Chapter 23

The action was already underway when Tricia and Sandy arrived at the area where the final two tables of the event from the day before were being concluded. There were sixteen players left and Rick was sitting on a good chip lead.

Gary waved them over and when they got over to him said, “Sorry I ran off on you. I wanted to see this start though.”

“That’s ok,” Sandy replied, “We had some good time for girl talk with you gone.”

“Not about me I hope.”

“No, about our boyfriends,” Sandy quipped causing Tricia to look at her in surprise. Gary just laughed it off and kept his attention on the players though.

The first break the players got was around two hours later. Sandy and Gary were still there watching with Tricia when Rick came over to talk briefly.

“You’re doing great Rick!” Tricia told him. “It looks like you’ve still got the chip lead.”

“Yeah,” Rick said. “A couple of those beats hurt but that last hand I picked up helped. We’re on the bubble for final table with eleven players. I’d just as soon somebody go out quick and we get to it.”

“How much does it pay to win?” Sandy asked.

“The sheet I saw circulating it was around $70,000,” Rick said.

“Wow!” Tricia said. “Wouldn’t that be great if you win?”

“It would be by far the biggest pay day I’ve ever had playing poker. It’s kind of mind boggling to be in the running for it really.”

“Well you’ve got a good shot,” Gary chimed in.

Rick nodded and then excused himself to run to the bathroom. When he got back the tournament director who had been talking to each of the players spoke to him and then Rick came over to Tricia.

“They have decided we probably won’t take a real dinner break. If you’re going to go to dinner could you bring me something light, like some kind of sandwich, when you come back?”

“I hate to miss seeing any of this,” Tricia said, “I’ll run out and get us both something though.”

“This may take a while,” Rick told her. “Why don’t you go get a real dinner. I’m betting you skipped lunch or just ate at the table again. You said you’d been doing that a lot.”

Tricia smiled. “Guilty. I’d hate to miss anything though.”

“I promise if you don’t take TOO long I’ll still be here.” Rick said.

“Well ok,” Tricia said and then looked over at Sandy. “Do you guys want to go to dinner with me?”

“Sure, sounds good to me,” Sandy said and Gary nodded agreement.

 

Tricia was carrying Rick’s sandwich as she, Sandy and Gary went back to the poker room. As the made their way toward the back to the area where the final tables took place Tricia saw Jaime standing at a table stretching.

“Oh crap! I forgot all about Jaime! How could I do that?”

“Lots going on,” Sandy said. “It’s hard to keep track of. He’s close to the edge over there maybe you can see from there. At least you’ll be able to see how he’s doing.”

Tricia led the way over to the spot on an aisle closest to Jaime’s table. He didn’t look like he had many chips. He turned around and saw Tricia and smiled. Then after he mucked his next hand he got up and walked quickly over to her.

“Hey,” he said. “How’s it going?”

“I’m doing ok. How are you doing? I’m sorry it took me so long to get over here to check on you.”

He shrugged. “I wasn’t sure if you’d been watching or not. Until a few minutes ago I was buried in the middle of the room anyway and you couldn’t have seen a thing. I’ve been short stacked all day and it’s getting old. I’ll win a decent hand finally only to have the blinds go up. Then I get nothing until just before they go up again.”

“Well you’re hanging in there.” Tricia said.

“That’s about all you can say for it.” Jaime said. “I’d like to at least hang on to make the money. It pays 27 spots and there are around 60 left so I’ve got a long way to go.”

“That means there were over 250 when it started right?” Tricia asked.

Jaime nodded, “288”.

“That’s a lot for a $1000 buy in event isn’t it?”

“The entries are running high for this whole series,” Jaime said. “This event is going fast though. They may actually get to the final table by midnight. Its going so fast that they aren’t going to take a dinner break. I’ve been trying to find a waitress to see if I can get some food. I hope they have something on the low end of greasy, most of the stuff they will let us order at the table is greasy as all get out.”

Without even thinking about it Tricia held out Rick’s sandwich. “I forgot. I got this for you. I thought you might need dinner or at least a snack. I remember dinner coming awfully late.”

<PCLASS=MSOBODYTEXTFIRSTINDENT style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt">Jaime smiled big. “Thank you! You’re a lifesaver. I’ve got to get back now.”

“Good luck,” Tricia called as he went to his seat.

Sandy was chuckling and elbowed Tricia. “You’re slick girl. Acting like you had forgotten you got him dinner. I guess we gotta go back and get another sandwich huh?”

“Well I do anyway,” Tricia said wryly. “I can’t believe I didn’t check on him all day.”

“You heard him. You couldn’t have seen anything.” Sandy told her as they walked back toward the food court area.

