Casino of Change (Pokemon TFTG story)
by TalkingStick, Aug 3, 2015, 1:53:05 PMLiterature / Fan Fiction / Fantasy
"Ian, I don't know why you're so insistent about this," I commented to my friend as he parked and we exited the vehicle. "I mean, it's just a casino, and not even one that's close to either of us."
"Exactly," Ian responded happily, beginning to walk from the parking lot to the casino doors. "It's a casino we haven't been to before, meaning we actually have an opportunity to card count at blackjack for a while without being caught."
"Dude, it's not going to last," I argued. "Most casinos here caught you way too quickly. You just follow the count to the letter and don't time your bet increases properly."
"Which is why we'll be more careful this time," Ian countered at me. "Now c'mon, stop whining so much and get in there." The automatic doors slid open, and Ian walked right in ahead of me, ignoring a piece of paper that was on the door. I tried to point it out to him, seeing as how it might be a "closed" sign but he was already far inside. I took a quick look at the paper, but it was written in a small font, and obviously didn't say "closed." Shrugging, I hurried after Ian into the casino.
"Man, it's quite a big place, isn't it?" he commented as I caught up to him. He was right; there were dozens of tables open with lots of people at them, much more than you'd expect from a weekday afternoon, even in the summer. We started looking around for a good blackjack table, and I noticed a couple of odd things: first, the decks they were using in the various games they had had strange designs on the back and front, based off of different kinds of media, from video games to movies to comics to even original but unusual character designs; secondly, something seemed a little off about the players, although I couldn't quite tell what.
But I was pulled out of my thoughts as we came to an empty blackjack table with a smiling dealer in a red vest staring at us. It was apparently open, although I couldn't see a chip tray anywhere. Ian grinned as he saw there was no automatic shuffler, and he sat down, and with hesitation, I sat down next to him. With a smile, the dealer asked, "Do you two wish to play this table?"
"Yeah I'm up for it," Ian said as he started to take out his wallet. "Just need a rundown of the rules you're using."
"It's blackjack - I don't think I need to explain those rules," the dealer responded, pleasantly but unhelpfully.
Ian didn't look pleased. "I'm talking about specific rules. Like surrendering, blackjack payout, what dealer does on soft 17, number of decks" he responded.
The dealer never lost his grin. "Surrender is not available. Blackjack pays 3:2. I hit soft 17. 6 decks are shuffled together."
"See? That's all you needed to say," Ian replied, and he started to pull out a bill as I went for my wallet as well.
But the dealer stopped us. "Money won't be required, gentlemen," he explained. "Just play right in. Think of it as a community casino."
"What?!" Ian erupted. "You mean there's no cash to be won?"
The dealer just smiled. "Oh, there are chips to be won, and they can be exchanged for cash. It's just that you won't be risking any money yourself."
"Well that's kind of weird," I muttered.
"Weird, but not unwelcome if we can actually win something," Ian responded. "C'mon, Chris, let's play."
I took a deep breath and sighed. "Alright, let's do this," I said after some deliberation, and immediately the dealer dealt out the cards. I had a 5 and an 8, Ian looked at a king and a 10, while the dealer showed a king himself. Ian stood, and I hit, giving me another 5. "Stay," I said.
