Chapter 31

Tricia got back to the party to find Gary deep in conversation with Jaime and Kevin. From the looks of it they were rehashing hands they’d played. Sandy was talking to Rick and from the looks of it flirting not just a little bit.

She slid in beside Sandy who looked over at her. “Did you get him? I guess you must have to have taken that long. I bet he was proud of you.”

“I guess,” Tricia shrugged. “It’s hard to tell most of the time. He seemed happy about it though.”

Sandy looked at Tricia closely. “What’s wrong? Something is bugging you.”

“Nothing really. Maybe I’m just tired or a little overwhelmed. Maybe I’m starting to get homesick. Don’t get me wrong I wouldn’t have traded this time for anything but it’s been a little intense. I don’t know what I expected really. Certainly not much of anything that has happened.”

She caught Rick’s eye when she said that and she could tell he thought maybe he was referring to what had gone on between the two of them. In a way she supposed she did mean that but also much more.

Tricia reached past Sandy to give Rick’s arm a brief squeeze. “Not that silly.”

Rick’s eyebrows shot up at Tricia mentioning it, however indirectly, in front of Sandy and with others potentially in earshot. Tricia just smiled at him.

Sandy looked at her and then at Rick. “Is there something you all would like to tell me?”

Rick looked at Tricia inquiringly. She chuckled and then looked at Sandy. “Not especially.”

“Well crap,” Sandy said. “I was afraid of that.”

Tricia was wondering if the one drink she had had so far was making her take chances she shouldn’t and wondering how she was going to distract Sandy and change the subject when she saw Carolyn Snow walk into the bar with a good looking guy. Tricia was struck by how tall Carolyn was. Tricia was sure she had to be very nearly six feet tall. She looked happy and when she looked around Tricia waved to her.

Scooting out of her seat Tricia went over to Carolyn. “Hi! How’d you make out?”

Carolyn smiled broadly when she recognized Tricia and gave her a hug. “Not as well as you did, that’s for damn sure!”

“You heard?”

Carolyn nodded. “I saw Carmen a few minutes ago.”

“Yeah I saw her too. She said she had somebody waiting for her.”

“Wasn’t me,” Carolyn laughed. “Not my cup of tea.”

“I didn’t mean I thought it was you,” Tricia said, blushing. The man with Carolyn was looking puzzled.

Carolyn noticed and said, “Just some girl humor Ruben.” Then realizing she had not introduced him to Tricia she did so.

As Tricia and Ruben shook hands Kevin walked up. Carolyn greeted him with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. She then introduced Ruben to Kevin. By this time Ruben was looking just a little bit lost.

After glancing at Ruben Carolyn said, “I’m afraid this may be too much for Ruben. This is the first time he’s ever seen anything like this. He is an old friend from my past. We’ve kept in touch over the years and when he mentioned he would be nearby on business I invited him to stop by if he got free and tonight he got free.”

“Would you two like to join us Carolyn?” Kevin asked. “We’re having a little party to celebrate Tricia’s success.”

Carolyn exchanged looks with Ruben who shrugged and said, “Fine with me. I’d like to meet more of your friends and learn what you’ve gotten yourself into.”

Kevin dragged them back to the party with him and began introducing Ruben around. Tricia saw that the party had grown some more. Paul, the young guy she’d seen with Kevin before was there with a cute girl on his arm. He was deep in conversation with Jaime.

The party got larger and louder as a few more people drifted in, mostly people that Kevin knew but Tricia saw that Jaime seemed to know most of them as well. She found herself retreating to the background and just listening. It was an accustomed role at parties and she liked it, she learned a lot that way.

In time Kevin stood up and rapped on a glass with a spoon. Once he got everybody to more or less listen to him he began singling out players that were there and congratulating them on their latest achievements. He congratulated Jaime on making another final table that evening and for finishing fourth. Tricia blushed, realizing she’d forgotten all about asking Jaime how he did. When she apologized to him though he just smiled and told her that he understood as she’d had other things on her mind.

Kevin again rapped on his glass and was staring at them, trying to look like a stern school teacher. “Mr. Devlin and Ms. Bateman! Is there something you would like to share with the class?”

Jaime laughed and said with a smile, “Screw you.”

“This is no time to get into your personal life Mr. Devlin.” Kevin said as seriously as he could while most everybody else was at least giggling if not laughing. “It’s also come to my attention that Ms. Carolyn Snow here not only cashed in the ladies event today but managed to get done with that in time to play the afternoon Mega-Satellite and win a seat in tomorrow’s main event.”

“Is that good?” Ruben, who was standing next to Tricia asked quietly.

Tricia nodded. “It means she paid $500 to play in that satellite and won a $5000 entry into the main event. It’s very good.”

“$5000 for one tournament?” Ruben asked, sounding astonished. “Can I ask you how much the one you won tonight was?”

“I was only second and the Ladies event was only a $200 buy in event.”

“But I thought Carolyn said you got $14,000 or something like that. That was for second place?” Ruben asked.

Tricia nodded. “Trust me that is small change to what some of these tournaments pay. The one that Carolyn will be playing starting tomorrow for example from what I’ve heard is expecting over 300 entries and will pay the winner over half a million dollars.”

“Amazing,” Ruben said. “I had no idea there was so much money involved. Will you be playing in that one?”

Tricia bit her lip, not sure how to answer.

