The river, however, completed neither straight, the queen of diamonds.

"Tag em and bag em," Sammy said quietly, putting his finger up in the air and running it around in a small circle. "Six hundred and fifty thousand chips, sixteen more to the bracelet."

OOO

"Somehow, Takeru has over a hundred big blinds at THIS stage of the tournament, which is just insane. We've got a few people clinging on by their fingertips, and managing to hang on for two more eliminations is worth just shy of eight thousand dollars, so expect to see them fold every hand they get except for the super premium ones."

Watson flipped in fifteen thousand in chips, holding a queen of diamonds and jack of hearts.

"Watson's actually got over one hundred fifty thousand behind, so he can take chances with a speculative hand."

"Takeru's next to act, on the button with ace ten, both clubs. Seems like a good spot to call, might even be a raise."

Takeru, however, settled for making an offering of a gold and silver chip and five purple chips, taking back his ante in the same motion.

"Nori Suzuki is in the small blind, and he's sitting on about one twenty in chips, and he's got...ace queen of spades!"

"Takeru has enjoyed holding dominating hands in most of his big encounters today, but here HE'LL be the one dominated with a weaker ace, unless he can get away from this."

"Nori re-raises to forty-two grand, he's likely committed to this hand. Heh, Carlos Silva in the big blind has king queen offsuit, so a lot of players have a hand...but Silva decides to get out of the way."

Silva, his cards in the muck, gave Watson the action, who similarly threw his hand away.

"Takeru's got ace ten suited, he's on the button, Suzuki is an active player who COULD be messing around here with a mediocre hand, and he's got all the chips in the world. I think he's at least calling here."

"I'm all-in," Takeru said.

"Takeru wants to cut the field down to thirteen, he shoves!"

"I call," Nori said after a few moments.

"Well, Takeru's behind, but I like the move all the same, if Suzuki had a hand even slightly weaker than ace queen suited he might have folded. Plus, even if he loses this hand he'll have over half a million chips."

"And if he gets lucky and wins this, he'll have just shy of eight hundred thousand chips. Reasonable gamble."

The dealer prepared to put down the board.

"Flop comes...ten, eight, two, Takeru makes top pair and takes the lead!"

"Takeru sucks out more than the world's worst rattlesnake handler. And the worst part for Nori is that both Silva and Watson folded queens, so there's only one queen left in the deck."

Suzuki, on seeing the bad news, stood up, grimacing as the odds were flipped against him. The dealer, no need to wait, put down a turn card of the six of diamonds.

"Just your classic one out with one chance to hit it scenario for Nori. No big deal, right? Shouldn't be too hard."

The river was thrown down, sealing Nori's fate with the four of diamonds.

"That'll do it for Suzuki! He takes home over thirteen thousand dollars in prize money."

The small man went over to Takeru, taking his hand and giving it a quick, silent shake.

"Good playing with you," Takeru said quietly.

OOO

~Takeru~

"You're kidding me!" Takeru pounded his fist lightly on top of the gold pole that supported the railing. "You're the final table bubble boy?!"

Ken gave a shrugging nod. "Hey, I flopped a set, I was getting short, what am I supposed to do?"

"I was so, SO looking forward to crushing you, are you really so terrified of me that you get yourself eliminated right before we get to the same table?" Takeru shook his head in mock disappointment.

"I'm not scared of anything today. I put eighty percent of my chips in on a straight draw earlier, and it WORKED! I'm not scared of anything. I would have shredded your ass so bad too. Breaks my heart." Ken reached forward and clapped his hand on Takeru's shoulder. "Alright, you're the one now, you're gonna have to carry the torch for all of us."

"Phenomenal stuff, my man," Takeru said, leaning in close and giving Ken a quick hug over the rail. "Tenth place has gotta feel good, be proud."

"Just shy of eighteen grand," Ken added. "That feels good too. Now, you've got two hundred seventy grand with your name on it, go get it."

Takeru stepped back from Ken, giving his entire collection of friends a wave. Hido still had not joined, as his stomach could apparently not tolerate Hikari's presence. Everyone else was there, ready to offer him their full support. It wasn't like Takeru needed any additional confidence with eight hundred thousand chips in front of him, but it was appreciated all the same.

Takeru turned around, going over to the table, the only one left in the tournament.

