The Poker Game Ch. 02: The Big Blind

"Good evening gentlemen and welcome. My name is Stephanie, Mr. Davis's assistant. You must be Reggie, gesturing to the shorter man. And I believe that would make you Jason." Extending her arm to shake both of their hands. "I've heard a lot about both of you. Dwayne just arrived a few minutes ago. Please come in."

The shorter of the two men asked as he entered the house, "How did you know I was Reggie?"

Laughing in obvious mockery, following his friend inside, "I don't know, maybe because you're so short? It is your definable feature. You haven't spoken, so she couldn't possibly know what an ass you are yet. If it can't be that, it has to be your diminutive stature."

Stephanie laughs, then offers the exact same brief tour through the house. Jason stops to take a better look at one specific painting. "Wait, wait, wait... Stephanie, I think I've seen this painting before... in a magazine? Is this an original Klimt?" Jason is visually impressed.

"Yes, sir. He is very proud to hang that piece. I believe Mr. Davis saw that same magazine. It was purchased and hung within a month of him learning it was available. Later, I would be happy to show you more."

After a minute to appreciate the beautiful painting, the tour completed in the poker room.

Stephanie gestured over to the poker table. "Gentlemen, first we would like you to pick your seats for play. Please select any of the remaining cards to reveal your seat number."

Leading the way, Reggie grabs the card in the center and flips it to reveal the five of spades. Ben follows, selects the card to the far right and shows the three of spades. "Excellent. Jason, please put your money in front of the center chair. Pardon me, Reggie, I don't see..."

Reggie reaches under his untucked crimson shirt and into his pants pocket, pulling out a fairly thick roll of bills wrapped in a rubber band. "No, I'm good." With conceit and obliviousness to the riches surrounding him, he tosses the roll end over end into the air. Hands seemingly made of stone fumble the reception, dropping it onto the floor at his feet. Jason outwardly snickers. Now embarrassed, he quickly reaches down, picks it up from the floor and places it in front of the leftmost chair, with the playing card on top.

Jason notices the other players put their playing cards on top of their cash. He opens the zippered pouch and pulls out four wrapped stacks of cash, making his buy in. "I brought a little extra and enough to break hundreds." He meticulously places the four untouched stacks on top of each other, not one bill out of place. Then realizing he is missing his finishing touch, places his three of spades card on top.

"Excellent. Now, we can move over to the library and start the party."

Stephanie is proud to lead her guests knowing 'lil Reggie is zoned in on her ass as she glides into the room. She knew how to work it just enough to make you wonder if it's done with purpose. Drawing a breath to announce her new guests, she is taken off guard when Reggie jumps in front and screams, "BOSCO!!" Again, Jason shakes his head causing Stephanie to snicker.

Ben turns from his conversation with Dwayne to greet his new arrivals. The four old friends warmly greet each other. "Reggie, how have you been? You look... so damn short... Jason, my lord, you look like you grew 3 inches... How have you been?"

"So good to see you too, Bosco, it's been too long. No, thank you, I have not grown any. It just seems that way standing next to Reggie." The old friends exchange a hearty laugh and a sincere hug. "Is this everyone?"

Stephanie silently returns to the group, handing her boss a cold bottle of beer he never asked for. "Thank you, Stephanie. No, we're waiting for one more. Stephanie will help you get settled while we wait for him. He texted me, said he would be here shortly."

Stephanie smiles, "Can I get you boys something to drink?"

Reggie reacts like he was just rescued from the Mohave Desert. "Beer would be a great start!"

"Club soda with lime please," Jason says. To this, the entire room responds with boos, hisses, and emasculations... "Ok, ok! I will have a beer also. Thank you." Stephanie walks over to the bar, retrieves the order and brings each to the guests.

She noticed the room had a buzz now of four old friends catching up. It made her feel good to see Big Daddy let his guard down a little and just be one of the guys. She spent a lot of time with him both personally and professionally and hasn't seen this side before.

She excuses herself to check in on the caterers and be sure that everything is still on schedule. Entering the kitchen, she is enveloped in a scent that instantly made her mouth water. The three caterers were busy stirring and chopping, chopping and stirring, none of the three noticed her enter.

