Chapter 62: The Vegas Adventure - Part 2
Saturday afternoon. Penny's hungover from last night's celebration.
"Why did you let me drink champagne?"
"I didn't let you. You drank it voluntarily. Enthusiastically."
"Past Penny is an idiot."
"Present Penny is paying for it."
She groans into the pillow. We're in the penthouse bedroom. California king bed is excessive for two people but nobody's complaining.
"What time is it?"
"Two."
"In the afternoon?"
"Yes."
"We slept past noon."
"We earned it. You drank champagne. I won money. Both exhausting activities."
She throws a pillow at me. Misses.
"How are you not hungover?"
"I stopped at three glasses."
"Show-off."
By four, we're back on the casino floor.
Leonard and Sheldon are at roulette. Sheldon's running his "system"—betting on specific number combinations based on probability matrices he calculated.
It's working. Somehow.
"Up four hundred dollars," Leonard reports. "He's insufferable."
"I'm efficient," Sheldon corrects. "There's a difference."
"Not to anyone who has to listen to you."
Sheldon's placed another bet. Red, even numbers, specific corner combination. The wheel spins. Ball bounces. Lands on 24.
"Statistically probable," Sheldon announces, collecting chips.
Leonard looks murderous.
Poker room at the Bellagio. $2/$5 No Limit Hold'em.
I buy in for $1,000. Conservative for Vegas standards.
The table's a mix. Tourists, locals, couple of guys who clearly play regularly. Reading them takes three hands.
Tourist in seat three plays too loose. Calls everything.
Local in seat seven is tight-aggressive. Only bets premium hands.
Seat nine is tilting. Just lost big. Playing recklessly.
I fold mediocre hands for twenty minutes. Build an image as tight player. Then:
Pocket kings.
Seat three raises to $20. Seat seven calls. I make it $75.
Both call.
Flop: K♠ 8♣ 3♦
Top set. Best hand possible on this board.
Memory supplies odds. 95% favorite.
Seat three bets $100. Seat seven folds. I raise to $300.
Long pause. He calls.
Turn: 5♥
He checks. I bet $500. He thinks. Calls.
River: 2♣
He checks. I push all-in. $700 more.
Longer pause. He's thinking through it. Convincing himself I'm bluffing.
He calls.
I flip the kings. Set.
He shows A♣ K♣. Top pair. Decent hand. Not good enough.
The dealer pushes me $2,300 in chips.
Penny—watching from behind—grips my shoulders. "Oh my god."
"Good hand," seat nine mutters.
"Thanks."
Three hands later, seat nine goes all-in on a bluff. I call with pocket aces. He shows jack-ten.
Another $800.
By the time I leave the poker room, total Vegas winnings: $11,500.
Penny's silent until we're in the elevator.
"How?"
"Poker's about reading people, not cards."
"That's a terrible answer."
"It's the true answer."
"Stuart. You just won eleven thousand dollars in two days."
"Lucky weekend."
"That's not luck. That's—" She struggles. "—something else. Something you're not telling me."
The elevator's climbing. My reflection in the polished metal doors looks guilty.
"I'm good at reading probability," I say carefully. "And people. That's all it is."
"That's all?"
"That's all."
She studies me. Decides something. "Okay."
"Okay?"
"I'm choosing to believe you're just mysteriously talented at everything. Because the alternative is thinking you're secretly a Vegas shark, and that seems unlikely given you can't cook toast without setting off alarms."
"Fair assessment."
"But Stuart?"
"Yeah?"
"If you are secretly a poker savant, you're buying me really nice shoes with those winnings."
"Deal."
Dinner that night—my treat again—is at the steakhouse in Caesars.
The gang's in high spirits. Sheldon's $400 roulette winnings have him convinced his "system" is scientifically sound. Leonard's down $50 but philosophical about it. Howard lost $200 and is blaming "cosmic forces." Raj won $100 on slots and thinks it's divine intervention. Bernadette broke even. Penny's down $30 but doesn't care.
"Best weekend ever," Howard declares, drunk on expensive steak and wine.
"Agreed," Bernadette says. "We should do this annually."
"Annual Vegas Trip," Raj announces. "Tradition established."
"I'll create a spreadsheet," Sheldon offers.
"Of course you will."
Leonard raises his glass. "To Stuart. For the penthouse, the gambling wins, the dinners, and somehow making us all feel like Vegas VIPs."
"To Stuart!"
They toast. I toast back. Penny's hand finds mine under the table.
"You're a good person," she says quietly.
"I'm a lucky person."
"Same thing."
"Not even close."
But she's not wrong about one thing: sharing the winnings multiplies the joy.
$11,500 won. $3,000 spent on friends.
Net: $8,500 and memories that'll last.
The math works.
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