Dave

Work was going well, and I began getting more into poker. I started going to the bigger tables, since I could afford to pay more now. I still did pretty well. The competition was better, and it helped me improve my game. I also got into a few smaller competitions. I did pretty well, and I even won one of them. Life went on. I didn't really have many expenses. I had my car, rent, and utilities. I was making a pretty decent salary, so I was able to save quite a bit. I also began investing. I didn't really need much to make me happy. Aside from parts for my Camaro and taking Gail out on some nice dates, my expenses were pretty low. I did end up buying a second car for when the Camaro was out of commission.

Gail graduated from UNLV. Of course, Mandy came out for that, as did her Aunt Elizabeth, her cousin Heather, and some woman named Naomi. Mandy and Naomi stayed with me that weekend. Gail was over quite a bit as well. I had seen a little bit of Gail's dominant side in the past, but that weekend was off the charts. Naomi's dress hit the floor before the door was even closed. She took the collar and leash from Mandy and immediately put it on. The only time she wasn't naked was when we went to the graduation ceremony and when they left for the airport at the end of the weekend. I'll never forget being buried hilt deep in her ass while her face was between Mandy's legs as Gail was whipping her ass with a riding crop. Mandy even demonstrated how Naomi could orgasm from having her tits and cunt whipped. (it was explained to me that little girls had vaginas, women have breasts and pussies, and submissives had tits and cunts).

Gail and I had a falling out. We actually broke up for a couple of years. A lot of it was my fault. I admit, I was a bit selfish. I knew who she was, but I was young and stupid. I also managed to completely humiliate myself. I have no excuse for it. I knew that she had been accepted to UCLA for their doctorate program in Mechanical Engineering. It happened two weeks before she was supposed to leave for LA.

"You're nervous, Dave. What's wrong." Gail asked.

We were having dinner in the Stratosphere. Of course, I was nervous. I was about to do the stupidest thing that I have ever done in my life. Oh, don't get me wrong. At the time I didn't think it was stupid. I actually thought that it was pretty smart.

"Oh, uuummm, nothing's wrong. Sorry, I didn't realize I was acting nervous. Must be the height of the restaurant." For those of you not familiar with the Stratosphere, it is REALLY high up in the air on a tower. We had just finished our dinner, and a surprise desert was about to be served.

"OK, Dave. If you're....." She began, then paused. Apparently, she saw the waitress looking directly at us as she was bringing something our way. "Oh, shit." She whispered to herself.

Sure enough, the waitress set our special desert down in front of us and stood back smiling.

"Dave?" Gail said. She was looking at me with a serious face.

There, sitting on top of the piece of cake, was the ring. Yep. Stupid me. I got down on one knee.

"Gail, will you...."

"No." She interrupted.

"Huh?"

"No, Dave. I won't marry you." She whispered. "Just..." She didn't finish. Instead, she got up and walked out.

By the time I had paid the check, she was gone. She had gotten a cab home. I tried to call a few times, but she refused to answer the phone. She even refused to come to the door when I went to her house. I tried to talk to her for the entire two weeks. I finally had to give up when her dad told me that she had left early and wasn't home. I finally received a text from her about a month later. It basically said that she did not want to see me or talk to me. I eventually picked up the pieces and tried to move on.

Over the next three years, life continued to move along. I still hit the strip occasionally and kept playing poker. I dated a few women, but there was nothing that had any potential for a future. It was mainly a physical release for me. I was never dishonest with any of the girls. I told them upfront that I was not looking for a long-term relationship. Most were OK with that. There were a couple that had tried to change my mind, and it led to a couple of broken hearts. I felt bad, but they knew the score before getting involved. I had never said the L word to any of them.

