The Golden Hotel

Card Game

"Wow. This is a casino?" Theo roamed his eyes around like a kid who hadn't seen a theme park in his entire life.

Table games, electronic machine games and random number ticket games dotted the casino: Slots, Panchinko, Roulette, Bingo, Keno, Farkle, Baccarat, the Wheel of Fortune and many others could be found.

All around, the assorted flashing lights and shades of yellow color ironically blinded them. The gold sheets sparkled and screamed expensive luxury. There were no signs of dust to indicate old age nor defected machines. Accidentally breaking the casino property would never be an option. Who would be happy about paying a damaged property?

Everyone split in different directions to explore the area.

"Bro! Look at this!" Klein motioned for his older brother to come over to the slot machines.

Yves, who stood by the video poker machine, sauntered beside him. He stared at the slots like it was impossible to have that kind of design. "Are slots supposed to look like that?"

Klein shrugged his shoulders. "Beats me."

Ordinary slot machines should be the same in appearance, but the ones here had intricate designs and metals were used to create a bigger-sized slot machine. Multiple options appeared on the screen, too. However, what spooked them out the most was the pixelated image projected at the topmost part of it. A woman had a playing card pierced right through her throat. She laid motionless on the blood-soaked floor near a table game. Cards and chips were also scattered around.

Yves grimaced, wrapping his fingers around his throat. "Is that a thing?"

Klein swallowed his saliva. "I hope it's not."

"Twins!"

"Holy cheese nuts-" Klein flinched and almost stumbled back at the sudden loud voice beside him. With a hand over his throbbing chest, he turned and threw her a glare. "Meg! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

She arched an eyebrow. "Why are you so jumpy? I was just going to tell you two about Kacey's Poker tutorial. They're waiting for us."

Klein heavily sighed and pointed at the slots. "Have a look of that disturbing image."

Meg shifted her eyes at the screen. The pixelated image of the dead woman made her nose wrinkle. "Creepy much? It's not even Halloween."

"Yeah. It's kinda weird." Yves bit his bottom lip.

"Probably just a random theme or whatever." Meg dismissed the thought.

"I don't know anything about casino games but we should go." Klein lifted a thumb, pointing at the rest of them gathered around a poker table. "We've got a lot of learning to do."

The three of them turned on their heels and headed over to the rest of the group.

Klein jogged towards Kacey who held a piece of paper in her hand. She appeared to be reading the instruction from the game master while the rest were seated on their respective seats, checking out their own colored betting chips. Then his eyes traveled around the poker table. Their own name plates were placed on the top rail so they did not have to choose their own. An odd machine stood at the center with a deck of card in its slot while a keypad with the buttons ON/OFF, START, DEAL, CALL and FOLD was installed at the dealer's position, just where Kacey stood.

"What does it say?" Klein looked closer.

"Well, this game master seem to know that I play Poker so he instructed me to teach and guide the beginners as we play." Sighing through her nostrils, Kacey placed the paper down on the table and pointed at the keypad beside her. "I'll be operating this rotating dealing machine."

He stretched a grin. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's start!"

Just as promised, Kacey tutored the beginners: Faith, Theo, Judy, Meg, Klein and Yves. It took them roughly around 30 minutes to completely get a hang of the rules. From Royal Flush to Straight Flush, Four Of A Kind and Full House, the list went on to Flush, Straight, Three Of A Kind, Two Pair, One Pair and High Card. Explaining and teaching them about the known combination of cards and the lowest to highest ranks over and over again could be tiring, but she had help from others to quicken the learning process.

"All right!" Kacey clapped once before scanning everyone's faces. "So . . . Are we ready to play?"

"Let's do it!" Klein's eyes were on fire. "I'm gonna beat all of you!"

"Don't be so confident." Theo chuckled quietly.

"You might eat your words." Faith shook her head in amusement.

"Why do I feel like I will be the loser here?" Meg's nose flared.

"Nah. Too early to say." Yves patted her left shoulder.

"All right!" Kacey made eye contact with them. "As I've said earlier, in the beginning, two players will be forced to put out bets known as the blinds. They are called the Small Blind and the Big Blind. Since I'm seated at the left side of the dealer, I'll start with the Small Blind." She put out a white chip marked with the number 1 on the table. "Then the betting turns will continue clockwise."

Daren took a deep breath and put out two white chips on the table. "Big Blind. It's double the amount of the Small Blind. This is also the minimum bet."

