Fragments from Persuadeo’s poker novel, I Love This Game.
The Village – How to turn poker into craps – No room at the inn The Village was the Other Casino – an entirely different entity. No Late Nite Tony, no Harvey Bumpback. Really, none of those guys who worked hard at poker, who treated it like the sales job they just left an…
Sylvester Mallis Jones, Jr. – The Private Life of a Villain – A Villain’s fears The door on Sylvester’s giant Cadillac, a grey beast somewhere between an overdone barbecue station and an underdone tank, too new for Harvey Keitel but too old for David Beckam, hadn’t even fully been pushed open before Sylvester Mallis…
Matton’s financial straits – Money and conscience – Sylvester offers distraction Not long ago, Matton Header had begun composing a list. He wasn’t sure why, at first, and in fact, he wasn’t sure how to even do it. He hadn’t used pen and paper for a while, especially after his computer had suffered a massive…
Matton plays poker – Late Nite Tony complains – Harvey Bumpback explains Matton Header, round, pale, bespectacled – a kind of tenure track albino pumpkin professor – was thinking. Pondering. Wondering. Pausing. Reflecting. Worrying. Calculating. Hesitating. In other words he was doing what poker players call tanking. Thinking. Deep in the tank. Not…
Braunfar in the garden – the family – a photograph – a girl – desire “Smile, Braunfar!” Jaqueline dropped the sixty-four megapixel camera smartphone, the sly gift of an occupied husband, to her side. For her daughter’s wedding, then affianced Braunfar, still under scrutiny for signs of lingering independence or other dangers in a…