"Chef Fabrizio?" The head chef, a fairly large, bear of a man with the delicate touch of a watchmaker looked up from his work. His face lights up at the sight of her standing there. "Are we still on schedule? Everything ok?" Stephanie aids her feeble attempt at communication with a double thumbs up hand gesture and a quizzical face.

He moved toward her to avoid slowing down his team. "Ciao bella, ti senti stasera stupefacente." She didn't speak much Italian but was very well versed in men flirting with her. Not knowing what he said at all, she knew to be flattered. They embraced for a moment, enough to kiss on each cheek. "Ahhh, si bella. Everyting esa good. Dona you worry bout us... we takin agoo care ova yoo. Esa right, you no eat?" His face pained by the idea that he wouldn't be able to cook for her also.

"Well, not exactly. I will not be eating with them, but I would love a small plate if you have enough?"

Chef Fabrizio's face lit up again. "Course Bella, always plenty, you know I taking agood care hova yoo. I to have asomating ready fora you and I puta extra in the fridge afora later. I leava you plate right here, es good?"

"Yes, Chef Fabrizio. That is perfect. Thank you so much for taking care of me." Not missing the chance, the large chef gave her another big hug. Turning and yelling something in Italian to someone wearing a white coat, making them jump like a rabbit and scurry to run somewhere to do something like now, Chef Fabrizio returned to his work.

Ding-dong. Gulp... game on. Stephanie turns and heads back to the front door to greet her final arrival, knowing full well who it was this time. Opening the door, she smiled brightly. "Good evening Mr. Johnson. Come on in. Everyone else is already here."

"Oh, I'm sorry, am I late?" Mr. Johnson questioned.

"No, not at all Mr. Johnson. Perfect timing. They are just inside catching up." Opening the door brings her into the light and Henry Johnson gets his first view of her from tip to tail. Stephanie doesn't deny him his moment.

"Uh, please Stephanie, here, you don't work for me. You can call me Henry tonight. Do I give this to you?" Attempting to hand Stephanie the buy-in as he entered the house, she closed the door behind him noticing he was not his inner office power persona. If anything, he was even a bit nervous.

"No sir, not yet. Please hold onto that and follow me. There are three guests, plus you and Mr. Davis. Jason, the tall one, and Mr. Davis grew up together and have been friends since they were children. They met Reggie and Dwayne at Stanford. They all shared the same suite throughout and graduated together. I've only just met them myself. I've also just checked in on Chef Fabrizio, and believe me, dinner smells amazing. You're in for a special treat." Stephanie explains as they walk towards the game room.

"Fabrizio is cooking for us too? Wow, Ben is really going all out for this. You're joining us tonight?" Mr. Johnson asks with the stealthy anticipation of a teenager trying to undo his first bra.

"Not as a guest, sir. I may not be working for you, but I am here working tonight. I'm here to greet you, introduce everyone and manage the staff so that Mr. Davis and his guests enjoy your evening to the fullest. I will not be joining you for dinner. But I will rejoin you when the game starts to deal. Mr. Johnson... Sorry, Henry, let's get you setup to play. Please come with me and select one of the two remaining cards to draw for your seat."

He picks the card on the right, shows her the deuce of spades and places his money in his seat and the playing card on top. Looking over to Stephanie, thinking for a second, wanting to say something but stops himself. After a second ponderous moment he straightens and steps over to the young woman. Finally choosing his words more carefully, he says, "Stephanie, you can't know how long it's been." She had no idea where he was going with this and suddenly felt a bit nervous. "I'm almost a bit nervous... I've been wanting to play for so long."

Deciding she didn't care if he was playing with her or not, and she was going to take control of this. "Well great, you can play tonight." Turning away from him and walking to the door, "You may even get lucky, let me introduce you to everyone and get you a drink."

They arrive at the library where the four friends are exchanging stories and catching up. Stephanie is sure to properly introduce this guest. "Mr. Davis, gentlemen, this is Henry Johnson. Mr. Davis, seat number four will be yours."

Ben sees his boss and breaks away to greet him personally. "Henry, so glad you could come. Let me introduce you to everyone. The tall one is Jason. Watch out, that guy is incredibly smart. This sexy bastard here is Dwayne, and the short one that we allow to hang around with us is Reggie. Gentlemen, this is my boss, Henry Johnson. Be nice to him early and don't feel bad about cleaning him out later, he has plenty more." Just then Stephanie hands Mr. Johnson a glass of prized Scotch. "And of course, you know Stephanie."