"Congratulations on making the final table." Jack Custer was standing behind the dealer, his gaze sweeping back and forth along all nine remaining players. "You've all done very well to get this far, and have guaranteed yourselves a minimum of twenty four thousand eight hundred and twenty two dollars in prize money. May the best player win, let's shuffle up and deal."

Takeru could feel the nerves of making the final table starting to bubble up inside of him. He had been quite relaxed during this entire tournament, even in the face of veterans and legends of poker, but now that the prize seemed painfully close, and with the pressure of the overwhelming chip lead, it was starting to get a little uneasy for him.

He thought about that twenty-five grand ninth place payout for a moment. Even in that disaster scenario, it was more than enough to justify his time here. Three players were running on vapors, less than fifty thousand chips. He could fall asleep, wake up after they had been ousted, and be guaranteed fifty-seven thousand.

"I'm all-in."

Takeru had been thinking for a little longer than he thought, and while he had been considering his situation, the cards had been dealt out. Quickly, he scanned the table. He was in the cutoff, to the immediate right of the button. A player three seats to his right had shoved his final forty-one thousand into the middle.

Swallowing, he watched the next player fold.

"I'm all-in."

Takeru's neck twitched a bit at the rapid fire action, as another forty-eight thousand was pushed to the middle. Giving himself a quick shake, he reached down and checked his cards.

Ace of diamonds, ace of spades.

He took a second, wondering if he had somehow died and gone to heaven between the rail and the table, staring at the two aces. "Uh, I'm...I'm all-in," Takeru said, waving his hand towards his chip stack.

"Yeah, I think I get the picture here, I'm out." The player to his left mucked, followed quickly by the blinds.

Takeru flipped over his aces, drawing a groan from his right. He glanced over in time to see the ace of clubs and king of diamonds get turned over, then raised his glance a bit to find the first shover holding the two red eights.

"Felt good about this hand too," he muttered. "I should have known better with you sitting to my left."

"Two players all-in," the dealer said, flipping the first three board cards out. Nine of clubs, queen of spades, two of hearts.

"Be a great time for a runner-runner straight."

Takeru looked over at the player to his right. "After the cards I've been getting today, I probably deserve it."

The turn, however, dashed any such hopes by being a meaningless four of hearts.

"Did anybody fold an eight?" the other at-risk player asked, looking around the table. "Actually, don't tell me, I don't wanna know."

A five of spades ended the hand, Takeru's pair of aces the best hand.

"Somedays, it's just your day." The eliminated player extended his hand to Takeru. "Put my chips to good use."

"More than half the chips in play," the other ousted competitor said. "I should have known better than to mess with you."

Takeru let out a long breath of air. Aces was a great way to relief tension.

OOO

"I've got top two pair," Carlos Silva said, turning up a jack and a nine.

Dallas Harper grimaced, patting the felt lightly out of respect to Silva's hand, then threw his cards into the muck. "I can't beat that. You two duke it out."

"And Dallas Harper is eliminated in third place, he takes home over one hundred and forty thousand dollars. We are now to the heads up portion of our tournament."

"With seven players left, it looked like it was going to be a washout, Takeru had over half the chips in play. But, in a shocking turnaround, it was Carlos Silva who started catching the business end of coolers, he was able to personally eliminate every player at this final table with the exception of the initial two that Takeru ousted on the first hand! Takeru does have one point one million in chips, but he does not have the dominant chip lead that he probably expected, Silva has just under nine hundred thousand!"

"Neither of these two players have won a world series bracelet before. In fact this is Takeru's first ever world series tournament. More on that in a second."

A large, dark-skinned man in a suit emerged from a hallway a few tables over, flanked by two men carrying assault rifles. The man in the middle carried a large silver briefcase. The crowd around the table gave the procession a wide birth as they went over to the table, stepping over the railing.

"While the money gets put out on the table, let's go ahead and talk about the elephant in the room. Takeru Ishida, should he win this tournament, would be the twenty-eighth player in world series history to win his or her first ever world series tournament. What's a lot more interesting than that, is that he can become the youngest person to ever win a world series tournament as well!"

"Twenty years and about three months, most players never even have a chance to win a tournament at that age. Not a bad way to kick off your poker career."

