Garett brushed his hair while fixing his bright purple tie in front of the bathroom mirror. The diagonal black stripes on the tie stood out among the clear white suit. Buttoning up the golden ornaments, he checked his own phone to confirm the details of the arrangement.

[Make sure to dress appropriately. This is a special opportunity I was able to receive through some business contacts, and it isn't some game for kids. As far as I know- the rewards are relatively high for a single gamble, but the risk is just as high. If you think you can live up to the challenge, meet me at "..." street on the corner of "..." block, at 8 p.m. tomorrow. ]

Fishy.

That was all Garett could think as he prepared to leave.

However...

"If you think you can live up to the challenge."

Daniel didn't know Garett for long, nor were they particularly good friends in the time they knew each other, however he sure knew how to grind a mans gears.

"As expected of a business major. He has people wrapped around his fingers."

Garett was never someone to make a rash decision. He was always accustomed to making the logical choice, even if it meant giving up his pride. However, if someone were to insult his skill when it came to his specialty, he couldn't just go down without a fight.

"If things seem too off once I arrive, I'll bail. Its as simple as that. Surely they won't hold me to play before the game has even started. If they refuse to tell me the conditions of the gamble, I won't hesitate to leave. "

He was ready to defend his pride as a gambler, yet ready to throw it away in an instant if that meant he would risk losing something that was greater than the reward.

And what was the greatest risk to mankind?

The unknown.

There was nothing more scary or more unpredictable than the unknown.

Well, one could say that the unknown was the very manifestation of the unpredictable.

And this was an enemy that Garett refused to face. Should he come face to face with the unknown, he would take one of two actions. He would either investigate what he didn't know, thus turning the unknown into that which is known, or he would run away.

Running was not an issue for Garett. It was the logical choice when faced with danger. A natural instinct, built into humans to increase their rate of survival.

Pride, on the other hand, was merely a foolish gimmick. Pride would only ever lead to irrational decisions- which Garett despised.

That didn't mean Garett did not have any pride, but rather that he was willing to throw it away if it was the logical decision. After all, he took the most pride in being able to calmly analyze what the right action was at all times.

Garett grabbed his wallet and phone and stuffed them into his pocket. He put on his white fedora, with a black stripe across it before leaving his apartment swiftly.

----

Garett found himself at the corner of a quiet intersection. One or two cars would pass every few minutes, but it was a relatively low density area for the city.

Nobody walked outside openly in the streets. The buildings of the ghetto were made of nothing more than concrete that had been littered with graffiti.

No windows displayed themselves on any of the high rise apartment buildings surrounding the area. It was almost a testament in of itself as if to say "We don't even want to look at the scene outside."

However, one man stood patiently at the intersection. He wore a black tuxedo, with a bright orange tie that was speckled with green spots.

This man tipped his top hat, revealing his long dark red hair, and waved his cane in an elegant way over to the man across the crosswalk.

Garett strutted across the crosswalk, and he too tipped his hat towards Daniel.

This was a scene that would look as if two nobles met at a cocktail party, if one were to ignore the scenery behind them.

"Its been a while, twitch-eye", Garett commented sarcastically.

Daniel let out a friendly chuckle, before putting on a serious face.

"It seems you took up my offer. I'd like to thank you for coming all this way to help me out. Let me fill you in on some of the details that I've been informed of before we head over to the casino."

Garett looked at Daniel, interested, and urged him to continue.

"You see, from what I know- this event is going to be a team based event. 2 on 2. As I said before, the rewards are excessive compared to the amount of effort it would take to obtain them. That being said, I'm no idiot. I've done my research, and it seems that the rewards top out at 1000 dollars."

"1000 dollars?"

This was... Garett wasn't sure how to interpret this.

1000 dollars was enough money to say that it wasn't just a simple gamble. However, it wasn't a ridiculous sum that could be considered a get rich quick scheme either. It was enough for a nice bonus at best.

This actually might be considered a good thing though, from Garrett's perspective, and put him at ease.

"If were talking about 1000 dollars, I shouldn't have to worry too much about the risk of going deep in debt should I lose... a few weeks of working part time should be able to pay that off no problem in a worst case scenario."

Of course, Garett had not brought any money to gamble. Why was this? Because of the line that Daniel had stated in the text messages.

