Cindy keeps the pair

Cindy rearranged the cards so that they go from low to high; high to low from the blonde's point of view. After a moment she pushed the seven and nine towards the center. She then pushed the Ace away as well. After Tom picked up the cards, he turned to Linda. She turned her hand over at once.

Ten of clubs

Four of hearts

Seven of clubs

Ace of Spades

Seven of Diamonds

"Like Cindy," Tom started, "You have a pair." He pointed to the two sevens Linda had shown.

"And like Cindy," he added, you have an Ace kicker. So you have the same decision as she had." Not surprising, Linda made the choice Cindy did. She pushed the ten and four away and then discarded the Ace.

Like in the first hand, Tom dealt all the replacement at once, and like in the first hand, he dealt them face up. Unlike the first hand, he dealt the cards to Cindy first..

"Queen of Spades, Jack of Spades, King of Clubs." Tom called out as he laid them out, "Nice cards, but they don't help any. You still have a pair of sixes."

"Two of Clubs, Three of Diamonds, Four of Spades." Tom called out as he laid out the replacement cards for Linda, "No help what-so-ever. However, you still have a pair of sevens, which means that you are safe this hand since no matter what I get you have a better hand than Cindy." Linda smiled at Cindy. The blonde was too busy taking a drink from her beer to respond. Tom ignored this and dealt the cards for his own hand.

"Two of Hearts, Four of Diamonds, Eight of Spades." Tom said. In full poker mode, he had no problem keeping the disappointment out of his voice. "As often happens in poker, no one is able to improve their hand. And since I started out with the lowest hand, I ended up with the lowest hand and have to take something off." Even though it was still early, both girls looked on eagerly.