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Never in United States history had gambling been more widespread or more socially acceptable that in frontier days. Westerners wagered enthusiastically at games of poker, brag, cuchre, all fours, Boston, seven-up and pitch. They bet at monte, roulette, chuch-a-luck, cassino and keno. They lost or won at cockfights, prize fights, dogfights and billiards. They plunged on lotteries, mining stocks and town lots. Wherever the outcome of an event or situation appeared to be in doubt the gamblers convened.- from "Time-Life, The Old West Series"

The first annual high stakes poker tournament was a special project for Lucas, and he took a a few moments to remember some words of wisdom…

Life is only a game of poker, played well or ill;
Some hold four aces; some draw and fill;
Some make a bluff and oft get there,
While others ante and never hold a pair.

Then he got up, and called everyone´s attention.

-Welcome, my friends, to the Firsts Annual Sabbath Poker tournament!, he started. He had thought about saying something about the lawman, about the shootings, the funeral… But then he had realized there was no point to stir things more than required. –We are here tonight to play poker in a high stakes tournament. Each of the eight participants will be handed ten chips, keep them whether you win or loose. These are kept all through the tournament, which has two stages. First, we have two tables of four players. The best two from each then advance to the final. The winner gets $500, the runner up $100, and each chip is worth $5 in credit for drinks, girls, and games here at Lucas´.

He paused and looked around to make sure all the participants had arrived. –Let´s start the tournament. Where is Rosanna? Rosanna, come down here, as I will be participating myself, you should do the draft.

–I come, yes, the lovely Rosanna said and hurried down the stairs to draw the names of the participants from a hat. She was undoubtedly an exotic beauty, and all the eyes in the room were fixed on her.

The draft ended with the following distribution:

The tournament began, and all you could hear was the shuffling of cards and the sound of chips hitting the table. Two players would be eliminated from each table, and the other two would move on to the final but with the same chips they had from the first table. So each hand was important.

–Not lookin´ too good there, Harris, Cobden said and pointed at the single lonely chip Luther Harris left. The store keeper was almost out of the game at this stage.

The veteran sheriff frowned when he saw the cards he got. Not a good hand, but he was doing better he had expected. The pile of chips in front of him was as high as Lucas´. He was sitting on a tough table, but he felt he had a chance to advance through to the final.

He folded, and he looked at the men in the room. There was a sign regarding firearms on the door, but he was keen on enforcing this regulation, especially not after what had happened the other day. The locals were scared, and it wouldn´t come as a surprise if there were more firearms as usual being carried around.

He knew all the men in the room, except the new man in town. A negro! Not that he had anything against the colored, but still this Arch Stanton was an oddity in Sabbath. He was not doing too bad playing at the other table, he thought and drank his whiskey.

Sam Bolden was feeling lucky. Real lucky. He was winning, and he had a foot and a half in the final. Mayer and Stanton were tied for second place, and the Registrar Dussaine was almost out of the game.

Jacks wait on top of the stairs for some minutes studding the situation, he is like a feline, he likes to be on hight ground. Then he moves to a corner of the bar close to the stairs and ask for a glass of whiskey observing the game unnoticed.

He looks toward Rossana, she looks as beutifull as allways, what could be the problem with Rossana and Alacran? 

Dekker walked down the stairs, and moved carefully among the crowd to get to the bar. There were about half a dozen people between the two poker tables and Dekker´s position, and the outlaw took special care to hide from the view of sheriff Ryan and Mayer. He knew most of the other players were probably not armed or dangerous, but he kept an eye on the black stranger sitting next to Mayer.

He was certain Mayer had not seen him, but he was not complete certain about the sheriff or this negro, Stanton. In any case, they all seemed focused on the poker game at hand.

The poker game was going well as expected for Lucas. Once a professional gambler had the upper hand, all he had to do was lean on his opponents to finish them of. He was glad to see sheriff Ryan advancing on his table. And to see Luther Harris loose. He never had liked the shop keeper, and the feeling was mutual.

