A time of reflection

A bluff

Slushi now alone with Sody goes to the cupboard. "So, what do we want to do today Sody?" She asks Sody "Umm..." Sody replies "Drawing!" Slushi opens the cupboard doors and reaches in to come out with a few crayons and some paper. She walks over to Sody and places the paper and crayons down on the floorboards. "What should we draw?" Sody asks in that confused tone that only children seem to use; "A DRAGON!" Slushi replies with enthusiasm. And so it is, Sody and Slushi sit and draw for the next half hour. Eventually, they finish their drawing and Slushi places it on the fridge. And while she's there she might as well grab something for them to eat, so she brings out some fruits and vegetables in one of those platters that would come with the make-your-own taco kits. "Ooh!" Sody exclaims "can I have some?" "Of course, Sody, that's why I brought it out." Slushi replies. She places the platter on the floor next to Sody and then goes back to the cupboard, "Do you want to play Uno?" Slushi asks "Nah." Sody replies "How about monopoly." The banter continues "No way!" This goes on until Slushi finds a deck of cards and after of moment of decision making decides to pose poker as the game to play, Sody accepts based on the fact that he as an eight-year-old had never played poker, though had the understanding that it is a game that the grown-ups play. Slushi takes the deck of cards to the floor and grabs a piece of paper and some crayons. She draws up the rules: A pair is having two of the same cards, having two pairs is better than having a single pair, having three of the same card type is better than having two pairs, having all cards of the same house is a flush and better than a triple and having a triple and a pair is a full house and is better than a flush. While having a flush where the cards are consecutive numbers is a straight flush and better than a full house. While the best hand is a royal flush, consisting of an Ace, a Ten, a Jack, a Queen, and a King. And she explains all of the rules to Sody. She grabs some checkers pieces to use as chips and divides them out equally.

They both have 16 chips and have drawn five cards. Slushi has drawn a bad hand consisting of a 10, 4 and K of clubs and a J and 7 of hearts, and by the looks on Sodys' face he isn't going to well either. She and Sody both replace two of their cards and start to make bets. "I'll go two" says Sody with a small bit of doubt in his voice. "I'll raise to 5" Slushi continues, "I fold." Sody says clearly annoyed at the situation. They exchange hands, Sody had a pair of Aces, and Slushi, nothing. "What!" Sody exclaims bewildered, "why'd you raise!" "Because Sody," Slushi replies "I can bluff." "Bluff?" Sody replies "Bluffing is where you pretend you have something better than you do to try and trick your opponent into folding; or pretending to have a worse hand to try and get your opponents to go all in and you win." Slushi takes two of the 'chips' from Sody, they go again.

Again, Slushi doesn't seem to have a great hand, an A, 3 and K of clubs, a 9 of diamonds and a five of hearts. Sody still doesn't seem to be doing well either, Sody replaces three of his cards and Slushi two. Slushi sees the cards she's drawn and gains some excitement. Until Sody says the magic words; "All in" Slushi looks at him again and pauses; all in is a little excessive, especially considering she can match and still have chips to spare, but Sody is a little 'explosive' considering he's a hyped up eight-year-old playing poker. "I match" they exchange hands and Sody did in fact bluff, but he really shouldn't have, he had a high card jack, while Slushi having had drawn a king of hearts and an ace of spades had a double pair.  "Dang it," Sody says and hands over the chips, "you win."