The World of Poker ‘Cruise to a Million’ Main Event took place in the ballroom of The Ambassador. After a night of fractured of sleep, Dimitar rose with the sun and ate as much breakfast as he could manage. He was hoping for a long day at the felt on the first day of a three-day tournament, so consuming as much fuel as he could made sense to him.
With his engine suitably stoked, Dimitar bought a long, strong coffee from the café and registered for the tournament at the front desk. He handed over the €5,000 buy-in in cash and accepted a pile of chips and his ticket receipt in return. He then went straight to the front of the ballroom, where a computer screen was auto-scrolling through over a hundred registered players.
When he sat down at Table 7, he noticed that his dealer was a very familiar face – Simone, the croupier he had met the previous day and who had allowed him to use the phone in the back office to speak with Sofia.
‘You again?’ she smiled, fanning the cards before washing them, then repeating the process ahead of the first deal. The cards were a blur in front of her.
‘Fancy meeting you here.’ Dimitar smiled. ‘First a little silver ball, now life and death at the poker table.’
‘Life and death?’ she asked, only half-smiling.
‘Maybe, but now you have to listen to me speak all day.’
‘Only until dealer change,’ she smiled in return. ‘But it’s in my name – Simone means ‘to listen’ Who knew I’d end up in a casino.’
Other players arrived at the table. Soon, five players were in their seats, just a couple of minutes before the tournament started. Play would begin shorthanded, and late arrivals would be placed in the empty seats to fill the tables as they arrived.
A few minutes into play, Dimitar had already accumulated a few chips. Starting off aggressively at the felt, he had managed to add 10% to his starting stack when another familiar face joined him at the table on his immediate left. Slim McCoy maneuvered his way into his seat, turned to his right, and smiled warmly when he saw his neighbor.
‘Well this should be fun,’ he said. The next deal saw Dimitar in the big blind.
‘’Straddle.’ Slim said, grinning from ear to ear.
Two hours into play, Dimitar had stalled slightly. He was still aggressively raising when he could in an effort to build a stack early in the tournament, but Slim was taking no prisoners and, sitting to Dimitar’s direct left, he had a significant strategic advantage.
‘Well, gentleman, that’s the break.’ Simone said as a muted bell rang out in the ballroom. The first break was upon the players, and they all stood up to leave.
‘Young man, a drink?’ asked Slim.
‘I’d love one. Can I meet you at the bar? I need to speak to our mutual friend.’
Slim watched as Dimitar’s eyes tracked Simone walking slowly away from the poker table.
‘Who am I to interrupt the path of true love. I shall buy you a drink when you arrive.’ Slim smiled, heading to the bar in the corner of the room.
Dimitar caught up with Simone as she pushed through a soft set of double doors leading to the exit for the floors above and the upper deck.
‘I have a question.’ Dimitar said as he met her on the first stair.
‘Most men do.’
‘Not that one. Honestly. I need your help and I don’t know if there’s anyone on board this boat I can trust.’
‘So why do you trust me?’
‘Because you remind me of myself. You’re an only child, too, right?’
‘What makes you say that?’
‘Instinct I guess. Look, my friend is in a lot of trouble.’
‘The girl you spoke to on the phone yesterday?’
‘No, she’s my friend. She knows that my… Elena, my other friend, was taken.’
‘Taken away? She was in trouble?’
‘No. She was taken hostage. We witnessed a man kill his wife. Now he has Elena. And he won’t give her back unless he has me, at a poker table, with a million dollars of my own to bet against his.’
‘You’re crazy. You must call the police.’
‘I know he’s watching me, even on this ship. I can feel it. He has people everywhere, or it feels like it. One of his friends watched me get onto this ship. I just need the passenger manifest or a photo of it. That’s all I’m asking. Then another friend can find out if he’s onboard.’
Simone wrestled with the problem but agreed to help Dimitar. She told him she’d meet him at the end of the day. That was presuming plenty, thought Dimitar, including surviving Day 1. He headed to the bar, outside the ballroom to meet his new acquaintance and opponent, Slim. Dimitar joined Slim at the bar as the bartender was pouring a measure of whiskey for him.
‘You’re playing too tight. Scared money doesn’t win a cent. You’re letting me walk all over you, for a start.’
‘So don’t?’
‘What, and let you win? Impossible. It’s something I would never do. No matter what. It goes against every principal I’ve ever held. I can see you need to win this money more than I do – even though I donate every penny to charity. But I won’t let you win – you’ve got to earn it. And you’re playing scared.’
About the Author: Paul Seaton has written about poker for over 10 years, interviewing some of the best players ever to play the game such as Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth. Over the years, Paul has reported live from tournaments such as the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and the European Poker Tour. He has also written for other poker brands where he was Head of Media, as well as BLUFF magazine, where he was Editor.
This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental.