Christmas at my girlfriend’s parents’.
Playing poker.

There are just three of us left in:
– My girlfriend’s “Monday night is cards night” cousin,
– Me - maybe not quite such a card sharp, but I did once play poker every lunchtime for a year, and I reckon that my knowledge of probabilities will help me,
– My girlfriend’s mum who appears to have never played any card game before in her life. When she deals, there’s an even chance that we won’t all have the same number of cards, or someone will be trying to get a pair for the Rules of Bridge card. Her attempt at a riffle shuffle nearly blinds half the table. She is either very, very bad at cards or very, very good at bluffing.

The three of us have been locked into the final rounds for over an hour, and my girlfriend's mum has just asked if she gets anything for all her cards being the same colour. Other choice lines from her this evening have been “What’s a flush again?” (more rounds than not) and “Two pairs? Oh, well done. I only had three nines.”

Do you really need me to tell you who won?
(salvadorevincent, Sat 9 May 2009, 13:33, 1 reply)

Have you ever read...
Witches Abroad, by Terry Pratchett?

Granny Weatherwax has much the same tactic. I think it was a bluff...
(hangableautobulb is an anagram of the best album ever, on, Sat 9 May 2009, 21:52, closed)