Cheater

© Carl Rauscher

Hayden looked at his cards on the screen and grinned. His simulation predicted a pair of fours and there they were. He called the bet when it was his turn and nodded as the flop revealed another four and two jacks, just as predicted.

It was too easy.

Hayden wasn't always a poker cheat. Once he dreamt of getting a mathematics degree, but the lure of cracking so-called secure algorithms protecting online casinos proved too much to resist. He told himself that they could take their losses out of the money they made from annoying flash advertisements he had to endure.

The dealer with its perpetual smile deftly scooped up the cards and added the winnings to his total. Hayden admired the high-end graphics, but thought they should have sunk a little more money into their card shuffling routines. Two more hands like the last one and he'd log off before anyone caught on. Sometimes he stayed too long and got his IP address blacklisted, which was a pain. It took time to find new poker sites to crack.

Two newcomers joined his table. One was new, judging by the size of his account, and the other he recognized from last week. How could he forget a name like ‘CyberWiz666'? Probably some mascara-wearing college freshman wearing a dog collar with the chrome spikes, he thought.

It was his turn to ante. The smiling dealer tossed cards smoothly across the table to every occupied seat with a flick of the animated wrist. Hayden didn't even bother to pick his up. Instead, he watched the other players. Newcomer folded quickly, followed by CyberWiz666 calling the bet. “Good,”, Hayden said to the screen. “Three of a kind won't beat my flush, though.”

The flop held two of his five clubs. Hayden raised the bet, but not by too much. He didn't want to scare away any contributors to his winning pot. A player folded anyway. Before the dealer could toss the next card, the messenger window pinged.

<cyberwiz666> Aren't you going to look at your cards before you bet?

Hayden looked startled for a moment, then typed while reading out loud. “I feel lucky tonight, C-Wiz.”

The turn card was another club. Another raise, this time doubling the previous amount. The others called.

The window pinged again louder and somehow sounding more urgent.

<cyberwiz666> You seem awfully sure of your hand, sight unseen.

Hayden had a bad feeling about this. CyberWiz was taking quite an interest in his cards. The other player folded, leaving the two of them to fight it out. Then again, Hayden thought, maybe he's been trying to psyche out all the other players too. He called, hoping his nemesis would raise the bet, which he did.

The dealer stared at him, this time making him a little uncomfortable. It was definitely time to log off. The final card flicked out and spun in place for a second, then flipped over to reveal a heart.

Hayden called, then called again when his opponent raised. He was only too glad to turn over his cards and reveal two more clubs. He waited for the dealer to do his thing, but the image didn't move. Another message appeared on his screen, this time without the ping.

<cyberwiz666> Cheating is illegal.

“Who cares!” he chuckled and flipped off the screen. “You're just a sore loser.” Hayden reached for the keyboard to respond, but the screen flashed a new message before he could begin typing.

<cyberwiz666> You should have read the User Agreement closer, Hayden. I have the right to demand compensation for your illegal acts.

Hayden felt a chill down his spine as he read his name. Bluish sparks flew from the keyboard and he tried to pull his hands away, but couldn't. The hair on his forearms stood straight as the charge flowed up and across his body, bathing him in its strange glow. He could barely make out the words on the screen before all went dark:

<cyberwiz666> I invoke that right…

# # #

Hayden felt different somehow. He was standing, but his legs wouldn't move. He couldn't turn his head from the green felt of the table before him. Shadowy images wavered on the far side of the table and his hands reflexively picked up the cards in front of him and began flicking them to marked spots.

He tried to cry out, to beg for another chance, but no sound came from his frozen digital smile.