On January 1, 2000, first day of the new millennium, and it was time once again for the annual "end of winter break" card game. This occurs when a small group of friends and neighbors that normally never see each other throughout the year get a chance to bond through a spirited night of playing poker. Among the eight players gathered around the table on this particular eve were my good friends Dave and Joe. It was

every man for himself at the table, but on occasion, the three of us have been known to work together and then at the end of the night we would split out earnings. Minimum buy-in was a hundred dollars since this was a once a year special occasion for us. It was ten o'clock at night, and the game was under way. At first, we played some small money games just to feel out the competition. You can tell many things from the eyes of your opponent. During this stage, you would be examining who is working together, detecting others tendencies, and starting to counting cards. Usually the player(s) who win these games are the first ones out of money when the real games start. This is because this means that they are beginners, and lack of experience or inability to disguise a bluff later lead to the deflation of their over-confidence. By about two o'clock in the morning, the heavy bidding poker games begin. Now all your hard work begins to pay off, and the night really becomes fun. We had about five people left as the others had lost all their money at this time.

Around four o'clock, we came across a high stakes game. The pot was up at around $280, and there four of us still left in that were going for it - Joe, Dave, one other, and myself. The other guy was drunk by this time and out of money; obviously, he was not a legitimate contender. Dave lit a cigarette, so I knew this meant he had a damn good hand. Joe, on the other hand, was staring through me with a cold intense demeanor, yet it was curious. What did this mean? Judging from earlier, Joe had won a few times with this confidant look. However, this time it was a bit too confident. He would not have acted that confident if he indeed had a good hand - he would not have needed to. He was trying to psyche me out into believing he had something unbeatable. I then realized that whether Joe stared too intensely at me or too passively at nothing at all, he had something far from unbeatable. There was such a fine line between catching a bluff or being tricked by one. The normal eye would not notice these unspoken words. Although there were piles of money in the pot, and I did have a decent hand, I folded before I lost my money. I then sat back and watched. Dave then proceeded to take Joe's money just like I knew he would have taken

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Approximate Word count = 1560
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)