The Best Birthday Ever: Part TwoKirsty Tsu & Claire CallaghanKirsty's next surprise was something Claire had never expected, after a quick change of clothes to something more elegant they were walking into Gowu's largest and most famous casino, the Eclipse. Kirsty now wore a black dress with silver woven into it, Claire was in red with gold woven in.
"We're actually going to do this?" Claire asked as Kirsty handed her one hundred iso's worth of chips, Kirsty also kept a hundred for herself.
"Well we've always talked about it so why not put the theory into practice?" Kirsty asked, they now surveyed the casino floor
"So where do we start?" Claire asked
"Birthday girl's pick." Kirsty said
"Roulette." Claire said
"After you." Kirsty said
Claire led the way to one of the roulette tables, where she sat down while Kirsty went to the next table. They were in this together they weren't about to take each other on, far better to play the house. Claire watched and waited for a few spins before starting to place her own bets, a glance over her shoulder told her that Kirsty was doing much the same thing. They knew the game mechanics and they weren't going to gamble recklessly so Claire started betting on color, dozen and row not anything else, she didn't need to do anything else to raise the amount of chips she had.
An hour later they were both smiling and moving away from the roulette to the main attraction for them - the poker table, now they both sat at the same one each of them with close to a thousand iso's worth of chips- not a bad return for an hours work.
"They let kids in here now?" one of the other players said, Kirsty looked over and spotted the man in question was dressed like a cowboy and had a mountain of chips in front of him. Stepped into the crosshairs Claire thought as the dealer dealt the next hand.
"Just because we're young." Claire said looking at her hand before concealing it "Doesn't mean we play like kids."
"Indeed." Kirsty said the bet was with her and she bet twenty, Claire was next and she saw the bet, then came the cowboy he matched them as well.
"Your bet girl." Claire said
"Raise forty." Kirsty said, Claire half smiled
"Fold." Claire said
"Amateur mistake." the Cowboy said "Raise one hundred.", Kirsty looked around the table
"What's your name?" Kirsty asked
"Paul." the cowboy said
"Well then Paul..." Kirsty said "Will you call me on this? Raise one fifty."
Paul smiled
"Call." he moved one hundred and fifty of his own to the pot.
"What have you got?" Kirsty asked
"Flush." Paul said laying out five cards from the clubs suit.
"Not bad." Kirsty said "Just not good enough" she flipped her cards over "Four of a kind." she had four Queen's and a seven.
"Ok I retract the word amateur." Paul said "But you're still not in my league."
"Want anything from the bar Claire?" Kirsty asked
"Whatever you're having." Claire said
"Have fun taking him down." Kirsty said
"My pleasure." Claire said
Around two hours of hard fought poker later the balance had been somewhat more equalized, it probably helped that Claire's study of game theory meant that she had several decent strategies in what to do. Kirsty was stood behind Claire.
"Who's got more left you or him?" Kirsty asked
"Me by about fifty." Claire said, the dealer dealt the cards and Claire glanced at them, hid them and looked across at Paul with her game face well and truly on "Bring it on."
"Two hundred." Paul said making his bet
"Likewise." Claire said
"Raise five hundred." Paul said
"I'll see you." Claire said, she was managing to keep a straight face but she could see that Paul was losing his cool Come on... if you've got something then do it already.
"All in." Paul said, Claire narrowed her eyes and waited a few seconds
"No backing out now." Claire said "All in."
Paul turned over his hand it was a Full House, Claire smiled and showed her hand- a Royal Flush.
"You have got to be kidding me." Paul said as the dealer pushed the chips in front of Claire
"Hate to say it but this is no joke." Claire said she looked at an attendant "Have these cashed please."
"Are you becoming psychic or something?" Kirsty asked
"No but I know you well enough." Claire said "Where to next?"