[The casino were going to doesn't require you to have any money to gamble. When someone loses a gamble, they will work at the casino for a given amount of time in order to pay off the debt they've incurred. As a result, the casino pays off the money lost in the gamble. Only a select few people are allowed to get into this type of low risk high reward gamble, so I suggest you take me up on the offer. It took a lot of influence to convince them to allow me to bring my own partner with me.]

Casino work didn't seem like it would be all that bad. At the worst, he would become a gopher who would serve drinks, set up the games and assist in calming down angry customers.

With this, Garett's suspicions flew away. Even if it was rigged, there wasn't a huge loss here for trying.

"They probably make tons of money off gambling addicts who don't know when to quit. I am different from that rabble. I know when to quit when I'm ahead, and I know when to cut my losses and run."

Daniel walked along, tapping his cane along the ground, leading Garett into an alleyway nearby.

The alleyway started off as nothing but high concrete walls, but when they turned a corner, Garett began to hear the sound of music playing.

A saxophone played a grand solo, and this was followed by the accompaniment of a bass with some drums providing a mellow beat.

"Do do dooo do dopiityy da. Ow!"

The jazz singer slurred off a number.

Upon turning the corner, Garett saw in the distance the neon lights that surrounded a large wooden door, with a flaring "open" sign on it. A neon arrow with the word "Casino" pointed towards the door, lighting up each letter of the word in order as it flickered, and a stairway lead up to the door with a red carpet. This place was quite literally the only lively area in this sector of the town.

"I suppose that's just how the money flows here."

A bouncer wearing a tuxedo, who was bald with a trim mustache stood with one hand over the other in front of him. As the two approached, Daniel pulled out a white envelope with a symbol on it that matched the one that was on one of the neon lights.

The bouncer took the letter and read it thoroughly, before handing it back and stepping out of the way politely. He bowed, and holding out one hand towards the door said

"Right this way, Mr. Arez and guest."

The two gracefully entered, and the music blared once the door was opened.

Trumpets, jazz, blues, rhythm. An entourage filled the ears of the two men.

Lights flared all over, and machines made beeping noises as people gambled on them. Slot machines were played, roulette tables were spun, casino dealers slyly passed out cards to poker players. Everyone in the casino was dressed with the look of the rich, and not a single crazed gambler was to be seen.

There was a sense of elegance about this casino that put it apart from others. It was almost as if everyone present were veterans, and there were barely any amateurs to be seen.

"As long as nobody is cheating that wont matter... at the end of the day, it all depends on whether you can work probability to be in your favor."

A man wearing a red vest with a black jacket underneath and a bowtie waltzed over to Daniel.

"Mr. Arez, we've been waiting your arrival! I see that your partner is with you! The team you two will be playing are currently in the waiting room. I will lead you over to where the gamble will take place, and I will have them meet you there. We will then discuss the rules, and after a short strategy proposal time, you all will begin the game. Is this alright with you?"

Daniel nodded, and the host looked towards Garett, who also agreed.

They were then led through the crowds of people to an inner room where the doors were closed off. It was a plain room, unlike the previous scene of the casino. Almost too plain, if you asked Garett. A foldout card table with 4 foldout chairs was in the center of the room, and there were no windows or openings anywhere. Even the ventilation was on the floors to prevent any sort of cheating in that manner.

"Forgive the plain appearance of the room, kind Sirs. These types of rooms are where the real gambles take place- and as such we have done everything within our power so that cheating can be strictly regulated and eliminated."

"So the outside gambling was merely an appetizer..." Garett whispered a little too loudly.

"Eh.. if that is what you wish to refer to it as then... yes, I suppose."

Garett apologized for his rudeness.

"No need to apologize good Sir! You are a valued customer, and at the Pierce casino we take customer opinions very seriously!"

There was a knock at the door shortly after the host had said this.

----

"Ah, our other guests must have arrived."

The host swiftly made his way to the door and opened it, to reveal two more men, both well dressed. One of them wore a bright red suit, and the other a dark green suit.

The first man wore glasses with lenses and frames so square that you could use the 90 degree angles to slice something. His styled black hair flipped as he confidently entered the room.

"This man is no pushover", Garett thought to himself. The aura brought about by the man with the glasses told Garett that he was there to win, and by his own strength. It was as if he could feel waves of pride emanating from the man.

The other man was extremely short, and relatively plain. He was about 4 feet tall, and was most likely in his late 40's. He had short brown hair that stuck up like a military cut, and well trimmed facial hair that formed a rounded square around his mouth.

