Awareness (in One Act)

“Whatever general style you play, you must always modify it to reflect the styles of your opponents, and the current texture of the game . . . . That said, many players are so unaware, they wouldn’t notice an elephant defecating in the middle of the table.”

--Roy Cooke, “Managing Your Game Style,” CardPlayer, Vol. 21, No. 8 (April 29, 2008)

Seat 8: “Nice hand.”
Seat 7: “Thanks.”
Seat 8: “Has it gotten darker in here?”
Dealer [tapping felt in front of seat 2]: “Big blind, please.”
Seat 3 [exhaling]: “Am . . . I . . . ever gonna get a hand?” [mucks cards]
Seat 4: “Waitress!” [Waves hand.]
Dealer: “On you, sir.”
Seat 4: “Ehhh . . . [mucks] . . . Somebody dim the lights . . . ?”
Seat 7: “I should have bet more on the end there.”
Seat 8 [shaking head]: “Nah.”
Seat 7: “You do call forty there.”
Seat 5: “Fifteen.”
Seat 6: “Call.”
Seat 8: “Not forty . . . .”
Seat 7: “Thirty?”
Dealer: “Fifteen to stay.”
Seat 7 [mucking hand, chuckling]: “Oh . . . you’d’ve called forty . . . ”
Seat 8: “I call.”
Seat 9 [mucking hand]: “I’m out.” [Stands up.]
Seat 10: “Mmm . . . [mucks]”
Seat 1: “It is darker in here . . . [mucks].”
Seat 2: “Call . . . now, c’mon dealer . . . do me right now . . . ”
Dealer: “Four to the flop.”
Seat 8: “I can’t see the board. Where are the lights?”
Dealer: “Nine of clubs, nine of hearts, ten of clubs.”
Seat 2: “Ten.”
Seat 1: “What’s that noise?”
Seat 5: “I raise . . . forty-five.”
Seat 6: [mucks]
Seat 3: “I been sitting here for three hours and I’ve seen exactly one pocket pair for three . . . Whaddya . . . what noise?”
Seat 4: “Gimmeya . . . Dos Equis. Please. Thanks . . . ”
Seat 2: “Sounds like a generator or something . . . what is that dealer?”
Seat 8: “Why would they turn the lights down . . . [mucks]”
Seat 1: “Call.”
Dealer: “I don’t know. Two to the turn.”
Seat 2: “Sounds like the air conditioning . . . ”
Dealer: “Jack of clubs.”
Seat 5: “Action card.”
Seat 7 [voice lowered]: “Folded a nine.”
Seat 7: “Dunno.”
Seat 1: [taps table]
Seat 5: “All in.”
Seat 3: “Lord, what is that smell?”
Seat 4: “Huh?”
Seat 3: “You smell that?”
Seat 1: “How much?”
Dealer: “One-twenty . . . twenty-five . . . thirty . . . . One-forty-two.”
Seat 8: “What’s that?”
Seat 7: “Jack. Clubs. He’s filled up.”
Seat 3: “Somebody hit the buffet . . . HARD.”
Seat 4: “Man, oh man . . . you’re right . . . ”
Seat 3 [voice lowered]: “Must’ve been . . . .” [Points thumb toward the empty seat 9.]
Seat 1: “A little quiet, please.”
Seat 5 [holding nose]: “Gawd . . . . Sorry.”
Seat 1 [turning head back from Seat 5]: “I call.”
Seat 5: “Boat?”
Seat 1: “Not yet . . . . Trips.”
Seat 5: “Club please.”
Seat 8: “What’s he got?”
Seat 7: “Club draw . . . and . . . there’s a shadow . . . ”
Dealer [taps table, burns, deals]: “Three of clubs . . . flush beats three of a kind . . . ”
Seat 1: “Cra-a-a-a-p.”
Seat 7: “That stinks.”
Seat 8: “What?”
Seat 7: “He got there.”
Seat 8: “Oh . . . right . . . . Why is it so dark in here?”
Seat 5: “Sorry, dude. That was nuts.”
Seat 2: “There is that sound again.”
Dealer [tapping felt in front of seat 3]: “Big blind, please.”
Seat 3: “Can I get a seat change . . . ?”