Strike Three
My biggest concern coming out of Tim's game on Monday was the fact that I might scare Nicole away. She and her ex co-owned two companies and probably didn't deal with guys running around with swords after cars and such. In between games we spent time hanging out at the beach and I realized there was a side of life that I just hadn't been experiencing for a long time. Whether it was seeing a school bus drive by, the bank open, or seeing retirees at Publix getting their groceries - these people hadn't existed in my life. I was used to bars, Waffle House, casinos and eating Racetrac sandwiches. At the same time, I was introducing Nicole to a night life she had never seen before. She told me she had been to the casino before, but it was more for the bars, and this wasn't exactly a casino.
What had happened at Tim's that night had spread like wildfire all over the underground poker network. Those who hadn't been there were calling those who had and they wanted an exact recollection of what happened for their expert opinion. It was a ****show because half the players just didn't want to believe it, some wanted to lynch Mike, Willy and Tim, and some just didn't care. Vito was particularly pissed because he felt like he had given Tim the opportunity to redeem himself and now Mike and Tim couldn't be trusted at all. He called me up on the day of the Thursday game on his lunch break.
"Hey Liam, can you tell me what happened? Can you give me your account of the story? I have TJ blowing up my phone, I can't get a hold of Mike, and I don't know if I can let Tim in my house." I got the feeling that he thought I was somehow in on this.
"I did not deal that night, so let me make it clear that if you talk to me like you think I had anything to do with his, it's going to be a short conversation." I was in no mood to be a part of this, and he can have TJ verify my story. I told what I thought had happened, and said that it was "very likely" that the deck was set. I didn't mind throwing Mike under the bus, train, you name it, he was thrown under.
"Mike owes me a lot of money so you have to understand my situation." He started to preach like a father.
"Mike owes me a chunk of change too, so we are in the same situation. I am going to deal the first few hours, then play. I'll let you know how the game is running and approach him once the rake gets up there about getting money." I kept it short with Vito because honestly I couldn't stand talking to him, it was like talking to a boss or fatherly figure that you never wanted in your life.
The rest of my day was the same routine I had been doing for 9 months now. Pick up the Coors Light, two quarts of coconut water, show up, set up the table, and sit outside and smoke cigarettes while we waited for a full table. This night wasn't going to be normal, however. At 7, we only had 2 players and Mike. By 8, two more had shown up, including Paulie, who had been playing here for about a month now. I am sure between what happened on Monday, the start of the new game, and the general lack of confidence in Mike kept the game from starting. Finally at 9 we started 6-handed, which from a game perspective is the best situation. The dealer can deal faster, the hands play out faster, and rake goes up. The problem was Mike was on the felt, 2 guys were on the book, and they weren't winning. Josh and the Greek came over, and finally the Swede showed up, all cash players. Once the table was full, I hopped out of the box and started playing myself.
Now Mike had to make sure that to just break even, we had to rake 800 by midnight. Mike is good, but not as good as Derek. At a 10 dollar rake Derek could pull over 400 an hour sometimes, so he ended up sitting in to save Mike's ass. As I am playing I am watching the rake drop, and at 400 an hour, 50 bucks was being taken from each player 8-handed. That's an expensive table to sit at, and I felt like I was in a tournament against the house. I flopped trip 7s with 79cc and almost doubled up my 250 stack. At this point, I never cared to deal with Mike again once my money was paid up. I didn't want to see him, I didn't want to hear his excuses, and I was tired of his old skater belt trying to hold up his scrawny ass jeans. He refused to pull the excess length of the belt through the loops again, so it just hung there in front of him like a green fibrous wang. Even the food was ****ty that night - it as some chicken dumpling bake with cheese and vegetable, it tasted like it was microwaved. When dumplings get dry, you are basically just biting into a big ball of flavored flour, and I could feel it sit like a rock in my stomach. This was not the game of glory it once had been 6 months ago.
