Grunk noisily slammed his fist down on the table, causing several of my stacks of chips to fall over.
“What’s this about markers?” he demanded. “I thought this was a cash-only game! Nobody said anything about playing for IOUs.”
“Pidge here’s an exception,” the Geek said. “He’s always made good on his marker before. Besides, you don’t have to worry about it, Grunk. You aren’t even getting all of your money back.”
“Yeah. But I lost it betting against somebody who’s betting markers instead of cash. It seems to me…”
“I’ll cover his marker,” I said loftily. “That makes it personal between him and me, so it doesn’t involve anyone else at the table. Right, Geek?”
“That’s right. Now shut up and play, Grunk. Or do you want us to deal you out?”
The monster grumbled a bit under his breath but leaned back and tossed in another chip to ante for the next hand.
“Thanks, Mr. Skeeve,” Pidge said. “And don’t worry. Like the Geek says, I always reclaim my marker.”
I winked at him and waved vaguely as he left, already intent on the next hand as I tried vainly to figure out the rules of the game.
If my grand gesture seemed a little impulsive, remember that I’d been watching him play all night, and I knew how much he had lost. Even if all of it was on IOUs, I could cover it out of my winnings and still show a profit.
You see, Grunk was right. I had been winning steadily all night … a fact made doubly surprising by my ignorance of the game. Early on, however, I had hit on a system which seemed to be working very well: Bet the players, not the cards. On the last hand, I hadn’t been betting that I had a winning hand, I was betting that Grunk had a losing hand. Luck had been against him all night, and he was betting wild to try to make up for his losses.