Description: You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away and know when to run. You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table. There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done.
It was the third time in as many days that he was sitting in that bar, but now, they'd gotten wise to him. The deck of playing cards on the (slightly damaged) table in the corner of the (still somewhat destroyed) bar is good and shuffled, and the young man is sitting against the wall, tapping his fingers on the bar as patrons avoided him. They knew he was a fighter, after that row with the woman last night, and they knew he was a tricky player, too; someone had set a glass of water down for him and then walked off, but that was all they wanted to interact with the Brit, and he respected that.
Still, he couldn't help the tapping of his fingers on the table. He wasn't...-bored-, per se, and he -was- still in control of himself, but it was a slow day and the patrons didn't seem to want to play him anymore.
He couldn't really blame them, though. Once the word had gotten out that he -was- in fact -that- White Wolf - the one who'd cleaned out a whole underground tourney with nothing but slick bluffs and two good hands - they'd stopped thinking of the game as fun and started thinking of him as a scam artist.
Oh well. Someone would come along eventually.
And eventually that someone /does/ come along, and while the Dancing Spider didn't have such a reputation for cards and a bigger reputation for his fighting ability due to his televised bouts, he also couldn't resist a challenge. It was only a matter of time before these two men would cross.
Aranha observes the White Wolf for a moment before starting his approach. A hand grabs his shoulder and whisper is heard telling him about Kerian's skills as a card player. Instead of being off putting, it only serves to intrigue the capoeirista even further and he moves to sit down.
The reputation didn't scare him after all, if cheating came into play, Aranha had the utmost confidence in his powers of observation to catch it and cut it off at the pass.
He nods towards the white haired card player and with an calm, relatively easy going smile says, "I'm thinking about playing." Keep it simple.
Those ice-blue eyes flick over Aranha for the barest of instants before the smile broadens, actually meeting his eyes. Here was someone who didn't play for money, who didn't want to play for money, and didn't care for people who only played for money. Here was a -player-, and no matter how much control the Brit-shonen had, he couldn't keep the grin at simply being challenged off his face.
"Lovely!" he almost chirps, reaching forward and taking the deck in his hands. One, two, three, and those lithe, nimble, almost feminine fingers are shuffling that deck, the brat-a-tat-tat almost a gattling gun's worth of noise. After a moment, he pauses, reaching up to brush some of the far-too-long hair out of his face - really, one hardly ever saw men with hair down to their butts these days.
"Game is Texas Hold'Em. You're familiar, I hope, with the rules?" It's a lilting English accent listing across his speech, giving away his origins almost immediately. "A bit less interesting with just two players, but it's quite a good one nonetheless." He deals out the cards - one, two, one, two. The chips are tossed into the pot. "Ante is ten dollars. We'll play lite, hm? No sense in complicating it." That pretty face's smile broadens again as he examines his cards. Dear God, he never drew anything of worth. But he had a -dynamite- poker face. No tell whatsoever.
Ginyu-sensei would've been embarassed to hear his pupil's self-control was being used for something as pedestrian as -cards-, Gods rest his soul, but the air was electric.
"Hmmm Texas Hold'Em? Yeah I'm familiar with the rules. Ten Dollars? Cool. I'm in." Aranha noted that it was low stakes however a lot of hustlers started with low stakes to draw their would be victims in. While Aranha didn't pick anything like that up from Kerian, he decided to continue observing to see how things would flow.
Aranha digs into his pocket for some recent pit fighting winnings and places the money on the table. He lifts the corner of his two cards and then gives a slight smirk of slight amusement mostly to himself before letting the corners of the cards touch the table once more. Its hard to tell whether or not his cards are good based off of that smirk.
After a bit of a pause, he nods to Kerian and waits for the community cards to be dealt.
He didn't like that inability to read, he really didn't. The first card flips over. -Jack crap- for Kerian - just a Four to his Three and Six. If there was a five coming, he'd have a good shot, but no good at the moment.. "Alright...it's your bet."
Aranha looks at the card for a moment before placing a small bet. He knew he was in good position due to the Four coming up to make a pair but it wasn't anything to write home about. He also wondered what would become of his two. As for now though he wasn't going to go into any crazy betting tactics until he can get a read off of Kerian. He turns to the bartender and raises a finger up. "Hey! Can I get a coke?"
