A Peach of a Hand

Well, I suppose I'm deranged, but I guess I'll just have to call.
Doc Holliday - Tombstone

"I raise ten million," Gerald, a freighter pilot, smiled and looked around the table. Half of them were just shaking their heads.

"God damn it, I wanted to see the flop," Said a man on his left, throwing his hand down.

"I will," Hallan added with a smile of his own.

"I'm in too," Came another voice, that was Hawking the docking manager.

"All in," A Hulk pilot added, shoving his meager stack into the center of the table.

"Call," Came the voice of the station's director.

"I'll call too," Paxton, an Ishtar pilot lazily pushed his chips forward.

"I raise ten million," Gerald added again, touching one of his stacks of chips and pushing it in front of him.

"Call," Hallan said with an interested look on his face. He checked his cards again for a moment. Two kings. Did he have aces?

"I'm out," Hawking threw down his cards and drank a gulp of his beer with a frown.

"All in," The Director pushed his small stack of chips into the center of the table and leaned back.

"Ten million more then," Paxton said, still seeming uninterested in the game.

The dealer looked around the table with a smirk.

"All in," Gerald pushed his entire stack into the middle of the table. Sixty million chips.

Hallan studied Gerald's face for a moment, cocked his head to the side and pushed sixty million chips into the center of the table, "Call,"

"All of it then," Came the Hulk pilot's voice from beside him, clearly agitated.

"That and a million more," Came the voice of Paxton, obviously enjoying himself. Hallan and Paxton were the only men with chips left that weren't in the pot and Hallan had only a million left in front of him.

"All in," Hallan said with a smile, pushing his last few chips into the center of the table.

Everyone flipped their hands down and the dealer separated the stacks into four pots. The largest was a hundred million, the next fifty, the next twenty, and the next twelve.

Hallan almost laughed as Gerald flipped down two fours. The Hulk pilot had an ace and a seven. The Director had an ace and a four. Paxton happily showed his two aces and Hallan sighed wearily as he threw down his two kings.

"A three," The dealer said as he began to lay the cards on the table, "A seven," He looked up at the Hulk pilot who let out a little breath just before the next card came down, "An eight,"

The dealer stopped for a moment, and the suspense began to build, then down came the turn, "A four," and now the director was leaning into the table along with the rest. It all hinged on the last card.

"A King," and everyone breathed again. Hallan looked around and laughed as he raked in his chips.

"Alright then," The dealer said as Hallan began to sweep his chips into a bag, "Next hand?"

"I gotta be going," Hallan said as he finished grabbing his chips, "It was nice playing with you folks,"

Mutters rose from the table, and so did he.