Nope. Time to make some money

Rick had hoped Kat wouldn't notice that he walked past the hotel registration directly to the poker room. No such luck. Fortunately, she didn't make a fuss. She simply raised an eyebrow in his direction and shook her head slowly. "You're taking a big chance."

"I know."

"Uh, bigger than you think."

They'd agreed on being newlyweds, honeymooning at the casino with him having a desperate need to prove he was some sort of macho considering that Kat certainly looked like she could tear him into small pieces. He loudly demanded to play in the 'big money' poker game, then equally loudly told Kat that he often won in his weekly poker game back in Cow-Drip Texas and all his buddies had told him he should come and show these guys how it was really done.

Kat cooed and stroked his arm like she was impressed by his strutting and it wasn't long before he was joined by a group of poker players who happily agreed to up the stakes.

He played carefully at first, trying to get a feel for his opponents. A fat woman liked to bluff. A bald guy was very conservative but busy calculating the odds. And a scrawny guy wearing a denim vest with no shirt underneath, who smoked continually, lighting each new cigarette from the butt of the last while ignoring the no smoking signs looked to be the main competition.

Fortunately Rick's Visa card hadn't been rejected when he'd charged five thousand dollars worth of chips. Unfortunately, he was going through those chips quickly. Yes, being able to read opponents is fine. Yes, it's nice to be able to calculate the odds of drawing a straight while remembering every card displayed. But at some point, it's also nice to actually get some cards. Which is what Rick wasn't doing.

He tried a bluff, winking at Kat while he did so.

Everyone called, exposing his bluff and costing him the entire bet.

"Guess those players home in Cow-Dung Texas ain't so hot," the fat woman said.

"It's Cow-Drip," he corrected. "And yeah, they're really good players. I just can't seem to get any cards tonight."