RELUCTANT PRESS

"Go for it, man," said Bob.

"Get her for us," said Tony.

"You're on!"

That's when it happened. I dealt a hand of five card draw and after one bet of one hundred dollars and a call, I drew two cards to her one. When I looked at my hand, I could hardly contain myself. I had a jack and four threes!

Four of a kind!

For the first time in my poker playing career, I had four of a kind! Suddenly, I was very greedy. I knew that now was the time to get all of the money and be tonight's big winner, not to mention gaining a little glory for beating this upstart woman! If only I could play it right. With each of our fifty dollar antes plus the two previous bets, there was already three hundred dollars in the pot.

Joyce opened with one hundred and I matched her and raised her one hundred. Joyce was unfazed and raised me another hundred.

"You must like your cards."

"It'll cost you a hundred dollars to find out," she said.

I matched and raised and she did the same thing to me. It went on, back and forth like that until there was some four thousand dollars in the pot and the other guys were tense with excitement. I raised her another hundred and put the last of my money into the pot.

"I see that," Joyce said, smiling as she put another hundred on the pile, "and I raise you three thousand!" Putting the last of her money on the pile.

"Now come on!" That's not fair! I have no more money!" "Too bad," she said. "By the rules of poker, you lose. Right, boys?"

"I'm afraid she's right," said Bob. "If a player cannot make a bet with either money or an agreement to pay that is accepted by the person making the raise, that player loses the hand and may not see the other player's cards. Those are the rules according to Hoyle."

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