"And...that has to be an intimidating sight. Seeing two hundred seventy thousand, three hundred and eighty-three dollars in cold hard cash getting placed out on the felt right in front of you."

"Well, Takeru grew up around a casino, so maybe he's used to it."

"The money has been positioned, and the bracelet goes on top! A platinum band with diamond studs, there's no more prestigous prize in poker, and it could be one hand away from being handed out!"

"Second place might be easier to deal with," Carlos said, looking over at Takeru.

"Hm?" Takeru looked over at his foe.

"Well, it's just...second place gets paid by a direct deposit to their bank account, happens in a flash. With all this money, you gotta get a...a box, and then you gotta carry the box around, and one of the packs of money could come loose." He nodded. "Second place might be better, I dunno."

"Maybe." Takeru gave a small smile. "Of course, when you want to use your winnings to throw a party tonight, you'd have to go withdraw your money, that's a pain. Here, you can just...grab a pack and go, y'know?"

"It's a...it could go either way I guess," Carlos replied, bobbing his head back and forth. "Interesting debate."

"The two remaining players sharing a bit of conversation as the cards get dealt. Here we go, heads up for the bracelet and the largest share of the prize money, Takeru with the chip lead, Silva first to act."

Carlos glanced down at his two cards, being a little less careful as he pried them up since nobody was sitting next to him.

"Ace five, both clubs for Silva. He's already got six thousand committed to this pot, five thousand from his small blind and another thousand from his ante."

"In heads up play, almost any hand is playable, especially from the button. A weak, suited ace is actually a really good hand."

"Min raise." Silva tossed out a gold and silver chip along with four purples.

"Silva pushes in twenty grand total, action over to Takeru. Like we said, almost any two cards are good enough to see a flop when you've only got one opponent, so unless Takeru wakes up with total garbage here he's certainly calling."

"Takeru takes a look at...pocket fours, a couple of sailboats! Small pocket pairs become a very precious commodity heads up."

Takeru reached into the middle of the table, taking back a purple chip and putting in a gold and silver one.

"Takeru calls, we will see a flop."

The dealer produced three cards on the board. King of clubs, four of clubs, seven of diamonds.

"King, four, seven, two clubs! We've got a big flop here, bottom set for Takeru, and the nut flush draw for Silva!"

"This could be it, one way or another."

Takeru pondered his situation for a moment before tapping the table.

"Takeru checks his set, gives the wheel over to Silva."

Silva was quick to check behind, the onus now on the dealer to continue the hand.

"Silva checks behind. Kind of shocking we didn't see a bet there, both players have such huge hands. Takeru's hand is going to be the best hand on that flop a huge percentage of the time, and Silva is drawing to the nuts, you'd usually see some action there. Takeru probably was checking to the preflop raiser and planning to check-raise, Silva wasn't having it."

The dealer put down the jack of hearts.

"And that card is a blank for both players. Takeru still leads with his set."

"Forty thousand," Takeru said, putting out four gold and silver chips.

"Large bet from Takeru, almost the size of the pot. Tough spot for Silva here, he's actually not getting the right price to call. It's not easy to just fold the nut flush draw either, but raising would be an absolute disaster since Takeru has a hand he's never folding, so all three of his options are kind of pants at this point."

"If he could see Takeru's hand face up, he would fold. But if he convinces himself that Takeru only has a king or a jack, he picks up five extra outs and might go ahead and make this call."

Silva slowly extended his hand out over the table, dropping four chips across the line.

"Silva does call. He needs a club on the river, or else he's stuck floating around here with ace high."

"If this river card is the seven of clubs or the jack of clubs, this tournament is over a hundred percent of the time."

The dealer, the burn card tucked away in the dead card pile, put down the nine of clubs.

"The river's a club! Silva makes the absolute nuts on the river."

"Now it's Takeru catching the short end of the cooler, he's the one who's gonna have to get away from this with minimal damage."

"One hundred thousand," Takeru said, grabbing a glinting, platinum chip and flipping it in.

"Well, he's gonna lose at least one hundred thousand more. That bet is designed to discourage Silva from bluffing in case he had a hand like six five or even queen ten. But it's all moot, since Silva isn't bluffing."

"A reasonable raise by Silva will probably get called, he's just trying to figure out the sizing. The pot is two twenty."

