Vushk swept another pile of credits into the glittering horde of chips amassed on his end of the table. “Another hand. You ought to stop trying me. As you have seen I don’t bluff - I only play strong hands.” The reptilian smirked in self-satisfaction.

It was true. He seemed to be brute-forcing his way through this competition. Every once in a while he would fold, but when he stayed in he always had the winning hand by a decent margin. Easily over a third of the table’s wealth, 2 million credits, belonged to him already.

“We’re going to commercial break folks, take five.” The House sighed, leaning back in his chair. He tugged at the edge of his sandy mustache irritably. I could imagine his frustration at such a one-sided game. It didn’t make for very entertaining content.

I had managed to recoup some of my losses following my duel with the increasingly sloshed businesswoman to my left by playing the last ten hands cautiously. My total funds crested the 400,000 mark. A hundred less than I started with, but not at risk of annihilation like some of the others.

I watched her sidle out of her chair and make her way back over to the bar. The navy pantsuit clung to her hips with a threatening tightness but somehow managed to appear wrinkled at the same time. It amazed me that she could still function with the amount of alcohol flowing through her bloodstream, let alone be one of the top earners at the table.

Her strategy must have merit, I decided, walking to the bar myself. The bartender greeted me with a warm smile. “What’ll you have?”

“Double Scotch, on the rocks.” I nodded.

He slid it my way and I found a seat at the far end of the bar. The bitter liquid taunted my tongue with the hint of oak and honey. Not a bad brew for being a virtualized representation.

I sighed. My strategy was enough to survive this round, but not place me among the top three - the magic number of survival. If I wanted to gain momentum I’d have to shake things up. Everyone had their eyes on Vushk, the boisterous Undu that won despite all lack of subtlety or cunning. How did he even end up in a Gambler bracket? He struck me more as a Bruiser or Fighter type.

“Break’s done. Get your sorry asses back over here.” The House barked from across the room. Well, that was quick. I’d hardly drained my glass. How did he expect us to stay on top of our game with a grueling pace like this? I slid out of my barstool and made my way over to the table. Perhaps when the numbers dwindled we’d have more time to get to know one another.

Needless to say, I still hadn’t the faintest idea what to change up about my strategy. It seemed like I would just barely survive the round that should be my bread and butter - cards. I could only imagine how rough the later rounds would get against these fierce competitors.

Letting the tame burn of a double muddle my anxiety, I strode back to my seat.

The Big Blind chip slid to my side of the table. I was in whether I wanted to be or not.

And boy did I not want to be. Lady Luck generously bestowed on me one of the most statistically useless hands in Mardok’s Pairs - a 2 of Clubs and a 3 of Hearts.

2% chance of victory

Unless the river brought a miracle on its rapids, I could kiss my 10,000 credit ante goodbye. I did my best to not show the disgust on my face, but I could hardly care at this point.

A few folded, but the key players - the pantsuit, the Dralid, and the Undu - all stayed in. Perfect. Odds were it’d go to the boisterous alligator once again.

But something peculiar happened this time. The river played a second 3 so I elected to stay in with a weak pair, nobody had bet yet anyhow, but when the 4th card went down in the center the aloof Dralid piped up.

“20,000.” His chromatic fingers darted out, slinging two yellow chips clutched between his knuckles.

Well, that put me out. No way in hell I’d stay with a pair of 3s against the cyborg. The woman and the old bum followed suit, but Vushk took his bet as a personal challenge.

“You’re on, insect.” He hissed.

“Last card of the river down, 7 of Spades.” The House said with a surprising hint of enthusiasm in his voice. “Any bets, gentlemen?”

“30,000.” The Dralid muttered. His coal-colored eyes never left the center of the table.

“Do you think you can intimidate me, you tin-can freak?” Vushk slammed his fist against the table, clattering his tower of chips.

“No. I will just beat you.”

So spider-boy had a tongue after all. I let a grin spread across my face. Maybe he did have a chance here. If Vushk were as wise as he were crass he’d heed the signs. The Dralid hadn’t once tried to bluff or force his way to the top.

“You aren’t fit to scrape the algae from my scales!” The Undu roared, leaping from his chair. Old Jack was on him in an instant, placing his vibrating staff between the two contenders.

“Sit down, scaly.” House narrowed his gaze at the hulking reptilian.

Vushk complied, slamming his bulk back down into his seat. “If your carcass drags itself out of this round, I will find you in another and make you eat your tongue, insect.” He fired off, pointing an onyx claw at the Dralid.

The pale man didn’t flinch.

“30,000 in. Do you accept?”

The Undu flung his chips in the middle.

The House paused for a long moment. I thought he might eject Vushk from the game, but he gave a sly nod to Old Jack who resumed his post at the front door. “Alright, let’s see what you got boys.”

Vushk flipped his cards to reveal a Three of a Kind - Queens. That would be a hard hand to beat.

The Dralid turned one card over, a 6 of Clubs that didn’t match anything on the table.

“Just a bluff, huh.” Vushk snarled.

“Patience would serve you well, Na’arza.” The Dralid’s eyes darted over to the Undu. Na’arza, it sounded Dralid and I assumed it was the word for Undu but I couldn’t be sure. Not a native speaker myself.

“It is the crime of your race to act impetuously, without sound judgment or sufficient strategy to back your fiery tempo. While this paid off for you in the opening stages of the First Undu Conflict against the USH, it lent itself to a sorry disgrace at the turning point of Ma’albak. Although, you may have been a mere hatchling as these things were unfolding.” The Dralid offered a pale smile. “The Second Undu Conflict would be fresher in your memory. No matter - your kind committed the same folly in laying siege to Torval. You were cut to the flank like the beasts you are by man and Dralid alike.” His words danced from his tongue like a series of scalding razorblades. I was no Undu, but even I could feel the indignation at such bold derision.

