It’s the third round and there are only five of us still in the game. I’m at the casino royal. This is a big money game. I have 30 thousand dollars I put into this game and I’ve got 60 thousand dollars in my pile. I can already see the bouncers creeping over to our table. They round finishes and the new cards are dealt. The first three cards come up and I’ve got it. A straight flush. The cards are all clubs and its 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. It’s the third best hand you can get so I go all in. They think they can call a bluff so they are all in as well. The fourth card is revealed and I know I’ve got it. He pulls up a ten four the fifth card and I go nuts.
Walk out the door with 360k and I feel like a champ. Turns out I’m going to have to feel like a champ in a ditch, because that’s where I wake up. The money is all gone and my head fell like an earthquake happened in my brain. I get up feeling like a night after a train hit you. I head towards the only exit. I contemplate how this could have happened when I see the table. It is a small table with green felt on it. The poker table has a man in a white suite sitting smiling at me.
I don’t know what this means, but he tells me to have a seat. For all I know I’m in another country. The man speaks and I recognize the thick Russian accent from the dealers of the casino. I’m informed that I will be entered in a tournament for Texas holdem. If I win I get a thousand dollars. The man will get my winnings and I will be allowed to leave. If I lose I will be killed and thrown in the ocean. If I try to run away I will be killed. If I call the police I will be killed.
The tournament starts in a small warehouse, there are 32 people in the tournament. I’m paired with a man with a lazy eye. The game ends quickly with my bluff and me taking all his money. The next match takes longer. I bet high but he calls the bluff. I lose a lot of money. I slowly regain it back and I win with a full house by going all in. The next round passes quickly and I reach the top four. The deal the cards and I don’t have anything so he wins the first round. Four more rounds go by with the same result. He has double what I have so I have to make a move. My cards are all right so I bluff. All in when the fourth card drops. He calls its all or nothing. We show are cards and I’m afraid to look. I can’t believe it. I lost.
I see the Russian nodding his head to the goons. They take me away toward the back of the ware house door. We walk out to the alley and I know what’s coming. But just what I least expected happens. One of the guards hits the other with his gun. The goon is unconscious. He tells me to follow him and I’m greeted by a cop car. He says hell explain everything so we drive away. Last thing I see the warehouse is lit up by blue and red.