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Poker Pink Slips

After we had all gotten out of College, we vowed to keep our weekly game which turned into our monthly game, which turned into – well you probably know the rest.  All of the guys I play poker with are pretty hardcore when it comes to gambling, making our annual pilgrimage to Lost Wages (or Las Vegas as it is better known) every year.  After finally coordinating everyone’s schedule we had decided to get a game going.  The only difference was, since it had been a while and probably would be another few months or so until we would meet up again, we decided to make it a bigger buy in. 

 Jake was the last one in and had driven up in a new black Mustang and I wondered where he had gotten the money for it, as I heard that he had just been laid off recently.  Oh well, he must have gotten a new job or something I thought as it had been a while since I had actually seen him.   

We play a series of tournaments in our home games. The buy in for the first game was $100 and had gone up through out the night.  Towards the end of the night the buy in had become pretty hefty and Jake had been chasing all night long, having to borrow money from Jimmy.   Already down over a grand, Jake asked “Guys, see the mustang outside.  I’ll use the pink slip for collateral if you let me play this last one.”  Wondering how that would work, Jake explained that he would let who ever backed him keep the mustang until he could pay them back.  Knowing he was good for it, and also knowing how much he himself loved Mustangs, Jimmy said ok.   

With his car on the line, Jake seemed to be running on all cylinders bringing his “A” poker game.  It came down to the last three and Jake had been one of them.  Having come up head to head against an AA, KK and his J-10 spade flush draw he was all in.  Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead as the prospect of turning his keys over seemed to be just a minute away.  The flop was 7 of hearts, 4 of Spades and the 8 of Spades.  When the turn came Queen of Diamonds I thought Jake was going to throw up.  Jake turned away as the river came 2 of spades.  Jake had held on and eventually went on to win the big buy in game.  After paying Jimmy back, he made a confession.  “My car’s in the shop, the mustang outside is a loaner from the dealer.”  “So what would you have done if you had lost?” asked Jimmy.  Jake replied “I would have thrown you the extra keys to my real car and ran like hell.”