I was successful at my job by this time. I had focused on security systems for large corporations. I had managed to stop a few hacks and fixed other security issues for some big-name clients. I was getting my name known in the industry. I was also doing very well at the poker tables around the strip. I was getting my name known in those circles as well. Unfortunately, my new supervisor at work was a real asshole. I found myself stuck at my real job with a narcissistic moron who took full credit for anything good that was done by those under him yet passing along full blame for anything that went wrong. I had been making very subtle moves in making sure that the clients that I was dealing with knew exactly what I was doing for them, and that it was me that was doing all the work. I messaged them every time something happened, and what I did to fix it. I wasn't trying to blow my own horn (at least that's what the messages conveyed), but just informing them of what was going on. It wasn't long before they figured out who was actually doing all the heavy lifting.

One Saturday night, I was at one of the medium stakes' poker tables. I had been doing pretty well that night. One of the players was a rather attractive brunette who looked to be in her early 40's. She was about five-feet, six-inches tall. Somewhere around a 36C-cup breasts, really nice, full figure, but carried well. She had walked up to the table about an hour after I had arrived. Her dark green dress ended at her ankles but was split to about halfway up her thigh. She was wearing a very pretty pair of strappy 4-inch heels. The top of her dress was cut low and showed plenty of cleavage. Also, of importance, the finger next to her pinkie on her left hand was completely bare of decoration. Over-all it was a very attractive package. Hey, I'm a healthy straight young man. So, sue me if I notice an attractive woman.

It took a while, but I began to suspect that there was something going on with her. She was really subtle about it, so it took a while. I began to suspect something about an hour after she sat down. A few discrete plays over the next hour, and I was pretty sure that I was correct. Even though the table was full, she seemed to be playing mainly against me. Sure, there were times that she went head-to-head against some of the other players, but it was me that she usually pushed back against. Over the third hour, I began to subtly change my playing. She caught my eye half an hour into it and gave me a wicked smile. Damn, she was good. She had caught on, but never changed her style of play. They say that when you play poker if you look around and can't figure out who the sucker is -- it's you. I came to the sudden realization that I knew who the sucker at the table was. Oh, not for the whole table. That was the guy two places to my left. Unfortunately, there was another game going on just between the Brunette and me. Since I didn't know what that game was, I was the sucker by default. That kind of pissed me off.

I admit it. I broke concentration over that. Rule one: Emotions and poker are mutually exclusive. You can have one, but not the other. Once you let your emotions go, your chips begin flying away. Thankfully, it was not a huge pot. I got stupid and lost a hand that I should have won. That snapped me back to the task at hand. Now I was a bit pissed but managed to reign in my emotions. I decided that I would play her at her own game. I began becoming more aggressive against her. I continued my normal game with everyone else but attacked harder when it as just me against her. It took a few hands, but she noticed. Most of the other players noticed too and got more conservative when we went against each other.

I picked my moment. It was a pretty large pot already. Everyone else had dropped out. The flop was done. It was my bet. Our chip stack was pretty much even. It was getting a bit late, and I had stayed longer than I had originally intended. I decided that it was time to end this charade and see what the deal was. I looked across the table and locked my eyes on her.

"All in." I announced as I pushed my entire pile of chips to the center of the table.

"Interesting." She said to herself. "I was wondering when this would happen. Call!" She said as she pushed her stack in without breaking lock on my eyes.

I smiled as I flipped my cards. I had drawn and inside royal flush. Her full house didn't hold up.

"Fuck! I was sure that you were bluffing there." She exhaled.

"Nope." I responded. "I just wanted you to think that. Perhaps I can buy you a drink to make up for the deception?"

Her smile was back at that. "I think that would be a wonderful idea. I accept."

After I cashed in, I escorted her over to one of the lounges. We sat on one of the couches in a relatively private area and ordered our drinks. We began with some general conversations about a few things that really aren't important. It was another aspect of playing cards. You never put all your cards on the table at the beginning. You play casually as you scope out the competition. You need to get to know the people that you are playing against, so you don't do something stupid. There was another game being played here, and I was feeling her out to see what the game was. Another important rule that should be self-explanatory is that you NEVER play stakes if you don't know the rules of the game -- especially if you don't even know what game is being played.

