Room Four

story twenty-three · figures 67–69

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ROOM FOUR · FIVE PLAYERS, ONE HAND, A QUARTER PAST ONE — blinds fifty and a hundred · the house takes five percent to the second decimal and rounds down ROOM FOUR · FIVE PLAYERS, ONE HAND, A QUARTER PAST ONE blinds fifty and a hundred · the house takes five percent to the second decimal and rounds down THE VALUER 11,000 the button has valued three of the four coats on the rail · plays sevens, sixes and fives, and never shows THE STEWARD 4,200 big blind nine years at this table · the gray coat over the chair, which he does not do at work THE BOY 7,200 twenty-three · a wristband bright since eleven · up from the Tank · most of it somebody else’s by morning THE WIDOW 8,600 small blind here for four months of her husband · counted twice · the month is the ninth THE FOREMAN 4,700 off the far hill with site money · hands wrecked · has bet on what the works are for, and lost twice THE DEALER IS HOUSE AND SAYS FOUR THINGS ALL NIGHT: ACTION ON YOU · TIME · POT’S RIGHT · CARDS UP. Under the green cloth the table is still the valuing table, so a man leaning on the edge feels the drawer runners against his forearms — and there is a slip in one of those drawers for booking a debt in words. "THE WIDOW IS HERE FOR FOUR MONTHS OF HER HUSBAND AND NOT ONE OF THEM WILL SAY SO BEFORE THE CARDS ARE OUT."
67 · Room Four
ROOM FOUR · THE HAND, STREET BY STREET — the pot, the action, and what each player is actually holding · legal to a player, card by card ROOM FOUR · THE HAND, STREET BY STREET the pot, the action, and what each player is actually holding · legal to a player, card by card PREFLOP Boy raises 400 · Foreman calls · Valuer folds sevens · Widow makes it 1,100 · Steward calls · Boy calls · Foreman calls four players · 4,400 in the middle, less the house FLOP · Q♠ J♠ 4♦ Widow bets 1,400 · TIME · Steward folds two nines FACE UP · Boy raises 3,600 · Foreman calls, all of it · Widow calls the Widow holds A♠K♠ and needs one more spade · the Boy wants a ten and nothing else · the Foreman has flopped a set of fours TURN · 9♠ Widow checks · Boy bets 2,500, all in, and says it too early · Widow calls · the pot splits, the Foreman having been all in since the flop she has the ace-high flush · exactly one hand in the deck beats it, it is two cards, and she has counted them RIVER · 10♦ CARDS UP · Boy turns K♥9♥ · Widow turns A♠K♠ · Foreman turns two fours the Boy makes his straight on the last card and is on his feet · and sits back down MAIN POT TO THE WIDOW. SIDE POT TO THE WIDOW. FIVE PERCENT OFF THE TOP, ROUNDED DOWN. The Steward folded a pair of nines FACE UP, which nobody at this table does, and said nothing about it — and the third nine came on the turn, and the fourth was in the Boy’s hand where he could not see it. HE SAYS ALL IN TOO EARLY, BEFORE THE CHIPS ARE ACROSS THE LINE.
68 · Room Four
ROOM FOUR · WHAT IS ACTUALLY BEING PLAYED FOR — the chips are the smaller currency · the drawer under the cloth holds the other one ROOM FOUR · WHAT IS ACTUALLY BEING PLAYED FOR the chips are the smaller currency · the drawer under the cloth holds the other one THE BOY OWES 420 words of proven retention at the spring board, less a handling charge THE BOY HAS 211 words · and a mother "You have not got four hundred of them." THE WIDOW CAME FOR four months of her husband the month is the ninth THE WIDOW LEAVES WITH four months · and 420 of a stranger’s one in her handbag, one folded once in her coat pocket THE STEWARD LEAVES WITH nothing he can say at home he does not tell his wife about the nines THE VALUER LEAVES WITH what he learned a man showed him a pair of nines on purpose · he stays till five THE HOUSE TAKES five percent, rounded down the only generosity in the building "NOBODY IN ROOM FOUR HAS EVER KNOWN WHAT ANYBODY HAS. SHE HAS COUNTED HIS." He signs. The Valuer witnesses. She reads it twice, which is how she reads now, and folds it once. At the door he asks the only question in the story that nobody can answer, and she does not: "WHICH ONE WILL YOU SPEND FIRST." HE TOUCHES HIS OWN HANDS TWICE, AS HE TOUCHED THE CARDS. IT IS NOT A HAND ANYMORE.
69 · Room Four

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