“Hey guys,” Gary chimed in. “There is no line in the sign up area. Why don’t we sign you ladies up for your event on Sunday?”

Tricia and Sandy exchanged looks and shrugged. “Why not?” Tricia said.

That done and another sandwich in hand they went back to find that there were only 9 players left in Rick’s tournament. Rick had once again gotten a comfortable chip lead so Tricia suspected that he had recently been the cause of somebody’s demise.

Kevin James, sitting on the opposite side of the table from Rick saw them when they came up and waved to Tricia. She waved back and then waved again when Rick turned around.

As soon as he could he came over and got his sandwich. As Tricia watched the final table play she began wondering how easy it would be to get away from Sandy and Gary when it was over. She was thinking ahead to after the tournament in his room and hoped that it would happen.

An hour or so later with seven players left and Rick’s chip lead whittled down to where he was about even with second place Jaime came over and sat down next to Tricia.

She looked over at him in surprise, “Uh oh. You must be out. This seems a little early to have made the money.”

He held his hands up and shrugged. “It is. I didn’t make it. I just could not get anything going. I was holding on by a thread and the thread finally broke. There were only seven players between me and the money.”

“Oh wow, that sucks honey!” Tricia said giving Jaime a hug.

Just about then Kevin James busted out in seventh place. He came over to where Jaime was sitting with Tricia, Sandy and Gary.

“Pretty good showing Kevin,” Jaime said. “Better than I did today anyway.”

“Thanks,” Kevin said. “I did what I could. I heard you were short stacked all day.”

“Yeah, missed the money by seven places!” Jaime said.

“Shit happens buddy. Tomorrow is another day.” Kevin said philosophically. “How about we sit here and watch Tricia’s friend Rick. He’s looking pretty good. I like what I see.”

Kevin settled on the other side of Jaime leaving Tricia in the middle of what she was starting to regard as an appallingly large crowd. At one point Rick looked back and seemed surprised to see them all there. Tricia could not tell if it was just that he knew that they were all watching him or that he was thinking like she was and wondering how they were going to get off alone after it was over.

There were not a whole lot of people watching the final table although the crowd was increasing as the number of players dwindled. Whenever there would be an all-in everybody would stand and watch. Then when it was resolved they’d sit back down.

The crowd rose when Rick put one of the shorter stacks allin pre-flop. Tricia clapped when the cards were turned over and Rick’s pocket Queens were ahead of his opponent’s Ace King. Luck wasn’t smiling on Rick though as the flop brought not one but two Aces. Rick needed one of the two remaining Queens and it didn’t materialize. The beat cost him the chip lead but didn’t cripple him.

The player who had beat him went on a tear then and in the course of eliminating two more players became the new chip leader moving Rick down into third place.

“Things sure can change fast!” Tricia remarked.

“For sure,” Kevin agreed. “Don’t give up hope though. He’s a solid player. He can play his way back if he can get cards.”

Rick didn’t get cards though. He took stabs at a couple of pots and was forced to fold by massive re-raises. Then the chip leader took out the fourth place player increasing his lead in the process.

Still having enough chips to play effectively Rick didn’t seem to panic. Then he raised a hand before the flop and when the second place player re-raised Rick went all-in for his remaining chips.

Tricia clapped loudly when Rick turned over pocket Aces and his opponent, looking disgusted, turned over pocket Tens. The flop helped neither player and neither did the turn card. Then in a cruel twist of poker fate the river brought a Ten giving Rick’s opponent three Tens and sending Rick to the rail in third place.

He shook hands with the player but he looked stunned as he came over to where Tricia was standing. She gave him a hug and everybody in the vicinity was clapping him on the back and telling him he played well and it was just a bad beat.

Kevin shook Rick’s hand and said, “Tough break man. You did all you could. If not for a couple of nasty beats this would have been your tournament. On the other hand third place does pay nearly $20,000.”

Rick nodded, noticeably brightening at the mention of the payout. “That is my biggest win so far.”

“It won’t be your last,” Kevin said. “I don’t know about you but I didn’t have any real dinner. How about I take you all out for a good dinner and some drinks to celebrate Rick’s best tournament finish yet?”

Rick looked surprised and flattered. Tricia’s first thought was that she would never get him alone now. She looked at him though and to her it didn’t look like he was thinking about her. He seemed to be reveling in his win. She told herself that was as it should be and that maybe after all was said and done they would get some time alone.

Sandy and Gary begged off going, mostly because Sandy practically dragged a disappointed looking Gary away. Before they left Sandy whispered in Tricia’s ear, “Have fun honey but I don’t think it’s gonna go the way you want.”

They exchanged shrugs as they watched Kevin, Rick and Jaime talking, replaying various hands from the final table.