"Yes. Nice to meet all of you. Thank you for inviting me."

To that, Reggie chimed in, "Who the fuck is this Mr. Davis? Stephanie, you MUST call him Bosco," causing the room to laugh heartily.

"Thank you, Reggie. I do appreciate that but I'm here working for Mr. Davis tonight and not here as one of Mr. Davis's guest. Until Mr. Davis asks me to call him anything other than Mr. Davis, I think I will refrain." This caused another roar from the group and a look of appreciation from her boss. "Now, if you will excuse me, I will check on dinner."

She marks the final preparation task as complete in her mind. Time Check: 6:42 pm -- I love it when a plan comes together...

Upon entering the kitchen, she sees food being put on plates, sauces being drizzled, and garnish sprinkled. Chef Fabrizio is quarterbacking the team, ensuring each plate is up to his standard of perfection before leaving his surrogate kitchen. He notices the beautiful woman has entered his world again. Looking up, he gives her a knowing wink, returns a double thumbs up and returns to his work. Stephanie understands this to mean the first course was ready. As she turns back towards the door she just entered, she pondered how that could possibly be the first thing tonight that he communicated which she was actually able to translate easily and clearly. It's time to get the party started.

Ding, ding, ding, rings the bell. "Gentlemen, dinner is ready, please follow me."

The dining room was as elegant as the rest of the house. Jason pondered if his old friend had also purchased land affluent in mahogany and black marble. It was everywhere. Never gaudy, never out of place or over the top. Every room, every fixture, every single piece of furniture was just elegant and stylish. The large dining table was nothing short of exquisite. The settings were in place and everything looked perfect.

As everyone found their seats, Stephanie ventured into the kitchen to give Chef Fabrizio the thumbs up to go ahead, like 'aloha', the gesture now seemed to work for everything, then to the bar to refresh everyone's drinks. Before she finished serving the second round the procession of staff entered holding plates of appetizers. "Gentlemen, your first course, lobster risotto." Each plate was placed in front of the guests at the exact same time. "I will be back in a bit to check on you. Enjoy."

Stephanie removed herself and checked the clock. It was now 6:52 pm and everything was exactly what she was hoping for. But she still had work to do. Retrieving her tablet and phone, on the way towards the kitchen, she checks her messages to be sure nothing important happened while she was busy. Once arriving in the kitchen, she found her meal still steaming as if just served for her.

She was only anticipating to find his famous lobster risotto, but he actually prepared an entire meal for her, just smaller portions and all served at all at once so she could eat and run. Next to it a full glass of red wine. She thought to herself, Chef Fabrizio may have just earned himself a killer blowjob.

While she ate, she reviewed her pre-game checklist. Remaining tasks included checking in on the guests at 7:15 pm, getting the cigars and ashtrays ready, the room lighting, refilling the rolling bar, put on panties and a bra for taking off, stash the dildo and vibrator for the first envelope, get the music queued up and ready, get Big Daddy's buy-in and seat ready, prepare the table, dealer button, breaking down the cash for smaller betting, be sure the caterers are on top of cleanup, prepare their tips for the caterers. Letting the caterers know to leave her plate, she would be back to finish, Stephanie set off to start checking off her next round of tasks.

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Stephanie hears the clock chime while pushing another pile of cash in the direction of Dwayne, marking it now being 9 pm.

She looks over at Big Daddy to be sure the plan is still on. He returns a look and nod confirming approval, never breaking from politely making small talk with the table on how the last exciting hand played out. Dwayne took a well thought out risk and the long shot came through and paid off. It was impressive and he was getting noticed early for his poker sense. She waits for Dwayne to finish sorting and stacking his bounty, then asks for the table's attention.

Stephanie takes a stack of envelopes off a small table on her right side and places them in front of her with her hands gently folded on top. The envelopes are obviously not standard. The paper showed to be of quality stock, even from a distance. The top envelope on the stack showing a beautifully elegant hand-scripted font showing the number '1'.

"Gentlemen. I'm so glad everyone is enjoying themselves this evening. I know Mr. Davis wanted to make this a night to remember. I can assure you that you currently have no idea how much. There are additional plans which we have not yet brought to light."

