Introductions to Three Stories

"Okay with me," I said. "You deal."

On the very first hand of three card draw his eyes lit up. I had a pair of queens and matched his opening bet of two hundred dollars. He took two cards and smiled at me. "Well son, the price of poker has just gone up. It's going to cost you five hundred to stay with me."

Slowly I fanned my cards to see what lady luck had delivered in my three card draw. I didn't think he was bluffing, and my two queens needed help if I was going to keep going with no limit. When the other two queens peaked out at me I had to bite my tongue to keep a rigid expression on my face. Four queens was one of the best hands I have ever had.

"I think you're bluffing," I said. "You think you can intimidate me in a no limit game. I'm going to pay to see what you've got." I pushed five hundred into the center of the table, resisting the temptation to raise him at least another five hundred. With an almost unbeatable hand the trick is to drive up the betting by making the other guy think your cards are weak. Since he drew two cards, I figured he had a full house, or maybe four of kind, but not queens.

"Oh no," he growled. "You're not getting away with that. The way no limit poker is played on this boat you can't call until after three raises." He reached into his pocket and produced a wad of bills. His son and the girl looked alarmed. It was probably the last of his cash.

"One hundred, two hundred, three hundred, three hundred and fifty," he counted. "Match that and I'll show you my cards."

I matched him bill for bill from my pile on the table. Then I raised my eyes. "I'm glad you pointed out the no call rule doesn't come in until after three raises. I raise your three fifty by another one thousand."

That rocked him. He was out of cash and into the classic 'bet the ranch' situation. The girl pulled back, not so interested in him now that he might be broke. His son moved in close and spoke in a low tone.

"Better be careful Dad. We don't want to risk too much here."

"Nonsense," he barked. "I'm going to teach you a lesson. You can't let people bluff you in life. When you are sure of yourself, you have to go all in. I just need to put up something worth a thousand dollars and then all that cash will be ours."

I sat back and waited. It would be interesting to see how he was going to come up with the collateral. It was unlikely that he had the deeds to any properties with him on the boat.

"Son, go below and bring up Anna."

"No Dad, Anna belongs to me. You promised. This is the first night."

"You'll still have her. I just need to borrow her for a few minutes to close out this hand. Now, do as I tell you."

The young man scowled, but he left the salon to go to the staterooms. Mister-over-confident appraised his cards again and then studied me. "Anna is one of my slaves. She is a mulatto, very light-skinned, twenty years old, and beautiful. She's no virgin, but she's fresh as a daisy. She's on this trip as my son's twenty first birthday present."

"I never heard of a slave woman worth one thousand dollars," I said.

He smiled. "Wait until you see Anna. She's got curves on top of curves. I bought her last week from a friend of mine. He told me she's very submissive and heats up like a pancake on the griddle."

"I'll bet you didn't pay a thousand dollars for her," I replied.

"Wait till you see her."