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He’d underestimated Marsie. She was going to be fun to watch. Her cautious movements lasted through the turn and into the river. Both Dell and Burton seemed caught up by how her body was moving, rather than the amount of money she was putting in. By the end of the betting, everyone but Kenny had fallen for the trick. Dell, the fool, was still in, despite his horrible cards. When they all revealed their cards, Marsie won with a pair of queens.
“Oh,” she said with delight as she pulled the pile toward her. “How lucky!” Her shoulders shimmied the entire time she stacked her chips.
“How much did you win?” Burton asked, finally looking down at his chips and realizing how much smaller his pile was.
“I think the question you should ask is, how much did you lose?” Kenny drawled.
That basic play was repeated through the night. If you ignored her acting, Marsie played tight and aggressive poker. She didn’t bet often, but when she did, she lured anyone willing to stay in to bet high. When she was betting, she never played the same person twice. She moved from cautious to confident to wild to careless. Her game play never changed, but she was acting different parts. And most of the table fell for it each time.
Jason and Kenny did okay through the entire night. By the last couple hands, Ian had figured out that she was playing him and had started to do better. Dell and Burton never figured it out. They continued reacting to who they’d decided she was and never stopped to notice how skilled she truly was.
And they were pissed, which Jason thought was hilarious.
“How did you win?” Dell asked. He broke the tip of a pencil marking down Marsie’s winnings and calculated how much of the cash she was due.
“Same way anyone wins at poker,” she said, back to the matter-of-fact Marsie that he knew and loved to have coffee with. “I played the odds and the other players. Playing the other players turns out to be both harder and easier in person.”
“But you didn’t know how to play poker,” Burton protested.
“Where’d you get that idea?” Marsie asked, all innocence.
“You didn’t know…” Realization dawned on Burton’s face, and he didn’t finish his statement.
“I never asked how to play. In fact, Kenny said he’d heard I was a good player, and I told him that I’d put myself through graduate school playing poker online. I said I wasn’t the best, but that I did all right.”
“You didn’t listen to her,” Ian said with a shake of his head. “Neither did you, Dell. She talked and told you exactly how good of a player she was. You saw a woman with a bun and decided it wasn’t possible for her to be good at poker, even though Jason had told us she was good.”
“But she said she didn’t play well.” Dell still hadn’t wrapped his head around his mistake.
“No,” Kenny said, clearly exasperated. “She said she wasn’t one of the best, but she did all right.”
Dell’s mouth formed what would be a pout on a woman. Jason didn’t know what the male version was. Exasperated. Whiny? “How did you two not get cleaned out?”
Kenny leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest and looking to the ceiling like he was seeking guidance from God—though he was probably looking to where he thought his wife might be hiding. “I’m married to a smart woman. I know not to underestimate them.”
Jason sat back and looked at Marsie while he answered. She looked like a cat who had gotten into the cream, with a mouse topping. “My mom was the one who taught me not to underestimate women. And I have an advantage. I’ve worked with Marsie for years. I know her reputation and that she can do anything I can do, and she can do it better.”
He would swear to God that she was trying not to blush. She at least pursed her lips, as if the compliment he had just given her pleased her enough that if she wasn’t careful, her happiness would burble out of her mouth in an explosion of bubbles.
Footsteps hit the stairs and everyone, including Marsie, turned to look. Jill was walking down to the basement. In true Jill style, she was wearing plaid, flannel pajama pants and an oversize hoodie, with bare feet. If she was inside, Jill was barefoot, no matter the temperature.
