Jackpot

Jack walked on a red path. Lights from lanterns around him shone brightly. He glared at the attendants seated on lavish chairs, faces only a few inches away from spinning slots. Hunched over, the patrons each grasped their levers, fueled with the prospect of winning big. A cacophony of slots rolling, clicking and slowing filled the room, often times paired with the sound of an upset patron who decided to unleash his frustrations on the old and rusted machines. The sound was not unfamiliar to Jack, in fact his ears were accustomed to the slot machines' mechanical clicking.

"What morons," Jack thought to himself as he strutted through a sea of manic repetition. Pull spin lose repeat. Pull spin lose repeat. Pull. Spin. Lose. Repeat. He recalled the one time, the only time, he had heard the sweet music of a jackpot being hit and the calamity that ensued.

Finally he arrived at his destination, pulling back a chair and setting his jacket atop it. The scrape of the wooden chair against the floor had brought attention to Jack, prompting uninspired greetings from everyone at the table. He had arrived to an ongoing poker round.

He did not recognize the dealer whatsoever; an extremely bizarre occurrence for he knew every other dealer on a first-name basis. It was safe to say that Jack was more than habituated to the faces of the dealers. He memorized them, dreamt about them. Yet, for some reason or another, he did not know this particular dealer.

The green felt table in front of him housed the habitually colored chips -- white, blue, red and green, their value increasing in that order. Some players boasted large spires of chips, while others were rather restricted in their construction of multi-colored towers.

The flop and hole cards had already been dealt. Old Man Archie bet a only a couple of coins as he looked at his cards; not unusual when only three cards have been revealed. The other players, similarly, must have not been impressed by the cards they held. They called his bet but did not raise. One lad folded without looking at his cards.

Jack sat and gathered his thoughts. His gaze sifted through the players, recognizing familiar faces. As memory served, he had assigned a tell to each. A new face, however, found itself amidst the usual players. The young man held quite an impressive amount of chips. A ridiculously large and crumpled hat sat on his shoulder cropped hair.

Jack was now watching intently, as the dealer deftly set the fourth card to the community cards in the middle. The game was turning interesting. Old Man Archie folded, resigning himself out of betting any further. Old Man Archie had made a habit of running his hand through his disheveled and thinning grey hair when his cards were unpleasant.

The young man with the hat threw, with apparent ease and nonchalance, a red chip coupled with a blue chip into the pot. Two out of the four remaining players contented themselves with losing a small amount of money rather than continuing to bet on losing dogs. They folded.

Remaining was only the young man with the hat and Peter, a middle aged man in his thirties. The dealer, with ever swift hands, flipped and twisted the final card with a flurry of movements that lasted no more than a quarter of a second. According to Jack estimates, there was by far and away a pair of cards that was favored to win over the river.

With all of the cards down, the young man knocked on the table passing his turn.

Peter was always a weird fellow, with strange little mannerisms. His chips were gathered in a disorderly pile, instead of a nice tower like the rest of the players. He lifted his cards off the table, giving them naught but a quick gander, and an unmistakable smirk began to form on the corner of his lips. Grabbing a fistful of coins, he launched them abrasively, brutishly into the pot at the center of the table.

The young man looked at his cards once again, perhaps hoping they had changed and slid them towards the dealer without a word. In a few moments, the young man had managed to lose a substantial amount of money. It did not seem like much compared to the towers he had already amassed, but nonetheless it was of considerable value.