"Then we're dealt with two cards one at a time starting at the Small Blind's position. That's me." Kacey turned to the dealing machine's keypad. She pressed the ON/OFF and START buttons and it began to rotate in a moderate speed, distributing the first card to her. Once each player had two cards in hand, including the imaginary dealer, she lifted her cards up. "These two cards are known as the Hole Cards. Since Daren and I have betted out our chips, we will now begin the betting round called Pre-Flop."

"Call." Hans, who was seated at the left side of Daren, put out two white chips to match his bet. He was the first player to take action. "The position to the immediate left of the Big Blind is called Under the Gun." Then he glanced over to Judy.

In her hand, she had the 3 of Hearts and 2 of Hearts. "So, okay, I have like four actions to choose from: Call, Raise, All In and Fold, right?"

Hans nodded his head. "You got it."

Judy put out two white chips on the table, matching Hans' bet. "Call."

"Call." Maxine copied her bet.

"Call." Klein did the same.

Faith, Jared, Yves, Theo and Olwen chose Call but Meg put out two red chips marked with the number 5 on the table.

"Raise." She smirked proudly. In her hand, she had the 5 of Hearts and 7 of Hearts.

"Whoa!" they said in chorus.

"Meg's going to crush us." Yves laughed.

"And here I thought you're the loser." Jared laughed louder along with the rest.

"I changed my mind." Meg stuck out her tongue.

"Feeling confident?" Kacey chuckled as she pressed the CALL button on the keypad. It coughed out two red chips, mirroring Meg's bet.

"Oh, I am!" She grinned wider.

"Shame. I'll go for an early Fold." Kacey flipped her cards down, implying that she could no longer see a win with her cards. "I'm out."

"Damn, that was early." Daren hissed as he focused his eyes on his cards. After several seconds, he put out a red chip and a blue chip marked with the number 10. "Raise."

The Pre-Flop went on with a few of them choosing Fold, pressing a small button on the top rail of the table to inform the dealing machine about their withdrawal. The remaining players for this betting round were Daren, Hans, Judy, Faith, Jared, Yves, Olwen and Meg.

Kacey reached out for the keypad and pressed the DEAL button. Three cards were coughed out onto the green felt surface: Ace of Clubs, 8 of Hearts and 6 of Hearts.

"I'll repeat it again for the beginners. This is called The Flop." She pointed at the cards on the table. "It consists of three community cards. We'll now start with the Post-Flop betting round with Daren. His choices are Check, if he wants to pass the action to Hans, Bet, All In or Fold."

"I never felt so pressured before." Daren let out a low chuckle before putting out a red chip and a green chip marked with the number 25. "Bet."

Hans smiled a little, putting out two green chips. "Raise."

"Call." Judy put out her matching bet with a trembling hand. "Ah! This is making me nervous!"

"Relax! Just focus and you'll be fine." Maxine gently nudged her arm and she returned a lopsided smile.

The Post-Flop went on with Hans, Faith and Yves choosing Fold. For this betting round, Daren, Judy, Jared, Olwen and Meg remained. Once again, Kacey pressed the DEAL button on the keypad. Another card was coughed out: 9 of Spades.

"As for this one, the fourth community card is called The Turn. Same rules as the previous betting round."

"Check." Daren passed the action to Judy.

"Bet." She put out two green chips.

"Call." Jared matched hers.

"Fold." Olwen withdrew.

"Call." Meg copied him.

Kacey pressed a few numbers on the keypad. After the CALL button, the dealing machine coughed out two green chips.

"Raise." Daren put out a black chip marked with the number 100.

"Call!" Judy smacked her black chip on the table with a squeal.

"Fold." Jared frowned.

"Call." Meg widened her grin.

The Post-Flop ended with the dealing machine choosing CALL.

"Woo! We have three remaining players!" Klein waved his imaginary flag in the air. "Go, Daren and Meg!"

"Meg will win for sure." Daren shook his head in amusement while Meg confidently flipped her hair back.

"No! Judy will win!" Faith and Maxine cheered for her.

"Nah! I bet Daren will let Meg win." Yves threw Daren a playful look and the other guy just laughed it off.

"Shut up, guys! What if I lose?" Judy swung her legs rapidly with her face crinkling as if something disgusting had been doused over her head. Not to mention, her chills were becoming frequent as the betting round continued. She did try to ignore it, but something had been bothering her. Or maybe it was because of the game?

"We shall see!" Kacey cleared her throat. "This betting round is the final round called The Showdown. As for the fifth community card, this is called The River."

For the final push, she pressed the DEAL button and the dealing machine coughed out the last card: 4 of Hearts.