The three of them started signaling each other nonstop, coordinating hands to bleed me dry.
On any other night, they'd have cleaned me out down to my underwear.
But tonight, I had Great-Grandpa in my head, and the old man could see every tile on the table.
"Don't take that five. Caspar's sitting on a flush. Wait for Humphrey to discard the eight. The second he does, you declare a kong!"
"Joe's hand is garbage. He's bluffing. Break your pair and hit him with a last-draw win!"
"Kong!"
"Match!"
"That's a win. Flush with a kong bonus. Thirty grand each. Pay up."
For the next two hours, the only sounds in that private room were me collecting money and the three of them breathing harder and harder.
First round, I cleaned out every dollar of cash they'd brought.
By the fifth round, they were sending payments by phone.
By the tenth, Humphrey slammed his car keys on the table, eyes bloodshot. "You're cheating, Thaddeus! How the hell are you winning every single hand?"
I let out a cold laugh, scooped up the keys, and dropped them into my pocket.
"Humphrey, there's no friendship at the card table. If you can't handle losing, don't play."
Humphrey ground his teeth so hard I could hear it.