The Ultimate Bet

He noticed that the devil occasionally blinked rapidly. A tell? Jim thought. The devil had a tell, a giveaway? He watched for that closely. When Ignis blinked rapidly, he held weak cards. Jim once called him with a bad hand, just to see his opponent’s hole cards. And, as he expected, the devil’s cards were weak. Jim lost but got the confirmation he wanted.

It happened again half an hour later. Jim’s up cards were a queen and ten of hearts and a nine of spades. His down cards were a pair of jacks. The devil showed a pair of eights and a four and bet $10,000, his eyes blinking quickly. Jim raised to $20,000 and the devil hesitated before calling.

The devil’s next card was a queen. Jim’s was a king, giving him what looked like a possible straight and, perhaps, a flush draw. The devil looked at his hole cards and checked.

Now, Jim considered making a large bet, maybe $50,000, or stringing the devil along to build the pot. He decided on the latter.

“Ten thousand,” he said, carefully watching the devil’s reaction.

The devil scratched his forehead, then called. Jim dealt their last down cards and didn’t bother to look at his. He knew what he was going to do.

“Fifty thousand,” he said, expecting the devil to drop.

Instead, he surprised Jim with an immediate call. Jim slumped in his chair, realizing what had happened. He turned over his cards. “Pair of Jacks,” he said and watched the devil turn up a third eight.

He’d been had. The devil had set him up with a false tell. He cursed himself for being suckered as the devil shoveled in the pot.

“Thought I was bluffing, Mr. Steadman?”

“Go ahead,” Jim replied, “rub it in. I deserve it. Getting sucked in by a phony tell. “