In response to Daily Post’s Daily Prompt: The Perfect Game
‘I fold,’ there was no way Shiela could go on, not with Rocko and Jane at the table, at least.
She looked over at Freddy who was having as miserable a time as she was. It wasn’t as if they were being spoilsports just because they were losing but they really could not compete with the other two players at the table.
‘Check,’ Rocko tapped the table and maintained an expression on his face named after the game at hand.
‘I fold,’ Freddy flicked away his cards without giving much thought. It had come down to the hand they were at. Freddy wasn’t good at reading expressions like Rocko or Jane but even he could sense the cold air that had formed since they had seen their cards.
‘I check,’ Jane tapped twice on the table and waited for the last card to be turned over.
Shiela dealt the last card. God! She hated Poker Nights with her friends. It had always been like this. Rocko and Jane competing to see who would falter. Both of them had proclaimed themselves to be the best poker player and neither backed down when it came to proving themselves correct.
It had gotten so intense that Freddy and Shiela had to limit poker nights to once a month.
Rocko looked at Jane. He had sensed the cold air that Freddy had sensed as well but he hadn’t managed to see anything on Jane’s face to relay what kind of cards she might have been holding. He kept looking at Jane right in the eye and she looked back unfaltering.
It was now or never. If he would not raise it he definitely knew she would and then he would be caught off guard. But for all he knew Jane could have been bluffing the whole way.
He had to find out for sure.
Freddy looked at both of them and sighed. He knew whoever would win this round would win the game. The game always ended when either of them won. Shiela and him stood no chance whatsoever against the poker face these two had, and he had played enough with them to know when it was approaching the end.
Who would it be this time? Rocko or Jane. He looked from one to another and as he did he saw what he believed was a glimpse of smile on Jane’s face. Surely if he had seen it, Rocko would have too. And he was not wrong.
Rock had seen the smile too but he was not convinced. It was too obvious for it to be slip up. That meant only one thing – she had done it on purpose.
Rocko knew what he had to do. If she had let a smile out on purpose, it meant she wanted him to believe that she had good cards in her hand, which in turn meant that she had been playing on bluff all along.
‘All in,’ he pushed all his chips to the center of the table.
Jane looked at him. She had finally broken her neutral expression to reveal a one of discomfort.
‘All in,’ she sighed and pushed her remaining chips on to the table as well.
Both Rocko and Jane revealed their cards to decide the victor.
Rocko smiled broadly and looked up at Jane.
‘I cannot believe you fell for it,’ Jane said as she got up from her place. ‘I guess I know you too well to be able to play you like that. I need a stronger opponent.’
‘One time,’ Rocko leaned back on his chair. ‘This is the one time you will get away with that but there is no way I will let that happen again.’
‘Ha, you wish! I will take you on again, if you want.’
‘Okay then,’ Rocko stood up as well. ‘How about we start over then, what do you say?’
Jane was fuming, she would never back down from a challenge. ‘Sure,’ she said. ‘Shiela, why don’t we just…’
Jane looked down to see that Shiela and Freddy had already packed up the poker set and were already sitting in front of the television looking through the channel guide.
The AnonymouSTalker 