My stomach
growled, hopefully lost in the midst of everyone else’s growl. I just barely
stopped from holding it. I wondered how those poker players on TV managed to go
for so long without even budging. Trying to keep a straight face while starving
was tough. After all, I had skipped breakfast.
I glanced
again at my cards, not liking the almost straight I had. I looked at my meager
winnings, and my stomach groaned again. I wasn’t going to last much longer like
this, and I wouldn’t do well to keep going.
But I don’t have enough. No pain, no gain.
“I’ll
call,” I said, adding in three slices of pepperjack to the pot.
The bet
passed to Natalie. “Raise, two roast beef.”
The table
oooed at such a bet.
“Two rich for
me,” Wally said, folding.
“I’m in,”
said Anna-Maria, but instead of roast beef, she put in two slices of Black
Forest ham.
“Man, that
is the makings of a mighty fine sandwich,” Keith said, folding.
Kate sucked
in breath, almost a whistle, “I gotta do it. I’ll see your roast beef, and
raise it to three pastrami.”
I winced
and drooled. I could really use some
pastrami.
“Woman!
What do you mean throwing out meat like that!” Jack protested. He had lost more
than most, but largely due to eating instead of betting. He looked at his
stacks one more time, then his cards, then folded.
It came
back to me, and I folded.
Natalie
stayed in to get the card, then folded. It all came down to Kate and
Anna-Maria. Kate revealed a small full house, easily beating Anna-Maria’s three
kings, and took the pot.
“So
hungry,” I said.
Kate
decided to rub it in and made a glorious sandwich out of the entire plate.
“My God, that’s sexy,” Wally said,
drawing nods and other affirmations from the rest of us.
Kate rapped Jack’s hand hard when
he tried to sneak a couple of slices from her meat stack.
Jack frowned, then pulled out a
stack of bills. “Murray, change out another $100.”
Behind the
counter, Murray began slicing off meats and cheeses. I pulled out my own bills,
asking for the same.
I better eat some instead of betting it all.