With this, the boys start looking around at each other with a new excitement, as if everyone was simultaneously given a shot of adrenaline. Ben wasn't giving anything away, just sitting back sipping his prize scotch with a quiet confidence allowing Stephanie control of the room. "In each of these envelopes contains a unique additional prize, if you will, of increasing value. The contents will remain unknown until the pot is won and the winner opens the envelope. If you haven't figured this out yet, it will be a prize worth winning. I will add it after the antes are collected in the final hand of each of the three rounds."

Ben eyeballs her the second he hears the word three. She sees this and immediately corrects his misassumption. Eyeballing him back and nodding with intent, "and a fourth envelope that goes to the biggest overall winner of the night. We have the chips available should someone need to rebuy. Blinds please gentlemen, this will be the last hand of the first round."

The blinds were put forth quickly and efficiently. Drawing everyone's attention when her hands return to the pile in front of her, she takes the envelope on top and places it in the pot. "Here is envelope number 1, good luck to each of you." And with that, Stephanie deals out her own fate in the form of two playing cards for each participant. "Wait, what?" Reggie was finally able to grasp the situation. He inquired daintily, "what the fuck is in the envelope?"

"The winner of this pot will reveal that once it's won and he opens it. I can only tell you that it is a prize worth winning," Stephanie repeats. "You are in first position Reggie. The play is on you."

Reggie, keeping the look of stunning confusion on his face the entire time, finally looks down at his cards. After about five seconds, he stoically calls the big blind. He looks up to Stephanie, then across to his old roommate to monitor his play. The game suddenly got to a level of serious it hadn't seen before.

Dwayne rarely changed his expressions while he still had cards in front of him. He obviously had experience playing poker and had the quiet confidence that you worried about. He looks down contemplating for a moment then calls the big blind, never looking up higher than the pot in front of him.

Mr. Johnson looked back and forth between the players and sibylline dealer. He covers his two cards with his left hand and raises to view them with his right. With little hesitation, he says, "Raise." He moves his stack of 20's and 50's aside and pulls over the stack of hundreds. He calmly takes one off the top and places it in front of himself. Then he takes a second, then a third, then after a few seconds a fourth. He moves it into betting position to confirm his raise, stating, "$400."

Jason realizes quickly where this is going quickly. He checks his cards, just in case he was gifted with a monster. Realizing he wasn't, he folds his cards and his small blind. He pushes his chair back, remaining an extremely curious observer anticipating what is about to be a spectacular show.

Big Daddy was next. He looks up at Stephanie who returns his look with the same wink she gave him when she first swallowed his load many years ago. He releases a small smile into the corner of his mouth. Without even looking at his cards, he pushes them and the big blind forward.

Reggie is aghast. "Why on earth wouldn't you check your cards? I'm just sayin', that's kinda fucked up. Why wouldn't you even look to see if you had aces?"

Ben responds by looking at his old friend in the eye. "I believe I'd already won my little friend. I promise, after the envelope is opened I will need to explain more and I will. Play on. I've folded, and I believe there is a $360 raise for you into a pot of $540 if I have that right... Jason?"

"Yup." Jason retorts without hesitation. Then corrects himself, "well, the pot, technically, is $540 and one mysterious white envelope..."

Reggie returns to look at his cards. A bit of frustration enters his brow. Eventually, "Fine, I call." He returns the call and extends four $100 bills. Behind him, Dwayne also calls the bet.

Stephanie pulls the preflop bets into the pot and sweeps away the folded cards. She burns a card and deals the board, showing ace of diamonds, queen of clubs and the five of hearts. "Reggie, the play is on you."

Reggie looked just bothered. He didn't hit the flop and it showed. "I check."

Mr. Johnson was playing it cool trying hard to not give away any emotion, good or bad. He looks down at his cards again, looks over the money in the pot. "I check."

Dwayne takes a deep breath. Staring into a blank space, he again looks at his cards... "Raise." Dwayne looked again at the pot in front of him, then to Reggie, then Mr. Johnson. "$650." Dwayne takes five bills off his pile of hundreds, and three from his pile of the fifties, and places them forward.

Reggie now carries a pained face. There are two cards showing that are higher than the pair of tens he is holding. "Come on dude. Fuck it, I fold." Reggie tosses his hand in, leaving only two players left.