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GAME OF CHANCE

Downstairs on the casino floor, Ace is collecting his winnings at the cashier window. Two men in red gaming jackets and ear pieces walk over to Ace.

“Good evening Mr. Ace. You have been invited to play in our V.I.P game,” says one of the men.

“Please follow us,” says the other man.

“What about my winnings?” Ace asks still in the process of collecting his money.

The cashier speaks up. “We’ll keep your tab running Mr. Ace. When you are ready to cash out, return here and we will pay you your winnings.”

Ace thanks the cashier and begins to follow the two men to the elevators. Once inside, they ride to the penthouse suite on the top floor. When the elevator doors open, Ace can see a grand room. The room had marble floors, a water fountain, floor to ceiling windows, and all white furniture. In the middle of the room by one of the windows, a man is sitting in a huge white leather chair facing away from Ace. The chair sits behind a huge glossy white marble desk with gold trimming. The strong smell of cigar fills Ace’s nostrils. The man in the chair speaks.

“I hear you are a very lucky man, Mr. Ace.” The man keeps his chair facing the window.

“It seems that way.” Ace looks nervously around the room. “What exactly am I doing here?”

“I wanted to personally invite you to play one of my V.I.P. games. A game of chance,” the man in the chair continues.

“And you are…?” Ace questioned

“Who am I? Who am I?” The man slowly turns his chair around to face Ace. “Micky tell him who I am.”

A thin man is standing to the right of the man in the chair. He speaks up. “This is Boss man Sully, the owner of this casino. Make sure to show him respect.”

“Boss man Sully?” Ace asks in disbelief. Ace had heard about Boss man Sully in Jamaica. He has a reputation of being a wealthy and ruthless Jamaican mob boss. They say he came to America and made very powerful connections that gave him ample amount of power. There were rumors that he was a powerful obeah man, but Ace didn’t believe in those types of things. But, still, he knows no one had ever dared to mess with Boss man Sully for fear of what he could do to them.

“That’s right. Seems you’ve heard of me,” Boss man replies after seeing Ace’s reaction to his name.

“Why don’t you come on over and let Gabby pour you a drink.” Boss man Sully points over to the bartender in the corner.

Gabby, the bartender, is standing in front of a floor to ceiling mirror with glass shelves containing every bottle of liquor you could imagine.

“I’m actually alright, thanks. I’m more interested in hearing what we are playing tonight. What’s the game?” Ace asks.

Boss man Sully slowly stands. “Well, the game is simple enough. High card draw, the highest card wins. But, before we talk about the game, let’s talk about the stakes.” Boss man Sully walks around to the front of his desk and leans against it.

“Okay,” Ace says feeling very confident in himself. After all he had over half a million dollars waiting for him downstairs at the cashier’s window.

“Mr. Ace, tonight I offer you a rare opportunity at a game of chance. For every hand you win I will pay you $250,000. And all you have to do is have the highest card. “

“And, if I lose?” Ace asks.

“And if you lose? You will have to pay me $250,000.”

Ace raises his eyebrows. Boss man Sully grins slyly. “I’m sure you have enough winnings downstairs to cover a few games.”

Ace thinks for a second. He knows he can’t lose. He's been on a hot streak all day.“I’m in.” Ace grins smugly.

“Perfect,” Boss man grins at Ace then looks at the dealer. “Okay, let’s play.”

The dealer begins to shuffle the cards. Ace watches intensely while the dealer begins to deal the first top card to him. The dealer then slides the next top card to Boss man Sully.

Ace takes a quick peak secretly to himself. The Queen of hearts. That’s a pretty high card, Ace thinks to himself. He looks at Boss man Sully. There is no way he has a higher card.

“Flip over your cards gentlemen,” the dealer directs.

They both flip their cards over. Ace shows his Queen of hearts. Boss man Sully shows a seven of clubs. Ace claps his hands and smiles with relief. “Now that’s what I’m talking about!”

Boss man Sully looks at Ace. “That’s some luck you have. Why don’t we try another hand? Double or nothing?” Boss man suggests.

Ace is on cloud nine. Of course, he wants another hand, he can’t lose. “Let’s do it.” Ace says with a thumbs up.

Boss man looks at the dealer and nods his head. The dealer begins shuffling the cards again. She deals the top card to Ace and the next top card to Boss man. Both men take a glance at their cards.

After a few moments the dealer says, “Gentlemen, please show your cards.”

Both men flip over their cards. Ace has the ten of diamonds. Boss man Sully has the for of spades.

“Yesssss! I’m on a roll!” Ace yells, grinning from ear to ear.

“You sure are. You’re almost too good. I can’t help myself Mr. Ace. I too am a gambling man. I can’t let you get out on me. One more chance to redeem myself?” Boss man Sully asks.

Ace’s ego is so inflated that he feels he is unstoppable. But he tries to play it cool. “Okay, that’s cool with me,” Ace responds coolly.

“But…” Boss man Sully hesitates. “Let’s change up the stakes. If you win, I will double all the money you have accumulated all night long. You have $500,000 downstairs and you just won another $500,000. That puts you at $1,000,000. So, if you win this game, you’ll walk out of here with $2,000,000. Boss man finished.

Ace’s mind was racing a mile a minute. “That sounds good to me,” He beamed.

"Alright, now if I win, you lose all your winnings.," Bossman Sully said quickly.

"All of it?" Ace asked.

"Yes, double or nothing. This is a high roller's game of chance Mr. Ace.

Ace didn't want to stop now, but he didn't want to loose all the money either. After thinking about it, he decided that since he had such great luck all night, he would go for it.

"Alright, let's do it!" Ace said with a smile.

"Great! Alright go ahead and deal the cards." Bossman Sully instructed.

The dealer dealt each of them a card. Ace looked at it - jack of diamonds. He was in a good place.

"Alright, gentlemen show your cards," the dealer said again.

Ace turned over his card. Bossman Sully turned his card over and showed the king of clubs. Ace felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. He lost everything.

"Oh, so sorry Mr. Ace," Bossman Sully said sadly. "Looks like your luck just ran out."