Luck? This is poker

"Honey." Kat ran a finger along the inside seam of his pants. "Maybe we can take in a show or something. I know your luck will change if we just come back later."

Rick puffed up as if offended. "You're my luck, babe. As long as you're with me, I can't lose."

Now that he'd successfully convinced his fellow players that he was a noob, he went into serious play mode.

Kat played the bride ditz to perfection, whining about how much he was losing, complaining that she wanted to try the slot machines, and generally distracting everyone but Rick from noticing that all of a sudden, he was losing less and winning more.

He faked another bluff, letting them win some of their money back and, at the same time, making sure they thought they had him figured out. Then he waited through a couple of bad hands until he got a pair of aces to go with the ace in the river. Nice.

He winked at Kat and upped the bet. "I got it this time," he told her.

As he'd expected, everyone called with each bet. Nobody was falling for this sucker's bluff.

A few minutes later, he raked in a big pot. Kat kissed him on the lips. "I knew you could do it, babe. Now, can we go take in a show?"

In the song, you're not supposed to count your money at the table and Rick wasn't about to do it here. Besides, he had kept track of his winnings. He had enough now to pay for a room for Kat and his entry fee for the tournament starting tomorrow with a little left over for dinner. He didn't have enough for a second room, which meant he'd be spending another night in his car. Well, he'd survive.

"Yeah, babe. You've been good. These guys here are tough, tougher than the guys back in Cow Dip, even but I think I broke even. Maybe we should both try the big tournament tomorrow. Be sweet to win enough to pay for our honeymoon."

That got him a look from the skinny guy he'd identified as the talent in the group. Maybe he'd been putting things on a little thick. On the other hand, the one thing every marketing professional learns is that it's almost impossible to dumb down a message too much. He'd wanted to come off as the naïve hick waiting to be plucked and he'd mostly managed. When the other players counted their chips and saw how much they'd lost, he didn't think many of them would believe they'd been scammed.