Poker Face

Twila Winters dressed to the nines. She was blessed with legs that went all the way to the floor, and she strutted in four in red stilettos. Her black leather skirt was just short enough to tantalize and just tight enough to entice. She wore a white silk blouse that was unbuttoned to almost improper. Her nails and lips matched her shoes. Her straw blonde hair was every wild direction.

She wore slightly tinted prescription glasses. They were not large enough to catch reflections from the hands of other players, but hopefully kept the other players from seeing the twitch in her left eye. She knew she had a tell and she didn’t want others to notice. She needed the win. She had back taxes to pay off, or she’d be looking at possible time.

She checked into the Alibi Lounge gave the knock at the door to the high stakes game. She left her purse and phone in the basket with her name, and tendered her letter of credit to Eddie, who handled those details.

First hand, she was up five grand. Second hand she took the pot again this time with a flush, although most everyone had folded right off the bat, as if they could sense her winning hand. Yes, her eye was twitching, when she had good cards her eyes twitched. She’d never be able to get the betting high enough to finally cash in and move on. Not if the other players could read her tell. Third hand, she managed a perfect poker face to distract from her pair of deuces. She folded before her opponent called. She didn’t want them to know she’d had such lowly cards.

In the seventh round, she could not believe she had nothing. Her “High” card was a measly nine of clubs. She really wanted to just start over, completely, but that move didn’t play here. Alas, she decided to bluff. She hadn’t done too badly this evening, she had over 15 grand in chips and notes, she pushed the whole pile into the center. Leonard should fold. Those stakes were too rich for his blood. Too rich.
She was shocked when he called. Defeated. She’d just lost everything. But her eye wasn’t twitching. How had he known. Leonard was a decent player, he showed her that indeed, he had a pair of tens, which beat her measly nine.

“How?” she asked, under her breath, not really to Leonard, she wasn’t really expecting an answer.

“The only time you’re able to maintain a perfect poker face is when you’re bluffing. That’s you’re tell. When the cards are favorable, you’ve got this twitch in your left eye.” Leonard replied, sweeping Twila’s future toward his seat.

— Lkai