"Re-raise. Two hundred and fifty thousand more," Silva said from behind his clasped hands.

"Silva overbets the pot! Now Takeru's the one on his heels."

Takeru blinked a few times, looking down at the community cards, then over to Silva.

"That's a very polarizing bet from Silva. Either he has a flush or he has a straight draw that missed, with really nothing inbetween those two extremes. Takeru's hand is very strong, but it seems like he's starting to sense danger."

Takeru licked his lips.

"Whatever Takeru does here, he's no longer the chip leader, but a call would put him well behind. It's very hard to fold a set in heads up play, but it looks like he's considering it. At the end of the day, he can really only win if Silva is bluffing."

"That is a large bet," Takeru mumbled. Finally, he pitched his cards over to the dealer.

"He lays it down! Takeru gets away from the set and limits the damage!"

"The Ishida kid showing some serious discipline there. With how hot he's been running in this tournament it would have been easy for him to just close his eyes and call, but he realized Silva either had the nuts or he had nothing, and he made the right guess."

"Well, he makes a good fold there, but he still relinquishes the chip lead to Silva. Now has a little more than nine hundred thousand, Silva into seven figures."

"He's still in good shape to win this thing, but this is a pretty remarkable turnaround. Takeru might be feeling a little naked without his chip lead."

As Silva stacked the pot up in front of him, the dealer began to distribute out cards to both.

"This time, it will be Takeru first to act, but he'll have the button for the rest of the hand. And he's got...ten nine offsuit, ten of clubs and nine of diamonds, very playable in heads up."

Takeru, shuffling chips for a brief moment, eventually tossed in three silver and gold pieces of clay in.

"So with his blind and ante, that's a raise to...thirty-six thousand from Takeru. With this hand he's perfectly fine with a call or a fold from Silva."

Silva was next, taking a look down at his cards. A couple of queens.

"Not only does Silva have the chip lead now, but he's also getting big hands. Usually the ladies don't come until after you win the tournament, but Silva is very glad to see them now. You have to wonder if Takeru's golden run is going to peter out just a few hands too early for him to get his hands on that bracelet."

Silva, with a deep breath, reached out and took back his big blind and ante, replacing them with nine silver and gold chips.

"And Silva three-bets it to ninety thousand!"

Takeru rubbed the bridge of his nose, then staring down at his chip stack. "I call." He tossed out six chips, taking back a handful of purple ones, matching the ninety thousand.

"Golden run petering out indeed. Now that Takeru isn't the overwhelming chip leader, he REALLY should have tossed that hand away. It's a little weak to be putting in nearly ten percent of your stack, especially when your opponent just three-bet."

"Takeru in rough shape here, he's got sixteen percent equity as we head to the flop."

The dealer pulled in the chips and placed out the flop. King of diamonds, nine of clubs, jack of spades.

"Aaaand this is the problem with Takeru calling. Now that he's caught a piece of this flop, he's probably going to have to call at least one bet, if not more, and he's still way behind Silva."

"Takeru made a pair of nines, but he still trails Silva's pair of queens. Both players have a straight draw. Takeru needs a queen to make his, but Silva is holding two of the four queens in the deck, so good luck with that. Silva needs a ten, Takeru happens to hold one of those. Takeru actually up a pip to seventeen percent equity."

Silva checked, tapping the table a few times. Takeru was quick to similarly rap his fingers on the felt.

"They both check."

"Good for Takeru, he must have been sorely tempted to bet his bottom pair and hope to end the hand right there. He knows he has to improve somehow in order to take the lead."

The burn card went down face down, and the turn went down face up. Nine of spades.

"Oh, did we say Takeru's golden run was ending? Uh, we meant continuing, the turn gives Takeru trip nines!"

"Sick turn, not only does that give Takeru a near-lock on the hand, Silva probably thinks that was a good card for him. In his mind, if Takeru had a nine, he would have bet the flop."

Silva took one of his platinum, sparkling chips and put it past the yellow line.

"Yup, Silva likes his queens enough to bet a hundred thousand. Gonna be very hard for him to figure this out."

Takeru, only a few seconds of waiting in the books, reached for a platinum disc of his own, offering it over to the dealer.