Tricia shook her head and gave Sandy a wry smile. “I wonder if they would miss me if I just went to bed?”

The answer to that came when Kevin loudly said to her from several feet away, “Ms. Bateman! Would you get your cute little ass in gear? There are three starving thirsty men waiting on your company!”

Startled Tricia turned toward Kevin and then just started laughing. “Geeze get a grip! I’m coming already!”

When she caught up with them Kevin put his arm around her propelling her a bit faster toward the casino entrance. “I’ve got the perfect restaurant in mind. Jaime knows where it is and we won’t all fit in my car so you can come with me and Rick can ride with Jaime.”

Triciagave him a look at that, wondering if he was coming on to her or just what he was up to. Jaime looked like he was trying not to laugh and Rick just looked a little stunned like he had ever since going to the cashier’s cage to deal with his winnings.

Jaime and Rick made their way to the parking lot while Tricia waited with Kevin for the valet to bring Kevin’s car up. Before long Kevin held the door for her as she climbed into his two seat Mercedes convertible.

“Don’t worry Tricia,” Kevin said. “I’m not coming on to you. I bet your wondering since my reputation may have preceded me. Jaime seems to think I’m more successful with the ladies than I am. I figure at best right now I’d be third in line behind both Jaime and Rick for the pleasure of your company anyway and my fragile ego could not handle that.”

Tricia laughed and said, “Fragile ego my butt.”

Kevin shrugged as he drove. “Believe what you want. I just liked the idea of having your two rivals have to drive to dinner together if you must know. We could have all gone in Jaime’s car.”

“They’re not my rivals,” Tricia said, “They are just friends.”

“Well you just stick to your story if you want.” Kevin smiled. “I am aware it’s none of my business. Of course that seldom stops me from sticking my nose into things.”

“I can see that,” Tricia giggled.

“I’m glad you’re taking this well,” Kevin said. “I have the feeling I’m royally screwing up some manner of plans of yours. I don’t know which of the lucky two was to be the winner and I don’t want to know.”

“I know Jaime told you all about us,” Tricia said. “He must have also told you that he wants to be just friends. He doesn’t want to have what happened a few years ago happen again. I can’t say I  blame him.”

“But you’d take the chance?” Kevin asked.

Tricia looked at him, wondering why she was having this conversation with a near stranger. On the other hand she had already had it with Sandy and she didn’t know Sandy much better than Kevin.

“Am I treading on ground where I have no business Tricia?” Kevin asked.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. The answer to your question is that yes. I guess I’d take the chance. God you must think I’m just a slut.”

“Never,” Kevin said. “I not even thinking about judging you. Are you planning to play more of these circuit events in the future?”

“I hope so.”

“Well then it seems to me you need to be very careful not to eliminate that which allows you to do so. A husband unwilling to allow you to come or trying to do this as a single mom would make it tough.”

“Yeah,” Tricia said studying Kevin’s face as he drove. “I think I see why Jaime seems to like you so much. You really care don’t you? You arranged things this way so you could give me this Dutch Uncle speech.”

“Well I’m a bit young to be your uncle don’t you think?” Kevin smiled.

Tricia laughed and gently smacked him on the arm. “You’re not all that much younger than I am.”

“Well I trust you will remember that if ever both Jaime and Rick are unavailable and you’re lonely.”

“You had better be careful I might just take you up on that some day in the future.” Tricia laughed.

Kevinjust nodded, smiling faintly. He whipped the car into the parking lot of the restaurant. “Here we are. Thank you for taking what I had to say the way you did. It really isn’t any of my business but Jaime likes you more than you know and I like him. I’m also coming to like you a lot and I don’t want to see you hurt. To be a bit more selfish I can see us possibly making some kind of a deal if you keep attending these events but we’ll talk more about that another time. Tonight is supposed to be about Rick and celebrating how well he did. Lets get to it shall we?”

Kevin came around and opened the car door for her and they made their way to the restaurant. Tricia was trying to absorb lots of things all at once. She could swear Kevin had made her the promise of some kind of offer similar to what Jaime had. She told herself she must have heard him wrong. Then her thoughts shifted to Rick and what she had hoped would happen tonight. She had no idea if it would now but she knew she would just let things go their natural route. She did want him to enjoy his excellent finish. She wondered what Jaime was thinking about all this. If Kevin had figured out how she felt about Rick she thought Jaime must have. Would he know that while she wanted to be with Rick she didn’t have nearly the depth of feelings for Rick that she still did for Jaime?

It was with those thoughts and more swirling through her head that she sat down at the table with Kevin, Jaime and Rick. There would prove to be several hours for her to ponder her future.