'It must suck to have been born with such a short stature.', Garett thought.

The man took twice as many steps to cover the same distance as the other man, but he still carried himself with dignity. He seemed to be a veteran gambler, and one who could easily read the situation by a glance.

'Veterans eh?', Garett thought as the four men sat at the table. 'It looks like I'm going to have to get pretty serious today then.'

Garett had never played against veteran gamblers. He was excessively interested in gambling, but that interest had led him to study the games- not play them. The most he had ever put on the line was some chump change with his friends.

Why was this? Was Garett not the type of person who was thrilled by a risk?

He was. However, to Garett, the money that was held in the balance of the gamble was merely a method. When he gambled, his pride was what really held in the balance. His ability to turn the tables in his favor, and win more often than not.

The thing that thrilled him was the outcome. When one schemed to make it so that they had a greater chance to win, the scheming would be all for naught if they were to lose anyways. But it was exactly that which Garett gambled with. If ones schemes assure that there is a 99% chance of victory, and victory does not come, then they were worth just as much as if one did not scheme at all.

Time is worth more than money. Human effort is what gives value to money. And gambling was a manifestation of this human effort. If the human effort did not result in anything, then it was worthless, no matter how intelligent or well done it was.

The four men sat at the table, and the host stood up in order to explain the rules.

"In an attempt to promote fairness, our casino likes to introduce new and unique games to our new customers. These games are our own creations, and as such have likely never been played by anyone in this room- giving nobody an unfair advantage."

The host's hand reached into his pocket, and he pulled out a deck of what seemed to be playing cards.

The four men all stared at the host as he continued explaining.

"This game is to be played in pairs. It is called 'plus or minus'."

The host turned over the deck of cards, and spread them out in front of the players on the table to reveal that there were only 3 types of cards.

There were cards that had a blue 'plus' sign, a red 'minus' sign, and a grey zero with a slash through the middle.

"In this game, there are 40 total cards. 10 Pluses, 10 minuses, and 20 zeroes. The deck will be shuffled, and each player will be dealt 5 cards. After receiving ones cards, there will then be a trading phase, which consists of 3 levels. During the trading phase, you may select a number of cards to be traded in for another randomly selected set of cards from the deck. You can only do one trade in per round of the game, and if you wish to trade in cards, you must select which level of the trade in you will trade your cards during."

"On the first level of trade in, you can trade in any number of your cards- even all 5 if you wish. Once the first level of trade is over, the cards that each member traded in will be flipped over and revealed to everyone at the table. The second trade in level will then begin, in which you may only trade 2 cards maximum. The cards will once again be revealed, and then the 3rd level of trade in will occur, in which you may only trade 1 card. Once again- you are only allowed to trade in on a single level, so if you wish to trade in 3 cards you must trade in on the first level."

This rule seemed sound to Garett. The worse hand you had, the more cards you would be forced to trade in, and the less information you were allowed to acquire about the possible remaining cards. Similarly, if you had a good hand and only wished to trade in 1 card, you could obtain a lot of info about the remaining cards in the deck, and decide whether to take a risk or not.

The host continued explaining.

"You are allowed to see the decks of your partner, which is why we have 2 people on each side of the table. This will then allow for the 3rd and final session of the game. This is the switching session. In this session, if your partner agrees, you are allowed to switch cards with them. Why is this rule present? Because the goal of this game is to not come in last. The only person in this room who will leave without winnings is he who has the least points at the end. This goes without saying, but each plus is worth 1 point, each 0 is worth 0 points, and each minus is worth -1 points."

The man with the glasses pushed them to his face with his middle finger in a sophisticated manner.

"And what of the loser?", he inquired.

"Those who have the money to pay will simply pay for the winnings that the others receive. For this gamble, that will add up to a total of 2000 dollars. However, our casino prides ourselves on allowing the opportunity for even those without money to make money from gambling, and as such we have offered a plan of part time work for the casino for anyone who does not have the money to gamble."

The man took his hand off his glasses and nodded, satisfied.

"There is one special hand in this game however. This hand is extremely rare, and almost never comes up, however there is a certain chance that it could happen. If you have a hand where every card is a negative, this is called "A negative and a negative makes a positive". In this case, your hand is worth the same as having all pluses. All other hands are exactly as the points state.

The men all nodded in agreement.

