When I left off the account of the poker game, Magick had just won big on a bluff, and nearly caused an International Incident in doing so when he refused to show his winning hand. Rochester and Humphrey were rather riled up. Not only were their general appetites for winning whetted, but they now personally wanted to beat Magick. As news of Magick's enigmatic victory spread around the north room, the audience for the poker match steadily grew.
The new players still had not worked out that victories are worth more if you keep the other players in the game for longer. A few games after Magick's big victory, Rochester made the same mistake that Reggie had earlier. He had two kings in his hand, and Reggie dealt another king on the turn. Rochester prematurely went all in, causing all of the others to fold (except Humphrey, who had already folded). He felt a bit vindicated, after that loss to Magick.
Remember how I said that the size of the peanut gallery was steadily increasing from the point of Magick's victory onward? One of the newer arrivals was Gilly. Gilly wasn't actually all that interested in the cards, but he'd worked out that the poker chips were worth something and decided to claim them all. He's a rather mercenary little fellow, our Gilly.
It was growing pretty late now, and everyone could tell that the end of the game was drawing nearer. Magick was dealt the queen and ten of spades, and decided to sit. Reggie, with a pair of aces, decided to raise. Humphrey and Rochester called; Humphrey had the ten and king of diamonds and Rochester the six and nine of diamonds. Magick decided to go ahead and call too.
The turn produced the nine of spades, queen of hearts, and three of clubs. This produced a holding pattern: Magick and Humphrey were looking at possible straights, but could still turn out to have dross, and Rochester now had a pair, but a low pair; Reggie's hand wasn't improved. Then the flip yielded the eight of spades, which made things look better for Magick. He bet six dollars; Reggie raised to ten. The others stayed in. Reggie's enthusiasm was significantly greater than his skill, and no one really believed Magick had anything.
Then the river prodcued the jack of spades. Humphrey now had a straight - and Magick now had a straight flush. He promptly went all in.
Had any of the others gone all in, everyone else probably would have folded, but no one trusted Magick. Rochester in particular was grimly determined to stay in and force Magick out of the game. He had an even better hand this time, even though his hand wasn't particularly good. Humphrey, with his straight, was seeing glory. Reggie was just having fun.
So everyone went all in.
Here's a shot taken further out, so you can see just how much attention the poker game had attracted by this point in the evening.
Gilly, Barry, Desmond, Parsley, Seleucus... even Leprosy had come over by then, and Murchison was excited enough that he had moved in closer for a better view.
With everyone all in, of course, Magick had to show his hand. He played it up for all it was worth, of course; he made a great show of trying not to seem reluctant while secretly being reluctant and managed to draw out the suspense for just long enough before revealing his straight flush. The game was his.
Such excitement! Rochester and Humphrey stared at each other in profound shock, while everyone else rushed to congratulate Magick, except for Desmond, who stayed to provide moral support to his fellow marine mammal.
It remains to be seen how many of them will ever again agree to play poker with Magick, of course. Reggie probably would. Humphrey and Rochester could go either way; they might want revenge, or they might be reluctant to try again. As for the spectators, they all want to learn poker now, but possibly not against Magick, although they all want to know his secrets. He, of course, says that these are things one learns for oneself.
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