"Takeru calls. Now, there's no way he'd be calling with nothing, so now Silva has a warning sign. Maybe he's making this call with a jack or a combo draw, but he could certainly have a king, or worst case scenario, a nine. Spoiler alert, it's the worst case scenario."

The river surfaced from the top of the deck. Two of clubs.

"Oof, what a brick. Flush draw missed, straight draws missed. Silva might value bet this since that two couldn't possibly have helped Takeru."

"One fifty," Silva said, gathering up a three-quarter stack of silver and gold.

"About forty percent of the pot from Silva."

"Really nasty spot for Silva here. If he checks, he's just begging for Takeru to bluff at it if he missed his draws, but if Takeru actually DOES have a big hand, this bet is a donation."

Takeru began to organize a few stacks of chips around in front of him, getting together what was apparently a raise.

"Takeru not giving Silva credit for a straight or a full house here, he's getting together a value raise."

Takeru, using both hands, pushed a majority of his chips over the line.

"Takeru pushes it to five hundred and fifty grand!"

"That's a large bet, but it might get paid off. Silva could definitely talk himself into Takeru bluffing here with missed spades."

Silva sighed, grimacing at the massive mound of chips Takeru had just posted.

"Hey Carlos. If it walks like a nine, talks like a nine, and acts like a nine, it might just be a nine! Gotta let this one go."

Silva threw his queens over to the dealer, immediately putting his hands up behind his head and leaning back, a pained look on his face.

"That's a great fold from Silva! He does lose one-third his stack on that hand, but it could have been much worse!"

"We just saw Takeru make a tough fold, now Silva follows up with another tough one, both these guys are in the zone. But Takeru's the one back in the chip lead after just one hand out of it!"

OOO

"I should warn you, back home my friends nicknamed me the short-stack devil," Silva said, smirking over at Takeru.

"I can't say what my friends nicknamed me on television," Takeru replied, putting the final touches on his chip pile.

"Folks, it's just past ten o clock, and we are approaching the end of days. We're thirteen hands into heads up, and Takeru Ishida is on the verge of world series history. His chipstack is now at one point six five million, eighty-four percent of the total chips in play. Silva still has a little over three hundred thousand, but any hand he chooses to play could very well be his last."

"Blinds are now at six thousand and twelve thousand, with an ante of two thousand. Silva's got around thirty bigs, so he has some breathing room to work with, but he really needs to find a spot to double up."

Both players had their hole cards, and Silva was first to act. "Alright...back to work." He pried them up.

"Well, he might have found his spot! He's got pocket kings!"

"Silva's just PRAYING that Takeru has some kind of a hand here, would be brutal to not get paid off."

"Fifty." Silva took his blinds and antes back, throwing out five of the multi-colored chips.

"He's about to find out. With Takeru's chip stack being what it is, he can reasonably call with any half-decent hand."

Takeru, taking a settling breath, looked down at his holdings. Ace of spades, king of diamonds.

"Ace king for Takeru, it's all going in right here!"

Takeru's head slowly tilted up, looking at the wall across from him. "I'm all-in."

"Call," Silva said immediately, turning up his two kings. Takeru looked over, giving him a little nod, showing his hand.

"And there it is, Silva risking his tournament life on his kings! He's in good shape."

"Great spot for Silva to double up, he's got seventy percent equity in the hand. But even if he wins, Takeru will still be the chip leader by a large margin, so it's not a bad gamble for him to try to hit an ace."

The dealer positioned the four cards on the felt next to each other, nodding. "Alright, this could be it, gentlemen."

"There is a buzz going around the table right now, the crowd has sparked to life! Either Takeru Ishida becomes the youngest world series bracelet winner ever, or Carlos Silva gains new life!"

"All Takeru needs to see is an ace to virtually lock up this hand. With the way things have been going today you just expect it to happen."

The burn card flipped to the side, the dealer pulled off the next three cards and quickly whisked them out onto the board. Ace of diamonds, six of spades, four of hearts.

"And there it is! Takeru Ishida hits his ace, and his pair of aces has Silva's pair of kings in serious trouble!"

"The story of the day right there. Takeru plays good, Takeru gets business end of cooler, Takeru gets there."

"Hoo." Silva stood up. "Well, just so you know, if I do hit this one-outer, I'm definitely gonna win this tournament. If it comes, no way I lose."

Takeru smiled and nodded. "Well. Second place payout is pretty good."