"Now. I have a business proposition for you. Let's go somewhere a bit more private. There are too many ears here, and my partners and I wish to keep this confidential." She announced as she finished her drink and stood up.

Yes, I had the initial thought that she was a high-class escort, and the 'business proposition' was her body for a boatload of money. The fact that she had just lost more money than what would be charged and her mention of partners kind of threw that off. I decided to go and see what the offer was. Besides, I was still a relatively young horney guy, and she was still smoking hot. Yeah, she was a little older, but I had learned that a bit of maturity made a lot of women dynamos in bed. I am not ashamed to admit it that, this time, little head was leading the way. We ended up in her penthouse suite. Whoever she was, she was obviously not lacking in funds.

"There's whatever you want on the bar. Please make me a seven and seven, then make yourself comfortable." She said as she stepped into the bathroom.

I was sitting on the couch with a bourbon on the rocks when she returned. No, she hadn't gotten into 'something more comfortable'. She returned wearing the same clothes that she was wearing in the casino. She strode over to a chair, sat down, and took a sip of her drink."

"So, we both know that I was testing you out at the table this evening." She began. "I could tell when you first figured it out that I was there to play against you. We also know when you began testing me out and began trying to figure out what I was doing. What you didn't know was why." To this point, she had never properly introduced herself, and I still didn't know her name. Time to fix that.

"You are correct, so far, but you seem to have me at a disadvantage. You apparently know who I am, but I have no idea who you are. You mentioned a business proposal. Assuming that you did enough research into me to make any proposal that I might be even remotely interested in, you should already know that I don't do business with people that I don't know."

She just grinned. "Yes. We know that. First off, my name is Karen. I am 42-years old, divorced with two daughters that you will never meet. Both are in college. My divorce left me with a pile of money, plus, I have my own law firm. I learned to play poker about 10-years ago after my divorce. I found that the skills between poker and being a lawyer had a lot of similarity. Besides being a lawyer, I also have several other investments and partnerships. I will say right now that, in this case, you will most likely never know who my partners are. It won't be necessary, since they are just financial, and are never going to have any direct input in this. Before you leave, I will give you my business card, so you can do all the research on me that you need. I will not ask for an answer tonight, but I will need an answer within the next four days."

"That sounds reasonable. So, what's the proposition?"

"Let me explain a couple of things first. For starters, I am friends and business partners with several wealthy men and women. We have a certain little slush fund that we use to make some investments of different sorts. What we mainly use the fund for is finding certain individuals with certain talents and fund them in different competitions. These competitions are usually for rather high stakes. Of course, we do quite a bit of research and background on the individuals before we approach them. It is an investment, after all. Now, what does that have to do with you? Well, for the last several months, we have been hearing about a young man that is really good at playing poker, yet he always seems to stay away from the higher stake's tables. After watching him for a while, we determined that he is actually good enough to do very well if he moved up. I, personally, have watched you play several times. Tonight, was my chance to sit down and play against you to get a final read on you. I must say, I was rather impressed. I get the feeling that you really only play for entertainment. You never risk a lot. Sure, you could win more at the larger tables, but that never seems to concern you."

"You're right." I confirmed. "Poker is just something I enjoy. It's just entertainment for me. Some people throw away $200 on a show for a couple of hours. Others have no problem spending $500 on a few hours of entertainment at a club. Personally, I prefer to drop a couple hundred dollars at a poker table that will keep me entertained for a few hours. If I happen to walk away with more than I walked in with, that's just a bonus. Once my money hits the table, I consider it gone."

"So, have you ever considered entering in a tournament?"

"No. Not really. Again, I just play for enjoyment. I've never really been that interested in competing just to prove myself. The only ones that I could afford don't have a big enough pay-out to interest me. The other ones cost more than I want to spend."

