The Game

We've been playing the game for almost eight years. Once a month, usually on a Friday night, I, and five of my best friends get together to play Texas Hold'em poker.

I'm Stan and my buds names are Derrick, Neil, Rod, Bret and Steve. The game started in the dorms at university during our senior year. Back then, we played once a week for pennies, nickels and dimes. Since graduation, we've settled into corporate jobs and we're all married except Bret. We have wives. Bret has a permanent girl friend who shares an apartment with him.

Each month, we meet at a different home at seven in the evening and play until eleven when we call it quits and go home. Usually, the spouse of the host helps with the necessary refreshments, mostly to thwart the players invading and disturbing the organization of her kitchen. Beer is allowed. Cigars are not. She's usually accompanied by the spouse of another player who volunteers to help and they have their own social visit.

Over time, the game matured and changed. We graduated to nickel, dime, and quarter wagers and, three years ago, we've graduated to dollars. Even with the changes, we were staggered by the monumental change in direction the game took a number of years ago.

We were gathered in my home. I had set up the portable poker table in the middle of the living room. We were gathered around the table while Derrick, an accountant and designated banker of the game, was taking money and passing out chips. Derrick's wife, Florence, she prefers Flo, had arrived with him and she was helping my wife Virginia, she prefers Ginny, with the first round of beers, chips and dips. That sounds misogynistic but they insist they enjoy helping "the boys" play their games.

We played for about two hours before Bret looked at his watch and announced he had to leave early Abby's parents were due for a short visit and he had promised to get home early to help her prepare. Leaving early was a non-starter as was the eleven o'clock quitting time. Winners are not allowed to leave early but we made an exception for Bret since he wasn't winning and not helping his flat mate could cause him, and us, problems in the future. Steve, who had shared a ride with Bret, was an unfortunate victim of Bret's commitment. Derrick cashed them out and they left.

Curious about the change in our group, Ginny and Flo came into the living room.

"What happened to Bret and Steve?" asked Ginny.

"Bret had to leave early and he was Steve's ride," I told them.

"How's that going to affect the game?" she asked.

"We can play with four," I said.

"Doesn't that change the game?" Ginny asked.

"A little. The pots will be smaller and the competition isn't quite as robust," I agreed.

Ginny stood next to the table for a moment. She looked at Flo and said, "What do you think?"

"I think it would be fun," Flo responded.

None of the four of us seated at the table had the slightest idea what they were talking about. Ginny vanquished our confusion when she said, "Flo and I could take their places."

"You want to play poker with us?" I asked.

"Why not? We've played poker before," she insisted.

"This is a pretty aggressive game. You think you could keep up the pace?"

"If we don't try we'll never know," Ginny countered.

I looked at the other guys. I didn't see a lot of dissent. "Have a seat," I said.

Ginny and Flo made themselves comfortable in the chairs recently vacated by Bret and Steve. Without missing a beat, Derrick said, "I'm going to need a hundred dollar buy in from each of you."

"A hundred dollars!" exclaimed Ginny and Flo in unison. "We don't have that kind of cash with us," explained Ginny.

"The cash is for chips. We use chips to bet. The chips are less messy than cash and makes keeping score easier. You get the money back later when you cash in the chips you have at the end of the game," Derrick explained.

Ginny and Flo conferred quietly. "Can we bet something else?" Ginny asked.

"What did you have in mind?" asked Derrick.

"Clothing," said Ginny. Flo nodded in agreement.

"Clothing?" asked Derrick. "How would that work?" he asked.

"Each article of our clothing must be worth some number of chips. If we lose the chips, we'll take off something to buy the chips back," suggested Ginny.

I looked at the other guys, already knowing what they thought of Ginny and Flo's proposal. Neil looked at Derrick and me. "They're your wives," he said. "You make the decision."

"Alright, you can play for clothing," I said.

"You realize that Flo and I could end up naked," Ginny stated.

"True," I agreed.

"Do you think that's fair?" Ginny asked.

"It was your idea," I reminded her.

"I think we should all play with the same stakes," Ginny asserted.

Trapped, I looked at the rest of the men. I could see they were all willing to risk their clothing if there was a chance they could see Ginny and Flo naked. "Fine," I said. "Loser of each hand takes off something."

"That's not entirely fair," said Ginny.

"What now?" I asked.

