So it starts

*As long as it isn't a 10 I'll be fine* this was more like a plea inside of Noah's head as he begged for the god of luck to nor forsake him this time.

And it seemed as if lady luck smiled on him once more as he pulled an 8 bringing his total deck value up to 20 which was a win unless he got severely unlucky and the dealer got something like a 3 and an ace.

"Stick" he said with a pleased smile beaming across his face, he felt like he had won something at gambling once more even if the round wasn't over yet.

The other rounds went similar with a surprising lack of busts on the table, everyone seemed content to stay where they were, not willing to risk their chips unnecessarily.

Thus the dealer flipped over his down card..*are you kidding me*.

The dealer had flipped over a 3, maybe lady luck wasn't blessing him with her grace after all.

The main problem was that the deck was now at a true count of +1 which meant a higher proportion of 10 value cards and aces both of which would screw him over, luckily he hadn't bet high only going for the minimum of 50.

The dealer had to draw a card anyway since he was below 17 and so with a swift movement of his hands towards the card shoe he pulled the card from top of the deck and dragged it along the table towards his set of cards.

Noah's heart started pumping like it had never before, he didn't know why since he had only bet small but something about this made it feel like if he lost it would be the end of the world, he was getting soft to losing in his old age that's what he figured to himself as the card was turned over.

Noah gulped as more of the card came into view, sweat starting to form, how was he going to gamble if this was how he felt betting a low amount?

The card revealed an 8, relief washed over Noah as all the tension that he had was released for now, the dealer had to stick and he had made a small profit, which he placed back on the green square in front of him keeping his bet at 50 due to the low true count.

All the bets were placed and the cards began to be handed out with the hands being as follows:

Noah's hand: 2,6

Other players: 3,7, 8,8, 10,4, 4,6

Dealers face-up card: Ace

The running count of this hand was +4 and the true count was now +2, this was important as it dictated what he was about to do next.

"Would anyone like to bet insurance?"

"I'll bet 200 on it"

What Noah was doing was betting on the dealer having a blackjack which was made very likely by the true count being positive and so he decided to risk quite a lot of his wealth on it.

"Anyone else?"

He also noticed that the woman next to him had managed to get double 8s, not a good hand at all, *best thing to do with that would be to split*.

Although he felt bad for her for what happened last time, he decided not to tell her to split the 8s since the dealers hand was most likely a blackjack which would beat anything.

Silence dominated the table as everyone waited with baited breath for play to resume, it seemed like some of the people on this table were extremely nervous for whatever reason, they were shifting to and fro at irregular intervals, one was biting his thumbnail with a tenacity that Noah believed could bite through both the nail and the guys thumb if he kept it up.

Then he noticed the bets that had been made, *Oh for god's sake, they can't have all done it* he found himself shaking his head at the decisions they all had made, the only other person to make a reasonable bet was the lady next to him, maybe she knew more than he thought she did.

He estimated that the average bet made at the table was 400 which might not seem like much, but when there is very little in the way of advantage you can sort of expect to not win much if any of that back if you keep making bets like that, it wasn't a rule but it seemed that they had already lost the money that they had laid down.

Still everyone proceeded to play on, the poor woman decided to hit on her 16 and bust with 22, losing her bet of 100, she seemed to get incredibly upset after this, clenching her fists and Noah swore that he saw her holding back tears as she muttered something along the lines of "Its over".

`That's a weird reaction to losing just a hundred, man I remember one time I lost 10k in a single shoe` the reminiscence wasn't long though since he had to play now.

He didn't have a good hand at all, a 2 and a 6 would only get him so far and it wouldn't matter anyway if the dealer had a blackjack.

"Hit"

He again superseded the dealer to declare his intention of hitting.

A 10 was pulled and that was enough to satisfy him, "I'll stand now" it wasn't a good thing to do normally, but he was banking on the insurance to pay him out instead of his normal bet.

The other rounds went similar to the last except that another person went bust, nearly crying as well putting their hands over their eyes and putting their face on the green playing mat leaving their hair to completely cover their head, like a jungle with thick brush blocking sight to what lays behind.

`Why are there so many emotions at the table, it hasn't even been that long since we started playing`. He had a confused expression showing on his face which may have come off as a bit poor in taste for the situation but if it did, this was one of the few times he didn't care.