Around 1am, Paulie decided he wanted to cash out, and he was an all cash player that was up about 400. Mike tried his usual "I'll keep you on credit for next week" deal. Normally, this would be okay for a player who had owed money to the game, but Paulie was an all cash player that never had to dip into the game, and he knew that we were leaving this place for good next week.
"If you don't cash me out fully, I'm going to knock you right the **** out. Don't even **** with me on this, this is not how we do business where I am from."
Mike had a long look on his face as he was trying to find a way to get back to even again. A lot of Paulie's chips was book money won from those borrowing, and Mike was back in the negative again as a result. He asked me why Paulie was so mad and violent.
"You owed him money, he paid in cash and he will always expect cash at the end of the night. That's how this works. If not, players won't come here if they aren't getting paid out."
"I know, but he should know I will always pay him when I can." It just didn't occur to Mike that these people were not here to further his debt issues by donating money to him.
I left about an hour later with $350 in my pocket - $200 from dealing, and $150 from playing, but I let him hold $200 he owed because I couldn't take and not give out what was owed to the players. Mike was concerned about paying everyone out but I made it clear the same thing was going to happen if he didn't pay me in full what I had won and dealt for. Mike had won a huge 3 way all in and figured this was my best chance for picking up the rest of what was owed. Then again, I had it all but $200, and if Mike never paid up, it would be the best $200 I ever was owed. I could needle him all I wanted, explain how much of a piece of **** Mike was, and never have to listen to Mike ask me for money again. I got 85% of what I was originally owed, which according to gambling debt standards is pretty good. I considered it the cost of doing business.
I got on the highway and headed south, and Nicole had immediately called me when I told her I was out of Vito's place. Within 5 minutes I realized I had left my brand new set of Da Vinci cards, I wasn't just going to give Mike or Vito a brand new set. I just passed the last exit for 8 miles so I had to wrap around and it took me 30 minutes to get back to Vito's. When I pulled in I saw there were only a few cars left - Mike's, Derek's, and another guy who had just showed up tonight. I went in through the garage where the cards were and figured I would just walk in. I opened the door to the kitchen/gaming room wing of the house and saw Derek through the slider smoking a cigarette while pounding a beer, and Mike was just sitting at the same seat he was playing, looking like he was in disbelief.
"What the hell happened?" I was honestly not shocked that the game broke, but apparently Mike was.
"I don't know. Everyone is mad at me and I don't even know what I did. Josh and Greek were way up and I couldn't pay them both out. They started fighting with each other about who should get the money, then Bookie lost it on me and said I owed him 5k by next week, "or else". I don't even know why this happened."
"Well, that's unfortunate." I was tired of trying to explain to Mike the wrong in his ways. He was handed a goldmine and bet the farm on it, literally. He was five figures in debt and now had no way to pay any of it back. Mike ****ed himself, taking the trust of others and lining his pockets with it. This coupled with what happened to Mike was a fatal blow - he was broke and his game, which had been a money making machine, was grinding to a halt. I had nothing more to say to him, and walked outside to talk to Derek who was more in touch with reality.
"Mike ****ed me too, we both owe Bookie and I didn't know it was this much. It's a joint account and my wife is going to kill me if she knows I'm betting again." I had more sympathy for Derek, he was genuinely a good guy who just had some problems he needed to fight through. I had loaned him money in return for collateral - guns, chips from casinos, etc. and he had always paid me back. At the same time, Bookie had put a lot of people at the game in debt that affected its running on more than one occasion. He brought a lot of action with him, but personally I wouldn't miss him. In fact, As I walked through the slider and over to the garage, I walked around the house and took a look around, because I was pretty sure it would be my last walk in the house. Vito wasn't going to have Mike around here anymore, and I didn't want any part of it either. I walked out and told Mike I'd see him on Monday - if there even was a game. Both of these botched nights, though bad for the home game scene in the area, created a vacuum for a new game in town.