"There are four of you and two of us," she said. "Even if losing was evenly distributed, we'd lose our clothing twice as fast as the rest of you," Ginny explained.

Derrick spoke up. "Let me handle this," he said.

Derrick cashed in each of the guys and then gave each of the women twenty white chips. The men got twenty black chips each. "Okay," he said. "Here's how it works. We play normal Hold'em. We bet as usual and the winner collects the chips at the end of each hand. If the winner is a guy, he can then use white chips from the pot to buy clothing from the women. A gal can do the same for the men's clothing with the black chips. I suggest five chips for each article of clothing. All things being equal, there should be twice the number of black chips in the pot than there are white chips."

"That works for me," said Ginny. "Only one addition. A winner can't buy two articles in a row from the same person."

"Agreed," said Derrick. "Maximum bet on the deal and flop is one chip; two chips on the turn and four on the river. Unlimited raises. We'll dispense with the small and big blinds. Ante is one chip. Are we good to go?" he asked.

No one objected.

We cut the cards to see who dealt first. Rod gained the honor. He shuffled the deck and tossed a chip in the center of the table. The rest of us followed suit. I looked at the four black and two white chips in the center of the table and I was struck at the deeper meaning they conveyed.

Rod dealt two cards face down around the table and put the deck down. He looked at me on his left. "Your bet," he said.

I tossed in a chip, Derrick folded and Neil tossed in a chip. Flo folded, Ginny confidently tossed in a chip and Rod followed with one of his own.

Rod buried a card and turned over the next three. I and Neil checked, Ginny tossed in another chip. Rod matched her and raised her with another chip. Two chips to me. I folded. Neil looked at his hand and folded. Ginny called and added another chip ending the betting.

Only Rod and Ginny remained. Ginny added another chip on the turn and Rod kept pace. The river card was an ace. Ginny raised two chips. Rod considered his cards and added four chips to the pot, a two chip raise. Ginny pushed in four chips, a reraise and Rod folded. Ginny didn't have to show us her cards but she was too excited to resist. Her pocket aces explained her strategy.

There were thirteen black chips in the pot and twelve white chips. Ginny collected them all. She carefully separated the chips and stacked five black chips in front of her. "Who can I buy some clothing from?" she asked.

"Any guy you want," I told her.

She looked at me. She shoved the stack in my direction. "Okay," she said. "Give up something."

I added the chips to my stack and took off a shoe.

"Damn," said Ginny. I forgot about shoes. A second stack of five black chips was pushed at Rod who removed a shoe of his own.

What do I do with the rest of the black chips?"

"Keep them," said Derrick. "Maybe you'll win another hand."

We played for the next ninety minutes. I still wore my trousers and underwear; Derrick still had four items and Neil three. Flo was down to her bra, skirt and, I assume, panties. Ginny was in bra and panties and Rod wore just his tented boxer shorts when the alarm on my phone went off.

"That's it," I said. "Game over."

"Game over?" questioned Ginny. "Who says?"

"We always play until eleven. It's eleven. Time to quit."

"Shit. You're going to leave us like this? Just when thing were getting interesting," complained Ginny.

"Maybe next time," I suggested.

After everyone had gone, Ginny and I sat down with a glass of wine and talked. Ginny was still in just her bra and panties.

"Damn," she cursed. "I was ready to take off my bra and reveal all to Neil, Rod and Derrick. Why did you have to stop the game?"

"It was eleven. By agreement we stop at eleven and settle up. It prevents sore losers from complaining if a winner quits early. Everybody plays. Everybody stays. Final winners and losers are determined by the clock without pressure to keep playing so someone has an opportunity to get even or lose even more."

"I get it," said Ginny, "but you spoiled my fun and my big reveal."

"Maybe next time," I told her again.

Little did I know how soon "next time" would be.

A month later, we gathered for the game at Neil's house. If Leigh was expecting six of us to play poker, she had prepared too much food and beverages. However, Leigh knew exactly what she was doing. All four other wives and one girlfriend showed up to play.

The men were initially surprised but, after Abby explained, that when the women heard the details of the game with Ginny and Flo the previous month, "they all wanted to join in the fun." Disappointed and energized at the same time, Neil took down the poker table, Ginny gave me a snide grin and we all gathered in the living room to play.

We pushed back the furniture and sat on the carpet in a circle, men on one side and women on the other.

Derrick handed out the chips. "We don't have enough chips to give each of us 20 chips.

