In The Money

"Kojak, and there's my royal flush, hope you weren't too attached to your bits."

This was the proud announcement of a young pegasus stallion as he laid out his cards for the rest of the players at the table to see. High Rise was a 23 year old pegasus with a lean build under his steely grey coat and slightly ominous red mane, which looked to be the kind of red dried blood ended up as. The aforementioned mane was pulled up and back in as rebellious a style as he felt still looked good, leaving nothing to cover a pair of slightly hazy light blue eyes, now twinkling with happiness to go with his shit-eating grin as a substantial mound of poker chips was forked over to his place.

"Nah." A unicorn stallion four seats to his right said with a laugh, and yet High Rise noted he sounded less than happy, the amount he had bet on the last deal being reason enough. "Nah kid that's four big deals in a row and and I'm not giving my money away to a cheater." The tan brown unicorn proclaimed, his expression slowly becoming a hard stare that was directed at High Rise.

High Rise became neutral, his grin gone but his eyes still showing slight amusement, and spoke calmly "Cheater? Well for one that's the worst kind of insult to a fellow player. I'll also point out that your last four hooves have been very poor, like a three and a nine? Really? I'm a firm believer of any hoof can win but come on dude."

The tan unicorn however, was impartial to the semi-friendly pointer, and instead became slightly angrier "Can it kid! Nopony gets that lucky! You've had four top end deals straight, all raking in the big bucks, and I ain't buyin' it."

"Yeah? Well looks to me that you don't exactly have the bits left to buy much so I guess you ain't buyin' it no." High Rise responded with a quirked eyebrow and a well practiced 'get over it' smirk. "Maybe if you were playing decent deals I'd understand your frustration, even if I'd still not care, but you've been sloppier than Celestia on the shitter after a cake binge dude."

At that the unicorn stallion came even closer to a full on snarl despite the attention of six other ponies around the table and the dealer. "The only thing shit related is what you're talkin' right now kid!" He barked at the pegasus, his rising anger finally warranting the intervention of casino staff as the dealer turned his head to address the unicorn "Sir I'm afraid if you do not compose yourself then you will be asked to leave." Was the coolly delivered warning from the tuxedo wearing alabaster earth pony. The tan stallion aimed a disapproving glare at him, to which the dealer merely raised an eyebrow and glanced clearly at security.

"Whatever..." The stallion grumbled and after a short pause looked back to his chips while adjusting himself in his seat. "I'm sticking this out until I get the smug look of that idiot's face." With that the dealer, who had been moving cards and chips along with shuffling the deck to mark a new grouping, began whisking cards across the table with his hooves in a display of dexterity that only practice and talent allowed. "All players for this hoof ante up." He announced once everypony at the table had two cards each, standing dispassionately as all of the ponies bar one shifted 20 bits worth of chips into the center of the table, while the unfortunate pegasus mare immediately right of the dealer forked over 30 bits worth for the designated big blind amount.

"I patiently await face wiping." High Rise commented with a cheerful look to the the agitated unicorn stallion who was likely developing a bit of grudge, if he didn't have one already. All he got in response was the unicorn's sour expression and non-committal grunt, so High Rise merely smirked and brought his attention back to his cards, and began thinking on his game plan. 'Seven of spades and the king of hearts. Hm. Well I've definitely won with worse.' Given a light internal chuckle as he spared another quick glance at his new rival, the stallion currently scowling at his cards before glancing up at High Rise and wincing ever so slightly when he caught the pegasus' eyes on him. 'Tut, tut, tut my friend, you need to work on that poker face. See what we've got then it's time for me to really lay it on.' He mentally teased, and turned to watch the first three cards before the dealer be turned over for the river, but he hardly paid them any mind.

High Rise firmly declared "Raise 15" and watched with no small amount of pleasure as the tan stallion who he decided he was now truly competing with bared his teeth at him and muttered darkly "Think you're clever asshole? We'll see." To which High Rise smiled happily in the time the brown stallion took to call his raise, while three others followed suit, the remaining two still in the game folding with the classic 'stuff that' expression.

"Better to be a smart asshole than a broke asshole though, right?" High Rise countered fluidly, and the unicorn tried to add more menace to his glare before responding "Sucks to be you then, 'cause you're gonna be broke soon enough kid."

