The restroom was in eyesight of the poker table. Johnny walked into the restroom and looked at his wristwatch. He let a minute pass by then slowly pushed the door open. The players were sitting patiently waiting for his return. Ed was in the box, elbow on the table, forearm in the air, the deck in his palm parallel to the table.
"Your big blind" Ed said.
"You could have dealt around me" Johnny said as he posted.
"They didn't want to play three-handed" Ed said then started dealing.
Johnny took note that he didn't get to see the shuffle. As the players acted Johnny placed his middle finger on one of his cards and his index finger on the other card. They were cold. Not real cold but they certainly weren't the same temperature as the cards were when he left the table. Johnny knew he was being cold decked. The 2 seat and 4 seat had folded. Bill, in the small blind, made it two bets. Johnny appraised the situation. So they put the snapper in the small blind. Nice. Johnny rolled his cards up to find the:
Ace of Clubs and Queen of Clubs.
It was a trap hand in no-limit but not so bad in split-limit, unless....the bug was in the deck. Johnny knew it, but most players didn't. That is, until they lost a massive pot with it. They were gonna knock Johnny's stack back down with one big hand. Johnny knew that they knew how aggressive he was. They were expecting him to three-bet and Bill would cap it. Johnny called. He wanted to see how they planned to pull it off. He caught Ed and Bill giving each other a quick glance. They were surprised he didn't raise. Ed slowly burned and turned. The flop was:
Jack of Clubs, Ten of Clubs, Four of Clubs.
It was all Johnny could do to keep from laughing. He had flopped the Ace High Flush with the Royal Flush redraw. But he knew the King of Clubs would never come. Bill bet out $10. Johnny hesitated a bit then said "Spades are no good in this spot." He flung his cards straight into the muck. He could tell that Ed and Bill were shocked. Ed dropped the deck and shoved the meager pot toward Bill, who threw his cards face down toward the muck. Faster than greased lightning Johnny's arm went out and he snatched the cards without exposing them.
"Ed, did you know I'm clairvoyant? I'll bet you a hundred dollars I can tell you what these two cards are. You wanna take the bet, Ed?" Ed stared at him. "I'll tell you what, Ed. How 'bout I tell you what I think these two cards are and then you can decide whether or not you wanna take the bet. Ed, I think one of these cards is the Joker and the other is the King of Clubs. So whaddya say, Ed? You wanna take the bet?" Ed looked away. "Ed, I got $292 in this stack. I'm late for a very important meeting. Cash me out." Ed slowly reached down for the cashbox and set it on the table. As he counted the money Johnny got up and put his coat on. Ed shoved the money toward Johnny who picked it up and shoved it in his pocket. "You know, Mister, a guy could get hurt around here for talking too much" Ed warned. "Do you have a headache, Ed?" Johnny said as his right hand went into his coat pocket. "Here! Take a Pill!" Johnny's hand came out of his pocket and he flipped a 44 hollow point to the center of the table. Ed and Bill stared down at the bullet. Johnny made it to the door then turned and said "I better not catch any of you punks on my backtrail." Then he walked out.
Johnny pulled out his cell phone on the walk to the Tiger's Paw.
to be continued....