"Wait a second," said Ginny. She jumped up and retrieved her purse from the kitchen. She removed two more packages of chips and gave them to Derrick. "These should be enough," she said.

I looked at her strangely.

"Always prepared," she said.

There were plenty of white chips to fund the women. Half the men got black chips and half the men got blue chips to complete their stacks.

"Same rules?" asked Derrick.

"Same rules," confirmed Ginny, who seemed to be the unofficial spokesman for the women. "And still no ganging up on one individual when you buy clothing," she added.

"I agree," said Derrick. "In fact, I think we should eliminate the need for the winner to pick the losers."

"How do we manage that?" asked Ginny. "Somebody has to decide who gives up clothing."

"I suggest that each time someone buys clothing it should be from the individual with the smallest stack of chips. That way, they replenish their chips as a minor compensation for removing an article of clothing. We'll settle ties with a draw of a card."

"I like that," said Misty, Rod's wife. Ginny echoed her comment and the game was on.

The game was amazingly even for the first two hours, before Misty ran out of chips. "Now what do I do if I want to keep on playing?" she asked.

The twelve of us had an animated discussion about how to handle Misty's conundrum. Proposals included everyone donating a chip to just the other women donating a chip. Derrick, in his default wise man designation, suggested what became the final answer. "I suggest anyone in Misty's position can use clothing to buy chips from the bank."

"I can live with that," said Misty, who was still wearing at least four pieces of clothing. How much?"

"The current rate is the same as for winners, five chips per article," said Derrick.

Misty removed her shirt and tossed it to Derrick. "I'm using red chips for this purpose," he said. Anyone with red chips at the end of a hand can turn them in for chips of their own color. No one is allowed to buy any clothing with the red chips since they've already represent lost clothes."

We agreed. Misty tossed two red chips into the pot and called the bet. She'd made a good bargain, she won the pot and Neil and her husband, Rod, paid the price.

Soon after, Ginny got her wish. She was the first loser to remove an article of clothing that would expose skin that usually didn't see daylight. She stood up, faced the men squarely, and dramatically took off her bra. Her ample breasts settled on her chest as five men inhaled.

"Let me see," said Kathy, Steve's wife, who was sitting close to Ginny and was now behind her.

Ginny turned so that all the other women could see her naked breasts. "Nice," said Kathy.

"Damn straight," echoed Steve.

Things slowed down as each of the players was unwilling to risk more than necessary. Most hands ended with five players checking on the deal and folding on the flop. Most winners had only the ante to work with and a guarantee of six chips from the opposite gender. At least one player lost an item of clothing with every deal and the tension increased proportionally.

Ginny may have been the first to reveal her tits but not the first to remove their draws. That honor fell to Rod. Rod stood up in front of everyone without Ginny's determination. He stood, apparently frozen at the thought of exposing his very erect penis.

"For Christ's sake Rod," called out Misty. "Just get it over with or I'll do it for you."

Apparently, being called out by his wife was more intimidating than exposing himself. He pulled off his boxers, resisted covering himself with his hands, turned around once for everyone to see and sat down again.

"Good choice," said Misty.

"That's nothing to be embarrassed about," said Abby.

"Next hand," said Derrick.

"Wait a minute," interrupted Misty. "What about Rod"?

"What about Rod?" asked Derrick.

"Is he still in the game?"

"If he wants to be. He still has chips."

"What if he loses again. In case you didn't notice, he doesn't have any clothing to sell," pointed out Misty.

"Good point," agreed Derrick. "What about losing after you're naked?" he asked the group.

A discussion ensued. There were various suggestions including dares.

Ginny spoke up. "I like the possibility of dares," she said. "I suggest that naked participants continue to play and naked losers are required to complete a dare or favor."

"I think I know what a dare is. What's a favor?" asked Misty.

"A dare is something you do by yourself, such as ordering delivery pizza and answering the door naked or running around the house outside naked. A favor is something you do for or to another person, usually the winner if they have at least five chips to spend," explained Ginny.

"Do favors include things like physical contact?" asked Misty.

"I think so. I think it includes blow jobs, tit kissing and other sexual activities," Ginny amplified.

"Sex?" asked Misty.

"Unless we decide to prohibit everything beyond a certain point. For example, penetration."

"Does anybody have a problem with no prohibitions?" asked Misty.