Kerian watches the bartender pour a coke into a glass and passes it off to one of the waitresses. She approaches reluctantly, afraid to get too near the white-haired fighter, and probably Aranha, too - although to her knowledge, Aranha hadn't totally destroyed this bar recently.
"Here you are, sir," she says, handing the coke to Aranha with a passing glance at the white-haired young man.
He's a mix of fearsome potential and eerie good looks, and while he was enticing, that fear was still strong enough to keep her away. Once the glance had gone through, she backs away, like she was reaching into a snake's nest.
He didn't even look up from the cards.
Destroy the bar? No but he ended up pissing off a Mad Gear Member in this particular bar by laughing at his pool shot. But he also managed to convince said Mad Gear Member to take the fight outside because he did want to come back to the bar eventually. But that is neither here nor there.
Aranha takes the coke into his hand and gives the waitress one of his smiles before reclining in his chair and taking a sip. "Thanks."
Then it is back to the game. The waitress now a distant memory while he devotes his attention to the white wolf.
He's the very image of patience, he is. Those icey cool blue eyes are locked between his cards and Aranha's, not even moving beyond them. After a moment, he reaches forward and picks up his water, taking a sip. Strategies are rolling over under that mass of beautiful hair, no question about that. But which strategies?
Finally, he sets his chips in. It's a modest bet - one of confidence, but not one with a monetary focus. "I'll see you and raise thirty." He says calmly, finally casting a glance at the waitress as she serves another table. _Damn_, he'd missed his chance to get a drink. Ah well.
The bet can either tell you a lot about person you're playing against or can completely lie to you. It depends on the skill of the person opposite of you and their capabilities as either a stoic or an actor that can either give you the information you need or lie you out of your pants and/or life savings.
Aranha decides to counter punch by sliding some more chips over. "I'll see you and raise you 20." Conservative, but Aranha is still trying to get a feel for Kerian and his playing style.
"In the fifties, are we?" He says cheerily. "I'll call it." He flips the next card over. Seven. Dammit. "My bet...raising by thirty." Again, it was a bet that wasn't surprising, though some of the surrounding eyebrows raised. The crowd was starting to form, cautious, but curious. A game with the bets going into the eighties was pretty big for a casual game of two-player poker.
A Seven. Completely useless to him but still he was in fairly good position though he had to wonder what type of cards the white haired fighter had to open with such a big bid. He decides that he wants to see those cards.
The capoeirista takes a drink of his soda and then shortly after attempts to stifle a burp coming up from the back of his throat. "I'll call." With that, Aranha slides some chips in and then leans back in his chair again as he looks at Kerian. Where most seem to hide their tells by seeking to eliminate all ticks, Aranha seems to hide his in plain sight by broad casting so many ticks it's hard to see which ones are meaningless and which ones are the real tells.
He was -good-, this capoeirista. Kerian checks his cards again and flips the next one. A King. Fantastic. This hand was shaping up, as usual, to be crap. "Your bet," he offers. The crowd encircles a bit closer, like a ring of vultures. This game was getting interesting, even if both the players -were- fighters.
The Dancing Spider leans forward and looks at his chips not even bothering to look at his own cards but rather the King. His own hand isn't bad but even still he decides to take things slow. "I'm gonna put in 10." He slides in a chip, and leans back as he takes another sip of coke. His lips curling into that same smirk he had earlier when the hands were dealt. And the fact that the two were drawing a crowd was making that amused smirk turn into a full-fledged grin.
Mentally, he swore. It was too hard to read that bid, way too hard. He'd have to go strong. "I'll see your ten, and raise you another fourty." A high bid. One only people confident in their cards had.
It was now Aranha's turn to curse. Aranha was the type who never bet more than he could afford to lose and while he could stand to gain a lot from this. He had an okay hand but not that good. The high bet put Aranha in a position that he definitely didn't want to be in.
And it was enough to make him laugh. In fact he does so loudly with lots of mirth before he says his response. "Too rich for my blood."
Kerian joins in the laughter after a moment. It -was- funny, really, but for a different reason. He'd gotten caught up in the moment, and now people were starting to eye him with a little bit of curiosity, more than he'd ever gotten as the White Wolf. He just hoped nobody took it to the internet.
"So is that a fold?" He asks.