On the other table, things looked much more even, and the crowd that had gathered to watch the tournament were more and more interested in what was going on over there.

At least folks were all havin´ a good time and drinkin´, for a change. After they saw the lawman bring in Corman´s body, and then kill Harvey Stenbaugh  get killed on the main street.

-My turn to deal?, he asked as he calmly watched Harris get up from the table.

 The storekeeper was not having a good week. First, his brother-in-law Marc Corman was killed by this ruthless lawman. Then Stenbaugh. And despite his best efforts, no one seemed to want to lift a finger. He had put together a “citizen´s committee” to face the threat of the lawman Maddox, but Mayer who was nothing but a thug working for Lucas had showed off his fancy deputy badge and convinced everyone to leave Maddox alone.

-That´s it for me then, he said with a stressed and angry voice. He looked at Ryan who had won the last hand. A poor excuse for a sheriff.

Now, he had lost a helluva sum of money. He had been preparing for this tournament for a long time, but this lawman had caused him to loose his concentration.

Bronson will get him, and give the bastard what he deserves…

The Mexican had his hand on the swinging door, about to enter. He could see a crowd of a dozen observing the poker game taking place in two tables. There was a tense silence. He also saw Jack Dekker walking behind the crowd, unnoticed, towards the bar. But then… Alacran's world came to stand still.

He saw… her. Rosanna was holding a tray of drinks, alone. Her hair was not flowing free and wild as before, but up. And she was wearing a nice dress. She looked different. She was as beautiful as ever.

She was oblivious to the people around her. She did not take any notice of Jack. Her eyes were fixed on a man playing on the table. There was kindness and tenderness in her eyes, and she was making sure nobody saw her watching him. And she bit her lower lip. And that was when Alacran knew… He had seen her do that before, with Alacran…

The man she was looking at was older, dressed in a fancy black suit and nice boots. He was concentrated on the cards he was holding, but then he raised his head, for a second, to catch a glimpse of Rosanna. A hidden love, a secret passion. A torture for the Mexican.

Alacran stood still for a long time, numbed by all this, and the rage inside was building up.

Jack ask for a shot of whiskey and observes the card game.

When José Luciano sees Rosanna´s lovely face, anger seizes him. Jose Luciano feels like he is dying slowly, and only  Alacran remains. Feels like feelings go away, and he can only feel hate. Death moves his hands whispering him to take his "Rosanna".

The last light that had kept Jose Luciano sane, dies slowly.

Hatred, void , death ...

-I´m all in.

The words of the Registrar caused a sudden silence. The hand Mayer, Dussaine and Stanton were playing was the centre of attention. It could be a turning point for the tournament.

Rosanna had seen Jack come down the stairs, and he had looked at Mayer who was concentrated in his cards. She grabbed a tray with a few whiskey glasses, and as she turned to move towards the tables, her eyes met with Alacran´s for an instance. She saw the fury and the anger, the madness.

-No, not do it, she moved her lips and nodded her head as she walked passed trying not to draw attention towards the Mexican bandit lurking outside.

Mayer was focused on the cards when he smelled Rosanna´s perfume. She put a glass of whiskey next to Mayer´s chips, and with her left hand she put something in his pocket. He noticed her hand was trembling. Her face was pale, and she had difficulty controlling herself as she carried on serving drinks.

Mayer put the hand in his pocket, and he noticed a piece of paper.

Arch Stanton won the hand! Lucas observed in silence. He suffered for Mayer. It was going to be very difficult to recover for him, with only a few chips left.

That´s poker... Well, how was the saying. Bad luck in game, good luck in love. Got to wonder who is the lucky girl?

-You wanna see my cards, Mr. Stanton? It´ll cost ya four chips, the Mayor said. His voice sounded agitated, and he looked as if he was swimming in deep water.

Next to him, Mayer was all-in now, with no chips left. This was his last chance to stay in the game.