"There's only one king left in the deck, Silva has to find it or this one is over. Turn card, is the six of diamonds, no help."

"You seem very calm for someone about to break a world series record," Silva noted, looking over at Takeru. "You're still sitting down!"

"Well, see how I am after one more card," Takeru replied, hungrily looking over at the eleven packs of cash.

"One chance to hit a king for Silva." The river came, a three of clubs.

"No king on the river, and Takeru wins the one thousand dollar no limit holdem event!"

Takeru stood up from his chair, thrusting his arms up into the air, looking up at the ceiling. Carlos Silva came over and extended his hand towards Takeru, who quickly took it and gave it a shake. Silva stepped away just in time for the entire collection of Takeru's cheering section to surround the champion in a mob.

"And Takeru is quickly surrounded by his friends and supporters! What a moment for the twenty-year-old!"

"Silva will be taking home over one hundred and ninety five thousand, but Takeru gets the bracelet AND a shade over two hundred and seventy grand. Pass the sugar!"

"I knew you were capable of this," Daisy said, her voice just barely audible over the cacaphony of noises coming from the small crowd. "I didn't know it'd happen so fast though!"

"They can't ever take this away from you!" Ken chimed in. "Whatever happens now, you're a bracelet winner!"

"Thanks so much, everyone," Takeru said. "You guys, you guys have supported me for years, it's all led up to something like this. This is so great!"

"Takeru soaking in his victory here, well deserved. And here comes Erin Parker swooping in with a microphone, going to get a few words out of the newly minted bracelet winner."

"Excuse me!" A woman with short brown hair and a black uniform came up to the conglomeration of people, gathered right by the table. "Excuse me, Takeru, could I get a word?"

Takeru managed to wriggle his way through the circle of people, cramming himself next to the reporter. "Yeah, sure."

"Takeru, you cut through a field of nearly two thousand people to win this tournament, your first ever official poker tournament, how'd you do it?"

"Uh...well, honestly, you know, a huge part of this game is the cards you get. At the end of the day, yeah, skill matters a lot and all that, but you have to get the right cards, and...if most of the players here were getting the cards I was getting, I think they could have won this thing too. But I was the one getting the cards, I was able to put them to good use, and here I am."

"You told us earlier that you planned to play in as many world series events as you could. Does that plan change now that you've won this one?"

Takeru shook his head. "Not at all, this...this gives me even more desire to play as much as I can. Plan doesn't change at all, I'm going to try to play in every event except one drop."

Erin nodded. "I notice a lot of your friends and supporters were entrants into this event as well, and most of them had successful runs. What are you guys doing that allows you all to play so well?"

"We constantly compete against each other, drive each other to be better, and the end result is that we're all capable of playing very well." Takeru turned and pointed at the group behind him. "That's all there is to it, there's no substitute for competition."

"One last question. I don't want to start a tabloid column gossip line unless I have a good reason for it." She pointed over towards the grouping of Takeru's friends, at the short, brown-haired girl standing on the left end. "So I'll give you a chance to set the story straight. This lovely young woman hasn't stopped watching you since this tournament started, hasn't left the rail for more than a couple minutes at a time. She wasn't playing in the tournament. So, Mister Ishida, are you taken? Is this your special girl?"

Takeru thought for a moment. "Uh...no, no. Actually..." he turned over towards Hikari, waving his hand towards her. "Come over here, Hikari, real quick."

Slowly, trepidatiously, Hikari came around from behind Daisy, walking over to her owner.

"This is Hikari, she...she works in my father's casino." Takeru swallowed down hard. "And...I gotta give her due credit, I brought her along with me to the world series because...well, she's good luck for me."

"Oh, I see," Erin said.

"Yeah, that's the only way to put it. When she's around, things go my way over and over again, and after what just happened in this tournament, I can't say anything else." He reached over and clapped Hikari on the shoulder, pulling her closer to him. "When she's around, nothing bad happens to me on the felt it seems like. Call her my good luck charm. So I guess I owe this bracelet to her."

Takeru reached over, grabbing the circular, flexible band of platinum and diamond, raising it up into the air.

OOO

~Takeru~

Hikari pulled the cork from the top of the bottle with a loud pop.

