Alice in Virtuality Read Free

pocket cards were good. Kings. A.K.A Cowboys. Clubs and Diamonds. A moderate bet would make things interesting, but not enough to frighten off his victims. Good job they couldn't hear his chuckle he thought. Canada re-raised. Lady called in. CoolRiver folded. Martin paused briefly, hoping to suggest a reluctance to match the raise, of which he had none. He called.
    The flop was 2 of Diamonds, 10 of Diamonds, Ace of Hearts. Canada opened with a high raise. This might have worried Martin, but he was ready to take Canada down and put an end to his bullying bets. Lady had little option with her dwindling chip stack but to go all-in. Martin called. The turn, 10 of Clubs. Canada goes all-in. His bets had become increasingly erratic as Cool had taken more and more of his chips. A flashing sign by Canada's name on Martins screen screamed 'BLUFF'. Martin called. With the game ready to be decided by the last card, the pocket hands were displayed.
    Canada had 2 of Spades and 8 of Clubs. A pair of 2's. Rubbish. Lady had 10 of Spades and Ace of Diamonds. Martin had misread her all-in as a sign of desperation, but she had what must be the best hand here.
    "The Nuts," he said in a depressed tone, remembering the poker term. "Well played" he added.
    He sat back slowly, ready to accept fate as the 'river' slipped out in front of the dealer.
    "King of Hearts. 3 Kings wins! Yup." the dealer announced.
    Martin had won. He looked on as the losers Lady and Canada popped out of the game. The Western Bar faded and all was black. A voice broke through.
    "Welcome, welcome, Ladies and Gentlemen. Its Showdown Time!." It echoed like the start of a wrestling match. "Let's hear it for our players!"
    A spotlight splashed onto CoolRiver sitting centre screen. Martin switched to an overall view. He could see a spotlight also lit himself, putting them at either end of a long poker table. People didn't have any access to input sound into this poker program. They showed their appreciation by flashing small lights from their avatars. Cool and Martin were surrounded by a mad universe of stars from the seating around the arena. Floating in space above their heads, as only things in artificial worlds can, a display showed who the fans were rooting for.
    Martin smiled to himself as his indicator was twice as great as Cool's. This was expected the win had put him well ahead, but he took personal pleasure in it anyway. He looked around at the glow from his fans and returned his view to first person as the host came to the end of his speech.
    "So, with no further delay, dealer, please begin!"
    Arrays of spotlights on all sides rolled down and fully lit the table. Standing to one side of the centre, deck in hand and ready to deal, was Alice. She winked at Martin. Martin just stared as the pocket cards were dealt into place. Martin continued to stare as Cool called in on the hand. The betting window timed out with the lack of action and the program automatically called for him. Turning to the monitor on his left, he tried to run the Alice program. A message displayed 'Alice program not available'.
    "What is going on?" he said out loud.
    The flop had been dealt and Cool had raised. Martin was running out of time to call. He did so without looking at what cards he had received or registering what the bet was. Cool had raised again. Trying to focus back on the game, Martin assessed his cards quickly. Nothing worth playing. There would be a fair amount of chips lost, but he was not about to chase bad money. He folded. The popularity started to swing to Cool.
    The game went on, but Alice's image had shaken Martin. Slowly and steadily, hand after hand, his opponent leeched the chips from his stack. The indicators scales tipped more and more in CoolRiver's favour. Martin started to feel desperation rise like bile in this throat. He looked at the cards he had been dealt. A of Clubs and 8 of Clubs. A suited Ace, but not such a good kicker in an 8. Still good enough. He went for a