Now it came time for the dealer to reveal his face down card once again, and again Noah's heart began to race as it flipped, this time for good reason, 200 was a high price to pay for now.

As the card flipped he managed to sneak a glance at the corner of the card, as he did so his face lit up like a child receiving chocolate, it was a 10, `a 10` he thought `not the royal victory that it feels like`. Because he had taken up the offer to bet insurance he ended up gaining 150.

In a short space of time he had managed to get himself up 200 whatevers in chips, he didn't have a currency that he could put the chips into which made it a bit confusing sometimes when gauging how much he should bet and how much things were worth but he could try and guess from his starting amount of 5000.

In heavy contrast to the joy that Noah was feeling there was a large feeling of despair at the table, one of the players, a young lad not who didn't even have a single wrinkle on him to be seen couldn't seemingly handle losing as he broke down in full on tears at the table, which was a first to Noah.

He had seen people be angry and upset at the table but never had he seen someone cry about losing until they were off the table and far away, that was how he and many others he knew had done it to save face.

Sometimes he would meet his son with his eyes still puffy, *God how embarrassing* he held his face in his hands as his face went a little red, but it was only for a few seconds before he regained his stoic complexion once more, although it was a little hard given the variety of emotions going on at the table.

As he sat there for longer periods of time without play resuming he started to get annoyed, "What the hell is going on" he asked the dealer in the most patient manner he could manage his annoyance clearly flustering the poor man who probably wasn't expecting an angry middle aged man to start asking him questions.

"Well these people lost sir"

"I can very well see that, why is play not resuming, time is money you know and currently you are taking both from me"

"Its company policy to not play with people who have no chips sat at the table, please be patient they will be removed soon"

"Removed?" he looked to his right where the woman next to him was sat, "What's this about being removed" he didn't ask this politely or out of the good of his heart, he wanted to know what would happen if he happened to run out of chips.

But he didn't get a response, the woman was just sniffling with her head on the game table, then Noah thought of a plan to make another gambling team.

"Tell you what, if you sign a contract with me, I'll give you 200 in chips, how's that sound to you" reflecting on what he just said Noah realised that he sounded incredibly sleazy and was acting little different to those that had cornered him when he had just arrived, however unlike them his intentions were not so maliciously driven.

She certainly thought he didn't have any honest intentions whatsoever with her face being filled with disgust which seemed to be at a level just below that reserved for criminals who had actively committed a crime.

"And what's it to you if I do get removed?" she held none of the earlier kindness that he she had shown him, `fair enough, you certainly seem like someone with nasty intentions`.

"I want you to join my gambling team, and give me more information about this place" he was saying this at a low volume as to not let the other players overhear, the only reason he had picked this girl to join him is because she had spoken to him at the start.

"Its either this, or being removed" the lower tone this was spoken at seemingly did its job of intimidating the party in front of him as she turned her eyes away in recoil, that's how he saw it anyway.

Time seemed slow as she racked her brain on which fate would be worse.

"Can you give me a pen and paper please?" Noah asked the dealer as he waited for a response, and after receiving the requested items he set about writing the contract conditions.

The only requests he made were that she join his gambling team and give him information about the casino in return for 200 in chips, fair terms all things considered.

He presented it to her to try and help her make her mind up before someone came to remove her, whatever that meant.

When she saw the contract terms her face filled with shock, *not the response I was expecting*. he had expected her to say that the terms were quite nice in nature, not be shocked which gave him thoughts that maybe the terms were harsher than the usual ones.

"Are you sure about this" she asked him with a suspicious look on her face, which hurt Noah's feelings since he would never do anything outside of what someone wanted unless they were asking for it in terms of a fight.

"Absolutely sure, I wouldn't have spent the time to write it if I didn't want to go through with it" he considered his time to be very valuable and would actively avoid doing pointless tasks that didn't need doing or that he didn't want to do.

"Then..*whoo* I'll accept" as she started to write her name down on the paper it lit up a lovely purple-blue and remained that way even after she had finished writing.

Looking at the contract he was satisfied and gave her the 200 in chips that he had promised, requesting the contract back in return where he learned her name *Julie* and thus his gambling team was started.