A Male Aenar sat at the table, two cards in his hand, as his antenna twitched nervously

A Female Halanan, scarcely dressed, left her cards on the table, using her arms to enhance her bosom.

A Female Dopterian sat with her cards lowered, a sinister grin showcasing his sharp teeth.

A Male Ullian sat with a stoic expression upon his face as he glanced around the table.

The Betazoid, Michael Angelus, sat with his back against the wall, one leg resting on the chair as well, and a free hand hanging over the back of his chair. He seemed relaxed, confident.

‘A King of Clovers, and a Jack of Diamonds. High Cards… let’s see how this plays out.’ Michael thought to himself. There were not many chances that one such as him was afforded the chance to gamble or play cards, since he was a telepath. But at a table full of telepaths and those immune, this was turning out to be quite the fun night. “Call” he announced, tossing in 20 credits from his 1000 credit pool.

Everyone tossed their credits into the pot as the first line was drawn.

Three of Clubs, Seven of Clubs, and Three of Hearts.

This didn’t help his hand out. And if someone else was holding a three, they were already ahead. He contemplated folding, as the chances of a good hand were slim, but this was poker. Bluffing was everything, and he wanted to see if anyone else was going to show signs of eagerness. ‘Raise.’ He called out, tossing another 20 credits.

The Halanan huffed, tossing her cards down to fold her hand, withdrawing from the round. She dramatically raised up just to sit back down in her chair, making sure her ‘body’ bounced in response. Michael could see the Ullian eyeing her, but he, along with the Aenar and Dopterian all tossed in their credits.

An additional Three of Diamonds.

Michael sighed and tossed his hand down as well, knowing this wasn’t going to get him anywhere. At least it would give him a chance to watch the winner to see if they had a tell.

The remaining three did not raise the pot any, and continued the play. A Queen of Diamonds was dropped on the table, and everyone showed their hands. The Aenar had a Six and a King. The Dopterian an Eight and an Ace. But the Ullian, who had enough confidence to focus on the floozie at the table, dropped a King and Seven of Diamonds. That with the current three of a kind, and addition seven gave him the winning hand of a Full House.

Gleefully, he reached over and collected the pot of 180 credits and dragged them over to his pile. “This IS fun!” he announced as the table re-shuffled.

It was a friendly game. Everyone was aware of the powers of one another, and collectively agreed not to use them. At least out loud anyway. The Dopterian did not have any telepathy, but like the Ferengi, her species was immune, making her safe but shielded from the rest. The Halanan could psychoproject, which is probably why she’s been making such a physical show of things, to keep the eyes on her in case she projected someone behind a player to sneak a peek at their hand. The Aenar was the worst, as Michael knew the blind species used their telepathy to ‘see’ and were very keen; if he focused enough, he could probably predict the cards, if they weren’t holographic at least. The last one was the Ullian; his telepathy rivaled Michaels, but he was perfectly content keeping his guard up. But by focusing his mind on shielding himself, he was not able to read the emotions of the others at the table. See…perfectly fair, nothing could go wrong!

The deck ‘dealt’ the cards back out to each player, flying across the table as semi-translucent rectangles before taking solid form in front of them.

Michael delicately flipped his cards: Ten of Spades and Ten of Clubs.

He fought to keep his eyes from widening at the sight as he tossed the initial bet into the pool. Everyone else followed suit, calling for the first turnover.

Ace of Diamonds, Jack of Clubs, and King of Diamonds.

‘Gee, where was this one hand ago?’ he thought to himself,

The Dopterian held her cards close, grinning. Michael didn’t need telepathy to tell a forced tell when he saw one. She was grinning last round and had nothing; she’s deliberately making a show of it. Everyone else remained stoic, even the Halanan, which was odd. No one raised the pot, as the next card was called.

A Six of Clubs

“Hoh, Hehehehehe!” the Dopterian cackled, tossing in 80 credits to the pot. “I raise!” she announced.

Michael studied her for a moment, contemplating whether she was serious or not. He was the first to call her bluff, tossing in 80 credits of his own. The Halanan and Ullian followed suit, but the Aenar folded his hand. “I got nothin’,” he proclaimed.

Another card dropped: a Seven of Diamonds.

