Fourth hand he decided to experiment with some offensive tactics. Steel dealt; Rafferty scooped up his cards and looked them over. Jack, Four, Eight, Seven, King. Spade, club, spade, heart, diamond. Coolly he fanned the cards out and pushed a hundred credits toward the middle of the table. Steel saw him.

"How many?"

"I'll stand pat."

"So will I."

"Five hundred," Rafferty said.

"See that and raise it a hundred."

"I'll bump to two."

"I'm with you," Steel said. "What do you have?"

Without a facial flicker Rafferty exposed his hand. "Jack high. You?"

"You beat me. It's your kitty."

Rafferty scooped the pot in, frowning inwardly. He'd made his bluff—but Steel had been bluffing right along with him. It was only luck that the little man hadn't been holding a Queen.

Rafferty pulled Jack high again on the next deal, took three, came up with nothing and folded. On the next hand both men played it cautiously and Rafferty dropped fifty credits when Steel's pair of kings took his tens.

Next deal, Rafferty again came up with nothing. Inwardly he cursed; the cards weren't coming as well as they had. He decided to bluff again, since the previous attempt hadn't yielded any information about his opponent's tactics.

This time he pushed the bet up to a thousand before calling.

"Three sevens," Steel said.

"You beat me," Rafferty said, and collapsed his hand.

"Mind if I look?" Steel said.

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