Val could see it. She could see the back of the cards as clear as day. But only the first layer. She couldn’t see beyond that. It was just enough to avoid any kind of losses. At least, that’s what she hoped.
The blackjack tourney began. And all the cards were placed inside a plastic container, ready to be deployed. The dealer placed his hand on the first card—a three.
“You have a hundred points to start,” he said. “How much would you like to bet for round one?”
How much should she bet… Fifty’s a good number, right? It felt like a good, casual number to test the waters with.
“Fifty.”
“Accepted.” He dealt four cards. Two for Val and the rest for himself.
He had a king and another card that wouldn’t normally be visible, but with her Razen, she noticed that it was a seven. Her own hand was much worse—a three and a four. She needed quite a bit more to get to twenty-one. And the dealer already had seventeen.
“What would you like to do?” he asked.
She looked at the next card in the deck—a five. “Sure. Hit me.”
The dealer placed the five next to her hand. Now, she had a total count of twelve. The next card was an ace—an eleven or a one. She wouldn’t be able to use it as an eleven because it would go over twenty-one; it would have to be counted as a one.
“Hit me,” she called out again.
The dealer placed the ace into her pile. Next was a jack. That would put her above twenty-one.
She couldn’t take it.
Wait… She looked over at the dealer’s hand. Then back to hers. The dealer already had seventeen. She had thirteen now. If she did stand, he’d win by default because he had a higher count. Did she already lose her first round?
“Would you like to hit again?”
“I, uh…” She couldn’t win this. She couldn’t take the jack. Was there something else she was missing? Maybe a rule that she had forgotten about? She searched through her memories but came up with nothing.
“Would you like to hit again?” he repeated.
“No…” Fifty points just down the drain. Coach was going to be so mad.
The dealer flipped his seven over. “Ah. Unfortunately, you’ve lost. Your total remaining points are fifty.” He cleared the table. “What would you like to bet for this next round?”
“Uh, t-ten!” Shit, was that too low?
The dealer dealt the next set of cards—a ten and a six for the dealer, an ace and a three for her. The next card in the deck was a jack.
She needed to take the jack. Otherwise, she’d have fourteen which wasn’t enough to beat the dealer’s sixteen.
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“Hit.”
He placed the card in front of her. The next card was an eight.
An eight?! That would place her above twenty-one. But the dealer was… Wait, the dealer was at sixteen. She remembered Coach telling her that the dealer had to pull no matter what if they had a lower count than seventeen.
“Stand,” she called out.
The dealer flipped over his card. “Ah, sixteen.” He took the next card from the deck—the eight. And then he flipped it over. “Oh, a bust. You’ve won. You have sixty remaining points. What would you like to bet next?”
“Ten.” She was going to take it slow.
The next set of cards came in—ace and a nine for the dealer. A four and an eight for her. The next card in line? A two.
“Hit.”
The dealer placed the two in her hand. Fourteen. It was still shy of a win.
“Hit.”
The dealer placed the next card into her hand—a three. She now had seventeen. The dealer had twenty and the next card was a king.
Val couldn’t help but sigh. Did she lose again? Did she go too fast? She looked over at the dealer’s hand. If she hadn’t taken the two or three… She would’ve still lost. The dealer had a twenty. He didn’t need to draw more unless she had a better hand. And to have a better hand than a twenty, she’d need a blackjack—twenty-one. Was this rigged from the start?
“Fine, stand.”
The dealer flipped over his card. “Unfortunately, you’ve lost. Your total remaining points are fifty. What would you like to bet next?”
Fifty. Back to square one. “You know what?” This was going terribly. It was time to spice things up. “I’ll bet twenty-five.”
The next round began. A queen and a jack for Mr. Lucky Dealer over there. She got double nines.
Doubles? She could split them. It was highly unlikely for her to get twenty-one. Splitting was probably the better choice.
“Split,” she called out.
The dealer spread the two cards apart and placed two new cards together with the nines. He motioned towards the first set—a nine and a ten. “Would you like to hit?” The next card was a one.
“Yes.” She was tied with the dealer now. The next card was a five which would put her over.
“Would you like to hit?”
“No, stand.”
He moved onto the next set—a nine and an ace with a five still coming up next in the deck. “Would you like to hit?” he asked again.
“Yes.” She was going to take the risk. She’d use the ace as a one. The next card was a six. That resulted in blackjack! “Hi—” Wait, she could double down on this.
“Could you repeat that?”
“Actually, I want to double down.”
The dealer nodded and pulled out the next card. “Ah, blackjack.” He flipped his card over. “You won this set. As for the previous one, that will result in a push. You have a total of a hundred and twenty-five points for the final round. What would you like to bet?”
Final round already? From the original hundred, she had only made twenty-five more points. Surely, she needed more to win this competition. All or nothing? The thought crossed her mind.
“What would you like to bet?”
“Okay, whatever. All in!” Val slammed her fists on the table, fire brimming from her eyes. She was going to win this no matter what. It was all or nothing, baby!
The dealer nodded. He set down the final cards. He had a six and a nine while she got a queen and a one. And the next card was a ten—blackjack.
She couldn’t help but grin.
“Double down!” she called out.
The dealer nodded and placed the ten into her hand. “Ah, blackjack.” He turned his card over. “You’ve won the final round with a total of five hundred points. Congratulations.”
“Yes!” She pumped her arms in the air. Five hundred points! That should be worth some money. “What place did I get?”
“167th.”
“WHAT? HOW?!”