The Education of a Poker Player (High Stakes Classic)

Author: Herbert O. Yardley
Publisher: High Stakes
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20 THE EDUCATION OF A POKER PLAYER

on until I was down to my last fifty dollars. Then I made a discovery. It all happened one night when I suddenly woke up in a sweat. I had been playing cards in my nightmare but for the moment couldn't recover the details.

I could see Monty, his face clouded in anger over some argument by the players, yelling, "Deal! Goddammit, deal!" Then he pounded his right fist on the table.

His right fist! That rang a bell. But what bell? Then quickly I knew. Monty was left-handed. When excited he pounded on the table with his right fist. Yes, I must be right. At times-it must have been because of tension-he bet with his right hand. Of course. When he was bluffing, he shifted his cards from the right hand to the left and bet with the right. I could see him now. When he bet he came charg ing like a wild buffalo. He grabbed just the right amount of chips from his stack, and bang-he bet. If his opponent wasn't scared to death, he was at least confused. Monty had come at me like that every night I had played. No wonder I was afraid. I knew every move he made now. And why he made each move. Now I could see that he was dealing every time he made this fierce move at me. And every time he made this particular play he was dealing draw.

What a sucker I had been! It was too late to do anything about what was done but I might just as well go to see if they were still playing, for I couldn't sleep. I tossed in bed for an hour or so and finally put on my clothes and got my remaining cash from its hiding place and went to the back of Monty's Place. The windows were shaded but I could see a fringe of light around the drawn curtains and knew that a game was still in progress.

I pounded on the back door and was let in by Runt. When I entered the poker room the game was at full tilt, with a half dozen loafers either drunk or asleep in the chairs. By good luck there was a vacancy at the table-not exactly a vacancy, but one of the house men was playing and at the direction of Monty he was ordered to give up his seat to me-a live fish. I bought $50 in chips, leaving myself only a few dollars in cash.