I Raise; Will She Call

The card room manager said, “We have been watching the film of yesterday’s game for hours now. None of our guys spotted that yet Roy. You are pretty good.”

“Maybe Gus,” I said, “But I’ve been watching the game for over three weeks and I just now spotted it.”

Bill looked at the card room manager and asked, “How do you want to handle it?”

Gus answered, “The pictures we can get will be pretty good, but I’d like to catch them just one time live. Maybe Traci can play her normal game and when the right hand comes up, give us a signal.”

I interrupted, “What I would do is get one of your better dealers in the rotation—Steve if he is working today because I can talk to him and explain the situation. When I see the right hand developing I can signal both you and the dealer what is about to happen. Traci is going to be involved too if you want to catch them cold.”

We talked a while longer and reached agreement. I went to find Steve who was amazed that Traci was a casino employee. “You guys really played it well. I really believed you two were hot and heavy together and after the cabin…”

He stopped and repeated, “The cabin?”

I grinned and said, “It was a tough job, but someone had to do it.”

Traci sat down at the 6-12 table and began to play. The same three players were in today’s game. After an hour or so Steve came to deal his shift and I thought, “Now all we need is a good hand.”

Ten minutes into Steve’s shift the three seat gave a ‘good hand’ signal. A tourist called, Traci by plan called and one of the partner’s raised and the other partner called. The cards came and it was more of the same. The good hand bet and it was called by the tourist and Traci and a partner, and then the other partner raised—they were building a good size pot. I had signaled Traci that this was the hand. She asked Steve to change decks after this hand which was his signal. And I nodded to Gus who had been watching us.

It was the last betting round. The good hand bet. The tourist folded. Traci called. The next partner raised. The third partner folded and threw his two cards to Steve. The good hand raised, Traci called and the partner called.

The good hand turned over his two cards—he had a full house. Traci signaled she was beat. The other partner signaled that the full house also beat him. Traci said to Steve, “I want to see his hand pointing to the player who said he had lost.”

The player started to protest, but Steve interrupted and said, “The lady has every right to see your hand. You called down the bet. Turn your cards over.”

Gus had come up to the table and he said, “I want to see those cards too.”

The player reluctantly turned over his cards. They were a two and a five. He had been betting and raising with a hand that had no chance to win. Gus asked Steve, “How about the guy who folded?”

Steve had trapped the cards with his hand when the player folded. He turned them over and this time the cards were a four and a nine—another terrible hand. One of the other players at the table knew immediately what had happened and he said, “Son of a bitch…they were whipsawing us.”

Gus spoke to three security guards who had somehow appeared out of nowhere and said, “Take them to Security.

“Steve, void the last hand and give the players back their chips. Take the chips of those three and get a count; then split it evenly around the table to the active players.”

One of the crooks started to make a fuss, but now there were six security people present. The three players were quickly led away.

Traci stood up and went to cash in her chips. She and I went to Ryan’s office. He had been watching the whole thing on camera. He congratulated Traci and I on a good job, and told Traci to write down some notes now in case she had to testify in court. He didn’t think it would go that far since one of the cheats was already talking—he told them that the 6-12 game was just for practice since they planned to move up to the higher limit games when they had their moves perfected.

As Traci got up to leave and write her notes, Bill asked her, “How good are you at Blackjack Traci?”

Traci turned and said, “I’m pretty poor. I loved poker so much that I never spent a lot of time at the Blackjack table; I know the rules how to play, but I don’t know the best strategy.”

Bill was quiet for a second and turned to me and asked, “How’s your Blackjack ability?”

I said, “Before I realized that poker was giving me much better odds, I played it a lot. The suckers are probably giving the house a five or six percent advantage, but if you know what you are doing the percentage goes down to one-half of one percent or less.”

Bill asked, “Would you mind giving Traci some lessons. We think we have a problem with one of our dealers, and I would like Traci to nose around and observe whatever she can next week.”

I grinned and responded, “Bill, I can teach her in two days, but it will take both all day and all night for me to show her everything she needs to know…”

Traci interrupted, “Day is fine; we’ll see about night.”

She left to write her notes and Ryan and I were alone in his office. He said, “Roy, you helped us a lot and I appreciate it. I wish I could pay you, but that isn’t in the books. You must have spent 100 hours helping us out—a lot of money you missed making if you had been playing in your regular game. The word is that you and Traci fooled everybody about your relationship—everyone thought you two were hot items.”

“Bill,” I answered, “We are hot items. She is a fantastic woman.”

Bill said, “Well if I can ever do anything for you two, ask away.”