“You prowling bugs skitter about the edge of war, feeding on it like the scavengers you are. Unwilling to fight on your own behalf, you ply yourselves as mercenaries! At least we fight with honor!”

“Impudence.” The Dralid shot back. With a dramatic flair, his metallic index and middle finger twirled to reveal the second card. The Jack needed to complete his Straight Flush - 5 cards in a row and of the same suit too. He won by a landslide. I had only seen a hand of that caliber a few times in my entire career.

For once the Undu had nothing to say. It may have been on account of the pure, scathing rage at hearing his species’ embarrassment laid out on the table, or might’ve been fear of reprisal from the Retan bouncer. Instead, he silently clutched the edge of the table with an iron grip, cracking the hardwood like a sheet of glass.

“And the hand goes to the skulking cyborg in the back. Congratulations.” Even House showed a hint of satisfaction at the outcome.

The tables turned from that point forward. I don’t think Vushk won another hand, while the Dralid man took easily two-thirds of the remaining bouts with equally stunning plays. After a particularly climatic round, he squirreled away a solid 300,000 credits from the pile with a 4 of a Kind Aces and cemented his lead among the contestants. There had to be an underhanded trick behind it, but I couldn’t quite puzzle it out. I didn’t want to use my scanner on him either for fear of being discovered.

Vushk’s dark complexion brightened a hue of red I didn’t think possible for male Undu. After his altercation with Old Jack, though, he didn’t dare try anything out of line. If he made it out of this gambling hall he’d certainly carry a grudge with him.

I managed to win a few more rounds for myself, but no spectacular comeback like my cloaked companion on the other side. Truth be told I wasn’t upset about this turn of events. There was poetic justice in the reticent Dralid trouncing Vushk’s lead.

This round went in my favor, though. In a face-off with the prime antagonist of the table, my rival, the jaded pantsuit-wearing woman, the old bum, and the female Undu. I revealed a Two Pair - Kings and Aces.

The rose Undu female let out a sharp breath. Between her trembling fingers, not quite as bulky as the Shadow but more sizable than any human’s, she let her own Two Pair of 4s and 8s slide to the table. She took on an aggressive betting stance in the early rounds that took its toll on her finances. I just now realized that her final yellow chip was tucked in the center pile; this was a game-over for her.

“Looks like the hand goes to Chicken Bone. And the gator girl in the back is O-U-T, OUT!” The House clapped his palms together. This was the first hint of excitement I’d seen from him in a while. Beneath the bleached lip of his gallon hat, I even caught him dozing off a few times during the gameplay.

“No...I, I can buy back in.” The Undu female protested.

“Well, I did say that.” House stroked at his mustache with a thoughtful expression. “But truthfully, I’ve hardly noticed you sitting there this entire time. And I do recall my right to withhold redemption rounds from the dull and uninspired. If I let just anybody buy back in, we’d be here for hours. I doubt the audience would like that very much. Seems your luck is all out, miss.”

“But that’s not fair. I have hundreds of thousands of credits saved up in my LimeLight account. I can pay in full!” Undu were biologically incapable of producing tears, but the dismay in her eyes more than expressed her anguish.

“I’ll let you in on a little secret, missy. LimeLight makes triple whatever ‘fortune’ you seem to think you have every second that this competition runs on the air. You know why?” He leaned over the table. She shook her head sullenly. “It’s because we are the most action-packed, high stakes, adrenaline-fueled competition in this blasted galaxy, and I am not about to lose that reputation on a sniveling gizzard like you,” he finished with a huff.

“That’s awfully cruel.” I butted in.

House fixed his icy gaze on me. “You don’t like it, you can join her ‘bone. We got one more of you to burn through anyway.”

I bet you’re wondering what I was thinking jumping to the defense of the she-lizard. Well, I’m sort of wondering that myself. Truth be told, I didn’t feel any more sympathy for her than the ordinary contestant I’d had to eliminate or watch dragged away before. Something about the mounting arrogance of the people running this LimeLight competition was starting to grate my nerves, though. They thought they were all-powerful; answering to nobody, richer than everyone and greater than everything they encountered. The pretentiousness nauseated me.

I flashed him a grin. “No, Mr. House, I don’t believe I will be joining her.” I swiped the pile of glittering credits from the middle, merging it with my own. That brought me to a grand total of 515,000 - more than I started with. I’d dug my way out of the hole.

“In fact, I very much mean to win this competition.”

“Then you’d be wise to keep your trap shut and keep playing.”

I drummed my fingers along the edge of the table. At this point I hadn’t cheated, bar the use of my optical scanner of course. The full array of tools at my disposal - the gloves, the EM lace on my Stregone outfit, and the general ability to come up with bullshit - none of that had seen the light of day. I’d tested my natural abilities against the cream of the crop and come out with a minor victory. Once I unleashed my full arsenal, it would skyrocket me to the head of the table.

“Wisdom is a trait ill-suited for a man like me, Mr. House. The wise anticipate the outcome of their actions in advance of their execution, and for me, that level of foresight’s just a bit too bland.”

The House grit his teeth. “Then victory is ill-suited for you as well. Jack,” he called across the room to his enforcer, and for a moment I thought I had overstepped it with the shit-talk.

“Grab the lizard queen, get her out of here. We’re going to a commercial break.” He muttered, standing from his seat abruptly and heading for the balcony door.