CHAPTER X.A HOT OPENING.
“What’s the limit?” asked Harmford. “What sort of a game are we going to play?”
“What would you suggest?” inquired Hank.
“Five-cent ante and quarter limit is good enough for me.”
“Tut! tut! tut!” cried Hank. “That’s a piker’s game. You can’t play poker with that sort of a limit. If you attempt to make a bluff, everybody’ll call you for a quarter. If you open a pot, everybody’ll stay in on short pairs. Isn’t that right, Arlington?”
“I’ve noticed,” answered Chester, “that a fellow generally loses as much with a five-cent ante and a quarter limit as he does with the same ante and a dollar limit—that is, if he knows how to play poker. The dollar limit really makes it a good game.”
“Whew!” whistled Harmford; “that’s pretty near the roof for me. Let me see, I don’t believe I’ve got more than twenty-five or thirty dollars in my clothes.”
“That’s good while it lasts,” grinned Hanks.
“Then it’s settled as a dollar limit, is it?” said Chet. “We’ll call the blue chips a dollar, the reds a quarter, and the whites a nickel. I’ll be the banker. We’ll take ten dollars’ worth of chips, each of us, to begin with.”
“Better take enough,” suggested Hanks. “Ten dollars’ worth wouldn’t last a fellow long if he happened to get a good hand and found himself bucking against some one else. Why don’t we take twenty-five dollars’ worth to start with?”
“As much as you choose,” said Chester, “only it’s understood that the chips are paid for when I hand them out. There’ll be no credit business done by the banker this evening.”
“And if the banker loses I suppose we’re to have some assurance that he also will make good,” said Hanks.
“I’ll do precisely as you do,” assured Chester. “I’ll pay for my chips and put the money in the card box when I take them.”
“Well, that’s all right,” said Hanks, producing his roll. “Here’s a yellow-backed twenty and a fiver.”
“Gee whiz!” grunted Harmford, as he reluctantly counted out twenty-five dollars. “This is plunging for a little game to pass away the time. I’m liable to get skinned to the bone.”
“If you get broke,” said Chester, “I’ll loan you money.”
“That is, if you don’t get busted, too,” grinned Hanks. “Of course, that’s not likely to happen, but still, in a three-handed game I’ve noticed that, as a rule, one man is the winner and the other two are the losers. I hope it’s my evening to win.”
He was skillfully rippling the cards as he spoke. Having done this, he placed them on the table for the cut.
“Lowest deals,” he said, “and ace is low.”
“Then I think I’ll deal,” laughed Harmford, turning up an ace.
He was right, and the game began, Arlington putting up the first ante.
“Now let them dance their heads off,” said Chester. “I’m better satisfied right here.”
Hanks stayed on the very first deal, shoving out two white chips, which raised Chet a nickel. Harmford glanced at his cards and followed the Harvard man’s example.
Arlington promptly made it a quarter.
“That’s interesting,” said Hanks. “Seems to mewe all caught something right off the reel. Wonder if you could stand another quarter, Mr. Arlington?”
“You might try me and see,” said Chester.
“By Jove, I will!”
Hanks pushed two red chips into the pot.
“That lets me out,” said Harmford. “Can’t chase anything as hot as that on a pair of jacks.”
He threw down his cards and turned to Arlington, wondering what Chester would do. Chester pushed a blue chip into the pile.
“Do you make it a dollar?” inquired Hanks.
“My money talks,” nodded Chet.
“Well, you’re going some! But you’ve just begun. I’ll have to part with one of my blue babies, and I think I’ll send another one along to keep it company.”
“That’s a bit over the limit,” reminded Chester. “If you’ll pull down a couple of red ones, you’ll be right.”
“Oh, yes,” said Hanks, as he secured two red chips, “you’re correct, Arlington. I boost you an even dollar.”
“You must have something good,” observed Chet, with a faltering air.
“The show-down will tell whether I have or not. On my word, I hate to win the first pot, but I have to play these cards for all there is in them.”
“Don’t worry about taking the first pot,” said Chester. “You haven’t taken it yet, have you?”
“No, but——”
“Well, I’ll just boost you another blue one.”
“Cæsar’s ghost!” exclaimed Harmford. “You fellows are plunging too sudden, aren’t you?”
“What’s the use to hold back when we have the right stuff to make a hot start?” chuckled Hanks, his eyes beginning to gleam with greed, although he tried to conceal the look beneath his bushy eyebrows. “Isuppose I’m a fool, Arlington, but you’ve got my dander up. I’ll raise you.”
“And I’ll raise you.”
“And I’ll raise you.”
With each raise they pushed chips representing two dollars into the pot, and before cards were drawn the first twenty-five dollars’ worth of ivories had disappeared from the place in front of them. It was Arlington who finally quit boosting.
“Help! help!” gasped Harmford. “This is awful! This is the worst thing I ever saw! Thank goodness, I didn’t get into that mess!”
“Thank goodness I did,” laughed Hanks. “How many cards will you take, Arlington? Harmford is ready to hand them out.”
“You can give them to Hanks, old man,” said Chester. “I don’t think I need any.”
“Well, wouldn’t that bump you!” grinned the Harvard man. “Here I am in precisely the same fix. I don’t need a card.”
Then they stared at each other as if seeking to read an inkling of the truth in the expression of their faces.
One way in which a poker player seeks to judge the strength of an opponent’s hand is by the opponent’s draw. In this case neither Hanks nor Chet received any such hint.
The Harvard man produced his money, saying:
“I think I’ll have to have twenty-five dollars’ worth of chips, Arlington.”
Chester quietly counted them out, taking the proffered money and making change.
“I’ll have to have the same amount,” he nodded. “I’m bound to keep even with you.”
“Lock the door! lock the door!” palpitated Harmford. “Who’s armed? Who’s got a pistol? Let him give it up before there’s any further betting.”
“I always carry a pistol,” laughed Hanks, “but I’ve never had occasion to use it. Certainly I can’t think it necessary now.”
Once more the betting was taken up, and not until fully fifty dollars had been put into the pot by each of them was a call made. At length, Chester announced that he was satisfied, and that he would call.
“A touch of cold feet?” murmured Hanks.
“I don’t think so.”
“I’m the one that’s got cold feet,” confessed Harmford. “On my word, my teeth are chattering. Do hurry up and show your hand.”
“Of course you may take it back,” said Hanks, still keeping his eyes on Chester. “You may go on betting if you wish to.”
“I’ve called,” nodded Chester grimly.
“How large is your straight?”
“I haven’t a straight.”
“Oh! Then how large is your flush?”
“I haven’t a flush.”
“Then it must be a full hand!” cried Hanks. “But I think my full house is good enough. Just take a look at it.”
He spread out three aces and a pair of queens.
“How does that look to you?” he inquired triumphantly.
“Pretty good,” nodded Chester. “How do these look to you?”
He lay down a king and four ten spots.