“Guess Kaiba’s afraid he might lose his shirt or something.”
That did it. He wasn’t going to let that puppy dog of Yugi’s get the better of him and call him a coward.
Oh how he wished he just left. He now had five blue chips and fourteen white ones in front of him, not even a tenth of what he had started with and the smallest on the table. He picked up his cards and looked around the table. He lost count of Tea’s chips as she had, as Tristian put it, owned the table since the game started. Yugi held the next amount, but it was obvious even the King of Games was struggling to catch up to his friend. Surprisingly it was Joey who held third place, and had just over what he had started with, which was better than Serenity and Tristian who kept trading fourth and fifth place, usually with Tristian folding to Serenity.
That left him bringing up the rear as he looked over his card, a pair of twos, a five, an eight and a ten. He willed his face to be emotionless and watched his on-and-off again allies (Friends some might say, he wouldn’t admit it) to try and read them. Tea also studied the table, licking her lips as she looked about. He had learned that tiny gesture meant she had a decent hand, but not one that would automatically win. Yugi looked stone faced, and was hard to read. Kaiba simply decided he also had an average hand.
He had expected Joey to be the easiest to read of the lot, but had surprised him by being almost impossible to read. He was as likely to giggle manically at a small hand as a Royal Straight Flush! At the moment his eyes darted about, as he tried to hold a grin back. Which, as he had learned either meant he had a great hand, or a great bluff. Kaiba had long since given up guessing.
Serenity looked obviously disappointed and Tristian frowned. Those two could barley understand the concept of a bluff, so he didn’t even worry about those two.
The betting began and he set down a trio of white chips in answer to Joey’s raise, listening in as they talked about Tea’s acceptance into the Imperial Casino’s Strip Poker Tournament.
“So they let you in huh? Well that’s good I suppose.”
“You don’t seem to happy Yugi.” Tea set down a three white chips as the first round of betting ended. Kaiba ditched everything but the twos and pulled three new cards.
“I’m not so sure about this Tea. What happens if you lose?”
“Well... I end up naked.”
“And?” Yugi pressed, exchanging two cards.
“Well... That’s it. I go to a lounge and sit naked until the tournament is over.” Tea’s face flushed and she looked nervous, but Kaiba ignored that. That was the conversation, not the cards.
“Well I wouldn’t mind watching that too much.” Joey said as he exchanged one card. Kaiba frowned and Serenity and Tristian exchanged three cards each.
“Joey! Anyway, it might be a risk, but they have a cash prize of Twenty Million Yen!”
Joey let out a low whistle. “Man, that’s a huge chunk of change.” He started a raise with five white chips.
“More than you’ll ever get. I wouldn’t need to enter a tournament for a cash prize.” Kaiba supplied as he answered Joey’s raise with a single blue chip.
“Well it’s a girls only tournament anyway, so you couldn’t go in if you wanted.” Tea retorted seeing the raise and answering with an additional four whites. Yugi silently answered, setting four white chips with a blue one down as well. Tristian folded and after a moment more Serenity followed. Joey added four whites to the pot.
“Whatever. It’s just a waste of time. Call.” Kaiba threw four whites into the pot.
“You’d be too afraid about losing your clothes Kaiba. Call.” Joey retorted. Yugi and Tea’s only answer was ‘call’.
Kaiba set his hand down. “Two pair, twos and aces.”
Joey smirked and set his down. “Sowwy Kaiba-boy, two sixes and three queens equals full house!”
Yugi shook his head and set his hand down. “Fives and kings for two pair, seems I’ve lost this one.”
Tea simply smirked and laid her and down. “Jacks. Four of them.”
Joey sighed as Tea took the chips on the table. “Yugi, you’re worried about HER ending up in her birthday suit?”
“Point taken.” Was the reply as he dealt the next hand. “But she is hardly a professional player.”
“So?” Joey said as the ante of two white were tossed in by all the players. “She’s given us one professional beat down.”
Kaiba looked as his cards and suppressed a smirk. Three aces, a three and a five. He called and watched as the rest of the table did the same.
“Well it’s not like we’re experts in poker either.” Yugi exchanged three cards, then set them all down folding.
“And you don’t get professional by sitting on your ass all day anyhow.” Joey exchanged two cards. Tea and Kaiba himself exchanged only one. Serenity and Tristian folded in unison. Everyone turned to Kaiba in a silent question on what his move would be.
“Call.” Was Kaiba’s answer to the question.
“Raise.” Was Joey’s as he slapped a red chip into the pot. Kaiba sweated a bit as Tea matched the bet. Kaiba looked at his stack.
He had four blue chips and five white ones now. If he answered the raise it would mean he was all in. If he didn’t he might not get a good enough hand next turn. “Call.” He said shoving the nine chips into the pile. With Kaiba all in that was the end of the betting. He slapped his hand down. “Three Aces, two fives. Full house.”
Tea smiled as she set down her hand, a three, four, five, six and seven, each on being a diamond, a Straight Flush. She reached for the pot, but was stopped by Joey. “No you don’t. Read them and weep!”
In the hand he spread them out on the table, Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and a Ten, each one a Spade.
Royal Straight Flush.
The entire table, even Kaiba groaned as Joey collected his pot. “Oh man...” Tristian said as Joey giggled to himself. “When Joey gets a good hand he gets a damn good hand...”
“He-he-he! You know! And that makes Kaiba the big loser in this game!”
“I AM NOT A LOSER YOU PUPPY!”
“Really? Where’s your chips?”
Kaiba growled as Serenity giggled a bit. “Too bad this wasn’t strip poker, then he could bet his jacket.”
Kaiba tried to control the twitch in his eye before he grinned. Before anyone could answer his jacket was off and on the table.
“You gotta be kiddin’ me.” Joey said as Kaiba crossed his arms.
ĒŠ§¨
The limo driver pulled up to the Gardner household and honk once to signal he had arrived. He didn’t have to wait long for Kaiba to walk out.
It didn’t mean he wasn’t surprised though. The door flung open and there was his employer, stark naked. He stomped out of the house, cursing as he stepped on a sharp stone, grumbled as he opened the limo door, sat inside the limo and slammed the door closed, his eye twitching the whole time. “Master Kaiba?”
“Just *twitch* drive *twitch* now.”
ĒŠ§¨
Yoshi nodded as he updated his list.
1.Tea Gardner 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
And got another letter too, this one from...
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Mister-E
(Posted Mon, 01 Aug 2005 17:05)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.