Triad, Gaius Baltar has found, is an effective method of diverting oneself. Ambrosia, likewise, is an effective method of forgetting. Together, they make an effective method of avoiding just about anything one wants to.

While Gaius is a terrific Triad player, he has not had nearly enough ambrosia, and one of the things he is trying to forget is sitting at the table with him. The other is blissfully absent, for once, though she has been present more often recently, having something to hang over his head.

He has narrowed her down to three possibilities: either she is a hallucination, he had some sort of invisible chip implanted in her head, or he was a Cylon. He hated the fact that being a Cylon made the most sense of them. He was not like Valerii, plagued with emotional outbursts. He had thought about it methodically, and it made the most sense that he was a Cylon; it explained the physical therapy, his genius, how he had survived the shockwave from an atomic explosion, and the frakking hallucination in his head.

He took another shot. He knew everyone at the table was a little perplexed at just how much he was drinking this particular day, but that mattered quite a bit less to him than that he forget. And considering the other matter he was avoiding was sitting directly across from him, taking his money at an alarming rate, he needed a lot more ambrosia.

He already knew every hand that every player had. He had watched the way cards were discarded and dealt for several hands now, and he could have predicted pretty accurately what was in his next hand, too, if he had not been drunk. But he would never have even been playing had he been drunk.

She laughs as he raises his bet again, which usually indicates that she's bluffing and trying to lower his confidence. He'll raise by less next time, to make her think she's succeeding. Hot Dog, just far enough to his side that he cannot quite see Gaius's cards, but is constantly trying to, has three on a run and is fooled once again by Kara's act, so he folds despite his hand. Apollo, to Hot Dog's right, has run brothers, which makes him overconfident, and he raises even more. Starbuck laughs and matches it, then dumps some more creds in just to annoy him. Racetrack has already folded. By the end of the hand, Starbuck has conned Lee into pushing all of his tiny pile into the pot, even though she has nothing. As soon as she does, he snorts, harshly, and folds. Because she's not bluffing this time.

So the game is winding down, now. Hot Dog is staying in it, but only by folding any time he has a hand that is not absolutely spectacular. Racetrack has given up entirely, and is taking what's left of her savings and running. Lee is still at the table – a clear violation of the rules – even though he's no longer participating.

And Gaius appears to have just made a rather terrible misjudgement. No doubt the other players think it's because he's drunk(since last count, he has consumed an additional three shots). And he is drunk. But he also has Starbuck right where he wants her. So he loses the last of this portion of his stash, and then buys himself back in with what he really came here for, a single Caprican Imperial cigar.

It's worth more than what's left of Hot Dog's creds, alone. Which, he knows, is enough to get Hot Dog to back off. But Starbuck, of course, is only more interested. She laughs and agrees, and Lee deals, looking a little concerned, but Gaius already knows exactly what cards he is going to get.

Gaius makes a little conversation, Starbuck responds with her playful insults. He smiles a little, and banters back.

He laughs as she starts to unfold her hand; she has a skip, but that's not what's funny. He wonders as he says it if he would say it if he was not drunk, but he is drunk, so it really does not faze him.

"You know, I saw your personnel file." He pours himself another shot, for good measure. "And, interestingly, so have both of the other Adamas." He pauses to down the shot. "So it occurs to me that either they are both incredibly stupid, or at least one of them knows and has never said anything to you about it. Who knows? Maybe they're being noble, letting you take your own time getting it out. On the other hand, maybe they're just trying to forget about it, because they're so terrified of the possibility that it might be true that they refuse to deal with it at all."

She grits her teeth, but forces out of them "Put down your cards."

He smiles briefly and does so. He has nothing. "Enjoy your cigar", he says, and stumbles out.