"Yep." Short and sweet. No need to make things anymore complicated than it needed to be. He looks the Brit in the eye for a moment and studies him. "Of course, I've gotta see what cards you have in your hand." The look of amusement is very visible on his face and he hadn't seen any signs of Kerian being a card mechanic and so he knows that whatever happened was on the up and up.
He bursts out laughing and reveals the cards. Absolutely, completely, and totally nothing. It was a bluff, and nothing more.
Aranha in turn flips over his cards revealing a pair and laughing before extending a hand to shake Kerian's. "You got me good." There was a level of respect that Kerian had gained from him. If he was going to get taken in it was good that he got taken in by such a convincing bluff. "We definitely have to play again some time, you tricky bastard."
And once again Aranha bursts out in a peel of laughter.
Kerian finally dies down to a chuckle as he reaches out to shake his hand. "I'd love to, but I'm afraid you might have my number. I'll have to expect some -good- cards next time." There it was - the smile broke into a grin. "The name's Kerian. I don't believe I ever introduced myself."
Aranha disengages from the handshake. "Nice to meet ya. I go by Aranha." He intentionally used his alias although at this point, Aranha's real name being Keith Mason is public knowledge. The fact that he's a regular competitor in the fight leagues and tournaments. It's because of that public knowledge that he uses that name as opposed to his given name.
"We'll see." He then turns around and sees that crowd surrounding him. With a raised eyebrow he looks back at Kerian. "I think we might've drawn a bit of a crowd."
"I did notice that," he agrees, "It's a bit amusing to me, really. A woman came up and assaulted me the other day, the bar got completely wrecked...and today, they're sitting around watching us play a game of bluffs. I think it's hilarious."
The capoeirista rubs his chin slightly and looks at the white haired card player. "I knew something happened recently but didn't know exactly what." The nerves of the waitress, the slightly mangled table, somewhat wrecked bar. While he didn't exactly connect the them he knew there was some reason for those things being there and didn't feel too emotionally invested in investigating the reason behind the changed atmosphere of the bar. But when Kerian explains it, everything falls into place.
"Well, it doesn't look nearly as bad as my fight in the Pao Pao Cafe." A league fight that was mentioned in the news but never was broadcasted.
"Well, they got quite a bit cleaned up, from what I'm seeing. I think I heard about that fight of yours, actually. What happened?" Lying. He didn't keep up with the news, he never had. If the TV or radio was on he'd listen, but otherwise, it didn't have to do with him. The people he wanted, they kept quieter than that.
"Put simply..." He pauses as he ponders how he'd put it. Ultimately, Aranha decides to keep it simple. "A homicidal machine decided it had to blast everything in the restaurant including the people in the restaurant who came to watch the fight just to get to me. Blew up the restaurant just to end up not being successful."
Kerian purses his lips in a frown. "Good thing you're alright, then," he notes, reaching forward to shuffle the cards - not for another hand, just a compulsive twitch, or maybe just to keep his hands busy. "Mine sounds a tad mundane, now... A woman came and assaulted me for no particular reason. I probably did more damage to the place than she did."
That was definitely a lot more information. And now Aranha definitely knows why the waitress was so nervous when she was at their table. He looks around again and then says, "Yup... Now I know that if I ever fight you, it will probably be in more open space. No point in paying more for repairing stuff than I need to."
Kerian smirks. "If we ever fight, I'd prefer to be in an open space as well." He agrees. "But I seem to attract trouble, especially from women...God only knows why. So let's hope I never attract trouble from you inside, hm?"
"Let's hope not." With enough dead pan to be considered a joke but there's a bit of an undertone of danger in his voice. "Anyway, I should probably head home. Good game." After that he nods and begins to make his way past the crowd which at this point is beginning to break up.
"And you as well," Kerian replies. An interesting fellow, this Aranha. He'd have to do some research.
He watches as the crowd disperses, eager to get away just in case something -does- break out. A bit of a sigh escapes his lips, and then he breaks back into a smile and starts shuffling once again. The tantalizing pot in the center sat there, ignored. Ah, well. It wasn't as though he really needed it.
Aranha...yes, he'd have to do some -heavy- research. Just in case.
Log created on 20:28:12 10/13/2008 by Aranha, and last modified on 01:09:28 10/15/2008.