"Ooooh! Burned you there!" Hooted the pegasus mare next to the dealer.

High Rise was however, nothing if not quick, and quickly snarked back. "Only thing I'm breaking right now is your bank account nerd. Hah!"

The mare by the dealer seemed to like that even more, giving an even louder, longer "Ooooh!" before opening her mouth again, likely to say something else about getting 'burned', until High Rise cut in. "Yeah, uh, shut up." The stallion instructed flatly, causing the mare to make a face before the game carried on from the bout of banter.

With the chatter gone High Rise finally analysed the game's situation. 'Okay so we've got a queen of diamonds, a three of clubs, and a ten of clubs. Nice, that's a healthy dose of frikkin' nothing so far'. Keeping his ever stoic poker face for when reviewing his chances, High Rise quietly awaited the next card, The Turn. 'Ah, king of clubs, now we're getting somewhere. Gotta keep the pressure this hornhead nerd though.'

"Raise 20" The grey pegasus stated impassively. Everyone else still in play groaned, giving their thoughts on the matter rather clearly. 'Hmph, amateurs.' He thought, holding back a smirk with some effort, however the brown stallion around the table did a much worse job of taming his expression, giving another, slightly darker scowl to the ever cool pegasus.

"Gee buddy, are you an actor? You sure are pulling some faces over there. Or maybe you're in a comedy flick eh? 'Cause I tell you what the way you think you can win is hilarious my man and this is your last chance to back out." Came the relentless taunt from High Rise, his lips curling upward ever so slightly. The other stallion only gave an angry grunt while calling the raise from a now minuscule chip pile. 'That's right, you take that bait, try not to choke on it when you lose, heh.'

With the turn's bets placed and only High Rise and his unnamed rival left (the others having given in and folded), the moment of truth came when the final card was brought over for The Flop, and because he knew his opponent couldn't go anywhere, High Rise's muzzle split with a leery grin. 'Bingo, king of diamonds' he thought, cheering in his head 'Let's hope you cut it eh?'

"Welp, I've got nothin' too hot by the looks of things." High Rise said with false dejection "What about you big guy?" 'Sweet Celestia he actually looks confident, oh this'll be rich.'

The tan unicorn looked to High Rise with a cocky smile, and flipped his cards to reveal a ten of spades and ace of hearts "Two pairs, where's that ugly grin of yours now kid?" He responded with unrestrained glee, making an obvious move to take the main pot, before he was interrupted.

High Rise couldn't help but snort derisively when he saw the unicorn's cards. 'Pfft, holy shit, does he seriously think that's some kind of top end hoof he's got there? Oh I'm gonna burst your bubble so hard dude, and it'll rain gold bits all over meee~'

The steely pegasus cleared his throat quickly before making his move "Well I'll admit this much rookie, you came pretty close. Sadly it's still game to me." He voiced with an ever growing sneer before turning over his own cards and nearly shivering with satisfaction as his rival's eyes widened.

"Three of a kind."

"..."

'Wait for it...'

"Oh you cheating dick-riding fuck! I'll beat every last bit you conned from me right out of your stupid ass!" The now irate unicorn yelled as he threw back his seat, toppling it over with a loud clattering. High Rise eyed him calmly as the fuming stallion marched around the table with murder in his eyes, quickly reaching his target's seat and pulling back a hoof to strike at the pegasus.

However the hoof was promptly grabbed by the fast acting earth pony security guard who'd ran over the moment he saw the escalation. Said hoof was neatly and fluidly folded behind the enraged stallion's back, earning a cry of pain before the bulky security member began escorting the stallion out of the casino with forceful, but well practiced ease, an angry tirade following in his wake.

"You think you can get away with this! I'll have you arrested by the end of the week if I..."

High Rise sat there, chuckling quietly to himself while his winnings were hoofed to him. He turned to the dealer with a cheerful smile "Thanks, I'd like to cash in my chips please." Earning a small smile followed by an "Of course sir, I'll be back shortly" in response.

"Heh, that's why we're called the Flash Cards baby, we make your money disappear before your eyes."