I plopped down into the first seat that would have me. A machine ate one of my hundreds and then let me tinker with it for about twenty minutes, going back and forth with small ups and larger downs, playing seven credits at a time, until the LCD blinker told me I was bankrupt. That was fine- I hadn’t come to play the slots. I still wasn’t sure exactly what I had come for, but I knew I wanted something that could slice my balls off if I let it. It had to be poker.

Following bright signs, I stood in line until a lady framed behind glass agreed to take my wad of cash in exchange for two plastic racks full of clay poker chips. Most of them were marked $100 though a couple were five times that, same size, different color. It felt funny to hold one of the high value tokens, enough to buy a couple months’ worth of food, a chandelier, a used car. I moved away from the counter and back towards the edge of the machines, where another lady, this one with orange skin and cleavage like a magazine model, asked me if I wanted a drink. I waited around until she came back with a rum and Coke, and tipped her with one of the dollar bills I hadn’t changed over. Nothing like playing poker online.

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