Unfortunately, due to her drunkenness, Sakura had forgotten one VERY important fact. It was that Anko was actually quite an expert card player! She had gone undercover as a card dealer in several missions that were based in casinos, due to both her beauty and skill. Not only that, but she had also gone undercover as a dominatrix, but that's a story for another time... To make matters worse, Sakura's confidence in her own skills was misplaced. In fact she had gotten the nickname of “The Second Legendary Sucker!”, but no-one's ever used it in front of her! She had developed most of Tsunade’s quirks after all, including her bad temper… In fact, the only reason she had ever won any of her previous bets was due to the fact that her opponents had gone easy on her! Well, either that or she had got a lucky break… The first case was especially true of all the games she had won today, with all of the party-goers deciding to go easy on the "birthday girl" just to let her feel good....
So, after everyone else had left for their homes, both Anko and Sakura had started their private card game in the back room of the bar. Sure enough, Sakura's lack of skills and poker face started to show. After twenty hands or so, all the money she had made over the night was gone. This included all of her starting stake. Fortunately for Sakura, or unfortunately depending on your point of view, it wasn’t over yet. Both she and Anko had agreed that the term “cleaned out” would mean out of both money and clothes... At any point in the game, either player could trade in pieces of clothing for extra money! The closer your clothes got to underwear, the more money you got in return… If the person with the most money got twenty-one exactly, instead of money they could claim two pieces of clothing and a thousand Ryu as their reward. So far, it hadn’t come into play, but Sakura now had to trade in her some of her clothes. She just couldn’t believe it! Anko was taking her apart with ease…
"Whoa," Sakura gasped in a bit of an astounded tone, "Just how are you doing so well." while thinking: 'She's just got to be cheating, but for the life of me, I can't see how it's happening! I mean winning four hands in a row, fair enough… But sixteen in a row! There’s no way that’s even possible without cheating…'
She conveniently ignores her Inner Self screaming until it turned blue in the face: 'She's an expert card player you moron, what did you expect! She’s won the yearly Kohona Poker championship five times running… And you have the cockiness to still believe that you actually have a chance against her!'
Anko gets a devious smile on her face, "Trade secret of mine," she said, winking playfully at Sakura. Secretly she grinned: ‘Lots of practise helps… Facing a person who’s unable to keep a good poker face never hurt either!’Sakura ignored this and traded in her coat for about five thousand Ryu.
Before Anko started to deal again for the next game, Sakura stopped her and asked in a friendly tone of voice: "Hold it, how about I deal for now?" Inwardly, she smirked: ‘This should give me an edge! Once I start to deal, I can shuffle the deck slightly so my hand will be better then hers every time… That way, it’ll be a snap to win!’
Anko shrugged. “Fair enough Sakura, it’s your call!” But on the inside she was laughing: ‘Oh come on! That’s the oldest trick in the book… I know you’re trying to rig the deck, but I know exactly how to counter that trick! You’ve lost and by the time realise that it’ll be way too late for you…’
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(Posted Tue, 18 Dec 2007 18:31)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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