"What if someone else was willing to pay the buy-in for you? Suppose I offered to pay the buy-in for several large tournaments, as well as the buy-in for the World Series of Poker? My partners and I would front the money, and you would play. All earnings from that would be split 50-50." She offered.

"Suppose I lose. Would you expect me to pay it back?" A reasonable question, I thought.

"Absolutely not. Again, this is an investment. It's the same as with the stock market. If we were to buy stock in a company, and it went bankrupt, we would be out the money. The company that we bought the stock in would not be required to reimburse us. This would be the same thing. We would invest in your abilities. If you lose, we lose. All investments are a gamble. The best that you can do is to do your research and due diligence, then hope for the best. Of course, this would all be in writing and we would be signing a contract for it."

We discussed a few more details, such as which tournaments I would play in, how the money would be split, and a bit about how the bigger tournaments differed from the smaller tables that I was used to. Eventually, it was time for me to head home. No, we didn't have sex that night. We thought that it would be best to keep a professional relationship for now.

I took the next couple of days to think it over and do a bit of research on some of the bigger games around. Eventually, I couldn't really find a good reason not to do it, so I called and accepted the offer. Thus, began my second career as a poker player.

Over the next several months, I began going to some of the bigger tournaments. I won a few and did decent at the rest. I also found that there was a whole other side of these tournaments as well. The public only sees the main room where the real games are played. What they don't see are the practice rooms. Between the main events, a lot of the players spend time honing their skills and learning about the other players in these rooms. No prizes are awarded there, and there are no official recognitions with the tournament, but there is a significant amount of betting going on.

There is no official 'Buy In' for these games, and the chips are supposed to be free. These games are set up just for practice. Unofficially, there is a lot of private betting happening. Most of the time, it is one on one between two players over a particular hand, but there are also times when several players will agree to a set buy in for the table. The cash is held by the person that organized the table and doled out when the game is over. If you know what you are doing, you can sometimes win more in the practice rooms than by winning the tournament. There are even a few players that actually sandbag the real tournament in order to cash in on the practice rooms. Personally, I just tried to play my best wherever I was. The money I won in the practice rooms was all mine, but I had to split the money from the tournament with my sponsors.

Perhaps I should mention that not all wagers in the practice rooms were monetary. Sometimes there were certain 'favors' that were wagered. Say there was a rather attractive female that was a bit short on cash. There were two aces up, and the last card was about to be dealt. Let's also assume that I was holding an ace as well as three queens. Let's also assume that said attractive woman was holding only pair of aces and non-face cards. Three aces is a pretty decent hand. With one card to go, there is the possibility that either the fourth ace will show, or that she will manage an Ace High full house. Of course, I have no idea that she is holding those two aces, but a queen high full house with aces is still a very strong hand. Everyone else has dropped by this point, so it is just the two of us. She is really short on chips.

"Tell you what, stud. I think you're bluffing, so I'll raise you with the rest of the night in your bed against $500 cash."

"Call."

She did not get her full house, but I did get a very delectable treat in my bed. The next night she brought two of her girlfriends to my room for an interesting game of strip poker. It got even more interesting after the three of them were naked and began betting activities. I ended up extending my hotel for another night and calling in sick to work on Monday.

The upshot of all this is that I became qualified for the World Series of Poker. This was a HUGE event for me. I had never been in anything like this before. Karen had decided that she would be my escort for the weekend. She did this for two reasons. First, it was to keep me grounded and calm. She had a unique was of calming my nerves. It involved a LOT of sex. I was OK with that approach. Second, it intimidated a lot of the lower level players when I walked in with a stunning woman in an evening gown and sky-high heels on my arm. Half the game in high stakes poker is psychological. Strutting into the room with an extremely classy woman in a $5,000 evening dress and 6-inch Jimmy Choo heels is sort of intimidating. Granted, it didn't affect the top tier players, but there was nothing to be done about that.