Casually Steel lowered his hand. Jack, Queen, Queen, Queen, Queen. That
made four Queens.
He hadn't been bluffing.
And Rafferty was out nine thousand credits.
* * * * *
He kept his composure, but inwardly he was disturbed. By all rights
Steel _had_ to be bluffing--but there they were, four queens.
The game progressed. A few curious onlookers had gathered. By playing
cautiously, Rafferty started piling up chips again. His winnings
mounted to a hundred thousand, hundred fifty. He had Steel figured now
for sure.
But it wasn't as sure as all that.
Rafferty staked five thousand on a straight flush. Steel saw him and
added five hundred on top of it.
"I'll go with you," Rafferty said. "Here's another thousand." Straight
flush, Queen high. Only three hands could possibly beat him--and one
of them was a royal flush. It didn't seem likely. Besides, the lower
corner of Steel's mouth was drawn back, as it usually was when he had a
fairly good hand and was playing it big.
The chips flew out madly. Rafferty watched the pile grow; neither man
would let the cat die. Ten, twelve thousand credits now. Fifteen. In
thirty years of poker, Rafferty had never had fifteen thousand credits
riding on one hand. But he was sure he had it.
"What are you holding?" Steel asked finally.
"Straight flush, Queen high." He started to reach for the chips.