One again, the table hand did nothing to help Michael. He had a choice. Ride out with his Pair of Tens, and hope one of the others didn’t have a royal card in their hand. The Dopterian, clearly hoping to scare off the table, ended up dropping her cards on the table, “Bah! That didn’t work!” she groaned. Two left.

“Check,” Michael called, throwing caution to the wind.

And as the cards came down, the bubbly giggles from the Halanan filled the room, “DOUBLE BABY~!” she cried, plopping her breasts against the table as she reached for the winnings. Michael, once again, had nothing. The Ullian at least had a King in his hand for a Royal Pair, but the enamored Halanan had both a Jack of Diamonds and a Seven of Hearts, giving her the winning, Double Pair hand!

The men at the table gave the woman a polite round of applause as the table once again reset. Michael took a drink from his glass, a normal blackened sweet tea with a single shot of lemon liquor as his new hand was dealt to him.

Seven of Diamonds and Four of Hearts.

‘Ok…This is NOT like the vids I watched as a kid’ he thought as he contemplated his lack of luck. The hero always had the winning hands when he watched some of his dad’s vintage spy and heist movies. These cards here were not giving off ‘main character’ energy.

As the players all checked their hands, the first flop hit the table. Six of Hearts, Nine of Clubs, and Jack of Hearts. Michael rolled his eyes and folded. Better to cut his losses early and continue his reconnaissance. Dropping his guard, he felt out the table. The first wave of checks went around, and the Ullian raised high at 80 credits.

An Ace of Spades was played down.

The aenar once again folded. He was about as perturbed by his luck as Michael was. The Dopterian wrinkled her nose and folded as well. It was once again down to the Halanan and Ullian. The man raised once more, another 20 credits, to which the Halanan raised another 30. The two locked eyes for a long moment before the Ullian tossed his hand down in defeat.

“You threw that hand just to see her showboat her winnings again,” The Aenar chuckled, taking a sip of his ale.  “Hay, she has a winning personality!” the Ullian admitted, but his eyes did not leave the woman as she collected her credits. ‘Total Hound-Dog,’ Michael thought as the table shuffled the deck once more.

The game continued for another couple of rounds, and the Halanan was once again dominating. One round saw the Aenar face off against the Dopterian, but she outplayed him with a three of a kind. The rounds grew more and more exasperated, leading the telepaths to forgo the rules and try to use their powers against one another, agreeing to fold if they got caught or called out. That livened the game a little more, but still Michael and the Aenar were just on an endless losing streak, until the near last hand.

Six of Diamonds, and Jack of Clubs.

Michael looked on as the first three face cards hit the table: Eight of Clubs, Six of Spades, and Five of Spades. The two sixes were nice, but nothing he hadn’t seen before. So the table all called collectively as usual. Then the next card hit: Jack of Diamonds.

He now had two of a kind! This could be it! He had to steel himself from emotion as he casually raised. He had done so all night as a bid to keep the pressure up, so it wouldn’t be so suspicious. “Raise 20.” He said, trying to calm himself. But he could already feel the Aenar’s ‘eyes’ on him.

The Ullian and Dopterian had folded, but the Aenar and Halanan called on his bet. The final card fell on the table. Queen of Hearts.

Two pairs were all he had. He could still be beaten by another two pairs with the Queen, but he doubted that. One could be holding a seven and a nine for a flush, but that only happened once. “Check.” Michael called.

His mouth was dry from the anticipation as the players revealed their hands. The Queen of the Table herself let down her cards in a huff, an Ace of Diamonds and Two of Clubs, she had nothing! It was down to him and the Aenar.

In an ice-cold tone, he smiled at Michael and laid his cards down, “Well, this horse is as beat as it’s gonna get tonight. Knew you finally had something there kiddo!” he congratulated. Michael laid his cards, revealing his Queen and Six Pair, and finally, for the first time of the night, he was able to reach across the table and receive his winnings! He won a whopping 70 credits, and in that moment, it completely outweighed the nearly 600 he had lost.

“And with that, I think I’ll check out on a high note!” he announced to the table. The Halanan smirked and gave a pouting huff, but the Ullian was delighted to be left alone with the two women. Michael could already pick up that the man was hoping to ‘change the bets’ to make things more depraved now that the three of them were going to be alone.

Picking up his measly pile of credits from the table, Michael bid everyone farewell. Gambling wasn’t quite as invigorating as he was led to believe, but he was glad to have finally won one!