"I can't believe you actually said that on national television!" Ken leaned in towards Takeru's face. "Good luck? She's your good luck charm?"

"I didn't know you were so corny," Sammy agreed, seated on the right seat of a small couch. "Just out of nowhere, you decide you believe in that stuff?"

The ten individuals had shuffled off to a nightclub just down the street from The Horseshoe, getting a small area to themselves near the back. There was no way that they could let this momentum occurance pass by without some sort of celebration, so they had all agreed to share a quick drink. It was a pretty simple place, and they had secured a little square of real estate with a small couch and a few other cushioned chairs, as well as a glass table. Hikari had begun using that small table to pour out drinks from a large clear glass bottle.

"Yeah, you just come right out and say it in front of cameras. Like, that's public record now, you can't take it back, you can't pretend you didn't say it." Daryl laughed. "A lifetime of saying you don't care for superstition, down the drain the moment you step in front of a camera."

"What do you want me to say?" Takeru pointed at Hikari, who was finishing her duties up. "You guys pointed it out, things go my way when she's around, so I took her here, and...well, look! Am I just gonna pretend it's not happening? I gotta at least acknowledge it!"

"Who are you and what the hell did you do to my friend?" Akira asked, leaning in close to Takeru's face.

"This isn't going away, by the way," Yuma said, bending down to grab one of the little glasses. "You're gonna be hearing shit from me for awhile about this, and I doubt I'll be the only one."

"Hey, I don't care!" Takeru said animatedly. "You can make fun of me, like I care, you see this?!" He raised his right arm up in the air, the sleeve of his suit jacket rolling back up his arm a bit, exposing a sparkling band latched on his wrist. "This? You see this? This is a license to not give a crap if you make fun of me!"

"I can't argue with that," Sammy acknowledged, standing up to get a better look at the shimmering piece of jewelry. "My God, it's actually real. I mean, that actually happened, my best friend won a world series bracelet!"

"Alright guys, we had a deal. I'm the first to win a bracelet, so I'm the Godfather now. Everyone pay your respects to the Godfather." He held his arm out.

Daisy rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, you're a real Godfather alright." She grabbed Takeru's wrist and went down on one knee, pulling the bracelet close to her face and kissing it.

"I wouldn't mind kissing it too," Ken said, pointing down at it as Daisy released Takeru's arm and stood back up straight. "Not because I give a crap about you or respect you or anything, I just think it's beautiful."

"Hey, you keep playing like you played the last two days, you'll be able to wear one every day for the rest of your life if you want." Takeru pointed at Ken. "I mean, obviously you'll need me to get hospitalized or something, but hey, it could happen."

"Don't give Ken any ideas," Miyako chimed in, taking a glass from the table. "He might just do it."

"Hey, Hikari, you know half that bracelet is yours, right?" Sammy grinned, pointing at the wrist jewelry. "You heard what TK said, you've got a fifty percent claim. And he's gotta give you half the prize pool too."

"Takeru worked very hard and played very well. All I did was sit there. He deserves every bit of it," Hikari said firmly.

"See?" Takeru gestured at Hikari. "She knows what's up. This girl, she knows what's going on. She's the only one who knows how to show me the respect I'm due."

"I still feel like this is a long, complicated, ridiculous ploy on his part to annoy me," Hido said darkly, sitting on one of the fat cushioned chairs. "And it's working, and I don't appreciate it."

"Oh come on, let it go," Takeru said dismissively. "You didn't even want her anyway, you were about to dispose of her, I took her off your hands. And now she's a productive member of society, you should be happy."

"Good luck charm," Hido said derisively, rolling his eyes. "What other line of bullshit will you come up with to justify keeping her around?"

"Also, TK, I hate to break it to you, but Hikari only shows you respect because she has to." Ken held his glass up in the air. "Alright, we've got Omaha in the morning, let's drain these glasses and get to bed."

"Hey, looks like we got tracked." Miyako pointed towards the entrance of the nightclub, behind Takeru's back. He turned around to find about a dozen strangers, standing a short distance away from the square of space they had cut out for themselves, all of their eyes on Takeru. "I recognize a couple of them from the tournament."

"Hey, uh...this the...the post-tournament party?" one of them asked, pointing down at the floor. "It's a...I dunno, a little small."