"Now, in this gamble, we will only have one round- winners take all, and loser pays all. However, we will perform a practice round first followed by a 10 minute break so that you all may come accustomed to the game beforehand. Is this alright?"

The men all nodded in agreement, and the dealer began to shuffle out the cards.

----

The cards were dealt, 5 to each player. Garett took a look at what he had been dealt during this practice round.

1 plus, 2 zeroes, and 2 minuses.

"Within reason as far as chance goes.", Garett thought. However, this was only the practice round. If something suspicious were to happen, it would occur during the next round.

He took a glance at his partners deck. 2 pluses, 2 zeroes, and a minus. Also well within the realm of standard probability.

Since 3 minuses were in sight, that meant 7 more remained- potentially in the deck, however- the chance of receiving one of these was low as there was likely to be 1 or 2 more within the opponents hands.

As such, Garett strongly considered placing down all four cards. (2 minuses, 2 zeroes) that were not a plus. However, this was a simulation of how the actual game would run, so he instead decided to play it safe and keep the zeroes.

"I don't need to show the opponents how risky I like to play just yet. We can wait until the real game to pull any real tricks."

The dealer then spoke up. "If there is anyone who would like to trade their cards in on the first level, please place your cards down on the count of three. One, two, three."

The man with glasses placed- all 5 cards down. Nobody else moved an inch.

He pushed up his glasses, and smirked. "Could it be that you are all holding back due to the fact that this is a practice round? Or perhaps nobody in this room has any balls?"

Nobody gave into the taunt, but Garett laughed a little bit on the inside. "This guy... he's trying to provoke the other players into making rash decisions. If I wasn't levelheaded, perhaps I would've fallen for that obvious bluff... however, I think its all but certain that it was a good decision to hold back for now."

The host signaled for the man to turn his cards over, revealing 2 minus signs and 3 zeroes.

'An interesting choice... however, not a bad one. Without even a single plus it would be better to give up your entire hand and try for a new one than to only give up a few cards.', Garett thought.

The man then received 5 new cards.

The host then signaled for the 2nd level of trade in. On the sign of 3, Garett placed 2 cards at the same time as his partner, who also placed 2 cards- a minus and a zero, as well as the other man, who also placed 2 cards.

They all flipped, to reveal their cards. The other man had placed 2 zeroes. This was slightly risky, as it meant that he did not have any minus cards- otherwise he would have traded those in. This meant that he risked getting a worse score than before, should he pull a minus and a zero.

2 cards were dealt to each player in order, to refill their decks.

"And with that, all players have traded in- so we will now be moving onto the partner trading phase. If you wish to trade with your partner, you may do so, assuming both parties agree."

Garett looked at the 2 cards he received. In exchange for 2 minus cards, he received a 0 and a minus, giving him a total of +-0 (1 plus, 1 minus, 3 zeroes).

His partner had received a plus and a zero in exchange for a minus and a zero- a net gain of 2 giving him 3 pluses and 2 zeroes, for +3.

Daniel looked at him and twitched his eye. It drew a circle across his eyelid, followed by a horizontal dash. Realizing what Daniel was suggesting, Garett gladly accepted, and Daniel gave up a zero for Garett's minus.

This resulted in Daniel being at +2, while Garett was at +1. A good team play to ensure that nobody gets left behind in last.

The other 2 didn't make any trades, and the session came to an end.

"Alright everyone, flip your cards over!", the host exclaimed.

The four revealed their decks. The man with glasses has 2 pluses, 2 minuses, and a zero for +- 0. The older man revealed a plus, a minus, and 3 zeroes, also for +-0.

'Seems trading in backfired on him', Garett thought. He would have ended up with at least +1, had the short man not traded in his cards and received the minus.

And as such, Daniel came in first- with Garett coming in 2nd, followed by the other 2 men. There were no external influences to this game, and as such the result was almost completely up to chance.

The host then called for a 10 minute break before the real game was to begin.

----

Daniel and Garett stood together, both of them sipping on some black coffee.

"Garett. You recognized my sign, didn't you?"

"Of course I would. I've seen that trick hundreds of times."

"I see. Let me form a light code for this gamble, since we have a lot on the line- and also a lot to win."

Of course, a month of working wasn't a huge amount, but given that they would lose the chance to win a couple hundred or a thousand dollars and have to work instead, this motivated the two to not lose.

