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waiting for another hand.
The time had arrived to find out who he was up against, and more
importantly to see if the girl was going to interfere with his
plans. If that was going to be the case, the sooner he found out,
the better.
    He began dealing the cards, deciding as he
did, that he would cheat for the first time. Everything would go
well, he´d been preparing for this for a long while, and his
technique was perfect.
     
     
    * * * * *
     
     

CHAPTER FOUR
     
     
    It worked perfectly. Alvaro had arranged the
cards when he shuffled them and knew what was in each of their
hands. Now he wanted to see what they were going to do with what
they had.
    Just as he thought, the girl hadn´t
interfered. He wouldn´t have to worry about the dog.
    The only problem continued to be Hector who
really didn´t seem part of the game. Alvaro couldn´t understand
what he was doing and had no idea at all about what was behind his
filthy exterior. He didn´t touch his cards again. Simply threw a
chip into the middle of the table and then passed.
    “I´ll up that.” Alvaro said looking at Dante
as he threw five red chips into the pot. “Let´s see if I´ve got
some luck this time.”
    Dante looked at his cards for a few seconds
then gave Alvaro an arrogant look. “Let´s make it more
interesting.”
    He raised Alvaro´s bet with a green chip. The
first that had been used in the game. It was the biggest bet of the
night. It wasn´t enormous but without any doubt, juicy.
    “ I ´m out.” Judith said, throwing her cards in.
    That was prudent, Alvaro thought. He knew she
had two pairs, queens and fives. A good hand, but not good enough
to put everything on the line. It was the right decision, perhaps a
little too cautious.
    “I´ll raise you.” Alvaro said, pushing one
green and three red chips forward.
    Dante´s reaction was much more revealing than
Judith´s.
    “ Don´t be stingy, Doc.” He said, smiling.
“Let´s see how far you´re capable of going.”
    Without taking his eyes off Alvaro for a
second, Dante picked a yellow chip up and moved it slowly across
the table.
    The show was on. And it was a real learning
curve for Alvaro. He knew exactly what Dante had in his wrinkled
hands. Only a sad pair of fives. Alvaro admired Dante´s bluff. He
was acting his heart out, and doing it very well. He showed no
signs of nervousness.
    Alvaro had three eights in his hand and
could win the biggest hand of the night without any problem. But he
decided not to do that, just yet. He wanted Dante´s ego as big as
he could get it. There´d be bigger pots to win later on. He threw
his cards in. “Too much for me.“
    He´d learnt a lot about their tactics. Useful
information that he´d put to advantage as the night wore on. He
knew where Dante was coming from. Alvaro wasn´t going to do
anything suspicious. He only had to wait for a winning hand when he
wasn´t the dealer.
    “That was very easy.” Dante said delighted,
raking in the winnings. “I don´t know why I thought your balls were
bigger?”
    “Well, the truth is I needed better cards to
go with the balls I´ve got. What were you holding?”
    “ Ah, ah. You should have kept raising your
bet if you wanted to know what I had. That´s my secret. You don´t
want me to reveal my strategy, do you?”
    That wasn´t necessary. Dante was a classic
case. He couldn’t cover his enthusiasm up after having won with an
inferior hand. The pleasure of winning with a bad hand gave his
self-esteem a sudden upward lift. He was already beginning to look
like he felt invincible. He was dying to tell everyone at the table
that he´d won with nothing more than a pair of fives.
    Alvaro preferred not to answer Dante. In the
next hand he received some bad cards and passed. Hector did the
same again. It was almost as if he wasn´t playing. Alvaro decided
to ignore that and try and breach the wall of indifference
surrounding his enigmatic opponent.
    “You don´t seem too interested in the game.”
He said