"No, no party," Takeru said firmly, waving his hands towards the group of strangers. "I'm just having a drink with my friends, no party."

"No party? You just won a bracelet!" another one of them chimed in, almost condescendingly. "What are you talking about?"

"I have an Omaha tournament to play in that starts in eight hours, no party!" Takeru turned back to his friends. "Okay, let's get these drinks in our stomachs, I wanna get out of here before more people get the wrong idea."

The nine players raised their glasses into the air, then drained the contents into their mouths as one.

"Okay, five thousand dollar bottle down the hatch," Takeru said quickly, turning towards the entrance. "See you all tomorrow."

OOO

~Hikari~

"Sorry about that...reporter woman. Really not an appropriate question to ask." Takeru closed the door to the hotel room behind him, kicking off his shoes as he did so. "I just don't want to make it look like I'm some kind of confrontational guy in my moment in the spotlight, so I just let it go."

Hikari kneeled down on the floor, unlacing her sandals and pulling them off. "Not at all, sir. If anything I'm...I'm flattered that someone could assume that."

Takeru smiled. "In my wildest dreams, I didn't think this would happen." He pointed at his bracelet. "This is...this is unreal. I mean, I don't know if...if you did this, but if you did, thank you."

"I didn't do anything, sir," Hikari replied, nevertheless unable to supress a small smile of her own. It was exciting, to be credited at all for such a remarkable achievement. She had been empowered more than she had even thought conceivable in recent weeks, and this story from Takeru about being a good luck charm was just adding to that. It made her feel wanted.

Takeru let out a quick breath. "Hey, how about some action?"

Hikari, who had taken a couple steps towards the staircase across the main room, twisted her head to look at her owner. "I'm sorry, sir?"

"Uh, action." Takeru pointed up at the door to the bedroom on the second level. "I don't have to be up for another...six and a half hours, let's go for it." He gestured his head up towards the door. "I'll be up there in about...five minutes?"

"...oh." Hikari felt her mouth suddenly dry up. "R-right. Yes sir."

"You sure?" Takeru's brow furrowed a bit. "You sound a little down."

"Uh, I'm just...I'm tired, sir, I'm sorry." Hikari nodded.

"Understandable." Takeru walked over to Hikari's side, clasping her shoulder with his right hand. "Hey, don't worry about it too much, just do what the Angels trained you to do and you'll be fine. I know it's intimidating, but I'm not here to grade your performance or anything." He gave her a reassuring pat. "See you up there."

Hikari nodded, Takeru sweeping away from her, headed towards the bathroom. He didn't see her give a little sigh or grimace. Just as well. If he had decided to pry into her discomfort, she didn't even really know what she would say, if she could say anything at all.

She slowly walked over to the staircase, a knot having cinched up a bit in her stomach. Serve Takeru and have sex with people. Those two things were, quite literally, her job. And this was both things at the same time. So why this sour feeling?

Well, whatever it was, she had five minutes to get over it.

OOO

Panting heavily, skin flushed red, Hikari laid down flat on the right edge of the bed, body heaving up and down.

"See? Nothing to it," Takeru said, rolling himself up into a sitting position on the edge of the bed. "You were good, nothing to it."

Hikari blinked a few times, eyes rotating over to look at him. His head was twisted around, looking at her, giving her an easy smile. She somehow found it unsettling, though she wasn't sure why.

"You feeling okay?" Takeru twisted his body around, going onto his knees, towering over her prone figure.

"Yes, sir," she replied, partially lying. Physically, it was a very pleasurable experience for her. It was like the other girls said. He was experienced, and it showed. Yes, physically, it was everything it was billed to be.

But there was something that just wasn't right.

"Alright, tank is back on full, see you in the morning." Takeru leapt off the bed, throwing on a thin, blue bathrobe.

He was so carefree and casual. He had just had sex with her. Listening to him talk to her, he could just as easily have finished eating a steak, or have just crossed the street. It almost made her angry, an emotion she rarely had the time to feel in her life.

She swallowed it down. "Good night, sir," she said, worming her body up so her head was on the pillow. Now was not the time to rock the boat, she could recognize that. Still, as Takeru closed her bedroom door and Hikari rolled over onto her side, she was positive that there was something quite distasteful about what she had just participated in.

Hopefully, nothing a night of sleep wouldn't resolve.