Peer pressure and lots of adult beverages influenced our decision. Nobody objected.

The game continued. Betting was conservative, but the stripping continued. Leigh and Neil were the next to get naked, followed quickly by Abby, Ginny and Kathy. We played until Rob won and he pushed a stack of five white chips toward Misty. By that time only Rod and Steve still had their underwear on.

"Dare or favor?," Rod asked Misty.

"Favor," said Misty immediately.

Smiling, Rod replied, "Give me a blowjob."

"What?" asked Misty. We do that all the time. You couldn't think of something else?"

Rod sat quietly. "You picked," he stated simply.

"Shit. Okay. How long?" Misty asked.

"Two minutes," said Derrick.

Misty scooted over to Rod, pulled off his briefs and started a less than energetic blowjob while everyone watched and wondered where the rest of the evening was headed. Two minutes later, Derrick called time. Misty scooted back to her place and wiped the saliva off her face. Rod reached for his underwear.

"Hold on stud," said Ginny. "You gave them up, they stay off."

"But I didn't lose them," Rod countered.

"You gave them up voluntarily as part of Misty's favor. They stay off."

Steve took off his boxers in support of Rod.

Flo won the next hand. A quick audit discovered that I had one less chip than Neil.

Dare or favor?" asked Flo.

"Favor," I picked.

"Okay," said Flo. "I want you to come over here and kiss and suck my tits."

I looked at Ginny and she laughed. I crawled over to Flo and she lay on her back on the floor. I cupped a breast in one hand and gently kissed her nipple. "Do better than that," said Flo.

I palmed both breasts, kissed the nipples and then sucked on the right nipple. "That's better," said Flo.

I was really getting into it. Flo had her eyes closed, her legs up on her heels and she was trying to grab a piece of carpet with her hands, when Derrick said, "Time."

Bret was shuffling the cards for the next hand when my watch alarm went off. "Eleven o'clock," I said. "Time to quit."

"Bullshit," said Ginny. "My tits are lonely."

"Rules are rules," I said. "We agreed to quit at eleven."

"Stan is right," said Derrick. "Rules are rules.

Grudgingly, everyone got dressed in socially acceptable minimums and engaged in passionate good-byes. Every one of the men took the opportunity to make Ginny's tits feel popular and a couple of the women did too.

On the way home, Ginny was bouncing all over the seat. "I wasn't kidding," she said. "My tits are tingling and so is my pussy."

"I get that," I said. "I'll do my best to take care of your tits and then your pussy when we get home."

"Both at the same time or I'll go insane," Ginny said.

Neither of us got much sleep that night.

The next poker night was scheduled for Rod and Misty's place. Somehow, it got switched to Steve and Kathy's house and it was moved up two weeks. When I asked, Ginny explained that Steve and Kathy had a larger house with four bedrooms and the reschedule should be obvious.

"You seem to have an expectation as to how the evening is going to develop," I said.

"Don't you?" asked Ginny.

"It does seem obvious, doesn't it?" I said.

"It does," confirmed Ginny. "Do you have any problems with it?" she asked.

"No," I answered. "Flo's tits were amazing. I could use more of that."

Ginny laughed and grabbed my hand. "Come with me and I'll show you how amazing my tits are," she said.

Steve and Kathy have a huge house on three acres. There was plenty of parking in the circular driveway adjacent to the main entrance. Based on the number of cars in the driveway, we were the last to arrive. Ginny asked for my watch and put it in the glove box.

Steve answered the door. Four of the women were surrounding Abby, obviously happy about something. Abby saw Ginny and ran over to her. "Bret asked me to marry him," she said breathlessly as she showed Ginny her new ring. Ginny hugged Abby and expressed her joy at Abby's new status. I went over to Bret and congratulated him as well.

Inside, we gathered in a large den. The furniture had been pushed against the walls and the carpeted floor was littered with cushions and pillows. There was a deck of cards in the center of the room and twelve stacks of chips, half white, half black, arranged in a circle on the carpet. There was a pile of towels next to the circle.

When I asked Ginny about the towels, she explained that Neil had to have the carpet cleaned after the last party. I pretended to understand her explanation.

We agreed to start at seven. We spent the waiting time consuming liquid courage, eating chips and gorging on shrimp and cocktail sauce. Exactly at seven we were all seated next to a pile of chips of the appropriate color. Women on one side of the circle, men on the other.