do i have to be looking for something?
you can pretty much tell what?
what do you think i'm looking for?
i strongly doubt if you could fix me up. in that department.
you're looking for a clout in the head if you don't keep your face to the road.
mr. schlaegel? how are you? and your enchanting wife?.  tomorrow is quite convenient.  i generally prefer stud but you name it.  your stakes are my pleasure, sir.  thank you, why don't we make it after lunch? my diet these days is enough to spoil anyone else's appetite.  a pleasure, sir. please remember me to your charming wife.
how could you guess, shooter? i was invited by a mr. william schlaegel --
as he put it, rather bluntly, i felt, we don't want everyone to have to watch everyone else dealing to see to it they don't make any little accidental errors by mistake. i told him a man couldn't ask for a better guarantee of a fair-and-square game than having the shooter deal it. so if you're willing, we're meeting at two o'clock in the afternoon. ask for mr. schlaegel's suite at the park sherman.  good. i'm glad you can do it, shooter. be a pleasure to see you again.  oh pretty much the same.  just have to be a little careful about smoking and drinking and eating -- and breathing. see you tomorrow. good night.
check.
and up two.
queen high.
i recollect a young fellow putting the same question to eddie the dude. it was a game in the grand lounge of the "j.m. white, third," the largest paddle-wheeler ever built. "son," eddie told him, "all you paid was the looking price. lessons are extra." first time i heard of this cincinnati kid was in new orleans, at yeller's. i knew right away i'd have to play him someday.
i may admire it. but if he's all that good, i doubt if i'll enjoy it.
i've learned to take everything in moderation.
well now, son, you're quite welcome. can't say i recall another man, in all my days on the three rivers, who seemed to find it quite so pleasurable losing all that money.
sure, sure. haven't seen the dear old bitch in fifteen years.
yes, that's how it usually comes out in the long run. you think this boy is going to give me trouble, shooter?
i don't want it to be one of those marathon games. not any more.
sure, sure. longest game i ever played though, i was a kid on my way to the klondike gold rush. at soapy smith's in skagway. four nights and three days.
depends how you look at it. when we wound up, the yukon river had frozen over and you couldn't get through to dawson city till the following june. made myself a hundred and fifty bucks and missed the gold rush.
that is undeniably true. but it doesn't mean i'm ready to retire. how old is this boy of yours?
well, now, makes me feel a whole lot better, knowing that. i was thirty- six when i sliced up eddie the dude. this kid of yours is just going to have to wait a few years.
it's a friendly town, st. louis. i've always said that.
climate, shooter. in my declining years, i spend more and more time in florida and the gulf coast.
what reason is that, lady fingers?
should i be scared of him?
thanks for the warning.
hello, kid. pleasure to know you.
sure, sure. you seem to know about everybody. yeller from new orleans?
no, i hadn't heard.
how you feel, kid?
the best. you think maybe we ought to see if we can stir up some action?
well, i'm kind of in the mood to play a little cards.
but first you take a look at things -- make sure everything's the way you want it. i already been around.
light all right for you?
sure, sure. shooter's set us up just great.
why not?
st. louis bridge club, eh? steward still that old yard bird okra?
old stud man, okra.
quite a character. quite a character.
been ten years since i seen or spoke to old okra.
sure, sure. shall we have a look at the decks?
well, kid, what's your game?
i got no objections to stud. gentlemen?
privilege of age. can't take the glare of the morning sun in my eyes.
why, yes, shooter. creme de menthe frappe. green.
fine, shooter man.
five grand? nice, tidy sum. i'll put out the same.
ten dollars.
ace bets ten dollars
new deck.
pair of jacks will venture a hundred dollars.
check to the sevens.
in for nine eighty.
i'll call your twenty-four hundred --
comes to fourteen hundred fifty dollars, pig. don't imagine you'll have any problem promoting that much in half an hour -- plus whatever you care to raise me.
he wants to wish anybody luck, doesn't bother me. personally, i don't figure the kid needs it.
who? oh, spider man, sure, sure.
good crowd.
that's a fact.
thanks, kid. from you, that's nice to hear.
you knew, did you? before i raised?
you been to miami, kid?
beautiful town, lot of loose money around. you ought to come down some time.
sure, sure. lot of room down there. another spot you ought to work someday is reno, nevada.
you got to have nerves though. so much going on. action everywhere you turn. you lose the feel of the cards when you're in so much action day in, day out.
there's different levels of action there -- you'd find yours, any kind you could ask for.
sure, sure, for eating money. but you know how it is, i like to lay off once in a while and try craps. nothing serious -- i don't even think of it as work.
your age, you don't need a regular vacation every year. but me, i have to forget the grind for a couple of weeks. i go to this place near delray beach, and the whole time i don't play anything but bridge.
i'm not keeping you from your woman, am i?
i'm sorry to hear that.
but she tried?
nooo, a man can't do that.
that's very interesting you should say that. you're pretty young to have figured things out already.
between us?
kid, you're the best stud man i've seen in 35 years of action. you know that?
and when it comes to broads, which is getting to be an academic problem -- i can look back now to the two or three i ever considered i might want to spend the rest of my life with, and you know what? i like it.  looking back on them, that is -- i always got a lot of companionship out of a good book.
glad to be of help. and it's good we had this little talk so i know we can be friends regardless what happens.
no room for any kind of emotion in a fair game of stud. i learned that a long time ago.
you're still good, fingers.
no, i didn't hear.
no, can't say that i have.
what have you got?
ace-king-queen high.
well, just the two of us.
compulsory call, kid.
two pair, jacks up.
two thousand dollars.
my dear, that young man is a stud poker-playing son-of-a-bitch.
not yet he isn't.
not yet he isn't. but he damn well might.
no stay.
no stay.
queen bets another c-note.
well, i don't either.
same deck is good enough.
alright, alright -- a new deck then, jesus.
looks that way.
make it an hour. old bones need a little more time to loosen up.
what's up?
well, we got lady fingers. or we can deal ourselves.
i got to go along with that, shooter. lady fingers! you ready?
i can't persuade myself you have the flush.
now i can.
i'm not that curious.
two hundred.
fold.
betting the jack isn't there, kid.
jack is willing to wager two hundred dollars.
call your five hundred and five hundred more.
your five hundred -- and up one thousand.
reasonable bet. two thousand five hundred. deal them.
fifty-four hundred bucks is a nice piece of money. i see the bet and raise sixty-seven hundred.
i'll take your marker, kid.
i know you can.
straight flush to the jack -- that's $6700 you owe me, kid.
new deck.
you're one hell of a poker player, kid. that was a rough hand.
what's the tab for the whole show?
gets down to what it's all about, doesn't it? making the wrong play at the right time.
i don't play a percentage game. i play stud poker my way. and i got the money and you got the questions. figure that out. you're good. but as long as i'm around, you're second best, kid.  and you might as well learn to live with it.
look me up if you're in miami after christmas. stillson hotel.