"If I make a zero, plus or minus- well, you should get what that means. If I flick my eye upwards, it will mean "Trade your cards in." If I flick it down, it will mean to hold off. If I flick my eye to the side, it will mean that I plan on doing a partner trade at the end depending on the situation."

Garett nodded. "Alright."

Garett headed back into the room alone.

'Can I trust Daniel to help me out in a pinch? I've covered for him time and time again, so he certainly owes me...but...'

A bad feeling came over Garett.

'Will he really come through in a pinch?'

Garett shook off these thoughts. In order to avoid being reliant on another, all he had to do was win on his own.

Daniel, on the other hand, let out a slight chuckle as he stood alone drinking his coffee.

'Naive.... you're too naive, Garett. I hope for your sake that you learn from the lesson I'm about to give you today, and give up gambling once and for all assuming you survive. After all, I wouldn't want anyone else using you like I am about to...'

----

The four men were once more seated at the table. From the previous match, Garett had learned quite a bit about this game- the most important piece being that even veteran gamblers wouldn't be able to win if luck wasn't on their sides.

Unless of course, they were simply testing the waters and holding back their real skill during the practice round.

The host began sliding cards over to each player one at a time until each person had 5 cards. His hands moved so fast it was difficult for Garett to see what he was doing.

Garett picked up his deck of 5 cards to reveal

'What?' Garett almost said out loud as he looked at his deck.

Garett ran a quick calculation in his head.

'more or less... 4%'

That was the chance that he would receive a deck of cards as dangerous as this one.

3 minuses and 2 zeroes.

One could argue that this was the worst possible starting hand. Given that 5 minuses was equivalent to +5, 4 minuses and a zero could be considered better than this hand, because if you happened to trade in the 0 for a minus, or if you happened to trade a card for a minus with your partner, you would easily obtain plus 5.

This situation was different however, it presented itself with risk.

Garett looked over to his partner, who had 3 pluses and a minus, and 1 zero. Daniel's eye began to twitch.

From the patterns they had discussed earlier, Daniel suggested that Garett trade in his two zeroes. If he could obtain a single minus, or if Daniel obtained another minus, they would trade cards so that Garett would be left with 5 minuses, and Daniel would give his minuses away for better cards.

It was a win win situation if it came to fruition.

There were currently 4 minuses in sight. 6 remained, however they could certainly be in the hands of the opponents. This meant there was less than a 6 in 20 chance that they would receive a minus on any given draw.

However, they had 3 total draws.

In the best case scenario, assuming none of the opponents held minus cards, there was roughly a 2 in 3 chance that they would obtain their needed card. This could be increased to a 3 in 4 chance roughly if Daniel switched out one of his plus cards, however that was unlikely, as that would be accepting his own demerit in order to assist his partner.

On the first turn, the host asked if anyone would like to trade out their cards. Nobody volunteered to do so- it seems that nobody wanted to leak information to their opponents.

Then, the second stage occurred, however on this stage, something unexpected happened.

The host asked for everyone to place their cards if they wished to do so, and both Daniel, Garett, and the man with glasses placed down 2 cards. Daniel had sacrificed his own plus card to give Garett a better chance at obtaining a hand completely filled with minus cards in the end. He had sacrificed his own potential winnings for the sake of his partner.

The other man remained firm and didn't move an inch. He seemed to be confident in his deck.

The cards were flipped, revealing a minus and a zero from the man with the glasses.

Once more cards were dealt, and Garett took a look at his own deck.

He received a minus and a zero.

He had done it. Looking over to Daniels deck, he saw that in exchange for the plus and the zero he had given up to maximize Garett's chances, he had received 2 zeroes in exchange. Garett felt somewhat bad that Daniel's hand had suffered as a result of trying to help out his partner- however all that was left now was to trade out cards. If Daniel traded the minus in his deck for a zero, Garett would end up with an outstanding +5, and Daniel would still end up with a +2.

The 3rd and final trade in occurred, and oddly- the man with the square beard didn't move a muscle.

'Could his hand be good enough that he doesn't want to risk a trade in making it worse? Perhaps he learned that from the practice round...'

Then, the round of the trade in began.

"If you wish to trade cards with your partner and they accept, then you may do so now."

Garett picked out his zero and handed it over to Daniel. This was the least he could do to help someone who risked losing points for his sake.

However...

Daniel didn't move.

"I refuse your trade offer"