Before she could though she heard Kevin ask from right beside her. “Good question my dear Tricia, will you be playing the Main Event?”

“God,” Tricia said, suddenly feeling overwhelmed. “I don’t know. I need to talk to you about it Kevin.”

Ruben looked from Kevin to Tricia and said, “Would you excuse me? I’m going to go ask Carolyn more about this. I find it fascinating.”

Kevin steered Tricia to a quieter spot. “Talk to me sweetheart.”

“Shit Kevin I don’t know what I want to do!” Tricia said, hating that it came out almost as a moan.

“Calm down dear,” Kevin said. “I wasn’t trying to pressure you. I genuinely just wanted to know what you had decided.”

“I haven’t decided anything,” Tricia said with a sigh. “After tonight I suppose I should play. I can afford it. On the other hand I can’t help the feeling that I’m really not ready to play on that level.”

“It sounds to me like you’re thinking about it logically, that is good.” Kevin said. “That is better than making a snap judgement.”

“Do you think I’m ready for it?” Tricia asked.

Kevin looked at her and put his hands on her shoulders. “Well you asked so I’m going to give you my honest opinion. In part it’s based on incomplete information about you though so if you think I’m off base let me know ok?

He was looking her straight in the eyes and she found herself looking up at him and studying his face. She thought she saw concern for her there as well as a little wariness.

“Ok.”

“You came here not expecting what to find and found it a lot different than your previous tournament experience right?”

Tricia nodded.

“You’ve done very well, both in the tournaments and in cash games. I have the feeling though that you’ve been on the edge of being overwhelmed by the experience though. To me you seem like you’re kind of, for lack of a better way to describe it, over saturated with it.”

Tricia nodded again. “I am feeling kind of overwhelmed.”

“You might not want to hear this but I don’t think you should play tomorrow. If you’d already won a seat than I’d say fine. And I think you’d have a chance to do very well. But if you buy in feeling the way you do I think there is a reasonable chance you will not play your best game. I would be very afraid you’d be playing scared, trying to just play conservative and make enough to win your buy in back. That can work but it means you have no chance to win and every chance to bust out before you reach the money. Does that make sense.”

Tricia’s eyes had been filling with tears as he said it and when he finished she was crying fully.

Kevin looked at her in concern. “I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings but you asked me for my honest opinion and that is the best one I have.”

Tricia shook her head and hugged Kevin, resting her head on his chest and then looking up at him. “You didn’t hurt my feelings. I was feeling all that. It’s what I was thinking but I was afraid I was just being a wimp and you and Jaime and everybody would be disappointed in me.”

Kevin smiled down at her. “Sweet heart two things. First of all nobody is going to be disappointed in you ok? You’ve done fantastic here. Second is that you should never let anybody pressure you into doing something you don’t feel you’re ready for. Just because many people hate limit and will try to talk you into playing no-limit cash games doesn’t mean you should do it. You’ve resisted that and that is good. This is the same thing. You know your limitations. Now if I thought you were wrong and you SHOULD play then I’d tell you. But I’d respect your decision not to.”

“Thank you,” Tricia said. “You really don’t think I’m a wimp about this?”

Kevin laughed. “I really don’t. I was a little afraid I was going to find myself having to talk you out of buying in without crushing your ego. In my opinion you are making the right decision.”

Tricia sighed and stepped back. “I got you all wet I think crying on you like that.”

“It’s not the first time and it won’t be the last. I’m just glad it’s not because you were mad at me.”

“Well of course not silly.”

“Will you do something for me?” Kevin asked.

Tricia looked at him and grinned. “I’m almost afraid to ask what. I’ve heard about your reputation.”

Kevin laughed. “I thought we discussed that. Maybe one day I will try to seduce you. I’m not promising a thing. But that is not what I was going to ask tonight.”

“Ok what do you want me to do then?”

“Take the money you’ve made. Keep most of it in your poker bankroll but go home and spend a couple of thousand on yourself. Reap the rewards. Go home to your family and recharge for the next event whenever you can make it.”

“I can do that,” Tricia said. “I’d already sort of planned to use some to buy some presents for Matt and Matty and my parents to thank them all for letting me come.”

“That’s great but that’s not for you Tricia. Do something for you. Get something you want, a new ring, a necklace, something you’ve wanted for the house.”

Tricia shrugged. “I’m not much into ‘things’. How about a family vacation? I would love to take Matty to Disney World.”

Kevin smiled. “I think that is close enough and has the added benefit of hopefully making your husband see that letting you do this again could be to his advantage.”

“I think he already sees that,” Tricia said. “Although I kind of wonder if the main advantage to him wasn’t getting me out of his hair for a while. He surely hasn’t seemed nearly as worried as I thought he would.”

“Did you tell him about Jaime being here?”

Tricia shook her head.

“Well if you do I bet he will get worried real quick.”

“Yeah,” She said. “I think I will keep that to myself. I was able to come here, be around Jaime and behave myself. Mostly, with him anyway.” By the time she finished she was blushing bright red. “Oh crap.”

Kevin held up his hand, stopping her. He was chuckling as he said. “That is enough information and none of my business. Are you ready to go back to the party now?”

She nodded.

Kevin said, “Then stop blushing or everybody is going to think I did make an improper suggestion.”

Tricia laughed, and feeling much better went back to the party.