I thought for a second and said, “Well now that you mention it Bill, I can think of one thing that you might be able to work out for us,” And then described what I wanted.

He grinned and said, “Consider it done,” as he reached for the phone.

A little while later Traci rejoined us. The meeting was about over. A security guard came into the room and talked to Bill for a second and then Bill said, “Well that’s it. Take the next couple of days off Traci…on us. You did well.

“Roy thanks for your help.”

We shook hands and I palmed the card that was in Bill’s hand.

Traci and I were heading for the parking lot. I was holding her hand and had already asked for a celebration kiss which she enthusiastically gave me. We should have turned right, but I said, “I want to show you something.”

I took her to a quiet section of the casino where a security guard stood by a single elevator. I flashed the card that Bill had given me and he opened the elevator door. Traci looked at me, but all I said was, “Just let me show you first; no questions.”

The elevator went nonstop to the top floor of the casino. The door opened to a lobby area. There were only eight doors in the lobby and they were numbered one through eight. I led Traci to door seven and used the card to open the door. We walked through the door to the largest hotel suite I had ever seen. It was a VIP room used only by the biggest gamblers that came to the casino—a five thousand dollar a night room, but the big gamblers always got them free.

There was an entire wall of plate glass windows that looked out over the Strip. To our left was a very large bar area with a granite counter, six stools, and mirrors. On the bar were two vases; each held twelve red roses. In between the flowers were an expensive bottle of red wine and an equally expensive white wine already being chilled on ice. We walked over to the flowers and Traci picked up a simple card that read, “With the compliments and thanks of the casino management.”

I opened the bottle of white wine and poured two glasses; we toasted each other. I took her hand and we explored. There was an entertainment room with a large, flat screen television. The master bedroom was huge and the second bedroom not that much smaller. The bathroom was almost as big as my apartment. There was a very large walk in shower with six nozzles and in a separate room, a hot tub spa for two.

Towels had been laid out. Toothbrushes and toothpaste were on each basin, and one held shaving cream and a razor.

Traci had been shocked and hadn’t said a word as we toured the suite. She looked at me with confused eyes. I took her hand and we walked back to the main room and stood by the window and looked at the fantasy world of Las Vegas many floors below us. To our far right in the sky was a line of white lights. I pointed them out to Traci and said, “Those are the planes that are full of tourists with money to burn lined up to land at the airport.”

I turned to Traci and looked into her blue eyes and said, “The cabin wasn’t the right place. This is our room for the next two nights if you want it…if you think you want to make this the perfect place…for us?”

I could see everything come together in her eyes. What I offered her. Her eyes misted and then she reached for me…the first of many kisses.

We spent the next thirty minutes in the shower; our clothes had left a trail from the main room to the bathroom in our haste. I had washed Traci’s body with soapy hand towels for many minutes. The soft soapy cloth had excited her body in so many places, and then she did the same to me.

She stood in silence as I dried her body. Each sensitive part of her was kissed by me. I led her to the turned down bed and gently helped her lay down. We both laid on our sides facing each other. Between kisses my hands touched her breasts and stroked her hips. She was doing the same thing to me; there was no shyness in our nakedness.

I leaned over and kissed her again; our tongues probing each other. I gently pushed her on her back and her legs opened. My tongue began its trip down Traci’s body. The breasts that had so fascinated me were now mine to touch and tease. She gasped quietly as my mouth finally began to attack her nipples. My hand reached down to her vulva and my fingers lightly brushed her wet pubic hair.

My fingers continued to play with her as my mouth left her breasts and kissed her inner thighs. She whimpered and arched her hips, but it was too soon. My finger penetrated her and she moaned. A second finger joined the first.

Traci was pleading now for me to enter her; to give her the release that her body wanted. When my arousal caught up, I entered her. We quickly found our rhythm until our lust took over. My body sought to go deeper into her and she arched her hips trying to get more of me. I felt her vagina lightly contract around me and I knew it was soon. Traci gasped, “I want you now!”

Later Traci was on her side and my body was behind her like a spoon as we talked about our new love. My fingers reached over her and played with her breasts until, at times, her hands sought mine and directed them to other parts of her body to be stroked and teased. She told me that in the morning we would test out the hot tub and compare it to our first hot tub together. Minutes later Traci hands took mine and made my fingers lightly tease her clitoris; my erection searched for her again and found her opening. We came again.

Finally we faced each other on our side. I looked into her eyes and said, “You are so special. I love you with all my heart.”

Her blue eyes became brighter as they misted with the beginning of tears. The smile that I loved to see appeared and in that smile I heard it say, “You dummy…I know that!”